Missouri governor candidate interview: Mike Kehoe

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

ABC 17 News is interviewing candidates in the major races on the August primary ballot.

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe is seeking the Republican nomination for governor against two well-funded opponents and a large field of others.

Lucas Geisler : What's some of your background as far as politics go? And before you got into politics?

Mike Kehoe : Well, yeah, I'm not actually a professional politician. I'm a small business person. Thirty-five years in small business from north St. Louis City, worked my way up through washing cars at a dealership and eventually acquired a manufacturing business in Linn and a car dealership in Jefferson City. So this is my background, that and farming, we're 40 years in the cow-calf business.

Geisler : What made you want to run for this position?

Kehoe : Well, I got into politics originally because I thought a business person who's actually, you know, had risk capital, sign both sides of a paycheck, would be a good person to be involved in policy discussions as we move forward. Governor Parson asked me to become lieutenant governor several years ago, and we've traveled the state now. And as we meet people, we find it's really important to continue with that mission. Having a business person who's a business career, built several successful businesses with the help of a lot of people, created hundreds of jobs over my career. And we believe that's a good kind of perspective to have if you go forward and lead the state.

Geisler : Let's talk a little bit about business in the state. What's your position as governor as far as taxes in the state goes? And government spending since the governor has a huge role in determining that.

Kehoe : Well, I was the first candidate in this race to sign the Norquist Institute no-new-tax pledge. So Missourians know under my administration there will be no new taxes. And part of our economic development plan, with the help of Dr. Art Laffer, who was Ronald Reagan's economist, and now Donald J. Trump's economist, is to eliminate our state's personal income tax. We've taken it since I've been in the Senate and lieutenant governor from 6% down to 4.7%. We'd like to take that down to zero. It's the largest tax any Missourian pays. And I believe that Missourians can spend their money better than any elected official can any day. So putting money back in Missourians' pockets is going to be our goal.

Geisler: Any idea as far as offsetting the effect on the budget then, like when it comes to spending?

Kehoe : Yeah, well, certainly. I mean, we're going to have some tough budget years ahead of us because the federal government dump truck loads of cash is over with that we saw for the last two or three years. So I think it's even more important to have a business person who understands how to make those decisions. But it's basically Ronald Reagan's economic theory, is that if you give people their money back, they'll spend it better than anybody can, and the ripple effect will help our economy. It's not something you can do with a light switch and just all of a sudden one day do it. You have to have a ramp, a reasonable ramp to do that. We've done that. We've taken it down 1.3% in the last five years, and we've still have funded essential services, education, public safety, etc.. So we believe we can get there.

Geisler : China has been a major part of this campaign and particularly this race. What do you think is the appropriate relationship between the state of Missouri and Chinese-owned businesses?

Kehoe : Yeah, well, I don't think we should sell anything to any enemy of our country. And I don't think we should balance this on the backs of Missouri farmers. It should be farmland, it should be businesses. A property in the middle of downtown St. Louis or Kansas City should also not be sold to any of our enemies. And there's only seven. And so you would think it's China, Russia, Venezuela, etc.. And so I've been very clear on that. As governor, we will craft a policy so that enemies of our country, not allies, enemies of our country, cannot own anything here in the state of Missouri.

Lucas : That 2013 vote has come up a lot during the campaign as well. I'm curious if you'd, if you'd be interested or would pursue anything about making companies divest, those who do have foreign ownership.

Kehoe : Well, the 2013 vote, which was also supported by U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt and others, was really about jobs keeping 450 jobs up in northwest Missouri. And that's what that's all about. And the relationship our country and our state had with some of these foreign owners was very different 11 years ago than it is today. So times have changed. They're clearly our enemy. They should not be able to own any business here in the State of Missouri.

Geisler : I want to ask you about crime as well and your plans with that. You think it's safe to live in Missouri?

Kehoe : I think it's safe to live in Missouri, but we need to up our game on getting our community safer. I'm the only candidate in this race that's been backed by all four law enforcement groups across the state. Fraternal Order of Police, the Highway Patrol Troopers Association, sheriffs and police chiefs, etc. And they believe that my day one crime plan, when my hand comes off the Bible, is to give resources and provide the necessary things that men and women who are protecting our communities need so they expand their police forces. You know, St. Louis is down 350 officers. Kansas City is down 330 as of today, Highway Patrol is down 150. We've got to up our game and get more people into that profession, make sure they know we appreciate them and then take our communities back. It's got to be the number one thing we do when I walk in office.

Geisler : Recruitment, definitely big. Are there any other programs that you've seen around the state that you like that you'd like to maybe expand or invest further into?

Kehoe : Sure. Well, other states have had some really good models out there that they're working with, similar to what you would do when you serve in the military, like a GI Bill type thing where you pay for some education. Are you, if you're in law enforcement, maybe your children qualify for certain things, retention, benefits, the same way with retirement. There is a way to get there with the help of the local communities that also need these law enforcement officers and create the best state in the union for not only recruitment, but retention of law enforcement officers. That's what Missouri needs to be known for. We have a plan to get us there.

Geisler : Let's talk about education in the state. What do you think is the current state of affairs of public education in Missouri?

Kehoe : Well, you know, we passed one of the most sweeping education bills in Senate Bill 727 this year that the governor signed. I was very involved in that bill in both the Senate and the House working with members to get that done. Not only record levels of funding to public education, but choice for Missourians and parents who feel like their district is not the right thing for their child. Maybe it's the curriculum, maybe it's the distance they have to go somewhere. So giving parents choice is a big thing, and I believe we can continue to expand that as we go forward.

Geisler : How do you ensure that student achievement keeps moving in the right direction? We currently have testing as one metric for that, but in your administration, how are you interested in making sure that kids are learning what they need to be learning and moving in the right direction?

Kehoe : Well, we call it Beyond 12, our plan to, and I didn't create that plan or the name for it, but I like it, and it really is what men and women are going to do past 12th grade. So testing is definitely one way to measure results. And I think you have to continue to do that. But what they do after 12th grade is also a way to measure results. Do they go into career and technical training, they go to community college, you go to a four-year school? What are the paths we are supplying for them and how are we working with the industry and employers on what needs they have to make sure we're giving them the trained young men and women that they actually have openings for.

Geisler : Immigration has been a big part of this campaign in this race. What is the relationship that you see between the executive office of Missouri and immigration, illegal immigration that's happening at the southern border?

Kehoe : Well, I've been to the border twice, once with National Guard troops and once with highway patrol men down there. It's worse than you see, the amount of deadly, fatal Chinese-made fentanyl that's coming across our border, amongst other things, is at all-record highs. And I will work with Donald J. Trump. I'm hopeful that he will be the president to work on him to make sure we stop immigration. And then the people that we have here illegally, as our law enforcement officers find them, we want to give them the tools to be able to get those folks out of our state. It's a huge problem for the State of Missouri, and it's [one] many states are facing. It is something we need to tackle first thing. We need a change in D.C. to help us with that and assuming we can get that change and even if we don't, we'll continue to fight it.

Geisler: Do you think there is a link with particularly drug trafficking?

Kehoe : Definitely.

Geisler : I know a lot of people have linked that between Missouri and immigration.

Kehoe : In McAllen, Texas, alone with Operation Lone Star, 450 million doses of fatal fentanyl were intercepted coming across the border. That's enough to kill the U.S. population 1.3 times over. It's the No. 1 killer in Missouri, in the U.S. from 18 to 44 year olds. That now is part of the biggest problem coming in with the immigration.

Geisler : I'd like to ask you about health care in the state as well. What's your plan as far as maybe reversing the trend that we've seen lately, especially in rural parts of the state where hospitals have closed? What’s the plan as far as rural health care goes?

Kehoe : One of my competitors, Senator Eigel, says “Let rural hospitals close.” That's not acceptable to me. The No. 1 industry in the state is agriculture, and if you want to continue to feed and clothe the world, and you want to grow our ag economy, we have to have access to health care. So we're working very closely with the hospital association as well as some of those rural health clinics and what models we can deliver that are sustainable in these rural areas. Broadband is a huge piece of that, so we can deliver telehealth to the areas where brick-and-mortar facilities might not be necessary. But if we want our kids to come into agriculture, we want third, fourth, fifth generation farmers, we're going to have to give them access to health care in some of these rural communities where there's not a lot of other options. So expanding access to Missourians is a key component of what we need to get done as well.

Geisler : As of us talking right now, we'll see if in November there will be a ballot measure about abortion and reproductive health care in Missouri. I'd like to know your stance on that ballot measure specifically, what you think of it, and also what is, your what are your thoughts on the current abortion laws in the state?

Kehoe : Well, I support our current abortion laws. The heartbeat bill, I wouldn't call them abortion. I would call them pro-life laws, by the way. I hope and pray that that doesn't get to the ballot. It looks like it could. If it does get to the ballot, I will urge Missourians and do everything I can to fight to defeat it. If somehow it passes, I think you need, I know you need a governor in the office that is a pro-life governor, that has a track record as we do. I was awarded the Statesman for Life as lieutenant governor just two years ago from pro-life organizations. And Secretary Ashcroft has said if he won governor and that initiative passed, he'd have to quit. This is not a time for quitters in office. This is a time for somebody who's going to continue to protect life every day, day in and day out when they get to the governor's office.

Geiser : Lieutenant Governor, that's all the questions that I have. I appreciate your time. Is there anything that I didn't ask you that you want to add?

Kehoe : Sure. I would love to have voter support. They can go to Mike Kehoe dot com. That's our website. They can see a little two-minute video about our life called "Living Proof." And I think once people see that, they'll see who I am. There's a lot of negative attack ads out there right now, so that tells us we're doing something right. They're not going to attack you if you're 10 points behind. And so if you want to see who the real Mike Kehoe is, go to Mike Kehoe dot com. Take a quick look at that video.

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