Candidates turn attention to fall election

Now that the August primaries are over, Columbia voters have a clearer picture of the match-ups for the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is competing with US Rep. Roy Blunt for the US Senate seat being vacated by Kit Bond, a race that the Washington Post ranks as one of the top 12 Senate toss-ups.
Blunt defeated state Sen. Chuck Pergason in the Republican primary to create a face-off of two of Missouri’s iconic political families. Carnahan’s father was a former governor, and her brother Russ represents the state’s 3rd District in the US House. Blunt’s son Matt served as Missouri’s governor from 2004 to 2008.
The other statewide race features current state Auditor Susan Montee against former Bush administration official Thomas Schweich. Schweich defeated state Budget Chairman Allen Icet for the Republican nomination earlier this month.
In local races, Democratic state Rep. Chris Kelly is being challenged by City Council member Laura Nauser, a Republican, to represent District 24, which covers southwestern Columbia and parts of southern Boone County.
First-term state Rep. Steven Webber will face Republican Paul Szopa in the race to represent the state’s 23rd District. The candidates in District 21, a seat being vacated by Republican Steve Hobbs, are Democrat Kelly Schultz and Republican John Cauthorn.
Democrats Mary Still, the District 25 statehouse representative, and Paul Quinn, the District 9 representative, are unopposed.
The race for Boone County presiding commissioner features former Republican state Rep. Ed Robb against Kaleidoscope Videoconferencing owner J. Scott Christianson, a Democrat.

Kelly’s fundraising exceeding ’08 pace

State Rep. Chris Kelly said he’s comfortable with his re-election campaign 10 weeks before the general election and has raised more money at this point than he had raised when running against Ed Robb two years ago.
Kelly, a Democrat who was also a House member in the 1980s, is being challenged by Laura Nauser, a Republican and member of the Columbia City Council who is seeking the 24th District seat for the first time.
For the race, Kelly has raised almost $130,000, according to his most recent state ethics commission filings. The Nauser campaign reported $40,490 in total contributions, including $20,000 from her husband, Greg.
When he was a state representative in the ’80s, Kelly said his campaign never raised more than $15,000. During his 2008 race, he raised $220,000, and Robb raised $170,000.
The majority of Kelly’s contributions heading into the final months of the campaign have come in the form of small donations from more than 500 separate donors, he said. The wide base of donors is something Kelly said is a positive reflection on his work in Jefferson City during the past two years.
“It’s much more important that people contribute rather than what they contribute,” Kelly said.
The $130,000 outpaces the more than $110,000 he raised at this point when facing then-incumbent Republican Ed Robb for the seat in 2008. One reason for this might be the inclusion of a number of Robb donors who Kelly said are supporting his campaign this year.
Kelly’s financial base was also helped by a contribution of $5,001 from retired St. Louis investment banker Rex Sinquefield. The contribution was one of about 15 Sinquefield made to legislators in the months before this year’s General Assembly session began.
Kelly said he agrees with a number of Sinquefield’s ideas on changing the state’s tax code — ideas that include moving Missouri from an income tax base to a consumption tax base.
The key to this approach, Kelly said, is making the move a gradual one. He plans to introduce a bill next session that would place sales tax on services but not raise the sales tax rate.
A gradual move to the consumption tax, Kelly said, would allow Missourians to see the idea in practice and alleviate fears associated with a consumption tax, including that such a tax would place a larger tax burden on people with low incomes.
One way to ensure the new tax is still progressive, he said, is to leave some type of income tax on those earning the most, while offering rebates to those of lower income levels.
“Some things liberals are right on; some things conservatives are right on,” Kelly said. “One thing (conservatives are right on) is to tax services.”
Kelly said this bipartisan approach to the tax code extends to his relationship with Columbia’s senator, Republican Kurt Schaefer.
Kelly described the experience of working with Schaefer during the past two years as a “pleasure” and a situation that has been beneficial for the community.
“The funny thing is, the party operatives from both sides do not like the fact that we work together,” Kelly said. “I can’t speak for him, but we don’t care.”
Kelly said his non-dogmatic approach might be one reason he is able to draw such a broad base of donors for his campaign. Although these donors have provided him a financial edge over his opponent, he still decried the campaign finance process as a whole.
“The whole business is completely out of proportion,” he said.
The $400,000 he and Robb raised in 2008 was more than all of the other local House races combined, according to media reports at the time.
“That’s insane, but that’s where the world is,” he said. “If it was up to me, we’d restore limits.”
Kelly said he is also not in favor of holding fundraising events for his campaign and prefers to hold events in which he can talk to voters. Both type of events end up costing about the same amount of money, Kelly said, and voters prefer a situation in which they can hear from a candidate.
Following that logic, Kelly said he also spends a good amount of time going door-to-door to hear from the voters. He said the major issues voters have spoken to him about this campaign have been education in Boone County, the economy and how the government will interact with medical providers and insurance companies.