GCDCC News
Traw, Wasson square off in 20th District
Posted on: October 20, 2010Men look to replace state Sen. Clemens, who is term-limited.
Didi Tang• News-Leader • October 20, 2010
A political neophyte is challenging a longtime politician in the race for state senator in the 20th District.
Democratic candidate Terry L. Traw, 56, hopes voters will choose him over Jay Wasson, 53, a Republican who has spent the past 13 years as an elected official and cannot seek another term as state representative because of term limits.
“There are problems that need to be fixed in the state, and I can fix them,” said Traw.
Wasson hopes his record — particularly in the past eight years as a state representative — will convince district voters to send him back to Jefferson City.
“I’ve been effective for my area. I’ve been effective for my state,” Wasson said.
If elected, Traw or Wasson will replace state Sen. Dan Clemens, R-Marshfield, who has served two four-year terms.
The 20th district covers Douglas, Webster, Christian and Greene counties outside of Springfield.
Background
Before he graduated from Central High, Traw, a son of a hotel night clerk, worked for Safeway Grocery Stores first as a bag boy then moving up to head clerk.
When the stores closed, Traw joined a food brokerage company and eventually became a partner.
In 1994, Traw started a business in collectibles.
In the campaign, he has described Wasson as “privileged.”
Wasson’s late mother, Edna Wasson, was a longtime postmaster for Nixa and was the town’s first female mayor.
Wasson, who inherited 200 acres of family farmland, became a real estate developer in his early 20s. He subdivided the land, which is now Wasson Place with about 400 homes.
“My opponent wants to paint me as a Richie Rich, that’s not so,” Wasson said. “I’ve worked hard.”
He dropped out of college when his father died and was faced with paying an inheritance tax, Wasson said.
At age 19, Wasson said, he built his first home.
In the early 1990s, Wasson said he owned and managed a motel for seven years.
Now, he is developing a 12,000-square-foot office center off U.S. 160 in Nixa.
At the same time, Wasson said he has been active in public service.
He was appointed to the Nixa park board at age 21 and later served on the planning and zoning commission before he was elected to the town’s board of aldermen and later mayor.
On the issues
Traw, who describes himself as an independent Truman Democrat, shares some values with Wasson.
Both have permits to carry concealed weapons, and both say they are anti-abortion and support restrictions on abortion.
But Wasson and Traw disagree on tax issues.
Traw believes taxes — especially the state income tax — should be based on the ability to pay, favoring measures on a sliding scale that place heavier tax burdens on the rich.
Wasson said the state does not have a tax issue but a spending problem.
“Can we provide the same service at less cost?” Wasson asked. “Is the service we provide essential?”
He said higher taxes would hurt small business owners, who would be reluctant to invest in their businesses.
“I just think a lot of people are hanging on there, by the skin of their teeth, small business people,” Wasson said. “… If you start raising taxes, that’s rough.”
Retorted Traw: “If you are making $1 million a year, I don’t think you are just hanging on.”
Traw criticized Wasson for supporting the fair tax, a tax plan that Traw said would abolish all taxes except a uniform sales tax levied on all goods and services, including house purchases and medical services.
“Jay wants to tax everything,” Traw said, pointing out the fair tax will hurt middle-income families.
He said the fair tax would have a detrimental effect on the housing market.
“It will absolutely kill the real estate market in Missouri,” Traw said.
Wasson said the idea deserves discussion.
“(Fair tax) is not the sole answer … but it certainly deserves discussion on the floor,” Wasson said.
Traw said he would support both an Internet sales tax and a higher tobacco tax.
Traw, who sells antiques and collectibles online, said the state loses at least $200 million a year in sales tax dollars from not taxing online purchases.
Wasson said he is OK with an online sales tax.
“I will vote for it, but it’s not a budget fixer,” Wasson said. “It’s a fairness issue.”
Wasson initially said he supported a higher tobacco tax but added later he would favor it only if it did not hurt state revenue.
Jobs
To revitalize the state economy, Traw has proposed a MO Jobs Bond program.
In his proposal, the state would borrow money from its citizens by distributing low-denomination, high-yield, tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds to savers and investors.
The proceeds, paired with quality job tax credits, would help Missouri businesses to expand and create more jobs, Traw said.
For job growth, Wasson said he would favor tax credits across the board but especially for small businesses.
“We need to allow them to plow the money back to their businesses and hire more people,” Wasson said.
Wasson agrees with tea party supporters that the government has grown too big and is trying to do everything instead of doing “a few things really good.”
The government must provide public safety and build infrastructure, but it is overreaching when the government tries to regulate health care, Wasson said.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources also is overreaching with its environmental rules and regulations, Wasson said.
“The marketplace can work itself out,” he said. “In most cases, when we talk about regulations, most time small businesses cannot afford those regulations.”
However, Wasson is proud of some of his regulatory efforts.
Last year, Wasson said he rewrote the state statute regarding the funeral industry and successfully placed restrictions on pre-need contracts and services offered by funeral homes.
“We’ve got to some some regulations, and that’s one of them,” Wasson said.
His legislative efforts don’t contradict with his philosophy against regulations, because he does not automatically turn to regulations for answer, Wasson said.
Traw has criticized Wasson for working for special interests, noting Wasson’s campaign contributions often can be linked to his legislative efforts in Jefferson City.
Wasson said the contributors approve of his work that is already done.
The donors do not expect special favors from him, Wasson said.