TheChat: Eric Greitens, John Brunner mix it up

Good morning.

▪ “Take responsibility for what your team did.” — Missouri Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens to rival candidate John Brunner alleging that Brunner is behind an anonymous attack video calling Greitens’ military record into question.

“(I) refuse to be lectured by a guy who took $1 million from the owner of a teenage sex slave … Have you no shame?” — Brunner’s retort.

The heated exchange in an otherwise routine forum came near the end of the one-hour debate this week at Lindenwood University. Brunner and Greitens are competing to win the “outsider” lane in the four-candidate GOP primary. (link via johncombest.com).

▪ “This is a public health crisis that is touching every corner of the nation – from major cities to rural communities and suburbs in between – and today we have taken a critical step toward helping more Americans get the help they need.” — Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, commenting on a bill aimed at dealing with the opioid epidemic.

Blunt, who faces re-election this year, said he secured a 93 percent increase in this year’s funding bill for programs directly targeting the opioid epidemic.

▪ “These are life-and-death decisions, and it is vital that Missouri statutes governing the use of force are clear and consistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.” — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signing a bill that updates Missouri law regarding when police can use deadly force.

In a 1985 case, the nation's highest court ruled that a law enforcement officer cannot use deadly force against a fleeing suspect unless he or she believed that the suspect “poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.” The problem was that under the old statute, Missouri law did not say that the officer had to believe the fleeing suspect was dangerous.

▪ “It’s a mystery to me.” — Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley on why Gov. Sam Brownback hasn’t moved to formally nominate Tim Keck as secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.

Hensley is raising questions about Keck because the acting secretary has been in place for more than six months, and state law appears to prohibit such an arrangement. Brownback contends that the six-month limit doesn’t apply because Keck is the “interim” secretary.