House District 60 candidate interviews: Scott Spencer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Scott Spencer is a republican running for Missouri’s 60th House District. Spencer is a lifelong resident of Jefferson City and a former fire captain and firefighter with the Jefferson City Fire Department. Spencer also previously served as the city’s Ward 3 council member.

Spencer’s platform includes being anti-abortion, pro-Second Amendment and supportive of border control, parental rights in education and election security.

The 60th District covers Jefferson City south of the Missouri River. The seat is being left vacant by outgoing Rep. David Griffith. Spencer is running against Kyerra Johnson and Shane Kampeter.

Suzanne Luther is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Marie Moyer: My first question is, why are you running? 

Scott Spencer: Because I think we need representatives to represent the people. I think there's enough representatives in the Capitol that are representing the special interests and the establishment. And I think it's time that we start focusing in on the everyday, hardworking Missourians that need representation on the issues that matter most to them,  whether that's affordability, health care, public education, those kinds of issues. 

Moyer: How is the campaign going? 

Spencer: Campaign’s going very well. I knocked on a lot of doors, had some great conversations. The issues are pretty much resonating with affordability, health care cost, utility cost, those kinds of things. And so, we need to start focusing in on those issues of affordability. 

Moyer: And then what would your first priority be if you are elected? 

Spencer: My first priority would be starting to gain the trust back of government. I think, you know, the citizens are concerned about state government not working for them, not listening to them. And I think it's time that we start focusing in on those kinds of issues, whether it be increasing small business, the opportunities for small business. Whether it's also creating a workforce that's ready and prepared to take on the challenges of the coming technology of AI and data centers and also increasing our trades. We need to increase carpenters, electricians, pipefitters, plumbers.

And also, obviously, our biggest industry in the state is agriculture. And we need to create an environment that's enticing to the next generation of farmers, and that's also adapting to programs for rural communities and rural schools. 

Moyer: Then kind of going back to the campaign,  I know that you mentioned affordability as well as kind of transparency, so what other issues have you heard from constituents while on the campaign trail? 

Spencer: Amendment 5 is a big issue, and their concern is that it's very open-ended legislation, leaving it up to future legislative bodies to decide what sales taxes are going to be increased. And their concern is that it's just going to be an open door for the special interests to come in and try to be exempted out of the out of the sales tax increase. The legislature is asking them to trust them, but the legislative body only has a 45% approval rating. So, I think there are some real concerns that they're going to do the right thing. And so, if this passes, my assurance to my constituents would be to make sure that the sales tax increases don't impact hardworking families, and so that's going to be our focus. 

Moyer: Now, we're heading over to ballot issues.  The first one is Amendment 4. That's all on changing votes required for citizen petitions as well as voting regulations. What is your stance on it? 

Spencer: Well, again, the voters have spoken pretty clear on that. They're very concerned about it having such a high threshold of having to pass those constitutional amendments with all eight congressional districts. I think there's an opportunity that we could simplify that process with a supermajority vote statewide on these initiative petitions. And so, again, it just goes back to transparency and openness about the process, and again, the voters are skeptical. 

Moyer: You already kind of mentioned Amendment 3, Would you be able to expand on your thoughts on it? 

Spencer: Amendment 3 or 5?

Moyer: Not 3, sorry, Amendment 5, you are correct.

Spencer: Yeah, again, my concern is just the open-ended legislation portion of it,  leaving it up to future legislative bodies to determine what's going to be increased in the sales tax portion. When we're asked about changing the Constitution, I think it needs to be well-defined and narrowly focused. And unfortunately, this proposal's not it. I think we can do a better job of laying out a plan because this plan is not complete. And I think voters have to have a sense of what is going to happen with this passage of this constitutional amendment, and the clarity is just not there. 

Moyer: Kind of a follow-up to that, what do you think the state could utilize or cut to kind of split the difference in terms of like, getting rid of income tax? 

Spencer: Can you repeat that question?

Moyer: I guess maybe what could the state utilize? I know that I think the state auditor kind of mentioned like, '"'hey, that there are these options to work with.'"' And then I guess some people might be saying, programs may need to be cut and whatnot. So, I guess what solutions do you think maybe it could be used?

Spencer: Well, this issue didn't creep up overnight. It's been a long time coming. We've gone from a state budget of $27 to $28 billion in 2018. Now we're floating anywhere from $49 to $52 billion. 

It's because our legislators, previous legislators, refused to take and make tough decisions and now we're at the point where we can't kick the can any further down the road. So, yeah, there's going to be some tough, tough choices that's going to have to be made.  And it comes down to really spending those funds on priorities. And, you know, when we see data centers coming into our state, they're buying our land because our land is cheap, but we don't have to continuously give everything to those corporations to come here. We have cheaper resources, and so tax giveaways are hurting our state. And so we need to curb that and we need to focus on the core priorities of what government should be providing as far as services, whether that's public education, public safety, healthcare, infrastructure, those kinds of things. 

Moyer: We're already kind of segueing into all the questions that I have. With the budget, as we kind of mentioned a little bit, it was kind of a hot topic for the General Assembly this year. The state auditor even reported that the state had a spending problem. So, I guess how would you approach proposing or supporting legislation if you were elected? 

Spencer: Well, we need to tighten our belts.  We've had a reserve fund balance, a rainy day fund, the savings account, whatever you want to call it, of $8 billion. This legislature in the previous years have spent that down to between $2 and $4 billion, just depending on the financial sources you go to. That's unacceptable. That's unsustainable. And so, again, it just goes back to funding priorities and making tough decisions. You know, we have a limited amount of resources of income coming in, and it's going to have to just be based on priorities. 

Moyer:  I don't have any other questions. What else might you want people to know about you? 

Spencer: I just want them to know that I'm committed to this. I'm going to work, be a full-time, year-round representative for them. I'm going to be accessible and responsive. So if they call our office, they're going to get someone, and we're going to work hard to get them the information that they need and the answers that they need. That's what I did for 25 years in the fire department. I was accessible and responsive on the city council as well, and I'm used to dealing with problems.

And, you know, we're at a point where we have some real problems, and we've got to deal with them. And I just want to work hard for the everyday citizen and hardworking families of District 60 and all across the state.