Three seeking District 153 representative seat

Butler County voters will decide Tuesday during the Republican primary who will serve in the Missouri House of Representatives for District 153 for the next two years.

Newcomers Darrell Atchison, Jack “Skip” Johnson and Larry Kimbrow are vying for the seat currently held by Republican Jeff Shawan. None have held an elected office before.

Each candidate was asked the same six questions. Information is presented in ballot order.

Darrell Atchison

Atchison said his prime reason to run and what he considers the most important part of the job is to represent the people in the district.

He said he wants to make sure people in the area have a seat at the table in Jefferson City to represent rural values.

“I have empathy for people, and I have a heart for people,” he said. “I feel wholeheartedly. I’m passionate about listening to the citizens. I’m a people person.”

Some areas, Atchison said, he’d like to focus on are seated in those rural values, such as hunting and fishing, timber, the Missouri Department of Conservation, agriculture and cattle.

Another big part of that is encouraging tourism, he said, and trying to bring people into the area, which would also bring their money in.

“You also have to deal with the challenges of dealing with the Corps of Engineers,” he said. “I’m not bashing the Corps of Engineers, but you have to coordinate with them, and not just me, but the people that live here.

“Whatever I could do at the state level would be good, you know, when dealing with Ozark National Scenic Riverways and Current River also, but we’ve got some of the nicest lakes and rivers in all the Southeast Missouri right here in the 153rd district.”

Atchison also said he wants to address the “feral hog issue” as something “near and dear” to his heart and something he knows many with fields in the area deal with.

That familiarity with the area and the people in the district makes him the most qualified candidate, he said.

Atchison also cited experience in the boardroom, as a small business owner, working with others and communication as some qualities he’d like to bring to the table.

“I’ve had experience, invitations to those seats at the table, whatever the topic was, and I think I would continue with that,” he said. “Really, I’d like to apply my experience in business boardrooms and budgets to the issues and concerns of the district; take our message to Jefferson City.”

Jack “Skip” Johnson

Johnson said one of the main reasons he wanted to run for the House seat is to work on bringing more control over to the county rather than the state.

For instance, he said, he’d like to work to change Title 116, which has to do with ballot initiatives, to simplify the process and “give more control back to the citizens.”

“We can do that either by sliding the change underneath another bill or filing in federal court,” he said. “I’m willing to do either one.”

Johnson said he’d also like to address confronting the “deep state.” Merrium Webster dictionary defines the deep state as “an alleged secret network of especially nonelected government officials and sometimes private entities (as in the financial services and defense industries) operating extralegally to influence and enact government policy.”

He said he’d like to form a committee to “clean out the deep state,” as well as get rid of some of the agencies that are “outdated or totally useless.”

He said one of the things that makes him qualified for the position is serving for 30 years as a grand master with the International Martial Arts Association, which requires negotiating skills.

Johnson said many politicians have a tendency to throw out things like working to improve infrastructure, but then don’t have a plan on how to do it.

“You can have a great idea, but if you don’t sit down and know the way to write it and know what you want to say, it’s just words,” he said.

Larry Kimbrow

Kimbrow said the primary reason he wanted to run for the position is because he saw it as an opportunity to give back to the community and “change the course of our state legislature.”

The primary constitutional duty, he said, is to produce a balanced budget for the state.

“Many of them are fixed expenses, so you don’t have much to finagle with, you know, so something’s got to give, and that’s our job,” Kimbrow said. “Like I said, the No. 1 and only job.

“There are other subsidiaries, either make new laws or tweak others that it may not be working.”

The third duty, he said, is to listen to the constituents and take their input, whether positive or negative, into account when working on the other two duties. It also means helping citizens when needed.

“Helping our citizens, our constituents navigate through the horrendous bureaucracy they face on their personal issues, whether it’s social security, veterans issues, family services, things like that,” he said. “And, sometimes all it takes is one of their (a representative’s) aides to call, and all of a sudden, everything is opened up.”

Kimbrow said he wants to fight against “any attempts to weaken our Second Amendment rights” and any use of state money to fund abortions.

“Not necessarily Planned Parenthood type, but abortions, no state money for that,” he said.

As a veteran, he also wants to be involved in veteran-related issues. For example, addressing topics such as returning to civilian life, he said.

One thing, he said, that would be helpful is to have a Republican majority in both the House and Senate because it would make it easier to get bills brought to the floor, discussed and passed.

Kimbrow said he believes his history as a naval officer for 28 years and previous position as vice president for Three Rivers College make him the most qualified candidate.

“I’m not Superman, I don’t know all the issues they’re having,” Kimbrow said. “I know there are issues, just specific to our area, maybe like the feral hog issue, workforce development, bringing industry back.

“Poplar Bluff actually has the only manufacturing industry in the four-county area. So, they have nothing to depend on except farming, whether it’s row crops or livestock or tourism. And, the tourism is sporadic. It depends on things like COVID. And, the other counties are mainly all Mark Twain National Forest.”