Jay Ashcroft pitches biggest reorganization of Missouri’s finances in state history

A February poll of Republican primary voters showed Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had the most recognizable name in the race for governor. 

That shouldn’t be surprising. 

Ashcroft has held statewide office for eight years, and his father John ran statewide seven times, winning five elections for state attorney general, governor and U.S. senator before becoming U.S. Attorney General under President George W. Bush.

Jay Ashcroft was born the year his father was appointed state auditor in 1973 and spent his teenage years living in the Governor’s Mansion. He learned that everything the family did was news when his mother got his dad in trouble by calling the state librarian on Mother’s Day so his brother could finish a homework assignment.

“When I was a little kid, I made the decision that I wasn’t going to go into politics,” he said in an interview with The Independent after announcing his candidacy. “I said, ‘I’m never going to go into politics. I’m never going to be an attorney. I’m going to have a real job.’ Famous last words.”

So first at the Merchant Marine Academy, where he did not do well, then later at Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering management, Ashcroft stuck with his vow.

He worked first at a defense contractor and later as a teacher of mechanical engineering and engineering technology at St. Louis Community College. 

But he eventually did study law – at St. Louis University – and went to work in the law firm his father founded after leaving public life.

Then politics beckoned, though just like his father, his first race didn’t go well. His 2014 bid for a St. Louis County state Senate seat ended in defeat. 

He bounced back two years later when he was elected secretary of state, getting the second largest majority of all Republicans on the statewide ballot. He won a second term in 2020. 

Now he’s set his sights on following his father into the governor’s mansion. If he wins, he’ll be the first son of a governor elected to the office since John Sappington Marmaduke in 1884.

Locked in a three-way battle for the GOP nomination with Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel, Ashcroft hopes voters see how he has used his power as secretary of state to advance a conservative agenda. 

He’s implemented rules requiring libraries to obtain parental consent for materials their children borrow — or face a loss of state funding. And he’s being sued for imposing rules on financial advisers requiring them to get investor consent for making a company’s stand on climate action or other socially driven issues — also known as ESG for environmental social governance — a factor in an investment decision.

Perhaps his highest profile official action led to the court battle over ballot language for a proposal to make abortion a state constitutional right. When the language was challenged, Ashcroft took the rare step of officially joining the legal team defending it — a fight he ultimately lost. 

It was in the midst of that fight, however, that he won the endorsement of the state’s largest anti-abortion group, Missouri Right to Life.

Outside the strict duties of his office, in recent years Ashcroft has been testifying before legislative committees in favor of bills that would ban certain medical treatments for transgender minors and ban foreign ownership of farmland, among others. And he became highly involved in the unsuccessful effort to redraw Missouri’s congressional maps in a way that eliminated a Democratic seat in Kansas City.

In the run up to the Aug. 6 primary, The Independent asked Ashcroft a series of questions with one theme — what would Missouri be like if he becomes governor? Here’s some of what he said:

Budget and taxes

Like both his major opponents, Ashcroft wants to eliminate the state income tax. And like Eigel, he wants to repeal the 2021 gas tax increase.

The 2021 increase was the first state fuel tax increase since 1992, when John Ashcroft signed a bill adding 4 cents a gallon. The 2021 increase was passed with strong backing from Kehoe.

His plan, Ashcroft said, is to cut spending and reorganize the state tax system so more money from earmarked sources is placed in the general revenue fund.

“I truly think the government’s doing too much,” Ashcroft said. “Looking at COVID, we were spending the same amount of money but the government was seemingly shut down and life went along fine.”

In the eight years since Republicans took control of the governor’s office, the state budget has increased from $27.5 billion, with $9.7 billion coming from general revenue in fiscal 2017, to $51.6 billion and $15.1 billion from general revenue in the current year.

The top income tax rate is currently 4.8% and in the fiscal year that ended June 30, the personal income tax accounted for 65% of general revenue collections. There are future tax cuts, depending on revenue increases, that would drop the top rate to 4.5%.

The other two categories of money funding state operations are federal funds, often requiring a state match, and “other” funds, totaling $12.1 billion, generated by taxes and fees for specialized purposes.

“We want to go back to the people and say you have these designated funds,” Ashcroft said. “We’d like you to allow us to put those into general revenue to spend as the state needs and in return for that will give you an immediate decrease in your income tax for giving us that flexibility.”

If enacted, Ashcroft’s proposal would be the biggest reorganization of state government finances in state history. It would require intense legislative work, followed by one or more statewide votes.

Bringing dedicated funds into general revenue would eliminate earmarked funding for conservation and state parks and soil conservation. It would also end a 1982 sales tax that provides $1,513 per pupil to school districts and the motor fuel tax fund, which took in $1 billion.

Gambling taxes from casinos and the lottery are worth about $750 million annually, money that is dedicated to education needs. 

Putting the money under the control of the governor and lawmakers, Ashcroft said, will lead to greater oversight.

“In the road fund, the way it’s done, there is no accountability for how those funds are spent,” Ashcroft said. “But when you put them in general revenue, then the legislature can have oversight over those and we the people can really be involved in making sure those funds are being spent correctly.”

Through a combination of budget cuts and reorganization, Ashcroft said the income tax can be put on a “glide path” to elimination.

He’s not going to specify any cuts during the campaign, Ashcroft said.

“I’m not gonna roll all of that out right now,” Ashcroft said. “What I have done is shown that it’s eminently possible because of the number of dollars.”

Crime

Ashcroft’s proposals involve a multi-pronged approach to crime — more police on the streets, more investment in mental health services and local incarceration for some offenders.

He wants the state to support the hiring of 1,000 new police officers, Ashcroft said. The goal would be to increase the Missouri State Highway Patrol to its full strength of 1,064 troopers and help local agencies attract new officers.

“There are a whole lot of other things that we can do to draw people that are officers elsewhere and say, if you’re willing to serve the public, you want to be a public servant, Missouri is the place where you want to do it,” Ashcroft said.

Under the Missouri Constitution, the legislature is prohibited from requiring a “new activity or service or an increase in the level of any activity or service beyond that required by existing law” without paying for it with state funds.

Staffing shortages in local agencies mean they are under strength and the state can help without having to pay the full cost, Ashcroft said.

“There probably will be some financial support from the state but you also have to understand there are other things the state needs to do,” Ashcroft said.

Statewide, Missouri State Highway Patrol statistics show that both violent crimes and property crimes declined in 2023 compared to 2022. FBI data, however, shows both violent and property crime rates in Missouri have been higher than the national average for the past decade.

In addition to increasing the number of police patrolling Missouri’s streets and highways, Ashcroft said he wants to address mental health issues that lead to arrests. In February there were approximately 300 people in county jails awaiting a bed in a state mental health facility and state mental health officials forecast it will be 500 by the end of the year.

The Department of Mental Health faces major staffing shortages with more than one-third licensed practical nurse slots unfilled, two out of every five jobs for psychiatrists unfilled and fewer than one-third of licensed clinical social worker slots filled.

Missouri should invest more in community mental health programs that can provide help before people are in crisis, Ashcroft said.

“We’re already incurring a cost for these people, but we’re incurring it in such a way that we don’t incentivize the reduction of the costs or getting these people help,” he said.

Over the past decade, the number of people in state custody has gone down by about one-third, from an average of 31,442 in 2012 to 2014 to an average of 23,409 in the 2020-2022 period. Missouri closed a prison in 2019 and housing units in others during 2020  to save money on partially used facilities.

Despite that reduction, deaths in state prisons have increased from an average of 89 per year to 122 per year, with 135 deaths in 2023. Four corrections officers are charged with murder of an inmate at Jefferson City Correctional Center in December and the warden was fired.

One issue for the state is staffing shortages, Ashcroft said. Many prisons are in rural areas where there is a limited ability to recruit correction officers.

His solution, he said, is to house some offenders in local facilities. Federal agencies house their prisoners in county jails and the payments help defer local costs, he said.

“They don’t want to do that for the state right now because the state doesn’t pay what it costs to house those individuals,” Ashcroft said.

The state could pay more, and support regional facilities, he said.

There would also be a benefit for the families of people who are incarcerated, Ashcroft said.

“That might be better if their families are there,” he said. “Does that mean that you see your children more?”

Family legacy

The Ashcroft name means a lot in southwest Missouri, where John Ashcroft began his political career and Robert Ashcroft, Jay’s grandfather, was the first president of Evangel College, said state Rep. Bill Owen of Springfield.

The family still owns land near Willard.

Ashcroft’s father hasn’t taken a major role in the campaign, but he did make a video attacking Kehoe over land ownership by Chinese companies. And he shows up in campaign photos on occasion.

“The family is so ingrained in the community and in the area, people just feel really comfortable with him down here,” Owen said.

On the campaign trail, Ashcroft’s foes have accused him of running mainly on his famous name. 

After Ashcroft said at a recent debate that his father wasn’t happy about his opposition to public funding of professional sports stadiums, Eigel was ready with a rejoinder: “Jay, be a little easy on your dad, you need that last name.”

Jay Ashcroft has created his own identity, separate from his family, Owen added.

“Some people would be swallowed up by the shadow,” he said. “And I don’t think he has been. On his own merits, he’s been able to stand out on his own.”

In 1998, as he considered a White House bid, John Ashcroft wrote a book he titled “Lessons from a Father to his Son.” 

The biggest lesson he learned from his father, Jay Ashcroft said, is the honor in public service.

“It was ordained by God before time began the fact that public service is one of the, if not the, greatest things you can do in life because you spend your time making life better for others instead of just elevating yourself,” Ashcroft said. “And the idea of integrity of character, and how valuable it is to have a good name, and no matter what you do, to protect them.”