Political Candidates are Speaking Out on Disability Issues

Numerous people gathered earlier in the week to hear the political candidates’ thoughts and actions that are related to disability issues that are on-going. All that night, the political candidates were asked loads of questions from the public and a moderator. The Representatives from District 3 and 4 were asked several questions on how they were going to bring more mental health services to the area of northeast Missouri and promote competitive and fair employment for those people within the area that have disabilities. McClanahan stated that she thinks they have a lot of work to do, but the community already has a lot of great things going on.

“We have some great things going on in this community especially the SB 40 board,” McClanahan said. “The Chariton Valley Association does great services, but there is just inadequate funding for all of these services. And, they have experienced cut, after cut.” She also went on to state that the state itself needs to have a more balanced approach to the proposed budget. “We have some opportunities of identifying additional funding that would help us with this,” McClanahan said. “There’s a proposition on the ballot that would perhaps help with that. (There’s the) opportunity to collect sales tax on internet sales. Restructuring the tax code in Missouri was one of the things we discussed here this evening… that might even provide a tax cut for most people in Missouri, but yet generate more revenue. So, there are a variety of things we can do to provide the services that we believe our necessary and certainly the people in this room believe are necessary for people with disabilities.”