Voters in the 28th Senatorial District will be choosing between two candidates to fill the former seat of Lt. Gov. Mike Parson in the Aug. 8 special election.
On the ballot will be Al Skalicky, a Democrat from Bolivar who’s new to politics, and Sandy Crawford, a Republican from Buffalo who’s serving in her final term as representative for the 129th House District. Each candidate was selected by their respective parties in February. Voters will select their new senator, who will serve for the remainder of Parson’s term, set to expire in 2018.
The 28th District includes portions of Benton, Cedar, Dallas, Hickory, Laclede, Pettis, Polk and St. Clair counties, which have been unrepresented in the Senate since Parson’s inauguration.
Skalicky is a retired after 32 years as an agriculture teacher, 31 of those in Bolivar. It was primarily his concern for education issues that prompted him to run for public office.
“That’s one thing I’m concerned about is the legislature lately is not in favor of public education and is more in favor of private and charter schools,” Skalicky told the Democrat by phone Monday. “No student in the 28th district, or in rural Missouri period, would benefit from any of that legislation. That got me interested in running for office.”
He continued by saying much of recent legislation or proposed legislation doesn’t help working class Missourians. For example, he’s opposed to Right to Work legislation.
“There’s lots of discussions both ways on it. I haven’t seen anything anywhere that it leads to higher wages,” Skalicky said. “Everything I’ve seen it leads to lower wages, less benefits. I don’t see it’s a benefit to everyday working-class Missourians.”
Other areas of focus for Skalicky include helping senior citizens amid news of cuts for prescription drug funding, helping agriculture, and better regulation for predatory lending in Missouri.
“It’s important that we continue to look at things where Missouri can continue to export agriculture products, sell them, not put unnecessary limitations and restrictions on farmers to allow them to raise their crops and cattle because no one knows the land better and their livestock better than individual producers and farmers,” Skalicky said. “They need to be allowed to be a farmer. We have to be continually looking for markets to sell them (agriculture products) because that’s what keeps our farm economy going.”
Crawford has touted her political experience throughout the campaign as helpful in the short time-frame the new senator will be given. Skalicky is a member of several teacher’s associations, including the Missouri State Teacher’s Association where he served several years on the Southwest District Legislative Committee, and he said he’ll use that experience and relationships he’s formed.
“I don’t claim to know everything, but when I don’t know something I go to people I trust and that are experts,” Skalicky said. “For education, I’m a little more up to date on it, but for something like that I’d look at groups like NEA (National Education Association), MSTA and Missouri Retired Teachers Association and ask ‘is this going to be good for public education?’
“I can rely on them, I can rely on people like the Missouri Farm Bureau for agriculture things — those are people I trust that can tell me their opinions on it,” he added.
Skalicky repeatedly said it’s important for lawmakers to remember “everyday working class people” and how legislation will affect them. He said he’s heard from many constituents during the campaign that Missouri needs to start changing the discussion, which he said will only happen by sending new lawmakers to Jefferson City.
He said citizens should vote for him because of his background in both agriculture and education.
“I think my background is unique in the sense I can represent agriculture, but I also represent education, which is a large component of rural Missouri also,” Skalicky said. “I think I represent two very large constituencies so I’m in a unique position. That way that I do represent a lot of those people and know the things they experience.”
