JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Koster has launched what may amount to his first foray into the Republican primary by calling out businessman and Republican candidate John Brunner.
Brunner said Monday that he told board members of the Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) that he was opposed renewable fuel standards, or “mandates” as he called them.
“I believe people and free markets should dictate what kind of fuel we’re using, not government. And I’ll work towards a day where that’s the case,” Brunner said.
The Renewable Fuel Standard requires that gasoline be blended with a certain ratio of renewable fuel, usually ethanol, in an effort for it to reduce greenhouse gases and extend oil supply.
Koster criticized Brunner and managed to lump in the rest of the Republican field with the St. Louis businessman.
“John Brunner and the rest of the Republicans who oppose the renewable fuel standard have clearly lost touch with Missouri’s agricultural community,” Koster said. “Missouri farmers are leaders in developing and producing renewable biofuels that benefit our economy and our environment. Rolling back these standards would only serve to undercut their hard work and put the economies of our rural communities at risk.”
Brunner responded to Koster’s attack with one of his own on Twitter.
I have always believed in free markets. @Koster4Missouri believes in crony capitalism and corporate welfare. #mogov
— John Brunner (@JohnBrunnerMO) January 29, 2016
Koster did not take kindly to accusations that he participated in crony capitalism.
“John Brunner is flat wrong when he claims supporting Missouri’s farm families is ‘crony capitalism,'” Koster said in his reply. “His position shows a surprising disregard for the important role biofuels play in our state’s economy. But at least farmers across Missouri now know where John Brunner stands, and they know where I stand. Farmers deserve to know where Brunner’s fellow Republicans stand on government support for renewable fuels.”
No, @JohnBrunnerMO, you’re just flat wrong. RFS is vital to MO’s rural economies. & while you posture, other GOP candidates remain silent.
— Chris Koster (@Koster4Missouri) January 29, 2016
The MCGA then had their own response for Brunner, and said that he never actually told board members that he did not support the Renewable Fuel Standard.
“You used our invitation for a photo op and blatantly blindsided corn farmers… when rolling out a newfound opposition to existing biofuels policy.” said Morris Heitman, the MCGA president, in a letter written to Brunner. “Rather than dancing around the issue, or in your words ‘go along to get along,’ it would have been more honorable to state your position directly to MCGA board members. We would have gladly and respectfully discussed this issue in depth with you. Instead, you chose to avoid the topic.
“You said ‘Missourians deserve better than platitudes and politicians taking the easy way out.’ We could not agree more.”
Michael Hafner, Brunner’s campaign manager, said it made sense that Koster would go after his boss.
“Of course John Brunner is the strongest Republican candidate,” Hafner said. “But this particular issue is about differing principles. Chris Koster never met a subsidy he didn’t like and has a career of voting to give handouts and subsidies to special interest groups. John Brunner is an advocate of the free market and against using taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers.”
This spat indicates Koster and the Democratic Party appear to be putting more pressure on the Republican field of potential governors by becoming more active in the Republican party’s primary. Last week, the Democratic Party of Missouri asked Eric Greitens to return a donation from a businessman whose company settled with the FBI in an insider trading scandal.
However, this latest back-and-forth marks the first time Koster has gotten specific about a single candidate. While he has often derided Republican positions on issues like stem cell research, nondiscrimination and right-to-work policies, Koster has rarely mentioned any of the other candidates by name.
James Harris, a Republican political consultant, believes that Koster’s attacks on Brunner actually have little to do with John Brunner, but rather cementing his position as a champion of Missouri agriculture.
“He’s consistently worked with agriculture groups, been endorsed by many of them and so I think this is more sending a signal that he continues to be an advocate for Missouri farmers as opposed to John Brunner,” Harris said. He added that this has long been a strategy of statewide Democrats, who have siphoned votes from Republicans by winning over voters not in St. Louis and Kansas City.
“For Chris Koster, it’s good politics to position himself towards the agriculture groups,” Harris says. “The Republican playbook is to win huge margins in out-state Missouri. The Democrats from Claire McCaskill to Gen. Koster to [Gov.] Jay Nixon have figured out to try to to win over the rural voters.”
He also notes that Brunner’s statements could be seen as a gambit against the group that supported him in 2012.
“For John Brunner, the potential mistake here is that there weren’t that many counties that John Brunner carried in his failed U.S. Senate campaign a few years ago, but the ones he did carry were rural, out-state Missouri, and he had support from a lot of the agriculture groups,” Harris said. “I don’t believe most farmers in out-state Missouri would view ethanol as crony capitalism.”
