Six Missouri Governors Talk About Boosting the State’s Economy
Date Posted: November 23, 2015
Posted In: News,
From The Kansas City Star: On Friday, all six living Missouri governors — five men who used to hold the job, plus the guy who has it now — said boosting the state’s economy must remain a top priority of the state’s chief executive.
Democrats Jay Nixon, Bob Holden and Roger Wilson shared a stage with Republicans Kit Bond, John Ashcroft and Matt Blunt. The rare gathering was part of a fundraiser for the Hawthorn Foundation, a nonprofit company that helps pay the cost of foreign trade missions by Missouri officials, including the governor.
Bond created the foundation in 1982 to unify the state’s economic development efforts. “We had Kansas City fighting St. Louis, and St. Louis fighting Kansas City,” he recalled. “Springfield and Columbia were at odds. The outstate area was fighting the cities. We needed a joint effort.”
The former governors remembered several foreign trips designed to bring new companies to the state — some successful, some not. Wilson recalled a trip to Australia to sell Missouri oak as a material for wine barrels.
“It’s going to look like a junket no matter what you do,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, there was hard work and business. They almost killed me.”