47th House District: Chuck Basye
Party: Republican
Age: 60
Place of residence: Rocheport
Occupation: State representative, retired Federal Aviation Administration employee
Education: Bachelor of science in agriculture from University of Missouri
Political experience: Fourth year, second term in state House of Representatives
Opponent: Adrian Plank
Recent state income tax cuts have been hailed by some as an economic jumpstart and derided by others as taking money that’s needed for social services and education. What is your opinion?
I know there’s a concern about that from the other side of the political ideology that I belong to. I think that it was a very responsible, if you’re talking about Elijah Haahr’s bill, I thought it was very responsible bill. It’s going to replace revenue with other means and I think overall that people should get more of their money back. I think families and businesses know how to spend their money much better than the government does and as a state employee now and a federal retiree I saw a lot of waste that government entities could be more efficient with the resources.
Voters will decide Nov. 6 whether to raise Missouri’s gas tax. Do you support raising the tax?
Yes, I’m not a fan of raising any taxes, but right after I was elected I went out with a MoDOT engineer and he showed me some things up close. When you see the underside of a bridge, which was the case with this gentleman, it is an eye opener. I think MoDOT overall does a very good job with the resources they have available but since we haven’t raised the gas tax in so long and all the input costs that they have to procure, I think this is a good plan. I am in support of it and I did endorse it.
Voters will also decide on whether to approve any of three medical marijuana proposals. What are your thoughts on the issue?
I am supportive of medical marijuana. I vote for it every time it comes up in either committee or on the House floor. However, I don’t think these three issues are the appropriate way to do it. I’m pretty sure they will pass at least Amendment 2, would be my guess from what I’m hearing.
I would prefer it to go through the legislature not because we know better than the people behind this but when it happens that way it’s heavily vetted through multiple committees on the House side and on the Senate side. It’s vetted on the Senate floor and the House floor and so I think the process is much more refined and proper. I think that would be my preference to see that happen but I am in full support of medical marijuana. I know that certain treatments for cancer and maybe MS, the medications are pretty rough on a lot of people. I think if this were to allow them to handle that medication better. I’m all for a doctor prescribing this for a patient.
What other key issues do you see facing the state?
Education is huge in my district and in Missouri in general. I think we ought to do everything we can to support parents and give their children the best education possible. I’m very supportive of public schools, our university here and our community colleges. In my district, we have two private schools, an independent school and there are a lot of homeschoolers. I think we need to consider them when making decisions surrounding education.
What pieces of legislation/causes are you most proud of since being in public office?
I’m pretty proud of my record on veteran issues. I’m a veteran; my family is full of veterans. I have a son that’s active in the Air Force, he’s in his 17th year. One thing that I’ve been heavily involved with is some advocacy work on behalf of combat veterans. A lot of these individuals, men and women both, that have a lot of invisible wounds. They are hesitant to talk about it because they think it’ll be a stigma on them. They’re struggling, they are having a lot of difficulty adjusting back into civilian life. Suicide is a tremendous problem with these people. I find that very troubling. I think we should do much more than what is being done. I’m not faulting the VA, they do the best they can. Sometimes, giving a veteran having some problems medication is not the answer.
The other thing I’d like to work on is getting additional insurance coverage for kids with a developmental disability. Autism is covered very well but these other brain and genetic disorders, down syndrome, do not have the appropriate coverage in our state. So I think that’s something we need to get behind.
