Kurt Schaefer

Kurt Schaefer
Member of the Missouri Senate
from the 19th district
Assumed office
2008
Personal details
Born (1965-10-27) October 27, 1965
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Stacia Schaefer
Residence Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Alma mater University of Missouri
Profession Lawyer
Religion Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Kurt Schaefer (born October 27, 1965) is a Republican member of the Missouri Senate, representing the 19th District since 2009, though he began his career as a Democrat.[1] He is currently running against Josh Hawley for Missouri Attorney General in 2016,[2] though Schaefer pressured Hawley’s superior not to permit Hawley to run.[3]

Early life

Kurt Schaefer grew up in Town and Country, Missouri, where he was the youngest of five siblings. He moved to Columbia, Missouri in 1983. Schaefer began playing bass guitar at the age of 13, and he continued to play through his time in college. He was part of the band Third Uncle that played gigs in clubs around Columbia in the mid- to late-1980s. Schaefer also worked at Columbia music venue The Blue Note, where he had worked his way from doorman to bartender to manager by the time he left Columbia to attend law school. Schaefer graduated from the University of Missouri in 1990 with a B.A. degree in geography, and he earned his J.D. from Vermont Law School in 1995.[4][5]

Legal career

Kurt Schaefer began his legal career as an assistant attorney general under Missouri attorney general and democrat Jay Nixon from 1995 to 1999.[6]

Schaefer has practiced law as a partner in the law firm of Lathrop & Gage LLP since 2007, focusing on litigation, environmental, health care, administrative, business and public utilities law.[7]

Schaefer previously served as general counsel and deputy director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, special counsel to the Governor, special counsel to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Missouri assistant attorney general and special assistant United States attorney general.[8]

As general counsel and deputy director at DNR, he was responsible for the State’s Environmental Regulatory and Enforcement Agency, which managed the state’s 83 state parks and historic sites.[9]

Among other career highlights, Schaefer oversaw the emergency response and cleanup of the destruction caused by AmerenUE’s Taum Sauk Reservoir failure in December, 2005, negotiating a settlement for the state’s natural resource damages of Johnsons Shut-Ins State Park valued at $179 million.[10]

Political career

In 2002, Schaefer sought a nomination as a Democrat by the 13th Circuit Democratic Committee for a judicial position.[11] Subsequently, he ran for office as a Republican.

Kurt Schaefer was elected to represent the 19th Senate District of Missouri in 2008 in a hotly contested election where he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Chuck Graham.[12] In the Senate, Schaefer serves as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and serves on the Senate Committees on Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence and Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment.[13]

Schaefer has been accused of using his position on the Appropriations Committee of the State Legislature to strong-arm political opponents. The former President of the University of Missouri published a letter stating that Schaefer pressured him not to permit opponent, Josh Hawley, a leave of absence to run.[14] Schaefer also pressured him to deny Hawley tenure.[15] A Sunshine Law request was made to the University of Missouri by a conservative group to determine if Schaefer threatened to lower the University’s funding if they encouraged Josh Hawley, a law professor at the University of Missouri, to run against him.[16]

Schaefer proposed a budget for 2016 that would cut funding to in state welfare and some public assistance programs.[17] Schaefer's budget was opposed by the Republican leadership in the state legislature.[18]

Schaefer has campaigned against the influence of lobbyists on politicians, yet he, his family, and staff received the largest amount of money from lobbyists in the Missouri State Legislature in 2014.[19] In 2015, he proposed a bill that would cut funding to the Medicaid health programs and food stamps.[20]

In the legislature, Schaefer sponsored a measure dubbed Amendment Five that was approved by voters by a wide margin in August 2014. The amendment severely restricts the state’s ability to limit gun ownership to citizens.[21] A Missouri judge has ruled that the amendment permits felons to own guns.[22] While running for Attorney General in 2015, he chaired the "Sanctity of Life Committee" in the Missouri senate.[23] This committee was formed in reaction to the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy, though the Missouri Attorney General found no evidence of illegality in Planned Parenthood's actions.[24] In August 2015 the committee requested testimony from the MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin regarding the associations between the University of Missouri and Planned Parenthood. After this testimony Loftin withdrew the university from 10 agreements with Planned Parenthood where medical students could complete clinical hours and terminated, and terminated the "refer and follow" privileges of a Planned Parenthood doctor in Columbia, which made the local clinic unable to legally perform abortions in Missouri.[25][26] Shortly after these events the dean of the school of medicine resigned.[27] Following this in November 2015, Schaefer also attempted to curtail a graduate student research project examining the effects of Missouri's abortion laws which require a three-day waiting period after initial consultation before an abortion can be performed. Schaefer sent a letter to the MU Chancellor's office claiming the research violates a ban on using state money to "encourage abortion", though the research project is unfunded and receives no state funding.[28][29][30]

Schaefer also proposed a bill (SB 248) that permits religious student organizations on college campuses to receive public funds though they refuse to abide by the non-discrimination clause regarding sexual orientation.[31]

Schaefer's Chief of Staff, Yancy Williams, has earned over $500,000 as a political consultant while working as a full-time staffer, paid by Missouri taxpayers.[32]

Family

He and his wife Stacia have three children: Maximilian, Wolfgang, and Lena, and live in Columbia, Missouri.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.columbiatribune.com/local/politics/election_2012/19th_senate_district/still-schaefer-offer-sharp-contrast/article_f2a9bc23-d233-53ec-8b9c-8618d2724fc0.html
  2. ↑ Keller, Rudi. "Sen. Kurt Schaefer plans run for Missouri Attorney General". Columbia Daily Tribune.
  3. ↑ http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/eli-yokley-did-state-lawmaker-put-pressure-on-mu-to/article_774876c4-9778-5ce4-ac21-cd375ee24361.html
  4. ↑ http://www.themaneater.com/elections/2008/11/4/races/19th-district-state-senator/kurt-schaefer/
  5. ↑ http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/schaefer-brings-tenacity-ambition-to-second-state-senate-campaign/article_e7804a7d-928a-5d41-8379-c051c198aabc.html
  6. ↑ http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/politics/sen-kurt-schaefer-plans-run-for-attorney-general/article_3f490faa-2081-11e3-9b77-10604b9f6eda.html
  7. ↑ "Kurt U. Schaefer". Lathrop & Gage.
  8. ↑ "Kurt U. Schaefer". Lathrop & Gage.
  9. ↑ "Senator Kurt Schaefer Biography". Missouri State Senate.
  10. ↑ "Kurt U. Schaefer". Lathrop & Gage.
  11. ↑ http://www.columbiatribune.com/local/politics/election_2012/19th_senate_district/still-schaefer-offer-sharp-contrast/article_f2a9bc23-d233-53ec-8b9c-8618d2724fc0.html
  12. ↑ "Kurt Schaefer: Growing Momentum". The Missouri Times.
  13. ↑ "Senator Kurt Schaefer Biography". Missouri State Senate.
  14. ↑ http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/eli-yokley-did-state-lawmaker-put-pressure-on-mu-to/article_774876c4-9778-5ce4-ac21-cd375ee24361.html
  15. ↑ http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/eli-yokley-did-state-lawmaker-put-pressure-on-mu-to/article_774876c4-9778-5ce4-ac21-cd375ee24361.html
  16. ↑ http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/politics/elections/sunshine-law-requests-for-um-records-target-schaefer-hawley/article_1f0a7099-c7a9-5fb8-90ff-0aa115e3a0cd.html
  17. ↑ http://www.news-leader.com/story/opinion/2015/04/14/missouri-senate-budget-plan-crisis-making-poor/25777863/
  18. ↑ http://politicmo.com/2015/04/16/kurt-schaefers-budget-plan-opposed-by-republican-legislative-leaders/
  19. ↑ https://twitter.com/ssnich/status/562633346917081088
  20. ↑ http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article17613590.html#storylink=cpy
  21. ↑ http://ballotpedia.org/Missouri_Right_to_Bear_Arms,_Amendment_5_(August_2014)
  22. ↑ Patrick, Robert; Stucky, Alex (28 February 2015). "St. Louis judge permits a felon to own a firearm, citing newly-enacted Amendment 5". St Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  23. ↑ http://www.senate.mo.gov/15info/comm/interim/SISL.htm
  24. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/planned-parenthood-fetal-tissue-missouri.html?_r=0
  25. ↑ http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/state-investigation-focuses-on-decades-old-relationship-between-mu-planned/article_de825b18-5bd9-11e5-b5d3-8b294f78e0ba.html
  26. ↑ http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/11/11/planned-parenthoods-future-mu-unclear-after-loftin/
  27. ↑ http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/mu-school-of-medicine-dean-resigns/article_455d0cb4-5b05-11e5-bb04-53e558462d58.html
  28. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/11/12/missouri-state-senator-seeks-to-block-university-of-missouri-students-dissertation-on-abortion-regulations/
  29. ↑ http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/11/11/gop-lawmaker-attempts-to-stop-grad-students-research-on-restrictive-abortion-law/
  30. ↑ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-missouri-comment-6c361dc8-8ca4-11e5-934c-a369c80822c2-20151116-story.html
  31. ↑ http://www.senate.mo.gov/15info/bts_web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=1174594
  32. ↑ "Missouri legislative staffers earn big money as political consultants". kansascity. Retrieved 2015-12-23.

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