St. Louis businessman Spence to run for Missouri governor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- St. Louis businessman Dave Spence said Tuesday that he will run for Missouri governor, setting up a likely Republican primary for the right to challenge Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in next year's elections.

Spence, who declared his candidacy in an interview with The Associated Press, becomes the first prominent Republican to officially enter the governor's race. But Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder also is expected to announce his gubernatorial candidacy soon. They would meet in an August primary.

"I am 100 percent committed to running for governor in 2012," Spence said Tuesday.

Spence, 53, of the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, is the president and CEO of Alpha Packaging, which makes plastic bottles for pharmaceuticals, vitamins and personal care products, among other things. He also is chairman of Legacy Packaging, a pharmaceutical packaging firm.

A first-time candidate for public office, Spence will be starting with scant statewide name recognition, but he said Tuesday that he will put some of his own money into the campaign -- "enough to be credible," though he declined to provide a specific dollar amount.

Spence had told the AP last week that that he was waiting for Kinder to announce his intentions before making a final decision on whether to run for governor. Spence said Tuesday that he decided he could no longer wait and needed to start organizing his own campaign committee. He promised a campaign focused on the economy.

"Job creation is No. 1 -- that is something that I understand, I've done it for a living," Spence said. "As I talked to more and more employers and business owners around the state, I just felt there was a need for someone to come in and make sense of all it."

Spence said he wants to reduce government interference in businesses and make Missouri a "right-to-work" state where union fees cannot be a condition of employment. Missouri voters defeated a right-to-work ballot initiative in 1978. But since then, union membership rolls have declined, and Spence said he would support an effort to again place the issue before voters.

Kinder released a written statement later Tuesday that also focused on the economy and on the incumbent whom he and Spence both want to unseat.

"Missouri needs a governor committed to job creation, economic growth, smaller government, cutting wasteful spending and reducing burdensome regulation -- that person is not Jay Nixon," Kinder said. "I am confident a primary will give Republicans a positive opportunity to pick the person who has the best vision and the right experience to defeat Governor Nixon in November."

A spokesman for Nixon's campaign referred questions to the state Democratic Party, which focused on Spence's past position on the board of directors for Reliance Bancshares Inc. The bank holding company in February announced it would stop making the annual $2.2 million dividend payment due to the U.S. Treasury on the $42 million it received under a federal bank bailout program.

"David Spence says he wants government out of business -- unless, of course, it's a business he helps run," said Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki. "Spence had no problem accepting a $40 million bank bailout and then refused to pay it back."

The economy figures to be the top issue for all of Missouri's gubernatorial candidates.

In the past year and a half, Nixon has attended more than 50 events with local officials touting decisions by specific businesses to locate in Missouri, expand their facilities or hire more employees -- often with the aid of state tax incentives. A few of those businesses have since failed, including the recent high-profile demise of Mamtek U.S. Inc., which Nixon had said could create more than 600 jobs at a new production facility for artificial sweetener in Moberly.

Although the Mamtek deal collapsed before any state incentives actually were paid, the city of Moberly had issued $39 million in bonds for the facility. After Mamtek missed a bond payment to the city, Moberly said it would default on the bonds.

The Mamtek failure came in the midst of a special legislative session focused on economic development. The session's marquee bill would have pared back existing tax credits and created new incentives to spur international trade at the St. Louis airport, entice computer data centers to locate in Missouri and draw big-time amateur sporting events to the state. But the bill failed when the Republican-led House and Senate were unable to agree on a final version.

Spence blamed the bill's demise on Nixon and legislative leaders and pointed to the troubled special session as an example of why new leadership is needed in Missouri. Spence said he supports efforts to generate more revenue at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, but he said the legislation got loaded up with so many provisions that it became too cumbersome to pass.

It "became an aircraft carrier in the Mississippi -- it was unwieldy," he said. "It was bad management all the way around."