Mike Parson’s Secretive Stimulus Working Group Includes Zero Doctors, Zero Women, Zero People of Color, and Zero Members of the Business Community

Kansas City, MO (April 21, 2020) – Today, the Missouri Democratic Party called on Governor Mike Parson to immediately add much-needed diversity to his stimulus working group.

Yesterday, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed that Parson’s “working group” — which is responsible for overseeing federal funds aimed at addressing the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic — currently does not include any women, people of color, medical professionals, Democrats, local elected officials, or members of the business community. Instead, the group is only made up of Republican men who work in government. A similar panel put together in 2009 by Governor Jay Nixon included members of both parties.

“Governor Parson has excluded those on the frontline of this crisis — communities of color, women, and health care workers — from having any say in how we rebuild our state,” said Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford. “An all-white panel of male political staffers from Jefferson City is simply unacceptable — and the governor needs to immediately fix this by appointing a panel that reflects the rich diversity of our state. It’s outrageous that in 2020, women, people of color, medical professionals, and business leaders are being excluded from helping determine how our state recovers from this crisis.” 

Parson’s stimulus panel has been mired in secrecy and controversy since being announced last week. The group’s membership and meetings were not even public until yesterday — after Democrats helped put pressure on Parson.

BACKGROUND:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Parson directs economic stimulus ‘working group’ to meet in public

KEY POINTS:

• An “informal working group” tasked with providing recommendations on how to best spend billions of dollars in federal stimulus money will hold public meetings, a spokeswoman for Gov. Mike Parson told the Post-Dispatch on Monday.

• “The Republican governor’s office announced the working group on April 10, saying it would ‘help make recommendations on the best use of the federal funding.’”

• “But little else was known before Monday about the working group except for its
  membership, which does not include women or Democrats. Whether its meetings would be public was unclear.”