Candidate Q&A - State house; Jason Crowell

District 158

1. Options to help the state out of its continuing budget problems include raising taxes, eliminating more programs or a combination of the two. Which would you prefer and why?

I don't agree with the question. The only way the state will climb out of the current fiscal situation we find ourselves in is for the legislature to do all it can to make Missouri once again attractive to businesses. I am sad to report that Missouri leads the nation in job loss. Sixty-one thousand jobs left the state last year because for the last 12 years Missouri government has chosen to overtax, overregulate and burden Missouri's small businesses. This must stop.

We need workers compensation reform, unemployment compensation reform and regulatory reform now. If we as a state do this, we will be able to save good manufacturing jobs like those in Hazelwood at the Ford Motor Company's Explorer assembly plant that are slated to be cut.

Missouri's small businesses are the engine that must be primed and tuned up to pull the state out of our current situation. I do not support raising taxes.

2. Keeping in mind that lawmakers have no control over how money from the state road fund is spent, what action do you propose to improve Missouri's transportation system?

Accountability. I continue to support and call for the highway commission to adopt a simple funding distribution method that allocates highway dollars on a safety-needs basis. Let's do not only the smart, but moral, thing.

Where we have people dying and accidents occurring, let's spend our resources there first. It is common sense to fix dangerous roads before we build sound walls in St. Louis and Kansas City. It is insane to me that we allow St. Louis and Kansas City to have 50 percent of our highway dollars just because they are St. Louis and Kansas City.

Next, I would remove politics from the commissioner selection process. We must make sure that no one governor can pack the commission. Therefore, we must stagger the terms of commissioners and make appointments to vacancies for only the remainder of a term. We must also follow, to some degree, the nonpartisan selection process we have for the judiciary when we select commissioners.

3. With the large number of fresh faces in the General Assembly next year due to term limits, what changes would you propose in the way the legislature does business?

The area that needs change in Jefferson City is the state's budget process. It does not work -- from the estimated revenue numbers that are never accurate to the craziness of giving an agency what it got last year just because that is what it got last year.

I support zero-based budgeting where state agencies must justify not only core budget (what they got last year) but also new line items they request. I also support exploring the possibility of adopting two-year budgeting for the state. This would allow for more time in the off year to explore more deeply for waste, fraud and abuse. The legislature should take more seriously its oversight obligations to Missouri taxpayers.

The manner in which legislation is passed and the committee process (with the exception of the number of committees) works. I don't advocate radical change to a process that has served this state so well for so long.

4. What agriculture-related legislation would you propose?

What Missouri farms, and particularly Southeast Missouri farmers, need are opportunities in value-added markets and opportunities to sell abroad. I strongly support biodiesel and soy diesel incentive programs to open up local markets. I stand with Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson in her call to open up agricultural trade with Cuba. Such a change in federal policy would greatly help Missouri's rice and row-crop farmers by providing new consumers for their products.

Serving on the Delta Center Advisory Board, I know the importance agriculture in Southeast Missouri plays and the need to support Missouri's family farms. I will continue my fight for our family farmers in Jefferson City.

5. In one paragraph, why should someone vote for you rather than your opponent?

I have gotten the job done in Jefferson City for Cape Girardeau. I secured the state's final commitment of $1.8 million dollars for the Career and Technology Center while serving on the House Appropriations Committee for education. I supported and helped pass a state senior prescription drug program where our seniors -- Missouri's greatest generation -- will get relief from exploding prescription drug costs. In a tight budget year, I battled for and secured $167,000 for the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence so that sexually abused children receive the counseling they need and law enforcement has the resources it needs to put offenders away. As a lifelong resident of Cape Girardeau, I care about my hometown. I care about Southeast Missouri and about the Missouri we leave to future generations. I will continue my fight as the state representative from Cape Girardeau for all of Southeast Missouri to make sure that the promise of tomorrow is just a little bit brighter than today.