Koster, Greitens approach office from different backgrounds

Democrat Chris Koster, left, and Republican Eric Greitens are seen touting their gubernatorial candidacies during appearances at the Missouri Farm Bureau.
Democrat Chris Koster, left, and Republican Eric Greitens are seen touting their gubernatorial candidacies during appearances at the Missouri Farm Bureau.

Republican Eric Greitens is an outsider who says Missouri needs a non-politician to end corruption in state government.

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AP

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at a news conference at AUSMIN 2011, a forum advancing the Australia-US alliance, in San Francisco, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

"The biggest issue in the state of Missouri is that the people of Missouri are not able to realize all of the promise and potential that we have, because of the backwards priorities of corrupt, crooked politicians like Chris Koster," he said during a 13-minute interview last week. "I'm going to measure my success as governor by how many more jobs we have.

"I'm going to measure our success by how much we can grow wages.

"I'm going to measure our success by making streets safer, by making sure that we have better schools."

Democrat Chris Koster has been elected to local, legislative and statewide offices since his first, successful campaign for Cass County prosecutor in 1994 - just two years after his graduation from the University of Missouri Law School and his passing the Bar exam.

"I believe that we can do a better job of promoting both excellence and balance in the state of Missouri, than the Republican alternative," Koster - a former Republican - told the News Tribune during a 25-minute interview last week. "My concern with the Republican agenda, as it stands right now, is that it is focused only on one aspect of good governance - which is, keeping a small, efficient and business-friendly size government.

"As a whole, we have done a good job of achieving a small-government mindset, low taxes and business-friendly regulation. But - absent the Democratic voice, there is no voice for workforce development issues."

Koster thinks that, if he's elected governor next month, he can help the state do more to improve transportation, education, energy and health care.

"I spent my career as a leader in the Republican Party and as a leader in the Democratic Party - the first half of my career as a Progressive Republican and the second half as Conservative Democrat," Koster explained, referencing his switch from the GOP to the Democrats in 2007, while he was in the state Senate.

"I've spent my time in government trying to build consensus in the center, for progress."

Greitens said he's learned leadership skills from his military experience, his numerous volunteer jobs helping children and the sick in foreign lands, running his own company and his charity helping returning veterans find jobs.

"When you have men and women who are willing to step forward with courage and compassion - even in some of the world's most difficult and dangerous situations, you can find ways to save lives and change lives," Greitens said. "One thing I do believe I do very well is to build and lead great teams.

"(People) want a leader who's going to focus, bring people together around a common mission and focus on results."

Term limits prevent the current governor, Democrat Jay Nixon, from seeking another term in the office.

Leaders - and more than a few members - of the current, Republican-controlled Legislature have complained Nixon hasn't been an active leader in working with the legislative process.

Both Greitens and Koster said they can improve that relationship.

During an interview last July, Greitens told the News Tribune: "I've talked with a lot of legislators who tell me they're desperate for real leadership. They want somebody to come in, to help them clean up Jefferson City.

"We have to restore trust in government. We've had too many instances here in Jefferson City where the people of Missouri believe their government is corrupt - and I'm going to come in to clean that government up."

When pressed to define that "corruption," Greitens said this summer: "People who are giving thousands of dollars in tickets to Cardinals games and Chiefs games and vacations for people's families - that's corruption and it needs to end."

He pledges to "ban all gifts from lobbyists" to lawmakers and government officials; "close the revolving door" that allows lawmakers to leave office and become lobbyists for "special interests;" and "put in place term limits for every statewide office holder."

Only the lawmakers, governor and state treasurer have limits to their terms in office, under the current state law and constitutional provisions.

Although he didn't discuss it during the interview, Koster's campaign website says he also supports making campaign donations more transparent and banning all gifts from lobbyists to public officials.

EDUCATION

Both men say Missouri needs to improve education.

Greitens said: "One of the things we need to do in order to get better schools is to support our local teachers and our parents.

"We need to make sure that that money actually gets into the classrooms, where it can support our teachers and our kids."

He noted more than half of Missouri's public school districts don't offer advanced placement classes to their high school students.

"What I know from my experience as a Navy SEAL, my experience running my own business (and) my experience founding and running The Mission Continues is that throwing money at problems doesn't create results," Greitens said. "You have to empower teachers, parents, kids at the local level in order to get results."

Koster said money is part of the problem.

In 1993, he noted, lawmakers passed and then-Gov. Mel Carnahan signed Senate Bill 380, which added $350 million to the formula for distributing state aid to public schools.

"Since then, the General Assembly has taken three $350 million steps backward - or, approximately, $1 billion," Koster said.

Even after the Legislature in 2005 rewrote the formula, he said, the annual state budgets haven't fully funded what was promised.

"Fulfilling the promise to Missouri school children and having a Legislature keep that promise every year, I think is very, very important just to the credibility of the state," he said.

TRANSPORTATION

Greitens has said several times during the campaign that Missouri needs to improve its roads and bridge system - but first must help the Transportation department regain Missourians' trust before they agree to spend more money.

Koster said it's past time for the state to act - but doesn't offer his own plan.

"It's too important of a question for just one person to name the funding proposal, but I do believe that we we can come up with a realistic funding proposal" by working with interested lawmakers, he said, adding the governor then must "get out and campaign for it and describe the statewide importance that we do that."

HEALTH CARE

Koster thinks Missouri has made a mistake not taking the extra federal money offered states as part of the Affordable Care Act that most call "Obamacare."

"The federal government is trying to send us a $2 billion check each year, and we continue to take those checks, tear them up, put them in the toilet and flush it, uncashed," he explained.

But taking that money would help, not hurt, health care in the state, he said.

"We are losing a rural hospital in this state approximately every eight months, (including) the hospitals in Osceola, Mount Vernon, Springfield, at Farmington, (and) in Reynolds County," Koster said, "and there will be more losses in the coming year because the economics of health care have changed."

Greitens hasn't talked about the issue a great deal, but has said people should end Obamacare and replace it "with a conservative solution."

TAX CUTS AND BUDGETING

Greitens said Missouri government needs to cut spending.

"We need to have a budget that is focused on the priorities of the people of Missouri," he explained. "You ask people about their priorities, and they tell you, 'Of course, we should be spending more money on roads, on bridges, on ports on infrastructure.'

"They'll also tell you that they don't trust the crooked, career politicians like Chris Koster, in Jefferson City to spend their money wisely."

Koster supported a phased-in tax cut plan that Nixon strongly opposed.

"That is going to be a challenge to manage" when it begins taking effect, Koster said last week. "Before we do another round of tax cuts, prudence suggests we get a comfort level with what we have."

ABORTION

Koster said he's pro-choice.

Greitens said he's "pro-life, and I believe we need to recognize, protect and defend all lives, including the lives of the unborn."

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Election Day is Nov. 8

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CANDIDATE PROFILE: CHRIS KOSTER

Age: 52

Family: Single

Education background: Bachelor's degree from University of Missouri, Columbia, 1987; UMC Law School graduate, 1991; master's degree in business administration, Washington University-St. Louis, 2002.

Work experiences: Private practice attorney with Blackwell Sanders (now Husch Blackwell) in Kansas City, 1991-95; elected Cass County prosecuting attorney, 1995-2005; Missouri Senate, 2005-09; Missouri attorney genera, 2009-present.

Campaign finance:

The next quarterly campaign finance report is due Oct. 15 for the July 1-Sept. 30 fundraising period. But the candidates also had to file a "30 days after the primary election report," and it showed, as of Sept. 1, Koster had:

Raised $18,848,680.04 for the full election cycle.

Spent $7,958,898.14.

Debt (including credit charges) of $34,830.26.

$9,482,255.41 cash on hand.

State law requires candidates to report within 48 hours any contributions received that are $5,000 or more.

From Sept. 1-28, Koster raised an additional $485,563.27 in 33 separate donations - making his total receipts $19,334,243.31 through Sept. 28.

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CANDIDATE PROFILE: ERIC GREITENS

Age: 42

Family: Married to Sheena, five years; 2 boys - 2 years old and 3 months old

Education background: Bachelor's degree from Duke University, North Carolina, 1996; Rhodes Scholar with Ph.D. from Oxford University, London, England, 2000.

Work experiences: Joined the U.S. Navy in January 2001, trained as a Navy SEAL and served four overseas deployments involving counter-terrorism, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Other experience: Also did humanitarian work overseas, working mostly with children who were Bosnian refugees, survivors of violence in Rwanda and Zaire and Cambodia, and one of Mother Theresa's homes for the destitute and dying.

Campaign finance:

The next quarterly campaign finance report is due Oct. 15 for the July 1-Sept. 30 fundraising period. But the candidates also had to file a "30 days after the primary election report," and it showed that, as of Sept. 1, Greitens had:

Raised $13,359,265.75 for the full election cycle.

Spent $10,066,756.43

Debt (including credit charges) of $10,501.36

$3,243,424.38 cash on hand.

State law requires candidates to report within 48 hours any contributions received that are $5,000 or more.

From Sept. 1-28, Greitens raised an additional $2,644,017 in 58 separate donations - making his total receipts $16,003.282.75 through Sept. 28.