Missourians have again rejected the defund-the-police movement pushed by Kansas City leaders and ousted congresswoman Cori Bush, Sen. Josh Hawley says.
Voters Tuesday approved, for the second time, a Missouri constitutional amendment allowing the state to set a minimum level of funding for the Kansas City Police Department. It comes after Mayor Quinton Lucas and a council majority voted in 2021 to claw back $42 million in police funds for use in never-specified social programs.
A judge ruled the clawback illegal, since the police budget that year had already been set in stone by law. But appalled by the city’s action, the legislature later voted to raise the minimum funding for the KCPD from 20% of city general fund revenues to 25%.
Voters in November 2022 approved a constitutional amendment in accordance with that, but that vote was ruled invalid by the Missouri Supreme Court due to what it said was faulty ballot language. On Tuesday, the state’s voters reaffirmed their decision to prevent Kansas City from stripping funds from police.
The Heartlander asked Hawley at his campaign rally in Smithville this week why he thought voters felt compelled to do that.
“Well, I mean, just look at the cops who were just here today,” he said. “These are the folks who are putting their lives on the line for us, and sadly we’ve had a defund-the-police-agenda by the leadership in Kansas City – I mean the mayor and others. And I just think Missourians look at that and they say, ‘No way. We want to support our cops.’
“And take my opponent in this [Senate} race. My opponent wants to allow the criminals to sue the cops. He wants to end immunity, legal immunity, for cops. It’s insane. It’s absolutely insane. I’ve got relatives who are cops. If you do that, you will put an even bigger target on the back of every single cop in this state.
“We cannot afford to do that. And I, for one, do not think defunding the police is progress. My opponent says it is; I don’t think so. And I don’t think the voters do, either.”
Why can’t Kansas City set its own police budget?
“Well, the problem is, you saw what the mayor and others tried to do is, they tried to come in and they tried to defund the police,” Hawley says. “And I think what we see the people in Missouri saying is, we’re just not gonna stand for that. We’re just not gonna stand for it. And the people of Missouri deserve better than somebody like [Democrat Senate nominee] Lucas Kunce, who wants to let criminals sue cops, who wants to endorse the defund agendas. This is crazy. It’s nuts.”
Asked what he thinks about the ouster of incendiary Squad member Cori Bush by Democrat primary voters in St. Louis Tuesday, Hawley talks about her advocacy for defunding police – and compares it to his November opponent’s views.
“I would just say here’s somebody who believes a lot like my opponent does – somebody who wants to take away immunity from the police, somebody who wants to have amnesty for illegals, somebody who wants to have us pay for illegals’ healthcare. That’s all Kunce’s positions.
“So, you know, even in a city that is quite liberal, that particular district, voters look at that and they’re like, ‘Man, that makes my life terrible.’ And that’s what all of Missouri will continue to get if Kunce is elected.”
