Candidate Q&A: Missouri House District 32

Two candidates are running to serve in House District 32: incumbent candidate Jeff Coleman (R) and Jennifer Cassidy (D). Each candidate was invited to respond to a series of questions by Grain Valley News. Coleman did not provide responses. Cassidy responded and her unedited responses are provided below.

Jennifer Cassidy, (D), candidate for Missouri House District 32. 

Please share why you are running to serve District 32.

I am running to serve District 32 because I felt it was time for not only a democrat, but a woman needed to step up. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, we had a trigger law that immediately went into effect to ban women’s healthcare in our state. Since that has happened, including attacks on Planned Parenthood, which have not been able to perform abortions in Missouri for quite some time, bills have been introduce to defund them completely. This disaffects women and girls, poor and disadvantaged, as well as women that do not have insurance in the state of Missouri.
 
The rhetoric from the extreme right in our Missouri government was largely silent, until a former president made it “okay” to divide our country. We have been invaded by extremists, defunded by people that have no regard for anyone else. I was certainly concerned and sickened by the explosion of hatred that I had never seen before, at least on these unprecedented levels.
 
My daughter was born with Down Syndrome. She struggled every day of her 24 year old life. I was her advocate, her caregiver, her cheerleader, and her strength. She was non-verbal, and due to her health issues, we had to stop her menses. We kept her home and kept her safe during the pandemic, and unfortunately, her congental heart issues is what finally caused her death. While she never caught Covid, we struggled with her care. I created my business to cater to her needs, but it was astounding to me that other people in the similar situation simply had no resources. She would likley have not been able to receive reproductive care under the current ban in Missouri due to her not being able to communicate with us, or that she wouldn’t have had the symptoms of a pregnancy should that have happen. A pregnacy (she couldn’t consent, and would have been a victim of rape) would have absolutely killed her.
 
We love our community, the school district is one of the best in the state of Missouri. Yet Missouri rates at 49th at starting teacher pay. Defunding the schools will have massive reprocussions for the state, and I say: NOT ON MY WATCH.
 
If elected, what are your priorities this next term?

If I am elected, I have many issues that are important, however, even though I am running as an “ideologist” as I have been called, I am also a realist. I am going to concentrate on the things that I feel can be accomplished.

• Supporting a bill that allows disabled, elderly, seniors, and caregivers to stay in their homes. We currently, in Missouri, prohibit legal guardians from being paid caregivers for their disabled children and their aging family members. There are many states that allow legal guardians to be paid caregivers. Rate studies have been performed, and the studies indicate three things:
  • 1-Those individuals supported by family members achieve a higher quality of life staying at home, being in a familiar and comforting environment.
  • 2-Caregivers, especially of disabled or aging family members, are not being paid in the same fashion as agencies in caregiving, and the rate of turnover for the departments of DMH and DHSS, including case managers, creates beaurocratic red tape for families. Agency caregiver turnover is incredibly high also, due to lack of standards of caregiver wages via individual companies. Agency pay is $33/hour and is capped out. Under Governor Parson, the commission that evaluates and accepts recommendation for services was dissolved, and individual applications for services slowed to a crawl, even prior to the pandemic in 2020. Programs such as the Self-Directed Services program (SDS), which is the part of the State program to provide support for keeping our family members in the home has tightened, and the waiting list for services is several years long. Legal guardians are currently not eligible under the current statues to be paid caregivers for their family members. However, in many states where this IS allowed, we have seen that the quality of care, life, and dignity is much higher, and ultimately, saves the State of Missouri money.It is more cost effective to the state of Missouri to keep the disabled and elderly in their homes than to transfer these individuals into nursing homes or group homes.
  • 3-Facility care, such as assisted living, group homes, nursing homes, day programs, and other IDL facilities have been defunded. Medicaid and Medicare expansions are available at the federal level, but have many times been denied or “forgotten” by state legislators. Even before the pandemic, the number of facilities has been sidelined, due to years of Republican mismanagement of funding, and the dissolution of a department who coordinated these resources. We currently have NO resources for keeping aging populations in their home without caregiver help, either under DMH and DHSS.

• Enshrining women’s reproductive rights in the State of Missouri and making sure that certain extreme voices that would rather legislate women’s choices, rather than leaving those rights to the women, their doctors, and their family members in a very personal, private choice.

 

• Creating more safeguards around the IP process. It is a fundamental right in our Missouri Constitution, but bad actors in our current Missouri Legislature have for 20+ years have ignored the individual voices of the voter. Instead of making our IP process harder (it is already very difficult, and adhering to the rules and the law, it is not conscionable for Missouri Legislators to do an end-run around the constitution and not uphold the will of the voters.

 
Discuss how you plan to achieve these priorities while working within what is arguably a dysfunctional, gridlocked system in Jefferson City. 

We are aware of the small amount of legislation that has been enacted, brought to the floor, and debated upon as the Democratic minority in our Missouri legislature. It is time to elect more Democratics, more moderate Republicans. Republicans make up approximate 70% of our Missouri legislature. Of that, 20% are religious extremists, and they have a brand of politics that do not reflect Republican values of fiscal conservatism, but rather represent the religious right, dictation of the rights of women’s healthcare, and chaos politics. We cannot accept any further policies that only benefit a small population of Missouri citizens, because the Missouri elected politicians should WORK FOR ALL constituents. Dark money needs to be exposed, as we, as Missouri citizens voted on, yet have been ignored by our leadership. Democrats are willing to do the work for the citizens of Missouri, and not a populist performance based upon radical right beliefs and views. It is time to get back to the business of governing, and not attempting to cater to billionaires and lobbyists.
 
 
As we saw this summer, we had a small group of Democrats filibustering to prevent legislation that would suppress voter’s voices and rights with the IP process. We were succesful, however we know that the fight has only just begun.
I pledge to uphold the will of the voters. And I believer that our legislators in our Missour House and Senate, as well as our Governor, Lt Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and our Attorney General, and will continue to fight for the rights of Missourians. We don’t need the same brand of radical politics in Jefferson City that we have had for over 20 years. It’s time to get back to making this state one of the best places to be.