This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 15, 2008 - The news wasn’t good for Rep. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, on the day of his second debate with former Sen. Ken Jacob, a Democratic candidate. The debate in Wentzville would again be about Onder’s abortion bill, which was the major abortion legislation in the House during the year.
But that day, Missouri Right to Life announced its endorsement of Onder’s biggest competition on the Republican side, former Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. Moments before the debate, Onder dismissed the whole thing, saying his record spoke for itself.
“I’m pro-life to the core.”
The devotion to that cause started for him shortly after the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973.
“I’ve been pro-life since I was about Bob’s age,” Onder says, referring to his son, 11. “I realized what they were doing to babies and I never looked back.”
That includes starting an anti-abortion group at Washington University as an undergrad, called Washington University Right to Life.
“We didn’t want to say Washington University Students for Life, because it sounded like we weren’t going to graduate.”
In medical school, Onder says he started a bio-ethics group to look at euthanasia and abortion. Then, in 2006, Onder served as the chairman of Missourians Against Human Cloning. The group fought against a constitutional amendment that voters did approve.
In 2006, Onder was elected to the Missouri House. And this year, he sponsored HB 1831, a bill that would have made coercing a woman into having an abortion a crime and would have made it a felony for doctors to then provide those abortions, among other things. It passed the House 113-33 but the session ended before the Senate could vote on it.
On the night before the debate with Jacob, Onder floated a new proposal, including a 24-hour waiting period before abortions as well as a requirement that doctors offer a chance to see an ultrasound and descriptions of the development.
Rep. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, serves as the minority floor leader in the Missouri House and works with Onder. “Bob Onder seems to be intent on pushing a very radical agenda,” he says.
Marvin Overby, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, calls Onder the ultra-conservative candidate, especially on social issues. “He seems to care more about abortion than any other issue.”
Onder says abortion isn’t even on the list of his top issues.
If elected, Overby doesn’t think Onder would get far with legislation like HB 1831.
“It’s easy to say things in a campaign,” he says. “It’s harder to move legislation.”
First, Onder has to get through the primaries. And Jon Dolan, a former Republican Missouri senator, thinks Onder will prevail over Luetkemeyer, calling Onder’s anti-abortion credentials as good as they come, regardless of what Missouri Right to Life says.
He calls Onder the movement conservative and Luetkemeyer the party favorite and standard bearer.
Onder’s campaign has gotten some recent heat, however, for hiring Speaker of the House Rod Jetton as consultant, which some lawmakers claim is unethical.
If elected, Onder says he’ll continue his anti-abortion fight. “People listen to me on the issue because I’m a medical doctor and I know what I’m talking about on a lot of things.”
He expects that fight to go on for a long time. But he’s a patient man.
“I’m in pretty good health,“ he says. “I have decades.”
Blaine Luetkemeyer
“The economy is the key issue, I think,” says Blaine Luetkemeyer, one of five Republicans in the 9th primary race.
And he pumps right into that issue in a campaign ad, filling his truck up with gas as the camera zooms closer. “Like you, I’m tired of being held hostage by foreign dictators, multinational corporations and people who will destroy everything we value,” he says in the commercial. During the last few years, Luetkemeyer’s seen many sides of the economy -- from the Bank of St. Elizabeth, where he is a loan officer at his family owned bank, at his insurance agency, and, in a somewhat different way as director of Missouri Division of Tourism.
As gas prices have crept up over the years, people traveled around the state more.
It was good for Missouri, but Luetkemeyer says rising gas prices aren’t, and he has a few ways to fix that. He believes the U.S. should start offshore drilling and build refineries.
And though it would take three to five years to see the results, Luetkemeyer fears if the country doesn’t get started, that timetable will continue to stretch. The simple solution is for America to exercise it’s autonomy, he says, take advantage of our resources and get away from what he calls oil dictators.
“This is not just an economic issue,” he says. “It’s about national security.”
What about the environmental protests with offshore drilling?
Silly, says Luetkemeyer.
Environmentalists are just throwing up red flags, and Luetkemeyer believes the country has the technology to safely and effectively drill.
In the interim, he notes ethanol production, calling it a bridge fuel. But Luetkemeyer doesn’t see the need for more land devoted to growing corn for ethanol. As for a long-term solution, Luetkemeyer thinks the free market will take care of things, believing the less government involvement, the better.
Industry does need incentives, though, he says, which could include investing capital gains taxes and providing tax cuts for progress.
“Don’t tax the progress,” Luetkemeyer says.
Something that might be taxing right now is Luetkemeyer’s toughest competition. Rep. Bob Onder is seen as the front runner, says Dave Robertson, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. That’s partly because of the money he’s raised, Robertson says, and partly his success in getting his name out.
But Luetkemeyer has a strong base in Franklin County, says Terry Jones, a political science professor at UMSL. “He’s starting with a firmer base than is Onder,” Jones says. “Many people have known him and have known him longer.”
“He’s probably the best known of the Republicans going into the race,” agrees Marvin Overby, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. And if Onder weren’t in the race, Overby thinks it would be Luetkemeyer’s to lose.
The two share one thing -- a similar shot of them filling up their trucks in campaign ads.
“At times like these, we don’t need more talk,” Onder says as the camera zooms slowly. “We need real solutions.”
The 9th Congressional District is getting a lot of attention this primary season beacuse (1) the incumbent is not running for re-election and (2) it is a diverse district that could be open to anyone.
Bob Onder, M.D.
Home: Lake St. Louis
Professional experience: Missouri State House of Representatives, 2006 to present; Lawyer and physician, owns and operates Allergy and Asthma Consultants
Finances: Money raised as of March 31, 2008: $370,198 That includes individual donations of $120,198; and money from the candidate of $250,000
Issue: Pro-life
For more: www.bobonder.com
Blaine Luetkemeyer
Home: St. Elizabeth
Professional experience: Missouri House of Representatives, 1998-2004, director of Missouri Division of Tourism, 2006-2008; Owns the Luetkemeyer Insurance Agency, family owns and operates the Bank of St. Elizabeth., where Luetkemeyer is a loan officer
Financing: Money raised as of March 31, 2008: $71,300 That includes individual donations of $66,300; and political action committee donations of $5,000
Issue: Energy independence
For more: www.blaineforcongress.com