24th District State Representative Candidate: Sid Sullivan

Q What qualifications would you bring to the job?

A I am a former Jesuit seminarian. I bring a lifetime of experience in a variety of government and business positions. I served as a U.S. senatorial aide and in various staff and administration positions in juvenile justice, the Circuit Court and the Department of Corrections. I spent the last 15 years working for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company where we provided business solutions to government problems. I learned firsthand through our governmental affairs staff how business should work with government. I want to use my experience to make government work for the people it serves.

Q What key issues are you focused on in the race?

A Health care: The restoration of funds back to Medicaid and a statewide health care program that promotes healthy habits and benefits all the stakeholders, from doctors to children. Livable cities: The state can empower cities with the authority to coordinate private development with public infrastructure, greater annexation powers, joint city/county planning commissions to protect farmlands and provide for orderly zoning transfer from rural to urban and, finally, the ability to concentrate development for economic viability. End the war in Iraq: I propose a state proclamation to end the war in Iraq as quickly as possible. It is robbing us of human and financial resources we need to run this state.

Q What was the key moment you decided to run?

A The Medicaid cuts offended my deepest sensibilities of what it means to be an American. Advocates of Medicaid cuts want to rewrite the federal statutes according to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. They want to change our pledge — “One nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all” — to exclude the most vulnerable. These cuts return over 300 million federal dollars. This is poor fiscal and public policy. I decided to run not to raise money but to raise issues and solve problems for the people of Missouri. My life and experience have reflected this.