Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley (D), candidate for Missouri's 4th Congressional District, attended a meeting of the 4th Congressional District Democratic Committee south of Sedalia this afternoon. The membership of the committee consists of Democratic Party county chairs and vice chairs and legislative district chairs and vice chairs in the congressional district. There were approximately sixty individuals in attendance.
The seat is currently held by freshman teabagger Representative Vicky Hartzler (r).
The transcript of Teresa Hensley's remarks:
Teresa Hensley (D): ....I am Teresa Hensley. I am the Prosecutor in Cass County. It is a job that I absolutely love. I have some Cass County folks here and they will tell you I talk about the Prosecutor’s Office a lot. Uh, I already, in the Prosecutor’s Office campaign all the time. I am out constantly and I’m out as much as possible. So, uh, taking this on seemed like the right thing to do because I already have no hobbies and I have no grandchildren [laughter] and I have nothing else to do but politics.
Uh, but, you know, people have asked me, why are you running for Congress. And, you know, that’s a really simple answer. Look around this room. You know, you all are doing the same thing I’m doing. All of you gave up today your time. All of you give up your money. All of you make great efforts for what we want as good government. And it’s not anything different than I’m doing, than you do all the time with all of your time. I really appreciate that.
Um, you know, we do seek good government. And when we say good government what are we talking about? We’re talking about having representatives who will actually look to doing the right thing. They’ll do what’s fair for everyone. They’ll seek justice. I do that every day. In the Prosecutor’s Office we’re seeking justice. We’re not seeking numbers. We’re not trying to see how many convictions we can get and if we can get the most convictions than any other county. What we look at every day and what my nine assistant prosecutors do with me every day is decide on every case what is fair and what is just. Are we doing the right thing? When they go home at night I ask them whether they did the right thing that day. You know, we’re only human and we can make mistakes in the Prosecutor’s Office as well. The goal is always to be very just, to look at every case to make sure that we are treating that fairly.
And it’s time, you know, as we all look at politics, that we start getting away from the labels and the hatred. And we’re all pretty tired of how they’ve labeled us and they’ve hated us for some time. And so, at this point, in the fourth district, as all of you know, I’m going to have to be in a position of talking about looking at what’s fair. So whether we’re Democrats or we’re Republicans it’s time for everyone to come to the table. It’s time for all of us to start looking and trying to find solutions for the problems that we have. And we haven’t been doing that. We haven’t been trying to get folks together.
In the Prosecutor’s Office one of the things that I’ve been really fortunate enough to do is to put together groups so that when the Fire District has a problem with the law enforcement we put together what was called a consensual blood draw proposal. When the law enforcement and the Children’s Division had some problems we put together we put together what was called the Child Abuse Response Team in Cass County. Uh, I have a DWI task force that meets every month. I’m very proud of the things that we have done in Cass County where we bring people to the table, we talk about the problems, we look for real solutions so that we’re actually communicating and we’re actually solving problems. Uh, and that’s what I would like to take to Congress.
I am not going to continue to talk all day long but I do really appreciate having, um, the opportunity to get to be here and meet with you....I intend to be in every county. I intend to be in every county more than one time. And intend to come out and visit with the folks that you want me to meet and you want to give them an opportunity to ask me questions. So I look forward to being out....
The interest in the campaign, uh, the excitement you guys have already given to me has just been tremendous. I really, really appreciate the support that I’ve received already. So, if you have any questions or you want me somewhere please, please make sure you’re calling. Thank you guys, very much. [applause]
Previously, at
Show Me Progress:
Teresa Hensley (D) to challenge Vicky Hartzler (r) in the 4th Congressional District (January 19, 2012)
Teresa Hensley (D) - 4th Congressional District: the paperwork is in, and it's on (January 30, 2012)
Campaign Finance: Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) - FEC January 31 Year-End Report (February 4, 2012)
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): keep on spinning (February 11, 2011)