Thank You Dr. Kleinsmith for allowing us to be here today...AND...Thank you for all your hard work on behalf of education...(give him a hand)
Today is a special day...and here to share it with me is my bride of 26 years, Debbie...and our two daughters, Lacey and Neeley...and my Mom, Gunda Kreider.
Mom, I am sure this is a day you thought you would never see...The day I looked forward to going to school..
But the truth is that I have been looking forward to this day for a long time...
Today is the day that my life comes full circle...Today is the day that I get a chance to say Thank You...
Thank you to my Mom, wife, and family
Thank you to my friends and supporters
Thank you to the community and especially thank you to the teachers
Thank you for making a difference!
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to achieve my dream of representing you in the Missouri Senate.
Today, as I announce my candidacy for the 20th district State Senate seat, I do so by renewing a pledge I made when I first ran for office...
Making a Difference by Improving Public Education. My number one priority!
Now, I know what you are thinking...
The critics will say...fine Jim...but don`t all politicians say that...
Well, I want to spell it out for you clearly...
Making public education my number one priority means that there will be no ball stadiums before books and there will be no luxury boxes before lunch boxes!!!
It means that I will continue to fight for state money to build school buildings...because we local property owners can`t afford to be the only ones to foot the bill AND I think every child in Missouri deserves a magnate school...
It means that I will keep pushing to fully fund the foundation formula, so that all school have an opportunity to provide a quality education...
And, it means that I will continue to push for state funds to raise teacher salaries...
Ladies and Gentlemen...this is ridiculous...I am a farmer...I know quite a bit about scrimping and saving to make do, but teachers spend more time with our children than we do...
This is not the place we want to cut corners to save money...
I will guarantee you that behind every successful child there is a successful teacher!!!
We Mom and Dads do our best to instill the right values of honesty, hard work and responsibility in our children. But it is the teachers and public education that give those children a chance to overcome the odds and an OPPORTUNITY to achieve their dreams...THE BIG CHANCE
If we are going to invest in our future, we will invest in our children and if we are going to invest in our children, we will invest in our teachers...it is that simple...
I will guarantee you, you will see the difference...I know I have seen it in my own life...
For those of you who don`t know, Dad was killed when I was 15 and we were in a bind...we had a farm to run and bills to pay...
There were those who said we would either have to sell the farm...or that I would have to quit school in order to run the farm... but Mom and my teachers would have none of it...instead we pulled together, worked harder... and with the help of a lot of folks, we beat the odds... I stayed in school, went on to college at SMS, and we still have that farm...
Mom taught me the value of hardwork and responsibility, but my teachers and a quality public education gave me the OPPORTUNITY to succeed. You made a difference in my life.
So when we decided to run for State Representative against a 28-year incumbent in a county that had not elected a Democrat since 1904...and everyone laughed and said it was impossible...
I just grinned...because I already knew a little something about overcoming the odds and about hardwork and achieving your dreams.
I had survived losing a father and high school algebra...
And when they said that a farmer, especially from Southwest Missouri, could never be Speaker...I just grinned...
Evidently, they never had Mrs. Elnora.
And after today, they will probably say the same thing and I`ll just keep on grinning.
Because I was given the opportunity to succeed...the opportunity to live the American Dream...
So today...I am proud to say...Mom, we made it...we overcame the odds...and we going to move forward once again...with teachers right by my side...
And we will run on a record of which I am proud.
We have better schools that are more equally funded that they were ten years ago. Test Scores have risen and Dropout Rates have fallen.
We have implemented a patients` bill of rights that protects people like you and me from a burdensome medical bureaucracy.
We have made sure that the women of our families have the adequate health care coverage they deserve.
We have lowered taxes by nearly 1 billion dollars.
From lowering the sales tax on food, to cutting taxes on small businesses, to increasing the dependency and personal exemptions, we have fought to make sure that everyone benefits from these cuts, not just an elite few….
We enacted a crime bill that makes sure the most violent offenders serve their time, and that meth dealers are taken off the streets of our communities.
My record is clear and my priorities are straightforward.
I want to be your state senator so I can continue to make difference here at home...It is my way of saying thank you...
Thank You to my mom, my wife and my family.
Thank You to my friends and supports.
Thank You to the community.
And Thank You to our teachers...for giving me the opportunity to realize my dream and to continue to make a difference!
God Bless You
God Bless your families
& God Bless America
Thank You!
Paid for by Kreider for Senator.
Bobby Neal Jr., Treasurer. Not at taxpayer's expense.
