July - 24 - 2026
🏛️ Issue of the Week: Measure Twice. Govern Once.
Summary
Leadership begins with curiosity. It begins with asking questions. It begins with understanding the people who will actually live with the consequences of a decision.
Throughout my career, I've led hundreds of projects involving technology, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. The projects that succeeded weren't the ones where someone rushed into the room convinced they already had all the answers. They were the ones where the team spent the time defining the problem correctly before trying to solve it.
Unfortunately, that's becoming increasingly rare with the super majority in Jefferson City.
Instead of beginning with questions, too many lawmakers begin with conclusions. Instead of understanding problems, they begin with talking points. Instead of building policy around the people affected by it, they build policy around politics.
That isn't leadership.
That's legislation looking for a justification.
Key 33 Details – What Leadership Looks Like
This week I attended the Lone Jack Board of Aldermen meeting. For hours, residents stood before their elected officials explaining problems affecting their neighborhoods and their community.
Some agreed. Some disagreed. But every one of them deserved to be heard.
Several people thanked me afterward for staying through the entire meeting. Some remarked they had never seen my opponent there.
I appreciated the kind words, but my thinking was simple.
If you don't spend time understanding the problem, how can you honestly claim to have the right solution?
That's why I spend so much time knocking on doors, attending school board meetings, city meetings, community events, and talking with families throughout District 33.
Not because I assume I already know what everyone needs.
Because I assume I still have something to learn.
A Better Path Forward & Conclusion
That's why I oppose Amendments 4 and 5, and why I'm disappointed my opponent has chosen to support both exactly as written.
To me, these amendments aren't just policy disagreements. They're examples of a governing philosophy that puts conclusions ahead of understanding.
Amendment 5 proposes one of the largest changes to Missouri's tax structure in generations while leaving many of the details to be decided later. Even Missouri's courts required ballot language to be rewritten so voters understood that the proposal authorizes lawmakers to expand sales taxes.
I believe leaders should first answer the hard questions.
-How will this affect working families?
-How will it affect those on limited income or fixed incomes?
-How will it affect our schools?
-How will it affect small businesses?
-What unintended consequences haven't we considered?
That's what leadership looks like.
Not assuming. Not guessing. Not relying on slogans.
Doing the work before asking the people of Missouri to live with the results.
Because good government has to listen and be curious - to provide solutions that actually solve the right problem.
In other words: Measure twice. Govern once.