Bill Randles (Campaign photo)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — If elected, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Randles said he would turn away many federal funds designated for Missouri.
Randles, a conservative political outsider and an underdog in the GOP field to take on Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon later this year, said if elected, he would deny federal funds for education, the environment, health care, and, eventually, Medicaid.
“The problem is the money has strings. It costs money to take that money,” Randles said. “[The federal government will] send money, but they require us to spend more money to get it. So you have to say at some point, ‘what is this deal worth?’”
Randles acknowledges his plan to turn away federal funds, in particular those going to Medicaid, will be controversial. But Randles said he fears that Medicaid will occupy too much of the state budget in the near future if it continues to come with strings attached.
“I’m not talking about stopping Medicaid,” he said in an interview. “What I’m talking about is going to the federal government and having it turned in to block grants.”
If not? Randles said, “We’re coming up with a Missouri-type program for the long term if we can’t do that.”
Additionally, Randles said, to address health care costs, he would support significant reforms to Missouri’s tort laws and change requirements for emergency rooms so that they are only required to treat uninsured patients for life-threatening injuries.
Randles, a Kansas City attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School, faces an uphill challenge against businessman Dave Spence, a St. Louis Republican, who is supported by a great deal of the party’s establishment. Nonetheless, Randles said he has hope for his campaign.
“Wait and see the first poll to come out and see who is ahead,” he said, “Because that will be me.”
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