Perry County citizens had a chance to hear from challenger Carl Kinsky and incumbent Bryant Wolfin regarding the upcoming election for the representative seat in the 145th district of the Missouri House of Representatives in a public forum Wednesday night.
Kinsky, a democrat, and Wolfin, a republican, took questions submitted prior to the event, and took time after to speak one on one with potential future constituents as well.
Before they took questions, both Kinsky and Wolfin took time to introduce themselves and give brief introductions to their political philosophies and explain how they would apply them in Jefferson City should they be elected.
Bryant Wolfin continued to emphasize his commitment to the constitution, and to limited government.
“During both my 2024 campaign and my most recent primary campaign, my message has always been consistent, that I wanted to go to Jefferson City and be the champion for liberty that I feel we so desperately need,” Wolfin said in his opening remarks.
Wolfin explained his positions on many key issues in Missouri, saying that he is “100 percent pro life and a staunch defender of the right to bear arms.” He also explained his position against amendment 6, as he believes it would take power away from rural communities and give an unfair balance of power to large urban communities.
Wolfin also addressed his standards for how he votes, which has contributed to his reputation of voting “no” so often.
“I think it’s important that the people understand my reasoning behind these no votes,” Wolfin said. “When a bill comes before me, I have a pretty simple three-part standard that I apply and I think I’m the only representative that I know that does this. First, is it constitutional? Second, does it grow government? And third, is it a good or bad policy? And if a bill fails any of these three, I’m most likely going to vote no.”
Kinsky spoke about his background as a prosecutor and defense attorney, and why he believes a change needs to be made in the 145th district. He said some of his concerns include A.I, data centers, flock cameras, and the impending financial problems facing Ste. Genevieve, which is projected to run out of general revenue funds in the next year.
“We are not gonna have the money, so we’re gonna have to do something,” Kinsky said. “We’re either gonna cut services, we’re going to have to look at taxes, we’re going to have to do something, and it is important that a candidate tell you what it is that he’s gonna do, or at least give you a general outline of this. We need a representative who can not just talk, but one who can listen. One who can compromise, but can also stand firm. And we need a Representative who can get things done. And with all due respect to Mr. Wolfin, nothing really has been done. No bill that he has introduced has gotten out of committee.”
Both candidates responded to anonymously submitted questions, explained their positions on education funding, the Ste. Genevieve detention center, minimum wage, and the ongoing Missouri budget shortfall.
Both Kinsky and Wolfin agreed that something needs to be done about the budget, but they had differing opinions on what has contributed to the shortfall.
Wolfin said he does not believe revenue intake is a problem, and the solution lies in the way the spending is carried out, with non-essential projects being prioritized over things that directly help citizens such as child care and education.
Kinsky responded saying he believes loss of revenue is indeed a major contributing factor, and that tax cuts on passive income has had a large effect on revenue intake, with the loss of that revenue costing millions more than was originally projected.
In his closing comments, Kinsky said he believes that a change needs to be made because in his opinion, Wolfin’s stance against multi issue bills will lead to a lack of significant change in the house of representatives.
“We do not need somebody who is a quasi-pariah in his own party,” Kinsky said. “We need a representative who will try to get something done. Get something done on data centers. Get something on flock cameras. Get something down on this budget disaster that we are facing. And I will work with anybody to try to get something done. And I believe everything, taxes, spending, everything, needs to be on the table. And that keeping just one thing on the tables, the single subject provision, is not going to help the people in Perry County or in Ste. Genevieve County one bit.”
Wolfin responded in his closing comments, admitting he has been seen as a pariah within the republican party at times, and that he is committed to his principles of strict constitutionality regardless.
“Let me ask you this, would you rather have someone who is principled or someone who is going to go and cave to the game of Jefferson City?,” Wolfin said. “Because what I heard in that closing statement is just another person who is just going to go rank and file and not follow their oath to be constitutional…regardless of whether someone agrees with every decision I made, I hope that they understand that those decisions really do come from a sincere belief about what our constitution requires and what the proper role of government ought to be.”
Both candidates stayed and answered questions one on one following the public comments. Full videos of the public comments can be found on both candidates Facebook pages.
