Interview: Speaker-elect Steven Tilley

(JOPLIN, Mo.) Early last month, PoliticMo had the chance to interview State Representative Steven Tilley about the upcoming session. Below is the conversation in it’s entirety. PoliticMo plans to follow up in the near future, but this is our introduction to the next Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, with Tilley’s answers in their entirety, unfiltered.

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Speaker-elect Steven Tilley (Photo/St. Louis Public Radio)

Eli Yokley, Q: Define your priorities as Speaker for the upcoming session.

Steven Tilley: “First and foremost, it has to be the jobs and the economy. Missouri’s got 9.5 percent unemployment, and we need to do all we can to put people back to worth, and I think that’s the number one issue on people’s minds, and thats certainly going to be reflective by what we do in the Missouri house. It will include a lot of different things. It’ll include things like hopefully a reform of the tax code, possibly eliminating the corporate franchise tax, doing regulatory reform, employer reform, legal reform. What we’re going to do is sit down with business leaders and people who are experts at economic development and say, ‘what can we do to make missouri one of the first stats to come out of this economic decline, not one of the last?’ From my standpoint, anything is on the table that would create jobs for families across the state.”

Q: Will you pursue ‘Right to Work’ legislation?

Tilley:  “Clearly, obviously that’s a Senate priority, and if they can get it through the Senate, we’ll certainly be willing to take a look at it and discuss the merits.”

Q: Will you work to institute what has been dubbed the ‘Fair Tax?’

Tilley: “It’s a bill that we passed through the house at least two years. I think if you look at states that do not have a state income tax their unemployment is slightly lower, their GDP is greater, and I think it’s a great economic development tool. At the end of the day, the voters would decide whether missori should be a state without state income tax because in the past,we’ve passed house resolutions which would put it before the voters. I just believe that the voters should have a choice to decide how they want their state government funded.”

Q: Do you think the ‘Fair Tax’ will hurt border cities, where a lot of the state’s population lives? Speaker Richard didn’t support it because of that.

Tilley: “No I do not, actually, because the state of Kansas just raised their sales tax, and I don’t think they ‘ve seen any drastic decline from people that no longer shop in Kasnas. Kansas City, Joplin are right there on the border, so I don’t believe so. I think what you see is the benefits far outweigh what the potential losses might be. But, at the end of the day, I Just believe that the voters should have a choice to decide whether they want it.” Tilley said whatever the legislature does, a final plan would be placed on the ballot for voters to decide.

Tilley, pictured with outgoing Speaker Ron Richard. (Photo/)

Q: What is on the table to cut from the budget?

Tilley: “When ever you’ve got to fill what could be anywhere between a four hundred to an eight hundred million dollar budget shortfall, I believe it would be irresponsible to say take stuff off the table. So I think everything’s gotta be on the table. We look at every expenditure and we prioritize and we have to balance the budget. I think the message from the voters was pretty clear on tuesday. They want government to be accountable, to live within its means, and hold the line on taxes. I heard that from voters all around the state. I was in southwest Missouri, southeast, northeast, and northwest part of the state. So, We’re going to figure out what numbers the consensus revenue comes out to be and we’re going to budget that and we’re going to balance the budget.”

Q: But specifically, what kind of cuts will we see?

Tilley: “I don’t think you can predict that until you know what the consensus revenue is, or even if you’re going to cut education at all. It would be premature in saying where we might cut, and where we won’t. We just need to get the consensus revenue. We need to look at what that number is, and we need to figure out what is a vital part of state government, and prioritize it, and go from there.”

Q: Elaborate your position on school vouchers.

Tilley: “I’ve got a voting record- i’ve supported tuition tax credits for kids that are stuck in failing schools. The opposition would stay we just need to stay at the status quo. We’ve had failing schools in certain areas of the state for 30 years, and any idea that’s brought up to try and reform it, whether it be tenure reform, or tuition tax credits is just fought by the unions and the end result is you get the status quo, and kids are being shuffled through horrible schools, and graduate at a fourth grade reading level. I personally believe that every child deserves a world class education, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a kid from perryville or a kid from the city of St. Louis or Kansas City. We handicap these kids by not giving them a good education. So, anything that makes our schools better is on the table with me. I personally am a supporter of the tuition tax credits, but we haven’t come up with an agenda, or what we think can make it through the House.”

Q: Talk about your majority.  You’ve called it ‘Historic’. What will you do to make sure the minority gets a voice?

Tilley: “Anybody that witnessed my leadership style as a Floor Leader, I probably passed more minority member bills than any Floor Leader in recent memory. I can think of countless bills that I signed on to that were Democratic bills and tried to help them get through the proscess. If its a good idea, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Republican bill or a Democrat bill, I’m going to be supportive of it. The tradition is ‘to the victor holds the spools,’ if you win an election, then you should run everything. I’m not always in the frame of mind. I think the missouri house is going to be a fiscally conservative body, we’re going to pass our agenda. But we can do it with the input of the democrats, and we should. I tink that makes government better when we do that. I’ve spoken to Mike Talboy, who is the minority leader, and explained that to him and we get along well. So, I think right now, just like when democrats in congress – they won the majority, and the first thing they did was start taking away from the Republicans and they ran rough shot over the Republicans for the past few years, and the voters sent them back to the minority, so I believe that both parties are an essential part of the governing process, and that’s how i’m going to lead.”

Q: Do you regret doing the robocalls in the final weeks of the election?

Tilley: “I’ve already issued a statement. That’s all I’m talking about. So, next question.”

Q: Nothing –

Tilley: “Campaign season is over, and some people won and some people lost, so we’re going to look forward to governing in a good way that moves the state of Missouri forward.”

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