I was invited along with Platte County Candidates to the Parkville Living Center Candidate Forum last Thursday evening, July 23rd. I am working on posting a video of my speech and my answers during the live forum. Afterwards, the hosts asked if we would answer via email some of the questions that time did not allow to be answered that evening. Below are the questions and my answers I replied to this morning.

To Platte County Clerk Candidates-

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒. 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑? 𝐼𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦, “𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡.” 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: Public information needs to be in the public domain where citizens can access it in this modern era 24/7 without spending time and money on Sunshine requests. Too much information is being blocked behind restricted access and too much time and money is being spent on required Sunshine Law and Freedom of Information Act requests. I will be reviewing all these issues and bringing resolutions that fulfill the laws of Missouri and are fair and just for the citizens.

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝐶𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑘’𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 2020 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙?

𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: In 2022, the Clerk's budget was $183,000. In 2026 the budget is $389,000. A 212% increase. Staff was increased from the Clerk, one full time and one part time in 2022 to Clerk and 5 full time staff. A request was put in by the Clerk this year for 2 part time staff for 6 weeks at a cost of $70,000. That's some nice part time work. One of my first goals is to audit the entire office, determine staffing needs and make adjustments wherever it is possible to save Platte County taxpayer money. I don't believe it should cost that much to maintain the Clerk's office.

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙-𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛-𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝐺𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡?

𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: I do not support mail-voting or early in person voting. I believe mail-in voting is venerable to fraudulent voting and election interference. Absentee voting should be only at the Board of Elections if you have an excuse of why you cannot vote on election day. If one day is not enough time to vote, I would support a 2 or 3 day window to vote. I also am in favor of election integrity laws and each party observing and counting the votes, in public and live streamed for full transparency.

To All County Candidates-

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑥 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑧𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑘𝑦𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 15%. 𝐼𝑓/𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑥 ℎ𝑖𝑘𝑒? 𝐴 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑧𝑒 𝑖𝑓/𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙.

𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: This is a myth. There is no attendant estate property tax. And Seniors are not going to have to "repay" the tax credits received through the Senior Tax Freeze. Every dollar saved on property taxes under SB 190 stays in your pocket permanently -- it is not clawed back when the home is sold. Missouri does not have a state real estate transfer tax nor does Platte County have an estate fee or exit tax on real estate sales. So please don't worry about it and DO sign up for the Senior Tax Credit!

I hope you appreciate and respect my answers and hopefully align and agree with them. I look forward to your vote on August 4th!