JOPLIN, Mo. – Chris Koster went on the offense against Eric Greitens for politicizing the tornado that struck Joplin in 2011, defending himself against a Greitens ad that said Koster wasn’t there for the recovery.
At a press conference Monday Koster, alongside first responders and community leaders, criticized Greitens for an ad he called “a cheap political hit.”
“While Eric is using this tragedy to try and score political points, I want to remind everyone that the real lesson of this great city is how a state and a community can come together to help our fellow neighbors at a time when the community is hurting and in need,” Koster said.
Last week, the Greitens ad criticized Koster for not leaving what it mischaracterized as a luxurious vacation overseas.
“That is false. More importantly, Eric Greitens knows very well that it was false,” Koster said about the implication that he was on vacation.
Koster was attending a nonpartisan attorneys general trip to Israel to learn more about the country’s relationship with the United States.
The day the tornado struck, Koster met with former Israeli leader Shimon Peres. The next day he went to the country’s memorial for Holocaust victims. At the time, the Jerusalem Post covered the visit and said Koster was “eager” to return to Missouri after the tornado.
Meanwhile, Koster said he was coordinating his office’s response to the tornado, including warning residents about scammers.
“As soon as I received news of the terrible tragedy here, I worked by telephone with members of my office to warn the people of Joplin about the possibility of price gouging. To direct my investigators from Jefferson City to this community so that they could be part of a preemptive effort to stop scammers and to warn area residents of the possibility of criminals coming into the area,” Koster said.
He also said he toured the destruction the day after he landed back in the United States. Joplin firefighter Adam Grimes said that even if Koster had been in Joplin moments after the tornado touched down, giving a tour to politicians at that time would have been counter productive.
This was an event that none of us want to ever have to live through again and the idea that a politician is going to show up and make a difference right after that? It’s ridiculous,” he said. “the reality is, we have to stop everything that we were doing to help tour politicians to the damage site. That takes away from our ability to do our job. We can’t save peoples’ lives if we’re out giving people tours of doing photo ops.”
Residents of the city decried Greitens’ politicization of the disaster and reiterated that Koster’s office helped the city ward off scammers.
“Let me make it perfectly clear, abundantly clear. Any politician or candidate using the Joplin tornado to promote his agenda at the local, state, or national level does not deserve a single vote from the citizens of Joplin. Not one vote,” Steve Urie, a local pastor, said. He also said implications that elected officials didn’t help residents are false.
“Now we are being used by a politician to further his agenda at the state level. The character of this act lacks ethical responsibility or morality,” he continued. “Our neighborhoods, community, churches, and government at every level came together, working together to heal and rebuild Joplin. Our elected officials at the time were totally responsible to our needs. Any statement otherwise is simply false.”
Others said Greitens should be ashamed. Nanda Nunnelly-Sparks lost friends and family and called on Greitens to take down the ad.
I am appalled to see a person using this tragedy, our tragedy, for their political gain. You see, Joplin is better than that,” she said. “The tragedy that happened that day and the weeks and months that followed were not about partisan politics. It was about good people helping people in need. Shame on Eric Greitens for making it anything other than that.”
Greitens insisted to the Joplin Globe last week that Koster “started it,” with an ad talking about the work he did to help Joplin recover after the storm.
That ad clearly shows Koster responding to the Joplin tornado and references rebuilding the city. In the ad, Koster makes the case that his work in government allowed him to “see the best in people” and that he has the experience to continue to work on their behalf.
