Republican Missouri attorney general candidate interview: Will Scharf
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 News is interviewing candidates in the August primary ahead of the election. Below is an interview with Will Scharf, one of two Republicans seeking election to the Attorney General's office.
Scharf's opponent in the Republican primary is Andrew Bailey.
Democrat Elad Gross is also seeking the seat but has no challengers in August.
Morgan Buresh: Tell me a little bit about your background. What should voters know about you and what qualifies you to be Missouri's attorney general?
Will Scharf: Sure, so I've never run for office before. This is a new experience for me. My background is as a constitutional attorney, a violent crime prosecutor and a conservative activist. For the last year, I've been serving as a member of President Trump's legal team. I’ve defended him in courtrooms across America. I've won for him at the U.S. Supreme Court, I was on the team that won the presidential immunity appeal just a couple of weeks ago, and now these cases are falling like dominoes, I believe, because we're conservative fighters we’re conservative winners, and we've been repeatedly winning for President Trump.
And it's just great to see this whole leftist campaign of lawfare against President Trump collapse under its own weight. Before this, I was a federal violent crime prosecutor in St. Louis. I was an assistant U.S. attorney attached to the violent crime unit in the Eastern District of Missouri. I led over 100 federal felony prosecutions. I sent people to prison for cumulatively hundreds of years. So, I've seen the problem of violent crime on our streets really firsthand. And I think that if we don't get our violent crime problem in this state under control in the next couple of years, it's tough to see how Missouri has a bright future.
And before that, I was a conservative activist. During the Trump administration, I had the honor of working on judicial confirmations and nominations. I think the first Trump administration, one of their greatest legacies is that record of success of getting outstanding conservative judges confirmed to lower federal courts and also to the U.S. Supreme Court. I was on the teams that confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
So really, when you look at my career, I think I have a demonstrated record not just of being a fighter, but of being a winner for the conservative movement and for conservative causes. And I think I can do the same in the attorney general's office. I think that Missouri has suffered from a lack of strong executive leadership for a long time. I think Jefferson City is a mess. It's a capital city that's deeply in hock to a very narrow set of special interests and lobbyists and political insiders. And I think it's just time to overturn that dynamic and put good, strong conservative fighters into office.
Buresh: What, in your eyes is the role of the state's attorney general?
Scharf: I think first and foremost, it's protecting Missourians’ rights. And that plays out in a lot of different ways, whether that's combating the violent crime problem we have on our streets, whether that's combating overreaching federal bureaucrats and also state bureaucrats, I think there needs to be somebody who's really holding these unaccountable bureaucracies accountable. I think we don't have nearly enough of that right now. But when I'm sworn in, I'll swear an oath to preserve, protect, defend the U.S. Constitution, the constitution of the state of Missouri. I take my oath seriously. I think, first and foremost, the role of the attorney general, it's a calling. It's about protecting Missourians' rights wherever they happen to be threatened.
Buresh: What would be your priority when it comes to your office's spending? I know you mentioned crime, is that at the top or are there other things that stick out?
Scharf: Well, I think first and foremost, we need to build out an effective team of conservative lawyers. When you look at the staff turnover in the last year and a half, I mean, there were 226 lawyers who worked in that office in 2022 under Eric Schmitt. Barely 100 are left there today. That speaks to a deeply broken management and leadership culture in that office, and I think that needs to change if Missourians are going to have an AG’s office that's effective fighting and winning for them in courts.
So, I think first and foremost, we need to be hiring outstanding conservative lawyers. We need real leaders in that office. And I think all of the other policy priorities follow from there. We need to tackle our violent crime problem. I vowed to investigate DESE, our State Department of Education, and the other state bureaucracies that I believe are abusing Missourians' rights and not serving the people of Missouri. So, to me, it starts with getting the right people in place, and then it's about implementing a positive, forward-thinking conservative policy agenda that I believe is currently lacking in Jefferson City.
Morgan Buresh: So would you say when it does come to, just to clarify, when it does come to priorities on policies, crime is the main priority or, just, what would be the main thing there?
Scharf: I think it's crime, it's holding the federal government accountable and it's holding the state bureaucracy accountable.
Buresh: Gotcha. Thank you. And I did want to talk some specifics on crime. What, in your eyes, what crimes do you think are plaguing Missourians the most nowadays?
Will Scharf: Well, when you look at the violent crime problem in particular, which is very pronounced in our urban areas, but is increasingly impacting rural areas as well, you're looking at a comprehensive policy failure by our political leadership in Jefferson City. Crime policy really falls into three different buckets. You need policing, prosecution and the courts. Those are three separate points of failure. Right now, we're failing on all three. We don't have nearly enough police officers, law enforcement officers on the street. When those police officers make quality arrests, we're not turning nearly as many as we need to of those arrests into quality, high-level convictions. And then we have a court system that seems hell-bent on catch-and-release policies that don't adequately deter crime and don't incapacitate violent criminals to prevent them from committing more crimes. So from a policy perspective, I think we need to be putting people from the attorney general's office on the front line prosecuting violent crime. That's something we saw under Eric Schmitt. There's been a notable retrenchment on that front under Andrew Bailey.
We need much tougher bail and sentencing laws. We need much tougher pretrial detention laws. Right now, the idea that somebody commits a violent felony is cut out on bail 24 hours later and probably never sees the inside of a prison for even a day. That's not an adequate deterrent to crime and that's something that we need to fix.
Buresh: My next question was going to be, what do you think works? I feel like you kind of answered it when it comes to stopping violent crime, specifically. Do you have anything else to add?
Scharf: Yeah, the science on violent crime has been well-settled since the 1990s with Operation Ceasefire in Boston, with the Giuliani Miracle in New York. Crime follows a very tight Pareto distribution. A very small number of criminals commit a wildly disproportionate amount of crime. So what you're really looking at is tough pretrial detention and sentencing laws and effective prosecution. You need to be turning quality arrests into quality convictions. And then you need a court system that's committed to actually holding people accountable. Right now, we just don't have that. I think we desperately need court reform in this state, and that's something that I'd like to lead as the next attorney general.
Buresh: Something that I feel like the AG's office is known for is consumer protection. Will that be a priority if you are elected and if it will be, you know, how do you plan to approach scams and consumer protection in general?
Scharf: Yeah, consumer protection is something that affects Missourians, where it hurts many people the most in the pocketbook. We have a ton of scammers and fraudsters who operate in the state seemingly with impunity. I think that's a real problem. We've heard from folks all over the state that they report issues to the AG's office and they don't even get the courtesy of a response, much less effective action. I think that speaks to the staffing and manpower issues that they currently have in that office. I think it also speaks to a broken leadership culture and failed prioritization on the part of the current attorney general.
Buresh: How would you, I guess, any plans for just being more responsive or how would you up that if you're elected?
Scharf: Yeah, I mean, constituent services in that office right now is a mess and I don't know why that is. I mean, that needs to be a priority. People need to know that when they reach out to the attorney general's office, their complaints are being received, their complaints are being heard, and that action’s being taken. Right now, I just don't think we have that. Part of that is a staffing and manpower issue. Again, under Andrew Bailey, they've had 50% attorney turnover, which is just absolutely astounding. That's worse than Kim Gardener in St. Louis. That's worse than we've seen in any comparable office, I believe, around the country, certainly here in the state of Missouri. That's affecting every aspect of that office's operations. So, while Andrew Bailey gets great press and he's great at going on TV and bragging about random lawsuits that he's filing, the day-to-day work of that office is really suffering and will continue to suffer until we get better leadership in there.
Buresh: I wanted to ask about the economy. I know high prices and inflation are the top of everyone's mind right now. What would you do if elected to make things more affordable for Missourians?
Scharf: Well, look, I think the biggest driver of inflation right now in this country is high energy prices. And I place the blame for that squarely at the feet of the Biden administration. I'm hopeful that by the time I take office, President Trump will be on his way back into the White House and we can restore some normalcy to both fiscal policy, monetary policy and energy policy.
From the standpoint of the Missouri Attorney General's Office, I think what we can do is hold federal bureaucrats accountable who are pushing down the sorts of mandates and policies that are forcing poor economic decision-making really all over the country. And that's a key driver of inflation here in the state. I think that we need lower taxes. I think we need to be taking the pressure off of people's pocketbooks. I think Jefferson City has been anemic on this issue. There isn't a bold policy agenda. There isn't really a plan for bold conservative policies in Jefferson City. And that speaks to just the lack of executive leadership. That's obviously, I believe, true in the governor's office. But I think it's incumbent on all executive office holders, all the statewide office holders, to be advancing strong conservative policies that I believe can lead this state forward into a better future.
Buresh: I wanted to hit on just a few other topics kind of in general. How involved do you think the attorney general's office should be on the topic of education and are there any specific points in that realm that stick out to you?
Scharf: Yeah, I think it's incredibly important. When you look at our state's education system today, less than 1-in-4 Missouri eighth graders are proficient in math and reading, and yet the policy priorities being dictated by the State Board of Education and by DESE seem focused on wokeism and DEI and social-emotional learning mandates. I think we need to get education back to what should be its core priority, which is educating Missouri students and preparing them for productive, successful lives. When I look at DESE today, I see a bureaucracy that is totally unaccountable, that is flagrantly violating aspects of state law, and that therefore to me is crying out for an investigation. I've pledged that I'll begin an investigation into DESE on day one, and I plan on following through with that.
Buresh: Same question but for health care. How involved should your office be and what would your plans be there?
Scharf: Yeah, look, again, I think when you have health care providers or insurers that are violating the law, they need to be held accountable. I think the attorney general's office can play an important role on that issue. I would say again, though, that one of the key drivers of rising health care costs and lack of availability of health care, particularly in rural areas, has been terrible policies out of Washington, D.C. I think when you look at Obamacare, when you look at the removal of DSH payments, that absolutely gutted rural hospitals. And we're essentially still playing catch up from that terrible set of decisions that happened over a decade ago now.
I think here in this state we have a real problem with health care fraud. We have a real problem with people defrauding the state government in terms of our Medicaid program in particular, I think the AG's office can play a very important role in cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse. To do that, we're going to need the right people in the office. We're going to need strong leadership in the office. But the upside there is ultimately going to be lower health care costs for the people of Missouri and that's why I think that issue is so important.
Buresh: How involved would you be on the topic of housing? I know that homelessness and a housing shortage are, again, kind of a big topic right now in the state.
Will Scharf: Yeah, I mean, we have a tremendous housing shortage in the state. We hear that really wherever we go around the state. I think there are a number of reasons for that. One is just the lack of economic development, lack of forward-thinking, positive, conservative economic policies has led to stagnation in this state, and where you have stagnation you see a lack of investment. So, I think turning that around is absolutely essential.
On the housing issue in particular, the attorney general obviously sits on the MHDC [Missouri Housing Development Commission], which can be a very important tool in terms of advancing affordable housing around the state. I think the attorney general also needs to play an important role from a consumer protection standpoint in holding landlords accountable and making sure that people are treating their tenants correctly and not abusing them. Again, I think that's something that the attorney general's office can be doing a lot more on.
Buresh: And on the topic of immigration. What are your thoughts there?
Scharf: Well, I think we've had an abject failure on the part of our leadership in Jefferson City to actually deal with the illegal immigration problem that we have in this state. Other states have passed powerful, tough laws that give local and state law enforcement the ability to crack down on illegal immigration. We just haven't done so. I think we need an unlawful presence law in the state. I think we need much tougher E-Verify laws to prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs that should go to people who are lawfully present here. I think on all of these issues, we see a comprehensive failure on the part of Jefferson City to just do their job. And that's why I think it's so important that we get conservative outsiders into office this August and next November.
Buresh: And on all of these policies, how do you plan to work with other agencies, whether it be local, state, federal, to push your ideas through?
Scharf: Yeah, I think that sort of collaboration is always important. I would just add to that list the other statewide officeholders. I'd love to partner with Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who's just been granted new powers by the legislature to audit municipalities that were previously impervious to auditing. I'd love to work with our next governor on a lot of the issues that we've already discussed, like advancing tough-on-crime policies through the legislature, like court reform, making sure that we have good conservative judges on the bench who are going to stand up for Missourians’ rights and bring the hammer down on violent crime.
Buresh: And my last specific question for you: How involved do you think the attorney general's office should be in the role of federal government? I know you mentioned that earlier.
Scharf: I think the AG's offices really all over the country play an important role in checking the abuses of the federal government. I'm hopeful that by the time I take office, President Trump will be back in the White House and we'll have much less of an issue with federal overreach than we do now. But absolutely, in the U.S. Constitution system of structured federalism, states absolutely need to play an important role checking the federal government, checking abuses by the federal government and the office that we have in the state of Missouri that's most able to do that, that's really on the front lines of that effort, needs to be the attorney general's office. Under both Hawley and Schmitt, we saw incredibly successful litigation projects initiated by the AG's office that were successful at the highest levels. Under Attorney General Bailey we've seen consistent failures. I think the loss at the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri, the Missouri v. Biden case, probably most notably, but on numerous other issues as well. We need to turn that culture of failure into a culture of success and leadership, and that's what I intend to do in the attorney general's office.
Buresh: Okay. Will, those are all the specifics I had for you. Is there anything else that you want voters to know about you or your campaign?
Scharf: I think if you're really happy with Jefferson City, if you think that you're getting great government out of Jefferson City, I'm probably not the right candidate for you. But if you're ready for a change, if you want to break that Jefferson City establishment, if you think it's time for new leadership in the state, I would strongly encourage you to consider our campaign.
Morgan Buresh: All right. Will, thank you so much for hopping on here and making time. I appreciate it.
