At the risk of aggrandizement, we must say we have not had an easier endorsement to make than Robin Smith for Missouri secretary of state since the last time Barack Obama was on the ballot. A veteran newscaster, Smith might be a novice to electoral politics as a candidate, but her sense of her campaign is as sharp as anyone who has ever come to us seeking an endorsement. She understands that Missouri history is against her – an African American has never been voted to statewide office – but she also knows that she is a very unique candidate. She has four decades of positive exposure in the public eye in one of the state’s two major urban centers, and is married to a beloved celebrity in the state’s other urban center, University of Kansas basketball legend Isaac “Bud” Stallworth.
She also displays confident knowledge of the office’s duties as the state’s chief election officer, among other functions. Her strong stance against Amendment 6, which will be with her on the November 8 ballot, shows that she believes in protecting the rights of all voters. Amendment 6, which is strongly supported by her Republican opponent, would impose a voter photo ID requirement to vote in Missouri. It would protect against no known voter fraud, but it would keep an estimated 220,000 people from voting, mostly the elderly, low-income people, college students and the disabled – groups that tend to skew Democrat.
About that Republican opponent: John “Jay” Ashcroft is the son of one of the state’s most successful and rabid Republicans. Voting is so dear to this man who wants to be our chief election steward that he sat out seven major elections between 2000 and 2012, including Republican primaries in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 – and his father was on some of those ballots. He lost a race for state Senate in 2014. A defeat in this race could signal an early, and welcome, end to his political career.
We strongly endorse Robin Smith for Missouri secretary of state.
The Missouri treasurer, of all positions in state government, has the greatest potential to help improve financial literacy and services for those who most need them, and the African-American community in the St. Louis region is the nation’s most unbanked and under-funded. Only one candidate for state treasurer in 2016 – Judy Baker – has the endorsement of and close working relationship with St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones, a national leader on these issues.
Baker, a former state representative from Columbia who has always made The St. Louis American an early and frequent stop on the campaign trail, demolished a primary opponent from Kansas City, Pat Contreras, though she has a formidable Republican opponent on the November 8 ballot in Eric Schmitt, currently a state senator from St. Louis County. Schmitt is rare among Missouri Republicans for having received favorable notice in this newspaper, as he successfully pushed badly needed municipal court reforms through the Legislature. But he is not, on balance, an ally of our community and its interests. Among many other disastrous Republican-led bills, he supported the bill that made Missouri the first state to enact “Stand Your Ground” legislation since George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin. Most recently, Schmitt has angered the business community in Missouri by threatening to pull Boeing Co.’s state tax incentives after a possible deal for Boeing to sell commercial airplanes to Iranian airlines was reported.
We hope that Schmitt’s foolish foray into foreign policy hurts him in his Republican base, because Baker’s decisive primary victory shows her sure strength in her Democratic base. Given that the current state treasurer, who could not seek reelection, is a Democrat, this is a statewide seat that Democrats should – and could – keep. We strongly endorse JUDY BAKER FOR MISSOURI TREASURER.
We do not know the Democratic nominee for attorney general – Teresa Hensley, former Cass County prosecutor – nearly as well, but relevant experience is ample reason to endorse her strongly over a Republican, Josh Hawley, who has never held political office and, as Hensley points out, “has never prosecuted a single criminal or sought justice for a single victim in a Missouri courtroom.” Hawley touts his activism in a religious liberty lawsuit – the notorious Hobby Lobby case – won at the U.S. Supreme Court. His primary campaign of attack ads were funded by ultra-conservatives, including more than $2.25 million in donations from executives of Tamko Building Products in Joplin. Hawley clerked for conservative U.S. Supreme Justice John Roberts, and is an ultraconservative ideologue whom the Democrat must defeat on November 8. We strongly endorse TERESA HENSLEY FOR MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL.
