Mud remained mostly unslung as contending political candidates kept it clean Tuesday night during the annual Republican watermelon feed and election forum in Neosho’s Big Spring Park.
Approximately 350 GOP faithful turned out with their lawnchairs to eat cold watermelon and hear from national, state and local candidates in the Aug. 3 primary election next week.
Showcased were all eight Republicans looking to fill outgoing U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt’s shoes in Missouri’s 7th Congressional District; one of the two Republican candidates for State Auditor; both contenders for the 130th State Representative District; two of the three GOP contenders for the 131st State Representative District; both candidates for the 129th State Representative District; all four Republican seekers for the office of Newton County Presiding Commissioner; and the three Republican Newton County circuit court clerk candidates.
All spoke for a maximum time limit of three minutes and in order of their placement on next Tuesday’s ballot.
7th Congressional District
Competing in a race that has seen its share of blood-letting, the GOP Congressional candidates kept it mostly positive Tuesday night as far as their fellow Republican opponents went, focusing instead on their own qualifications and on trumpeting familiar partisan rallying cries.
Jeff Wisdom, of Springfield, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, noted that all of the Republicans in the Congressional race brought something to the table and wanted to “take our country back.”
“You hear a lot of talk about experience in this Congressional race, and I believe that is important, but experience comes from more places than just Jeff City,” Wisdom said.
“Experience comes from serving in the military or life experience...I promise you that if you invest your faith and trust in me I will represent you, I will listen to you and I will never let you down.”
Gary Nodler, Joplin, noted that nothing before has ever energized the Republican Party as much as Democrat President Barack Obama has.
“He’s brought us together with a unified vision to defeat him in the next election and roll back the forces of tyranny that have gathered with him in Congress,” Nodler said. “Your freedoms are at stake...it is a threat to the heritage that we have inherited from those who built this great free country for us. It is our obligation to make certain we pass onto our children and grandchildren the same opportunity for freedom that we have been blessed with.”
Mike Moon, of Ash Grove, said he was just “an average, hardworking, Southwest Missourian.” In addition to owning and operating a farm, Moon said he has worked the same job for 25 years and has never missed a day of work in 23 years.
“I am a hard worker, I am dedicated to what I do and I will bring that dedication to Washington, D.C. to represent you,” Moon said.
He said his platform planks are “strength, freedom and prosperity.” He said he supports free enterprise and is a proponent of the “Fair Tax.”
Darrell Moore, of Springfield, said that as Prosecuting Attorney for Greene County he has been a “creative thinker who seeks new ideas consistent with conservative principles, pursues those ideas with the knowledge that government is limited in its approach to solving problems, and pursues policies that improve public safety and well-being.”
He said he is a strong supporter of the “Roadmap for America’s Future” plan now being pushed in Congress and indicated that anyone wanting to know what kind of Congressman he would make should look up that plan.
Jack Goodman, Mt. Vernon, said he first ran for office as a State Representative and then State Senator because he decided that being “frustrated” about what was happening in Missouri was not enough and he had to “fight to save” the “way of life that made this country so great.”
Goodman referenced both the pro-self defense Castle Doctrine bill and the Missouri Stop Meth Act as passed legislation that he personally sponsored.
He said that Missouri is better off than it was a few years ago. He later claimed that the Obama administration is trying to “silence our voices.”
“We have got to stand up and fight against that for our kids and every generation that comes after us or we’re not worthy to enjoy the blessings that our Founders risked everything to create for us,” Goodman said.
Billy Long, Springfield, said he will turn 55 next month and didn’t care if he got re-elected next time because he wanted to do the “right things for the right reasons every day I’m there.”
“My competitors will love to tell you ‘well, Billy has no experience,’ but I’ve got news for you — I think we’ve got enough political experience in Washington, D.C. to choke a horse,” Long said.
He said he has been endorsed by former Congressman Mel Hancock, by former State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Sarah Steelman and by former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Those endorsements are on his campaign website.
Michael Wardell, Nixa, a retired Marine and Embassy Guard, said now was his chance to serve again.
“I can’t stand to just sit by and watch what our nation is doing,” he said.
Wardell said the Founding Fathers envisioned “the people at the top, the states second on the list and the federal government at the bottom.”
“Today we don’t have that, today Washington, D.C. is trying to run the show and that is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned,” Wardell said. “We have become so dependent upon the federal government when the federal government was supposed to be dependent on the states. This is a direction that is going in the wrong way. I want to lead the fight in Washington for you.”
Steve Hunter said the federal government is taking over the private sector and that the United States “has gone from a country that used to be ‘home of the free, land of the brave’ to ‘land of the fee, home of the slave.’
Hunter said he wanted to eliminate all corporate tax, cut personal taxes, and cut business taxes. In the long-term, Hunter called for eliminating the Federal Reserve system and instating the “Fair Tax.”
Missouri Auditor
Tom Schweich was not present.
Allen Icet said he decided to run for State Auditor because he wanted to take his 30 years of business experience to that office as well as the knowledge he’s gained as a state lawmaker about Missouri’s budget.
“As your next State Auditor, the model I will guide that office by on a daily basis is ‘In God we trust, and everybody else is subject to audit,’” Icet said.
Read what the rest of the Republican primary election candidates had to say at the watermelon feed in Thursday’s Neosho Daily News.
