ICYMI: “Leadership Has Been So Badly Needed”: Kansas City Star Endorses Nicole Galloway For Missouri Governor, Slams Parson For Failing On COVID-19 Response

Today, the Kansas City Star endorsed Nicole Galloway, citing her “hard work and moxie,” detailed plans for the state, management experience as the state’s top financial watchdog, and most importantly, her willingness to follow facts and science when it comes to the pandemic.

The ed board believes that Galloway is the best person to meet the moment, writing, “She thinks, as we do, that the best way to both save lives and get our economy back on track is to fight this pandemic instead of continuing to pretend that all is well.”

The board slams Parson for his failures on the coronavirus pandemic, and the “old-boyism” and “insider buddy protection” that has been the hallmark of his administration. COVID-19 cases are soaring and hospitals are running out of ICU beds, but Parson still thinks the state is on the “right track.” And even after contracting the virus himself, he still refuses to lead by example and wear a mask, preaching “personal responsibility” but never taking any responsibility himself.

The KC Star says, “Parson’s failure to respond in any meaningful way to COVID-19 — and even to lead by example by wearing a mask himself — has cost lives.”

Read more about Galloway’s latest endorsement below.

Kansas City Star: ‘We need a complete reset’: The Star endorses the clear choice for Missouri governor

We were so relieved when Republican Mike Parson first inherited the Missouri governor’s office from his scandal-prone predecessor. So relieved that, if anything, he walked in the door with more goodwill than he deserved.

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Sad, right? Yippee, the governor is willing to come here. This is called extending, and maybe overextending, the benefit of the doubt. But Parson has long since exhausted our willingness to believe he’ll ever do much of anything beyond occasionally showing up, unmasked in every sense, at a time when leadership has been so badly needed and its absence so keenly felt.

Little-known even in Jefferson City before his unexpected elevation, Parson has not learned or grown in this job or during this pandemic. He does not change course, no matter what the facts. At a news conference on Wednesday, he responded churlishly to questions about the state’s record COVID-19 hospitalizations and 21% seven-day positivity rate. He quibbled with the numbers and said, “the entire Midwest is seeing an increase,” and insisted that “overall, our health care system is still stable and meeting the demand.”

With some hospitals in Kansas City and across the state so overcrowded with COVID-19 patients that they’re turning away ambulances, the fact that he could even say such a thing means that he either doesn’t know what’s happening or doesn’t care. Either way, it’s both same-old and shocking.

That Parson has spent CARES Act funding on tourism campaigns and a DC-area consultant while personal protective equipment is still lacking is a serious disservice to every Missourian.

Parson’s failure to respond in any meaningful way to COVID-19 — and even to lead by example by wearing a mask himself — has cost lives. So has his failure to do anything about the state’s violent crime problem beyond declaring his unconditional support for police. These are reasons enough to deny him four more years in which to respond to every challenge with his favorite cliché: “One size does not fit all.”

But his challenger, CPA and Democratic state auditor Nicole Galloway, has earned our endorsement, and your vote, not just by default but by her own hard work and moxie.

She has detailed plans, a higher standard of management and with her five years of experience finding and ending waste, fraud and abuse, none of the old-boyism or insider buddy protection that defines the incumbent.

We also appreciate her willingness to answer difficult questions directly, and even concisely, instead of dancing incomprehensibly around them.

She thinks, as we do, that the best way to both save lives and get our economy back on track is to fight this pandemic instead of continuing to pretend that all is well.

“We need a complete reset on our coronavirus strategy,” Galloway told The Star Editorial Board, promising the statewide mask mandate that the White House COVID-19 has said Missouri needs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that cases in Arizona dropped 75% after mask mandates went into effect there.

“If we do not contain the spread,” Galloway said in her interview with us, “if we don’t have a mask rule, if we don’t have real contact tracing, if we can’t deploy CARES Act funds at the local level to really fight this virus and help people get through this, then we won’t be able to repair our economy.’’

All true. And as she points out, “Masks are a ticket to freedom. My plan is designed to prevent shutdowns. We are all living Governor Parson’s free-for-all plan right now.”

In the only debate he agreed to, Galloway mentioned Parson’s well-documented, public comments that wearing a mask is a personal decision and that there is no right answer.

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We think he will, if elected, continue to do what he has been doing. And that his opponent will respond with facts, and will speak and act with clarity. Which is why it is so important that we elect Nicole Galloway as our next governor.