Luetkemeyer reflects on time in office

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) is retiring at the end of his term. ABC 17 News spoke with several candidates who are on the ballot in the Aug. 6 primary for the Third District seat. ABC 17 News anchor Meghan Drakas sat down with Luetkemeyer, who reflected on his time in office.

Meghan Drakas: "Hi, Congressman. How are you?"

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer: "I'm well. How are you this afternoon?"

Drakas: "Very good. Thank you for taking time out of your day to sit down with me. I appreciate it."

Luetkemeyer: "My pleasure. My pleasure."

Drakas: "So, Congressman, to start off, how are you feeling as your final term is coming closer to an end?"

Luetkemeyer: "Well, there's a lot of mixed feelings. Really because it's something I've worked hard for the last 16 years to be able to be in position that I am today, where I could possibly be the financial services chairman of the next term. I've got, I had money in the bank for my reelection. The district was very favorable to me, so I could have continued on. But, you know, there comes a point in time whenever, you know, you weigh things a little differently and my family has always been at the center of all my decisions. And right now it's time to make them the center of my life again. And so I have, you know, some mixed emotions about leaving all of the things I've worked for. But I'm excited for this next chapter. You know, I waited till I was... to my youngest child was a senior (in school) before I got involved in politics 26 years ago. And now my grandkids are at an age where it'd be nice if I was around to enjoy them, and be a part of their lives. And so, that's what's most important to me. So yeah, I'm both kind of, you know, kind of a little disappointed that we not going farther. But at the end of the day, I'm excited to be able to spend more time with the family and be able to come home full-time now, instead of part-time."

Drakas: "And out of everything you have accomplished in your political career, what do you look back and see that you are most proud of?"

Luetkemeyer: "Well, you know, when you get in the political world, you know, a lot of people are going to for the wrong reasons. And I think because their own self glorification for their own benefit. I got in it because I want to help people. And so to me, the things that are the things I look back on as successes are the things where I was able to help people. And that's why when people ask me what's the best part of my job, and I always tell the constituent work. And constituent work, really. And so my job is really three things legislative works, constituent work and it's a political part of it as well. So I spend about a third of my time on each part of it, and they kind of look at you like really one, two, three time legislative stuff. Yep, I don't do it in thirds. I don't get to be a legislator either. But the conceptual side is where you can really make a difference in people's lives immediately. You know, And nobody knows about it except the person that you helped or the group that you helped. But at the end of the day, you look in the mirror and you know you've made a difference in somebody's life, or some groups like today. And that's really a neat feeling. And so that's the stuff that I'll remember or that is the accomplishments that we had with regards to individuals and groups who came to us for help and myself and my staff. And again, my staff was fantastic over the last 16 years have been great. They're the ones who do a lot of the real work, but through them and my efforts, we were able to get a lot of things accomplished for our constituents. And that, to me, is what this job is all about, is helping people have a better life, have access to their government."

Drakas: "And kind of moving on to confirm, have you endorsed candidate Kurt Schaefer for District 3?"

Luetkemeyer: "Yeah, I endorsed court endorsed Kurt right off the bat. You know, he's a very capable gentleman. I've known him for a long time. He's a man of integrity, honesty. He's got the spine to be able to survive in the swamp of D.C. His political record, legislative record is one of conservative votes over and over again. I think that he'll be a really, really good congressman for us, and I'm excited to endorse him. I think it's going to be fantastic. And as a sidelight, he actually lives in the district, one of his main opponents, those people in the district. So Mr. Onder moved out of the district, in fact, and still wants to run the district. So he can't even vote for himself and he wants you to vote for him. So, that to me is not acceptable. Kurt's been as steady as you go, guy. Got a great family, strong, sharp as a whip. He's an attorney, former assistant attorney general, former state senator. I think he's the whole package. I mean, he's got life experiences to be able to fall back on to make decisions which are such a really important asset. When you go to Congress, you're going to have those life experiences that help round you out to be able help you understand issues and the effect of those of those votes that you take on the people's lives of the district and of the country. So, I think Kurt's a perfect choice. I think he's going to do a fantastic job and I endorse him 100%."

Drakas: "And I know you brought it up. In an interview with Kurt. He also brought up that he lives in the district and one of his main competitors, Dr. Onder does not. Why do you think it's so important to live in the district that you represent?"

Luetkemeyer: "Well, I think it's important to live there because that's where you're going to represent. Those are the issues. Those are the people that you're going to take to Washington, D.C. and try and represent. And yet, you don't feel enough compassion for those people. You don't feel enough empathy, you don't feel enough concern about those people to even live in the district. I know there's a couple of people in Congress right now that live outside their district, but they live outside because they were initially elected in their districts. And through redistricting, they've been now they live outside their districts. This is a situation where Dr. Onder moved out of the district, knowing full well what's a district last year because he as a state senator, he voted on this map. And so now he's decided to run in the district anyway. And so I good questions to ask Bob, who are you going to vote for in the August 6th for the congressional seat, Bob? He can't vote for himself. He wants you to vote for him, though. So I think to me, it's it's a untenable situation. I know technically he doesn't have to live in the district, but I think it's a real slap in the face to the people of the Third District. So somebody is trying to buy this election and represent these people. And just so we can have a seat in Congress, I want somebody, like I said a while ago, but my main concern is about people who actually want to represent and do something for the people. It looks to me like, you know, Schaefer. You know, Mr. Schaefer, his opponent has got a different agenda. And I think that's wrong."

Drakas: "And, Congressman, what are your current thoughts on the political atmosphere and then the rhetoric surrounding that?"

Luetkemeyer: "Well, it's always been like this, but it was probably not at this level. But I mean, I served in the state legislature, 26 years ago. And, you know, there's always a lot of back and forth. There's always a lot of skirmishing going on. And until social media and the 24-hour news cycle, you never heard a lot about it, but it was still there. Now, fast forward to today and the 24-hour news cycle and social media and you've created some situation where individuals like to be on the air and make a name for themselves. I can tell you from conversations, this is what they want to do. They don't want to govern anymore. They want to be a web warrior and be able to be on the Internet and be able to be on your website tonight and your Facebook tomorrow. And and then that's that's not governing. That's being a show. So there's workhorses and show horses. And those are show horses. And you want to work hard. You want someone like Kurt Schaefer. He's somebody who wants that, who cares about people. And this is what I've done my entire career. I intend to not be on TV every night. I don't want to be on TV because if you're there, you're probably not doing the job. You're probably worried about your your your political face rather than what you should be doing: What's the... what's the job you have to represent the people. So I may try to take a different look at things and most folks, but to me, this job is about people. It's about representing people and their interests, their concerns, and protecting them against the kind of nonsense that's going on in Washington right now. And so I spend my whole day raising hell with a lot of the regulators and the financial services world, because that's where I spend most of my time. But I'm on the China Select Committee, as well. And so, where they're trying to find ways to minimize China's impact on our country as it is and and hopefully prepare ourselves for and not have to be using our preparedness that with regards to them going into Taiwan and then we go into a meltdown. But, I think that this is this is about doing your job, representing the people, looking out for the welfare of this country and the best interests of our country and... and working with the people around you to get that done. You can't get things done if you're going to be a there's no "eye "I" in team. You're going to be a star on TV all the time. You're probably aren’t a team player. You're probably not going to get stuff done. And I'm proud of the things I've accomplished, you know, And you can go look at some of these people who you see regularly on TV. I can tell you, because I know then, I knew the records ,between them all, they're probably I've got enough passed enough bills to fill one hand. So I do that in one year. And so I just think that there's a better way to go about this. And I think somebody like Kurt Schaefer is a perfect guy to take my spot, somebody who represents those kind of ideals and ideas to try and get through the muck and the must of D.C. and get things done. It's it's hard work. Governing is hard work. And whenever you're spending time on TV, you're probably not doing the grunt work it takes to get bills passed. But talking to people and convincing them one on one what the issues are and what you need to be doing to be able to get stuff accomplished. And that's where I spend my time and my staff spends more time trying to get stuff accomplished for people who are great district in the state of Missouri."

Drakas: "And is there anything else that you would like to add that we have not covered?"

Luetkemeyer: "No, that's some good questions today."

Drakas: "Thank you. I appreciate it. Well, Congressman, thank you so much for taking time out of your day again to sit down with me. I really appreciate it."

Luetkemeyer: "Thank you for the time."