On one of his final trips to St. Joseph while in office, Gov. Jay Nixon took stock of accomplishments over eight years in Jefferson City — yet hoping to reach still more goals on Missouri’s behalf.
Nixon stopped by the St. Joseph News-Press editorial offices on Thursday, in part to congratulate the community for the 77-percent margin from voters for a four-year, quarter cent sales tax levy to pay a portion of the Missouri River levee repairs. Missouri has committed $5 million toward the project.
“You’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to be united. You’ve got to be bulletproof,” he said during an hourlong session with the newspaper’s editorial board.
“I think your local folks did an amazing job,” he added, saying he had spoken with other states offering their interest in hosting C-130 transport planes now based with the Missouri Air National Guard at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.
“This is a wonderful, welcoming community,” he said. “I think I’ve gotten to know it better over the years.”
The governor — first elected in 2008 and re-elected to a second term in 2012 — must vacate the seat in January due to term limits.
He lauded his administration’s efforts to boost the Missouri economy, which he said has witnessed 26,000 advanced manufacturing jobs since 2010 and fostered a greater entrepreneurial spirit. And he says the state has become better for the banking industry, with the foreclosure crisis not harming Missouri as much as other states.
Improved high school graduation rates and strategic investments also have been attained over both terms in office, according to Nixon. The goal of ensuring that Missouri has had the lowest rate of college tuition increases than any other state since 2008 has been met, but will need further oversight.
“That’s the economy of the future,” he said of graduates.
Another portion of the governor’s leftover agenda consists of a lingering push to improve state mental health services, like the growth of a community liaisons network scattered across the state to aid law enforcement and the courts.
“That crisis intervention (and) training continues to grow,” Nixon said.
He refuted a new report that indicated he would be ordered to serve in a case as a public defender on behalf of a low-income client, due to the state’s funding crisis. His response included a defense of growth in that office’s budget through a gain of $1.6 million.
During his watch, Nixon said he’s been able to hold the line on taxes. The tax code, he added, should reward “capitalistic behavior.”
“You’re going to have tax cuts in the future,” he said. “We’re not a high tax state. That’s going to have to continue. ... It’s hard not to make mistakes on the cutting end.”
Discussing controversies within the University of Missouri system, the governor said he does intend to become intimately involved in any sought-after reforms by leadership there once he’s out of office.
“I feel very strongly about my alma mater,” he said of its importance to the state. “I’m going to work hard to the very end. Then I’ll get a job. I like to work.”
On the crisis that erupted after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Nixon said he was fully engaged in helping the state restore order to the community.
“We’ve listened. We’ve learned. We’re getting better,” he said.
He doesn’t sense that the student protests at MU and incidents in Ferguson connect to labeling Missouri as a state with a racist attitude.
“I think we’re better than we used to be,” said Nixon, though admitting tensions still exist.
“This world is very complicated and we’ve got to be seen as a welcoming place,” he said.
More investments are needed for the highway system, he said, embracing efficiencies at the Missouri Department of Transportation such as staff cuts toward downsizing the agency.
He called MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna, “the right guy for Missouri” by virtue of his comprehension of its funding issues. Lawmakers would have acted correctly this year by installing a one- or two-cent increase to the state’s fuel tax, he added.
“I think truckers shouldn’t get a pass,” Nixon said, referring to their presence on the system. “I’d have to classify it as unfinished business,” he said of MoDOT’s challenges.
Lastly, the governor said the lost struggle to keep the Rams in St. Louis has increased his respect for the Clark Hunt family and the Kansas City Chiefs franchise.
“They’re really good people, and they believe in this region,” Nixon said of the Hunts.
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