The Pettis County Pachyderm Club heard from the Republican candidate for the vacant 28th Senatorial District seat during Friday afternoon’s meeting.
State Rep. Sandy Crawford, R-District 129, and Al Skalicky, a Democrat from Bolivar new to politics, were chosen by their respective parties earlier this year to run in the Aug. 8 special election. The 28th District seat became vacant when former Republican Sen. Mike Parson was sworn in as Missouri’s lieutenant governor.
Crawford is in her seventh year in the House of Representatives, her last term. Prior to politics, Crawford had a 30-year career in banking. She said she has been endorsed by several organizations, including Missouri Right to Life and the Missouri Farm Bureau.
Whoever is elected in August will serve the remainder of Parson’s term, which expires the end of 2018. While Crawford called Skalicky a “top tier candidate,” she said she believes her experience in Jefferson City will prove useful when only given one legislative session to work with if she’s elected.
“I know from experience the first year I was in the House … there was a pretty big learning curve. I had never been in any type of government elected office before and there’s a pretty big learning curve,” Crawford said. “You spend your first session — I did — learning the procedures, and you’re not real effective for the most part for your first session. We have someone running that has no experience at all. And in the Senate, you need those relationships and I know them, I’ve served with them. I think that’s really important.”
It’s been no secret that Parson and his wife, Teresa, are strong supporters of Crawford in this Senate race. Crawford has joined the couple on many visits to Sedalia in recent months, and she received support at Friday’s event from Teresa, who was sitting in the audience.
“I come along with Sandy and John (Crawford’s husband) today because we are 100 percent behind Sandy,” Teresa said. “She will work for you the way Mike worked for you. You can count on it.”
An audience member asked Crawford to describe the relationship between the Missouri legislature and Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, a newcomer to politics who has only been in office a few months. After a short pause, Crawford said she does like many of the things Greitens has done so far.
“I will tell you that he has actually been in my office. The first six years I was there, Gov. (Jay) Nixon … we never saw him out in the capitol other than the State of the State address once a year,” Crawford said. “… After he called the special election, he stopped by my office and talked to me for about five minutes about it, and I was absolutely floored.
“… I like the fact he’s more present. I don’t like the ‘corrupt, career politician’ comments,” she added. “But in reality, none of us have been up there for a career because we have term limits. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he’s only been on the job a few months, and there are some things I really do like.”
Crawford was also asked by an audience member which committees she would like to be part of if elected. She said she has interest in the appropriations, finance and insurance, economic development, and agriculture committees, mostly stemming from her financial background.
During the last session, Crawford worked on four main bills, primarily the banking omnibus bill and local government bills related to county elected officials such as collector, treasurer and public administrator. She said those four bills are still awaiting Greitens’ signature, which he must do by the July 14 deadline.
