Mo. gov. candidate Steelman calls senators 'cowards'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Sarah Steelman is calling senators "cowards" for voting to overturn her treasurer's office policy blocking financial incentives for ethanol plants with lawmakers as investors.

The treasurer's office oversees a program providing state money for banks to offer below-market interest rates to ethanol and biodiesel plants.

But Steelman bars companies from getting incentives if they have even a single investor who is an elected state official, department director or a relative of those people.

The policy has outraged some lawmakers who are investors in ethanol and biodiesel plants.

Senators voted in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to overturn Steelman's policy by allowing the incentives so long as state officials own less than 2 percent of the business.