South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Schoemehl, Sifton square off in primary for Democratic nod to state Senate seat

Schoemehl, Sifton are vying for chance to face Lembke
Sue Schoemehl
Sue Schoemehl

A former state representative and a current state representative are vying for the Democratic nomination to the 1st District Senate seat in next month’s primary.

Sue Schoemehl, who served in the Missouri House for eight years, and Rep. Scott Sifton, who represents the 96th District in the Missouri House, are seeking their party’s nomination in the Aug. 7 primary. The winner will face incumbent Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, in the Nov. 6 general election.

Asked to identify the most important issue in the race, the candidates responded:

• “Economic development. Besides too many people still being unemployed, many other area residents find themselves underemployed in jobs that really don’t match up to their skills or family needs,” Schoemehl said. “While I recognize government alone is not the solution to all of today’s economic challenges, Missouri’s state Senate does require more leadership in order to help Missouri residents survive in today’s competitive environment.

“Jobs are going to other states and countries because at times we have not properly invested in our infrastructure. Without a doubt, community-based businesses drive job creation and it’s up to state lawmakers to make sure they have a level playing field against large corporations from outside Missouri.”

• “Economic development and job creation remain the key to our future success, and their importance is elevated in this race because the contrasts are so clear,” Sifton said. “While I consistently supported an array of bipartisan jobs bills that passed out of the House, my general election opponent, Jim Lembke, helped kill them in the Senate, and my primary opponent, Sue Schoemehl, simply failed to vote on seven substantial jobs bills while in the Legislature.”

Schoemehl, 58, 2629 Bluff Ridge Drive, 63129, is married to Chris Schoemehl. They have two grown children.

Schoemehl, who represented District 100 in the Missouri House from 2003 to 2010, said she is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 1st District Senate seat because “after working on behalf of thousands of Oakville-area residents in the Missouri House for eight years, I am gravely concerned by what has been transpiring in the state Senate. Rightfully, residents are aware and bothered by current lawmakers in Jefferson City who put politics ahead of pressing needs.”

“Ready again to address quality-of-life issues important to the area, I’m anxious to do the work too many in Jefferson City have yet to begin, especially when it comes to putting people back to work, shoring up our schools and providing taxpayers real value.”

Sifton, 38, 9814 Berwick Place, 63123, is an attorney at Husch Blackwell LLP. He and his wife, Stacey, have two young children.

Sifton was elected to the Missouri House in 2010. He served on the Affton Board of Education from 2001 to 2010 and was board president from 2007 to 2009. He said he is seeking the Democratic nod to the 1st District Senate seat because “as even the Republican Speaker of the House put it, the Senate is broken. There is too much obstruction and not enough action, especially on jobs and economic development legislation. We need change and some new perspectives in the state Senate.”

The candidates gave the following responses to a Call questionnaire:

“Against, proudly endorsed by Missouri Right to Life,” Schoemehl said.

“I believe abortion should be a woman’s decision and not the government’s. Our focus should be on promoting abstinence, prevention and adoption, as well as providing comprehensive sex education,” Sifton said.

“Against,” Schoemehl said.

” I support the death penalty. My experience working with the Special Prosecution Unit of then-Attorney General Jay Nixon’s office reinforced my view,” Sifton said.

“Absolutely,” Schoemehl said.

“No, because it would undermine the reason for having discussion of sensitive personnel, legal and land-acquisition matters closed in the first place,” Sifton said.

“Keeping the pension separate at this point is best for those vested in the system. I do not support changes,” Schoemehl said.

“I oppose changing the teachers’ pension system to allow the state to raid teachers’ pensions. Teachers give their professional lives to our future and give up Social Security to do it. Raiding their pensions is wrong and I will fight hard against it,” Sifton said.

“I believe more needs to be done to push governmental bodies to side on being more transparent and with a ‘wanting-to-know’ public. Too often, officials use the law to close meetings or require unreasonable research fees. Indeed, the law does not require closed meetings, but allows instead for them to be closed for consideration of certain sensitive issues, a loophole too often used,” Schoemehl said.

“Yes, the law should be tightened to heighten preservation requirements for electronic records,” Sifton said.

“Yes, sponsored legislation that would have made that change while serving in the Missouri House of Representatives,” Schoemehl said.

“Yes. In the 1990s, Affton schools had several bond issues fail by less than 100 votes, despite receiving support from more than 56 percent of the electorate. Taxpayers ended up paying far more in borrowing and construction costs to finance the needed building work through a tax levy in 2000 — just before I joined the school board — than they would have had to had an earlier bond issue passed.

“A simple majority threshold would have saved Affton taxpayers at least hundreds of thousands of dollars and benefited kids by making the improvements sooner.”

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