New Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday morning that his immediate priorities after the resignation of previous Gov. Eric Greitens last week are to maintain the membership of the Cabinet that Greitens created and figure out the process for filling the position of lieutenant governor.
Parson stood at the door of the Governor's Office in the Missouri State Capitol and briefly met with reporters immediately ahead of a private Cabinet meeting.
He said the biggest message he wanted to convey was that "everybody in the state of Missouri knows the government still works, will be effective and is going to function well. We're going to keep moving, throughout this state."
He said he does not plan to make replacements on the Cabinet.
"Gov. Greitens brought together a good team to the state of Missouri," Parson said. "Most of these Cabinet members back here, that I'm looking forward to working with, I don't anticipate any changes in the Cabinet, that I'm aware of. All I want to do is I want to be a resource for them, I want to work with the Cabinet, because there's a lot of good things that's going on in the state of Missouri. We need to continue the things that are good that we're doing."
Parson was the state's lieutenant governor before Greitens' resignation last week amid investigations of alleged political scandals.
Parson was asked Monday if he would consider calling a special legislative session to fill the position of lieutenant governor.
"There's going to be discussion on that, and it needs to be done. I don't like the state of Missouri being without a lieutenant governor; and for me, I need to use that position to help with the transition," he said, adding that figuring out the process would be a top priority.
He said he would have meetings throughout the day after the morning Cabinet meeting. Conversations with the mayors of the state's largest cities - Kansas City and St. Louis - are planned, but he added that the scope of collaboration with local and regional leaders will be broader than that.
"We want to learn about what the core issues are, both in St. Louis and Kansas City. We're bringing a coalition of mayors in, actually, but I also want to be able to utilize the urban areas and the rural areas. I want both to know what the challenges are for all over the state, and I want mayors from urban areas to know what challenges are in rural Missouri, and I want rural Missouri mayors to know what challenges are in the urban areas - and try to unite that front to where we can work together to get things done."
Also Monday, state Rep. Justin Alferman, R-Hermann, resigned from his seat to work for Parson. He says he'll do legislative and budgetary work for the new governor, the Associated Press reported. Alferman served as vice chairman of the House Budget Committee.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's former deputy chief of staff, Steele Shippy, also is going to work for Parson as his communications director, according to the AP.