47th House District: Adrian Plank

Party: Democratic

Opponent: State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport

Occupation: Union carpenter

Education: Attended Central Missouri State University

Previous political experience: Ran for election in 47th House District in 2018; chair of the Democratic Party's 47th District committee; Democratic Party committeeman; former presidential convention delegate

Family: Wife Dawn; daughter Dylan

What is your position on Amendment 3, which would roll back parts of the Clean Missouri amendment voters approved in 2018?

Well, No. 3 is a deal that the legislature has decided that the voters didn't know how they were voting, they thought there was too many lines, in Clean Missouri.

But in reality, I did a lot of work to pass Clean Missouri. And we understand that in Missouri, that the districts are gerrymandered. We're not the only state. Wisconsin, Michigan, they've all had to work hard as citizens to overturn this gerrymandered system. So that's what we're doing in Missouri. Gerrymandering a democratic process is a violation of the democratic process. And it doesn't matter what party you are on. They both done it. We've seen extreme levels here.

This Amendment 3 will now be the most extreme gerrymandering policy that we've seen in the United States, it will leave out students, kids, which is, you know, kids that are getting ready to start voting. So that leaves out a big demographic. So if we're, if we're going to discriminate, which is what it is, is discriminating against the young folks who rarely have the voice they need because they're not familiar with the system. So I think this notion that the voters didn't know what they were voting for, is just a little propaganda. And I understand they want to keep their power. Well, their power right now is disproportionate to the minority. So we have a minority of voters that have the majority of representation. And that's not what a democracy, they have no checks and balances. Now, they have a supermajority at the State Capitol, and there's no accountability. And so you've seen where language has been struck down by the courts, just lies, it says it is his lies, and that's what the court actually said, to mislead the voters. So we're gonna vote no on Amendment 3.

How will Medicaid expansion affect the 47th District?

I think it's easier to see what it's done since we haven't done it.

We've been able to expand Medicaid for several years now. We've had several rural hospitals close up. Boonville just had one close up and that services our district. Well, I know friends and family that are living in Marceline that would drive to Boonville for services there. Well, now they can't do that they got to drive even further. In our rural communities, those are the poorest communities. So that makes it a big deal. And if you look at the state's infant mortality rates, they're at the levels of Third World countries and that's because we don't have access to health care. And so if you don't have a place to go that you don't have to travel for miles and miles, then your chances of miscarriage are big.

So it has a big effect. Medicaid expansion will put billions into the economy. An average of 16,000 jobs per year, it would have kept several hospitals open plus add more. So now you've seen where like one of the senators said that we will if we expand Medicaid, we're going to have to take that money out of education. That's just not true. If you look at the other 37 states, they have a net gain in tax revenue. And so it becomes to the point if you didn't have a lie to tell, what would you talk about? So let's be honest about the numbers and do what's right for the citizens of Missouri.

Has the state done enough to fight COVID-19?

We've had a real problem with leadership. It stems from the from the federal policy and the leadership up there. They've decided to downplay. We've seen it all over the news, downplay the pandemic, which cost lives because we've seen where our state or governors, not just Missouri, have
downplayed it and acted like, take personal responsibility, which we all should do, take personal responsibility for the people around you. But we also see the extreme version where, you know, it's my, my liberties, but you're violating other people's liberties by not being self-conscious about the people around you.

The Missouri General Assembly took up legislation to address violent crime this summer and the issue is likely to come up again. What should the General Assembly do to address the problem?

Well, I'll start by saying the 47th District doesn't have a real problem with violent crime. With the cities, you haven't you have a different scenario. You know, with the 47th District, we're talking about sheriff's departments. These people know the people around them. They're friends with them, they're family members, word gets around so they know everybody. It's more of a community policing type of situation where everybody knows each other.

In the big cities there are so many people that the police forces don't know everybody. They're so fearful from the people they have to either pull over or arrest that sometimes they make rash decisions. So I think, you know with violent crime obviously that's a big issue in the cities. And that's something that needs to be done with those politicians in those cities. But we have different problems in our district.