Candidates for 62nd House District field questions during Gasconade County Farm Bureau forum

By Roxie Murphy, Staff Writer
Posted 7/22/20

DRAKE — The Gasconade County Farm Bureau hosted a county political candidate forum at White Mule Winery on July 13 for voters to meet those running for the 61st and 62nd District state …

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Candidates for 62nd House District field questions during Gasconade County Farm Bureau forum

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DRAKE — The Gasconade County Farm Bureau hosted a county political candidate forum at White Mule Winery on July 13 for voters to meet those running for the 61st and 62nd District state representative offices.

Aaron Griesheimer is running unopposed for the 61st District representative. He is currently the incumbent of that district that covers northern Gasconade, Franklin and Osage counties and is completing his first term in office.

“I had a very productive two years in office,” Griesheimer said. “During my first year in office, I was fortunate enough to pass House Bill 499 that says the Department of Revenue is allowed to take your driver’s license if you strike and kill a construction or highway worker.”

He also talked about the Amtrak transportation in Hermann, which was in line to be cut to one train a day, and how he was able to work across to party lines to ensure funding.

“Unfortunately due to COVID, Amtrak took the trains down to one a day because of the numbers,” Griesheimer said. “In my opinion, being a public servant is more important for the work that I do than the votes I take in Jefferson City.”

Chris Beyer of Linn, one of three Republican candidates for the 62nd District, was the first to introduce himself.

“I am running for District 62, everything pretty well south of Highway 50 and the city of Rosebud,” Beyer said. “I am running because I believe our communities should have a strong, conservative voice in the House of Representatives.”

Beyer said he supports Missouri Right to Life, and is an NRA member, an Osage County Farm Bureau member, and has signed a no tax increase pledge.

“I am a strong conservative and I am hoping that when we go to Jefferson City our voices are heard,” he said. “That we make sure our freedoms in the Constitution, the First Amendment and Second Amendment, are protected.”

Bruce Sassmann of Bland is also running for the 62nd District Representative seat.

“I have lived in the tri-county area of Gasconade, Maries and Osage counties all my life,” Sassmann said. “I am a 1950’s model — that is old by some standards, but with age comes gray hair and a little wisdom.”

Sassmann talked about his work ethic and his bride of 24 years, Jan. He also highlighted his faith and education.

“In my professional life I was a funeral director — my family owned and operated Sassmann’s Funeral Homes in Bland in Belle for over 100 years,” Sassmann said. “I cut my teeth on small-town politics. I was an alderman and mayor of my hometown. I did it because I wanted to make my hometown a better place to live.”

He was appointed to the Gasconade County Industrial Development Authority, Meramec Regional Planning Commission, and for more than 20 years, served on Meramec Regional Development Corporation that administered loans to businesses and industries in the region that didn’t qualify for traditional financing. All positions mentioned were community service jobs.

“I believe a state representative should have community service experience and the mind and heart of a public servant,” Sassmann said. “This is a big district and a big district deserves a full-time representative. I have solid and conservative values that begin with God. I believe God’s first gift to man was the gift to mankind was the freedom of choice and I believe those choices should have consequences. I don’t believe the government owes us or that there is such a thing as a free lunch, one size fits all, winners, losers or handing out ‘I-am-special-buttons,’ I have been endorsed by Right to Life. I have a history of community service and have lived a life that has rewarded me with a wealth of experiences. It’s my time and my experiences that I would like to use as a full-time public servant.”

Tom Reed of Owensville is running for 62nd District representative.

“The reason I am running for this candidacy is because I deal with customer service every day,” Reed began. “We have four small businesses in Owensville and I feel like I could take customer service to a whole new level.”

Reed said most people know him and it is not new for him to see everyone. He has a parts store, repair shop, distillery and spray-in home insulation business.

“Basically the reason I am running is to protect some of the values we’ve got and this is a hard time to be running for state rep,” Reed said. “We don’t have as many fairs to go to or things like that. I am running this campaign as efficiently as I can and I am not going to go out and spend more than this job pays for in my campaign. We are going to try to hit the primary voters by going door-to-door.”

Reed said his primary concern is getting some of the big government out of the way.

“Let the business owner make some money and turn that profit over to their employees too,” Reed said. “Everybody that has a small business recognizes this. The more they make the more than can give an employee a vacation, the more they can give ‘em in their payroll and stuff like that. So let’s get government out of the way and let small businesses make some money.”

Reed said if he doesn’t win the August primary, he would support any of the men on the Republican ballot.

After introductions, emcee Ron Hardecke turned questions over  to the crowd of about 70 people including candidates.

Questions were as follows:

•In the current climate, how do you feel about defunding our police?

Sassmann was the first to respond. “I am totally opposed to the idea of defunding the police. I think it is an absurd idea. The police are vital to the infrastructure and we need that for maintaining the rule of law,” Sassmann said.

Beyer said he agrees with Sassmann. “It’s an absurd idea,” Beyer said. “If anything, right now we need to be funding police more. I have met with Osage County Sheriff Mike Bonham, the chief of police in Rosebud, about what they need to be an effective first responder. We need to give them the resources they need to be effective.”

Reed agreed with both Sassmann and Beyer. “I think that would be a good question for Scott (Eiler, sheriff candidate) or (Sgt. Shawn) Mayberry,” Reed began. “It would sure help the commissioners out, but I don’t think that is a good idea at all. It’s going to make mayhem. It won’t be so bad in rural areas I guess, but I hate to be somebody in the city that would have to wait for a neighbor to help them out.”

Reed said he knows it is a thing some states are doing, but if anyone in state legislations wants to defund the police they need to find a different job for sure.

Griesheimer said he was going to repeat what the other candidates said, that defunding the police is an absurd idea.

“I think we need to stand up and applaud all of our law enforcement who put their lives on the line every single day,” he said. “Unfortunately I think we ask too much of our law enforcement. We ask them to be teachers, law enforcement, we ask them to be councilors. We need to give them the resources they need most of all.”

Griesheimer said in the budget committee he serves on, they were in the process of getting state employees a 3-percent increase in wages. That also included prison guard wages, but then COVID hit.

“I also want to say I think Kim Gardner needs to go,” Griesheimer said. “I think we have a special session next week and we are going to be talking about some public safety issues.”

Anyone who would like to voice their opinion about the subject should call their representatives, he added.

• How do the candidates feel about the Second Amendment and citizens’ rights to defend their property?

Sassmann answered first.

“A longer version of my talk, I want to tell you a story about growing up. Because I am a 1950s model, we just brought our guns to school and didn’t have an issue. I have hunted all of my life, I still like to hunt. I have an arsenal of weapons and I will defend my right to keep those weapons. I will stand behind any police force that wants to call me to arms. I will give up my life, that is not a big deal. I just cringe at the thought of people taking away those liberties. I hate the idea.”

Beyer took his turn, saying that is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights.

“I am an NRA member. I understand it’s more than just about funding, it’s about being able to protect yourself, your property and your loved ones. So I am strongly in support of anything we can do to expand the Second Amendment and make sure you are within your right to protect yourself.”

Beyer said a law that has been proposed in Jefferson City that he would be a supporter of is the Second Amendment Preservation Act that says if there is anything that is passed out in D.C. that would impede on Second Amendment rights, the state of Missouri would say, “no, we are not in favor of that because here in the state of Missouri we support our Second Amendment.”

Reed said he doesn’t know why any state, or federal law, would want to do away with their Second Amendment right.

“Anyone that tries to pass that, they don’t live in a rural community for one,” Reed said. “That is something we are going to always hold and uphold here. Everyone here knows that I am an avid hunter and I own a lot of guns too. It’d be a hard day in hell if someone tried to take my guns away. I’d go down fighting.”

Griesheimer said he is also a supporter of Second Amendment rights and has been a member of the NRA for many years. He was a cosponsor of the Second Amendment Preservation Act and Castle Doctrine. He mentioned the couple in St. Louis who was blasted for pointing guns at a group who broke into a gated community, of which the couple’s house was the first on the drive. Griesheimer said he thought the couples’ actions were stupid for pointing weapons at the crowd but didn’t disagree with them having the guns.

“They had every right to protect themselves. Let’s make that clear,” Griesheimer said.

• Question about education funding due to the COVID crisis.

Sassmann said he is a big supporter of education but doesn’t know where the money could come from to help make up for the funds that were taken from education due to COVID-19. But he hopes the federal government will not print the money to give away and take the country further into debt.

“My wife has a career in education and I am a strong supporter of public schools,” Sassmann said.

Beyer said he agrees and thinks the state will have to look seriously to see where funds to put toward education could come from. He added that much of the shortfall has been due to COVID-19 and will continue to be due to COVID-19 with state economics down.

“I think we are going to see things start to move in the right direction, back to where things were,” he said.

Reed said he doesn’t know what is going on at the Capitol, but the two most important things are roads and bridges and education.

“If we don’t have education, we are going to have less of everything,” Reed said. “I’d rather train somebody and give them a good job than to see them out in the world without a good education. For being a small business owner, the better the education for my employee makes him more profitable and I can return the profit back to him to through payroll. If the guy is not trained very well, it just doesn’t work. We can lose funding in other places but we cannot lose it here.”

• How do the candidates feel about Medicaid expansion?

Reed was the only one out of the 62nd District candidates to answer.

“Being a small business owner, I am looking at the budget,” he said. “If you can’t budget right, you can’t stay open. That’s things I am good at looking at, spreadsheets of profit and loss. Education and that is very important.”

Medicaid expansion is scheduled to be on the Aug. 4 ballot.

“They are promising that money, which is federal money, and if that all disappears, we can’t rely on that to keep on coming it,” Reed said.