Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley has launched his campaign for lieutenant governor with a media blitz Thursday in St. Louis.
The lieutenant governor spot will open up as Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is challenging Gov. Jay Nixon in the gubernatorial election next year.
Tilley, a 40-year-old Republican from Perryville, has raised $347,000 this quarter and has more than $1 million in the bank. Contributors include financier Rex Sinquefield, who gave $75,000 last month; Express Scripts in St. Louis, which gave $25,000 last month; and Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, which gave $7,500 last month, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Calling himself a "pro-business fiscal conservative," Tilley told the Business Journal he supports putting the fair tax proposal on the ballot, which would give voters a chance to decide whether to replace the state's income tax with a higher sales tax. He pointed to job growth in Texas and Tennessee, which don't have income taxes, as proof that it works to stimulate economic growth.
"It spurs growth; it just does," he said. "Other states are doing it and they are kicking our tails."
Tilley also said he supports a plan to devote $360 million in tax credits to create the so-called Aerotropolis trade hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, saying the plan could create as many as 17,000 jobs.
"We have the runway and the room around the airport. We could not only import goods from China but also export goods from all throughout the Midwest from St. Louis."
He said it's still too premature to meet with Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to agree on a deal on the incentives, because Tilley said he hopes to reach a consensus between the House and Senate first and have the governor sign off on it.
Tilley, a University of Missouri-St. Louis graduate, formally announced his candidacy during a golf tournament Wednesday in Farmington but said he chose St. Louis for the first full campaign day because it's the economic engine of the state. |
