Jeff Smith for Missouri

Residents of the city of St. Louis are painfully aware of the vital need for renewal and revitalization, having witnessed the recent effects of urban sprawl and corporate migration. Over the last two decades St. Louis has suffered the loss of multiple major corporate headquarters including TWA, McDonnell Douglas, Southwestern Bell, Monsanto, Mallinckrodt, and General Dynamics. The devastating result has been a 9.1% unemployment rate in the city, a level nearly twice as high as that of the county. Without these vital financial institutions and small business, the city will be unable to attract sufficient revenue, and will not regain its former prestige. St. Louis must once again become a prosperous economic hub, attracting businesses and investors. In order to realize the goal of urban revitalization, we must pursue several essential initiatives. We must protect the state Historic Preservation Tax Credit, continue courting of the biotech industry, increase the minimum wage, and improve worker training. Without sound investments now, the city will face a perilous future.

Given the recent scandals in Washington and several state houses involving lobbyists and special interests exercising excessive influence over legislators, the issue of campaign finance reform is as important as ever. According to the Post-Dispatch the vast majority of states have stricter regulations on lobbying and campaign finance than the federal government, with Missouri’s regulations ranked near the middle of the 50 states. We can do better.

Education has played a very large role in my life and is one of the main reasons I have decided to run for the Missouri Senate. I have been involved
in the education of Missouri youth for many years in a variety of capacities. After college I worked for St. Louis public schools, evaluating
teachers and curriculum. Since then, I have taught political science and public policy at Washington University and University of Missouri St. Louis. Four years ago, I co-founded the Confluence Academies, a group of public charter schools that continue to grow and prosper. From my experience in classrooms with students ranging from disadvantaged urban youth to accomplished university academics, I believe that we need a revolution in our education system.

The continuing campaign to achieve civil rights is an important issue to me; indeed, it was the reason for my first foray into political activism. In college I took part in a movement to build a Black Cultural Center recognizing the slave labor that built the University of North Carolina. In 2000, I co-founded the Confluence Academies, a charter school serving predominantly African-American students in North St. Louis. In the Missouri Senate, I will continue to work to achieve social justice.

I believe all Americans are equal under the law. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is the last vestige of America’s shameful history of codified intolerance. Now, we need legislators who understand that equality means there is no room for injustice.

The protection of Missouri’s environment is important to me and to the fiscal stability of the State of Missouri. Proposed legislation stating that Missouri has no need to enact environmental legislation any stricter than that of the federal government is inadequate and irresponsible. We cannot depend on the federal government, particularly those currently in control of it, to pass the necessary measures to ensure our clean air, water, and soil. In Jefferson City I will make fighting this legislation, and any proposal that will threaten our environment, a top priority. Missouri is a state rich in resources and natural beauty and it is up to us to be stewards of the land, not to mention protect our economic vitality. Tourism is among this state’s largest income generators and most of that comes from Missouri’s natural resources. Missouri must pass legislation with its unique environmental issues in mind, issues which federal policy will not adequately address. Below are my positions on some of the most important environmental issues facing Missouri.

The economic policies of the Blunt Administration are as atrocious as those of President Bush: they offer a boon to wealthy Missourians and crumbs for everyone else. While our wealthiest individuals receive the bulk of the tax cuts, the middle class gets squeezed. Instead of stealing from the poor to give to the rich, we should provide additional benefits for the working poor and the disabled.

America’s health care system is in a crisis. Costs are spiraling out of control, we have more paper-pushing middlemen than doctors and nurses combined, and over 45 million Americans are uninsured. We spend twice as much on health care as other nations who have universal coverage and stronger health delivery systems, and we get far less in return. We have a lower life expectancy than most developed countries, and we have the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world after only Latvia. Given how much America pays for health care, this is simply unacceptable. And it just keeps getting more expensive. In 2004 the inflation rate for health care in the U.S. was 7.9%, nearly 3 times the overall inflation rate. This cost inflation is hurting families and causing more and more businesses to stop providing insurance, which only deepens the crisis. Our health care system is broken and we will eventually be forced to fix it. Why not start now? As State Senator, I will do just that by creating innovative health care policies motivated by the simple fact that efficiency requires equality.

No issues better illustrate the difference between Republicans and Democrats than labor and trade. Simply put, Republicans don’t seem to respect anyone who works for anyone else. They can’t understand the priorities of a person who wants to provide for his or her family, but isn’t willing to stab his or her brother in the back to get there. One of the reasons that I am running for Missouri Senate is to stand up to Republicans who equate greediness with godliness and then turn around and belittle the hard work of millions so that a few at the top can become lavishly wealthy.