Brian Tharp

DISTRICT 61 — Republican Paul Tharp, of Owensville, said he decided to run for State Representative (District 61) because he loves Missouri and wants to make a difference. Tharp believes the legislature did not accomplish enough during the previous session and that collaboration is the key to getting things done.

“I’m pretty good at that,” Tharp said. “If I get something in front of me that looks like it needs to happen, I’m pretty good at persisting until it happens.”

Tharp added that he considers himself a collaborator. “I think that’s been one of the things that’s been good for my professional career, in business, and just in general,” he said. I think there are certain things that we can do better as a state, always. I think there’s always room for improvement, no matter what.”

A career in healthcare administration and lobbying for Sisters of Mercy Healthcare led to Tharp’s interest in politics.

HEALTHCARE SUPPORT 

“I’m obviously I’m a big supporter of healthcare,” Tharp said. “I’ve worked in it my whole life. Hopefully, I’ve learned something in all these years.

“I worked at the (Mississippi) legislature trying to improve health policies for children and families, and that was where I started to learn more about politics,” Tharp continued.

He also organized the Mississippi governor’s healthcare summit one year, which he said was probably the highlight of his career. Tharp was proud to say that the first bill he introduced as a lobbyist — an expansion of the children’s health insurance program to cover more kids —passed.

“Missouri families are having a lot of success with the Medicaid expansion that’s happened over the last several years,” said Tharp. “Based on what I’ve seen, we have more families with insurance coverage that didn’t have it before, and I’m super thankful for that. I hope to be able to build on that and keep our state strong in that area, (from) our doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners down to our families.”

Tharp believes that Missouri has a strong hospital system but added that health promotion and disease prevention are keys to success. “I think there (are) certain things we can do to try to be healthier and as individuals in our communities,” Tharp said. “So, I would want to try to be supportive of those efforts as well. You know, having healthier foods available and working with people to be more educated about health promotion and disease prevention. Back to that old saying, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’”

He would also like to see more regulations on processed food and food imported from other countries, like China.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Tharp said improvements to infrastructure need to be equally distributed between urban and rural areas. “To me, it’s just as important that we take care of rural areas,” he said.

Tharp also thinks there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of better funding or consolidation of some state departments. “I think our state employees, a lot of the ones that I’ve had to deal with, probably need a little bit more support (in the form of) salaries and maybe upgrades to equipment,” he added.

ECONOMY

Tharp and his wife, Shannon, purchased a winery outside St. James and have spent the past few years renovating it, so they understand the importance of small businesses.

Tharp is passionate about supporting small farmers, farmers’ markets, and local producers, both politically and in his business. He and Shannon partner with several local producers to support each other’s businesses. “We have a lot of really talented people in the state of Missouri who are capable of growing things that are much healthier than something from Mexico,” he said.

Tharp noted that farmers’ market regulations inhibit small producers from selling. “There (are) so many farmers’ markets that are not really (made up of) farmers — they’re reselling things that are grown by other people — and so it’s good that there are some regulations,” he said.

However, some regulations also make it challenging to have a farmers’ market.

“I’d rather be supporting the small guy instead of the big corporations,” Tharp said. “I want to be working for the small business owners and small farmers, so if I get a chance to represent my district, that’s the kind of representative I’m going to be.”

Tharp said he was very disappointed to find out how many pork-processing companies in northern Missouri are owned by China and that he hopes to make a difference in that.

ROCK ISLAND TRAIL

Tharp also supports the Rock Island Trail. “I’m a huge fan,” he said. “I think it needs to be completed yesterday and funded with all the money that’s been contributed to the endowment. If it doesn’t, I’m going to go to the Capitol, whether I get elected or not, and makes sure it gets done. In a positive way. I think it’s good for communities.”

EDUCATION

Tharp said he was not impressed with the education bill passed during the last legislative session and that there are still many opportunities to improve education, which is very important to him. “What I would like to focus on there is not being at the bottom of the list for starting teacher salaries,” he said. “So, if I can have an impact on that, I would really like to spearhead that.”

He added that rural schools may be able to afford higher salaries by consolidating small classes so teachers may cover more than one grade. “If these parents can do homeschooling, which seems to be becoming more and more popular,’ he said, “(teachers) can teach multiple kids at different ages.”

His wife added that offering more high school classes online instead of having a teacher present may be another option.

Tharp said recycling is another passion. “I really think we could do a whole lot more for our state in terms of recycling, and diverting things from landfill, and recycling and re-purposing,” he said.

Tharp would like to see the state work with small businesses in ways that would help them be more open to recycling. He would also like to see people educated about landfill capacity and how that affects the soil.

Tharp concluded that he believes the state’s priorities should be infrastructure, increased pay for teachers and state employees, supporting small businesses, taking care of our elderly and veterans, and healthcare. “I love the great state of Missouri,” he said. “I really do, and nothing would make me happier than to represent people in my communities (and to) be in a position to make a difference for children and families or business owners, working people, you know, state employees, teachers. I just know how all of those different segments of our communities can be affected by the legislature, and I would really like to be a part of that.”