The entire state of Missouri is considered a disaster area due to the extended drought this year. The last thing our agricultural industry needs right now is government making the situation worse with burdensome, job-killing regulations. That's why Ed Martin wants to use the Attorney General's office to help reduce regulations, not increase.

Gabe Jones, Communications Director for Ed Martin

Every Missouri business owner is feeling the economic pinch. Growth is flat, costs are up, prices are down. Farmers in particular are struggling under terrible drought conditions.

We certainly cannot control the weather, but when a farmer comes back from his fields full of stunted corn, withered soybeans and ruined wheat the last thing he needs to find in his mailbox is a fresh stack of regulations from either the State or Federal Government.

Unfortunately, that’s what a family farmer can expect these days. The Department of Labor tried to tell family farmers their children would not be allowed to do chores they have been doing for generations. The EPA can use its regulatory power to change standards for minutiae such as “nuisance dust,” which can cost a small farm precious dollars in compliance costs.

Here's what Dave Miller, a farmer in Neosho, MO, told me:

"We are really struggling right now. The drought is frustrating, but we can’t control the weather, so we can struggle through it all and pray for more rain next year. But when a bunch of government regulators come down with more rules that put even more pressure on our already threatened livelihood, we feel almost hopeless. Farmers need an advocate in government, not an obstacle."

During a difficult year for crops, Missouri’s agricultural sector are like a canary in the coal mine drawing a sharp focus on those endless little laws that drive up costs and destroy profits. When profits are low, every dollar counts, and the list of dollars lost to agricultural businesses from fruitless regulation quickly add up.

Laws and regulations require enforcement, enforcement of laws is the purview of the Attorney General’s office. I believe a key role the office of the Attorney General can play in relieving the regulatory burden is to work with business owners and identify those State and Federal regulations that hurt their business and do little public good. In July I announced a plan to prevent government overreach. We will focus on these major areas of regulation:

• Energy
• Environment
• Health care
• Small business 

Click here to see the whole plan.

After exploring where government is crippling our businesses with needless regulation, I’ll work with legislators to advise them on laws that are standing in the way of Missouri’s economic progress.

Bad laws, poorly written laws, bureaucrats with the power of law without the accountability of elected lawmakers are self-inflicted wounds on our economy. I believe the office of the Attorney General is a position where leadership can make a great deal of difference in correcting this problem. We cannot do anything about the weather, but we need not stand idly by while the regulatory climate creates an economic drought.

--Ed Martin, Republican candidate for Attorney General