PARKVILLE, Mo. — The Platte County Republican Central Committee and the Organized Republican Conservatives of America (ORCA) held a salute to local law enforcement on Monday, June 19. Missouri attorney general Josh Hawley led off the event as the featured speaker after an introduction from Platte County prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd.
“As a prosecutor, I couldn’t be happier that Josh is our attorney general,” Zahnd said. “There are a group of us who endorsed Josh way back during the primary because we saw what a great attorney general he would be for law enforcement, and he’s already done that in just six months in office.”
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
The Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley speaks on matters that affect the state of Missouri and the nation during the Platte County Lincoln Day: Salute to Law Enforcement on Monday, June 19 at the Platte County Community Center South in Parkville, Mo.
A Kansas City area native, Hawley was elected in 2016 as the 42nd attorney general of the State of Missouri, and at age 37, he is the youngest state attorney general in the nation.
After law school, Hawley worked for the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I will tell you that is no small thing, and he did a phenomenal job there,” Zahnd said. “And then he spent his legal career fighting as a constitutional lawyer over regulation by President Obama.”
Hawley became Missouri’s first Republican attorney general in 24 years, but he entered with no background in politics. To honor local law enforcement, Hawley affirmed what he called a Republican commitment to the rule of law to protect the most vulnerable.
“I love the liberties that our Constitution recognizes and protects, liberties that come not from government but come from God,” he said. “But I’m here to tell you, without our law enforcement and without the benefit of the rule of law, those liberties are just words on a page. Our liberties are real, and we can enjoy that life because of what law enforcement does for us day-in and day-out.”
As the attorney general, Hawley believes it is his duty to stand with the men and women who serve in local law enforcement that work to keep the local and state communities safe.
“For too long, this country has been on open season on law enforcement, and we’re seeing this all across our state,” Hawley said. “We’re seeing a dangerous uptick in the amount of crime committed across our state. We’re seeing crimes directed at police officers. We’re seeing a breakdown of respect for the rule of law and the people who suffer the most are the people that most need the protection of law enforcement.”
Hawley has been working on initiatives that will work to protect law enforcement. Recently, he helped pass an initiative that will require those who assault law enforcement officers to spend 85 percent of their prison term behind bars before being eligible for parole.
Law enforcement officials from the Platte County Sheriff’s office, Parkville Police Department and the Missouri Department of Conservation were all in attendance at the Platte County Community Center South. Nearly 70 people attended the open event where food was provided. Road signs and wrist bands to support local law enforcement were also available for purchase.
Hawley didn’t limit his comments to support for law enforcement.
“When I was running I said one of the things we have got to do in the state of Missouri is we’ve got to get into the fight against federal overreach,” he said. “We’ve got to go in and fight this unprecedented wave of overregulation and overreach that’s threatening our communities, threatening our schools, threatening our churches, threatening our families. In my first 30 days in office, we filed or joined five major lawsuits against the federal government, to push back the Obama-era overregulation and overreach.”
Hawley also addressed the audience on the repeal of Obamacare and his role as an attorney in the Supreme Court case involving Hobby Lobby.
“This is not the time for our elected leaders in Washington to give up in the fight against Obamacare,” he said. “I don’t want to hear that Obamacare is here to stay. We filed five lawsuits in 30 days, and I will file 500 more if that’s what it takes until Obamacare is gone.”
After completing his speech, Hawley stayed for a few more minutes to speak with the law enforcement officials that attended before heading back to Jefferson City, Mo.
According to its website, the Platte County Republican Central Committee promotes the agenda of the Missouri GOP and supports the Republican values of limited government and less taxation. For more information about the Platte County Republican Central Committee, visit www.platterepublicans.org.