Gubernatorial GOP Candidates Meet For First Debate in Columbia
Candidates participating in a Republican gubernatorial debate Thursday at the Missouri Theatre were, from left, former Missouri Speaker of the House Catherine Hanaway, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens and businessman John Brunner.
The Republican candidates for governor used a debate Thursday night to clash over big donations, blame Gov. Jay Nixon for turmoil on the University of Missouri campus and assert who has the right message to beat Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.
The sharpest exchange came when former U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway departed from an answer about the minimum wage to question why former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens had not returned $1 million donated by Michael Goguen, a California businessman accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit.
“It is time for Eric Greitens to send the contribution back or, better yet, send it to a shelter for abused women,” Hanaway said.
Greitens responded by calling the issue a distraction by a politician who knows she is losing.
“I think this is what happens when desperate politicians get very desperate. ... I like Catherine, but you just can’t trust her,” Greitens said.
The debate, sponsored by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, MU and KOMU-TV, drew about 500 people to Missouri Theatre.
The GOP primary will be held Aug. 2.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder took up the issue while answering a question about marijuana legalization. He said that the firm where Goguen was a partner, Sequoia Capital, severed ties and Ohio Gov. John Kasich returned a Goguen donation to his presidential super PAC.
“I don’t think you are going to be able to maintain this with your million-dollar donor,” Kinder said.
In response, Greitens attacked Kinder’s personal life.
“Peter, you are the last person on this stage, sir, who be should trafficking in tabloid stories about men who are hanging out in strip clubs,” he said, referring to a story that emerged in 2011 about Kinder’s romantic interest in a woman who was formerly a Penthouse Pet.
Businessman John Brunner, the fourth candidate, shied away from the issue during the debate.
The candidates are locked in what is likely to be the most expensive primary contest in Missouri history. Candidates may take unlimited donations; Hanaway and Greitens have both taken donations from a single source in excess of $1 million, while Brunner loaned $3 million to his campaign before the end of the year.
The debate in Columbia was one of the first broadcast debates of the campaign that will last until August. After that, the winner will likely take on Koster, a Democrat who has raised almost as much as the entire Republican field and has no primary opponent.
The unrest at the university, which has dominated state and oftentimes national headlines since November, should be blamed on Nixon and Koster, the Republican candidates said.
Asked whether the unrest justified cutting the university’s budget, the candidates talked about accountability and the need to restore confidence. A poll conducted last week for 10 Missouri newspapers including the Tribune indicated that 80 percent of voters oppose cutting the university or increasing its state budget allocation.
“The governor hid out in the mansion instead of coming over here and showing some leadership,” Kinder said.
Hanaway and Kinder are running as effective public servants who can push the levers of government and make it work.
Kinder argued that he is the most electable because he has won three statewide races and drawn a higher-than-normal percentage of minority voters among Republicans.
Hanaway lost a race for secretary of state in 2004, and Brunner lost a Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012.
“We have got to have a governor who will stand up against the trial lawyers and labor union bosses,” Kinder said.
Hanaway said she will bring a “bold five-point plan” to energize the state’s economy and education. Regulatory reform is necessary, she said, noting that there are 10,000 words in the state barber regulations and 10,000 words in the biblical Book of Revelations.
“Surely we can tell barbers how many combs to have in less words than it takes to describe Armageddon,” she said.
Brunner and Greitens are running as outsiders who will force government to work like a business.
Brunner had a more practical application of his outsider status to offer.
“As CEO of Missouri to other CEOs, I can attract other businesses back to this state,” Brunner said.
Greitens, meanwhile, is running as hard against the power structure in Jefferson City as some presidential candidates run against Washington, D.C.
“Politicians have failed us, and we can’t trust them to fix the mess that they have created,” Greitens said.
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