Did you know that funding for our Public schools is deeply embedded in our State Constitution? That's right! It's found in Article 9 and all of that amendment's sections. And for our district, our local schools are the very "heart" of our communities.
If they're not making sure no kid goes hungry. They do huge school supplies drives so kids don't go without. Why? Because they care about the community and get a full view of just how real the "struggle" is for a lot of working parents in this area. It can be said that our schools are the one resource we have that we know we can count on because they want our kids to succeed in all areas of life with the best education they can give--all while trying to buy their supplies for their classroom and making a barely livable wage.
That in and of itself makes it harder for our kids to get a "world-class" education in and by itself, then when laws like SB 727--A law that will divert our TAX DOLLARS from our public schools into private and charter schools; makes it nearly impossible to invest in our kids' future.
For the past 20 years, the Mo GOP has refused to reinvest in our children's futures; resulting in our education system falling at the very bottom of the national rank (48th) out of 50 states. As your state representative, I will fight to ensure our tax dollars goes to our public schools and not to fill the coffers of billionaires.
,
I know Reproductive Health Care is a hot topic and not a very popular one. But I am adamantly very "Pro-choice", and let me explain why.
I'm a mom of 4 girls, and I want them to be able to make decisions for themselves when it comes to what kind of health care they need in the future. Be it having access to birth control, IVF, or abortion. And while most folks tend to jump straight to the emotionally charged arguments to defend their stance on "pro-life" --It's a topic that's not that simple.
I know from first-hand experience why reproductive health care and maternity care are important. All of my labor and deliveries had to be induced early due to pregnancy complications (yes technically early induction is considered an abortion by definition) that could have killed me. I also know too well the trauma that comes from not being given a choice when pregnancy goes wrong. You can read of my experience here : https://jojobeansmo.wixsite.co...
Let me ask what do you think establishes a right? Is it just a group of old dudes in powder white wigs, sitting around just deciding on what people should or shouldn't be doing? or is it a set on an idea of a "higher form" of philosophy? Well, it's the latter of both. When our founders started making what rights we can have; they used the concept of bodily autonomy.
Bodily Autonomy is what establishes people as people or a human being. So when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade; it essentially opened up the door to stripping everyone of their bodily autonomy and not just women's right to choose whether or not she wants to keep a pregnancy. So you see, fellas this will come around to bite y'all too, because now a state can decide that you don't need a right and take it.
We deserve bodily autonomy to ensure the rest of our Constitutionally protected rights as Missourians.
Faith in government and the political process is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. As your state rep, I’ll fight to shine a light on those who conceal their donors and influence our politics with dark money.
Over the years, Republicans have eroded the barrier between special interests and politics. In 2018, Missourians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Amendment 1, known as CLEAN MO. It capped contributions and limited the way money could move in and out of campaign coffers.
Special interests have continued to find loopholes around these laws, pushing ‘dark money’ further into the political process. At the same time, Republicans are advocating for the repeal of Amendment 2.
Ultimately, this campaign isn’t about me. This is your campaign and I want you to be proud of it and the coalition we build along the way. That’s why I’ll provide you easy access to the sources of our campaign money.
One thing that the Mo GOP supermajority has failed to deliver is access to quality health care and mental health in rural Missouri, particularly in our district - so we tend to live by the "farmer's pain scale" to make calls on whether or not we need a duct tape as a band-aid or if we need an actual doctor because we're on "death's door."
Our choices to get basic maternity care, checkups, critical care, etc, - are limited at best. And if we need critical care our choices are at least a 2 - 4 hour drive, one way. And that's not even mentioning that our mental health facilities are overloaded with cases and understaffed. (Ask any referral nurse in a clinic or a social worker and they'll tell you all about it), and super hard to get an appointment for even with a doctor's referral.
And that's not even mentioning that most folks can't afford to go to the doctor. Because they can't afford to take off work to go or they can't afford insurance. And this is why we need to expand the income threshold for Medicaid to cover more folks in our district that otherwise go without.
we don't have to keep waiting for us to be "unconscious" and a problem becomes an even bigger issue; before go see a doctor.
Part of the job of our state representatives and senators (Even on a federal level) is to bring back money to their districts for basic, but critical infrastructure. But they haven't been doing their jobs. Instead, our reps and senators claim it's "fiscally irresponsible" and a waste of our tax dollars leaving us with broken bridges and roads with potholes that leave you feeling like you're in the Titanic; "Going down with the ship and sing Celine Dion" when you hit one.
That lack of reinvestment back into our infrastructure costs us more in vehicle repair and maintance from the potholes than we do in taxes. And that's not even talking about how bad our bridges are.. If you look up the bridge inspections for our district it will make you wonder how many folks are playing "Dukes of Hazard" to get across them, but I digress.
Another aspect to our infrastructure is our power grids. Now I consider ourselves lucky that our power company is really good at what they do and keep the lights on, but like the rest of crumbling infrastructure--It needs updates here and there to keep up with the more use of power. Since it's a co-op, it needs to be able to have grants to do that with. Our state needs to start investing in that as well to help innovate the need for power by folks.
Water pipes! Did you know that Missouri ranks 14th nationally for having lead in our drinking water? I mean it would explain a lot about our politics in Mo Leg, but I diverge and go back to the topic at hand. There's over 200,000 lead pipes still in use across the state. That one lead pipe too many. Helping small towns get funding for their water system is a non neogitable form of infrastructure --because we deserve clean, lead free drinking water.
Nobody knows the problems in our communities quite like we do; it's usually us as a collective whole that must come together and find solutions for them. That's why local control is so important to communities like ours; it gives us a way to get directly involved with policies and projects that meet the needs of the folks living here.
I have no desire to interfere with that progress and won't. I will fight for the people who live in our district and try to keep the state government -limited instead of being a "nanny" state.