SBJ Introduces the Candidates

As Blunt departs, 11 compete for seat
Jennifer Muzinic, Reporter
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After more than a dozen years of representing Missouri’s U.S. House of Representatives seventh district on Capitol Hill, Rep. Roy Blunt is leaving his post to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate. There are 11 candidates angling to fill the Republican congressman’s shoes. During the next four weeks, Springfield Business Journal will introduce their ideas for representing southwest Missouri’s business interests in Washington, D.C.

Of the candidates running for Seat 7 in the Aug. 3 primary, eight have filed as Republicans, two as Democrats and one as a Libertarian. They have varied backgrounds – some have held public office, others are lifelong businessmen – but the common denominator is the belief that a fresh voice is needed in Washington. In this issue, SBJ covers the federal deficit with Democrat Tim Davis, health reform with Republican Billy Long and tax policies with Republican Mike Moon.

Tim Davis

Branson-based Democrat Tim Davis considers economic policy his specialty. He quickly points to his doctoral dissertation, published by Cambridge University Press, that focused on pulling an economy out of a recession and outlining ways to make the economy grow over time.

Davis has been in private law practice since 2001 and was Branson’s city attorney until he decided to run for Seat 7. His experience as a lawyer, he said, will help when it comes to working with both sides of the political aisles.

“As long as you have honest parties on both sides, the open sharing of information is very helpful in settling disputes,” he said.

His economic training will help when it’s time to dig into key federal issues impacting local business owners, Davis said, noting one of the largest short-term problems is lack of job creation in the private sector. That, he said, is directly tied to the federal deficit in a number of ways, including the opportunity the deficit provides investors to put their money toward government, versus private, interests.

Another immediate weight on the local business climate, he said, is the lack of credit for small and newly created businesses, which was partially caused by the bailouts of big companies, giving the banks an implicit guarantee that some companies are too large to fail. That, he said, makes it cheaper for very large companies to borrow and draws capital that can be used for small and startup businesses.

“At the same time, community banks, especially, are being hammered by high (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) premiums, by a chaotic regulatory scheme, and perhaps overzealous enforcement,” he said.

His plan to help the economy of southwest Missouri will focus on national reform of financial markets to help free up banks to loan to small and new businesses, and to oppose large-scale government intervention in financial markets, Davis said.

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