MO-Gov: Can We Please Get Rid Of Missouri's Racist Dog Whistling, Superspreader Governor
There aren’t a lot of Governor races for me to cover this year. Governors Roy Cooper (D. NC) and Jay Inslee (D. WA) are looking good heading into re-election and Montana’s Governor race is the only real toss-up. But if there’s one race that could possibly break late, it’s the Missouri Governor race where incumbent Governor Mike Parson (R. MO) is up against State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D. MO). Now I know that Missouri is a red state but I also know that they have elected both Democratic and Republican Governors. Parson was elected Lt. Governor in 2016 and became Governor after idiot Eric Greitens (R. MO) resigned in disgrace over a revenge porn scandal with his mistress. Parson has been in charge since 2018. All down ballot Republicans try to run as Trump without Trump but Parson really takes the cake. Especially because of this:
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) has often inflamed critics by downplaying the risks of reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic, resisting calls for a statewide mask mandate and attending large events without wearing a mask in a state with rising covid-19 numbers.Now Parson, 65, and his wife, Teresa, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the governor announced Wednesday. They are quarantining, forcing Parson to postpone campaign events and to reschedule a gubernatorial debate.“Right now, I feel fine — no symptoms of any kind,” Parson said in a recorded message posted on Facebook. The first lady is exhibiting mild symptoms, the governor said.Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Missouri, which has recorded almost 117,000 cases and nearly 2,000 deaths, according to The Washington Post’s tracker. A Sept. 13 report from the White House coronavirus task force, obtained by radio station KCUR, said by population, the state had the fourth-highest rate of new cases in the country.
And just like Trump, he’s a superspreader because he pulled this shit:
Just two days after announcing that they have contracted the coronavirus, Republican Gov. Mike Parson and his wife, Teresa Parson, have reassured Missourians that they still plan to host their annual fall festival next month.
“WE WILL BE PROCEEDING WITH THIS EVENT,” the first lady wrote in all caps on Twitter.
“Come enjoy the outdoor activities and the beautiful fall decorations,” she urged residents.
Although, the governor has declined to issue a statewide mandate for face coverings, the first lady noted on Friday that masks will be available and “social distancing encouraged!”
The festivities will include several vendors, children's activities and bluegrass musical entertainment, according to The Associated Press.
He’s also infecting everyone around him:
At the Missouri Department of Corrections, for example, 613 employees of the sprawling agency have tested positive, according to the agency’s website. Of those cases, 233 were still active as of Friday.The Department of Mental Health has reported 384 workers who tested positive, with four deaths.And, the Missouri Veterans Commission reported 12 workers at its Mt. Vernon nursing home with the virus.But Kelli Jones, a spokesman for the Republican governor, won’t say how many of the estimated three dozen employees who work closely with Parson in his office on the second floor of the Capitol have tested positive.The office earlier confirmed a number of staffers on his team were in quarantine and working from home after he and Teresa Parson, Missouri’s first lady, tested positive for the virus on Sept. 23.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has contracted coronavirus — reportedly along with more than 1,800 state employees under his purview — after declining to issue a statewide mask mandate during the pandemic.
Parson's office confirmed in a statement on Monday that he and his wife, Teresa Parson, had tested positive for the virus on Sept. 23 but have since fully recovered and returned to their regular schedules.
Four staffers in Parson's office also tested positive and have recovered, according to the statement. However, 1,842 of some 53,000 state employees have been infected, according to a tally by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, based on data from the Missouri Office of Administration. That total does not include the Parsons.
The Kansas City Star provides a great timeline of how badly Parson fucked up all so he could be like his hero, Trump:
In August, Parson ignored the pleas of health care professionals, the advice of White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah Birx and this commonsense S.O.S. from Springfield Mayor Ken McClure: “Our communities are too interrelated socially and economically for islands of masking to be effective.”
By then, a poll by GOP-leaning Remington Research found that 65% of likely voters in the state surveyed supported this statement: “The spread of COVID-19 is a public health threat, and face masks should be required in public.” But that, too, Parson ignored, right up until he and his wife Teresa tested positive on Sept. 23.
And all because from the first, Trump had characterized masks as a sign of weakness and the refusal to wear one as an all-American act of freedom-loving, frontier bravado.
In her plan, Galloway says she would call for a statewide mask mandate.
“A mask requirement is our ticket to freedom because it improves our odds that businesses can remain open, schools can return fully to in-person learning, and people can get their jobs back,” she says.
Galloway would have state Health Department data determine the threshold for when K-12 schooling can be fully in-person versus a blended model or 100% online learning. Her plan says a district cannot offer full in-seat learning unless its county case rate is below 10 per 10,000 people.
“Everything depends on the rate of community transmission,” says Galloway. “We can’t get every student back in school until we contain the spread of the virus. Therefore, my strategy on schools is holistic.”
Galloway wants to engage the governors of bordering states and other regional partners to combine purchasing power to boost Missouri’s testing capacity. She cites Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia entering into an interstate compact to buy 3 million rapid antigen tests.
And Galloway used the recent debate to slam Parson’s failure:
Galloway, the state auditor, is the only Democrat holding statewide office in Missouri. She used her opening statement and several other opportunities to attack Parson’s handling of the virus that has sickened 139,164 Missourians and killed 2,395 since the pandemic began. Those numbers included 2,008 new confirmed cases announced Friday and 136 new deaths, though the state health department said all of those deaths occurred prior to October but were just reported.
Galloway called for “a complete reset” on the state’s approach to COVID-19, one driven by science and data.
“He's had his chance,” Galloway said of Parson. “He's failed the test of leadership. He's just in over his head.”
By the way, earlier this week, Galloway released an internal polling showing a tightening race:
Which certainly has Parson’s allies scared because they’re resorting to this:
Allies of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson are using an ugly tactic in their campaign against Democrat Nicole Galloway.
Uniting Missouri PAC recently unveiled a website critical of Galloway’s views on crime. “Anti-police. Pro-crime. Wrong for Missouri,” the website says.
Just as stand-alone claims, the statements are wrong. But the pictures the PAC uses to make the point should offend Missourians: Virtually all the photos, other than Galloway, are of Black people.
They include Cori Bush, the Democratic nominee for the Missouri’s 1st District U.S. House seat; Rasheen Aldridge, a member of the Missouri House; and Clem Smith, a former state lawmaker and acting chairman of the state Democratic Party.Even unidentified photos on the website mostly show Black people, including one depicting an apparent confrontation with police.
“This isn’t a dog whistle to white supremacists — it’s a damn bullhorn,” said a tweet from Lindsey Simmons, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House from Missouri’s 4th District. “That is the most racist thing I have ever seen in my life,” said Democratic state Rep. Barbara Anne Washington, who is running for a seat in the Missouri Senate.
The audit found faulty record keeping and accountability procedures related to police officers who work overtime or second jobs, but don’t always keep good records to explain to taxpayers how their money is being spent. Some of those officers, the audit found, were charging taxpayers for working on the beat while they were getting paid by private employers working secondary jobs. The audit mirrors similar findings made by St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green in her examination of similar information a couple of years ago.The way Parson sees it, the very existence of such an audit is an attack on law enforcement. That’s what his campaign is trying to spin out of a routine audit in which nobody is actually questioning the findings.“It’s shameful that the auditor thinks that the brave men and women in law enforcement shouldn’t receive overtime payment,” said Parson campaign manager Steele Shippy in the news release.Actually, it’s shameful that the Parson campaign has resorted to making things up, because the truth doesn’t help his case. There is nothing in Galloway’s audit that is anti-police. She doesn’t lament police officers being paid overtime — she asks the city to keep better track of its records.
Galloway has been endorsed by both Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.
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Let’s get ready to flip Missouri Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Galloway, Biden and their fellow Missouri Democrats campaigns:
