Legislative candidate Michela Skelton got into a Twitter spat Thursday with Gov. Eric Greitens’ policy director Will Scharf over the origins of a statement she made at a candidate forum sponsored by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

Scharf said it was from Communist philosopher Karl Marx. Skelton, in reply, said it was from the Bible. Both are right.

During the Wednesday forum’s discussion of the state tax cut scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, Skelton said that it unfairly favored the wealthy, providing an $8,000 a year benefit to people with $1 million in income and $57 per year for the average working family. The result, she said, was that schools, health care and transportation will be shortchanged.

“Those that have the most — you know it is from each according to ability and to each according to need,” she said.

Skelton, a Democrat, is running against Sara Walsh, a Republican, in the Aug. 8 special election in the 50th Missouri House District. The seat became vacant in January when state Rep. Caleb Jones, R-Columbia, resigned to become deputy chief of staff to Greitens.

The chamber forum was the only joint event of the campaign. Walsh has not agreed to any other joint events and was criticized Friday at the Boone County Muleskinners for not responding to letters and calls inviting her to debate Skelton before the Democratic club.

“That to me means she had to make a decision to say either 'yes or 'no', and that was not made,” program chairman Bill Clark said. “If you have any reason to think you want to vote for that candidate, remember we could not get a simple 'yes' or 'no' from that candidate.”

The disputed phrase, or a variation of it, was used by 17th and 18th century socialist philosophers to describe the distribution of goods in a society based on abundance and equal ownership of property and made most famous in an 1875 publication by Marx.

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!” Marx wrote.

When Scharf highlighted the connection to Marx, Skelton referred him to the Bible book Acts of the Apostles, where Jesus’ disciples are called on to help fight a famine in their homeland.

“Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea,” Verse 29 of Chapter 11 states in the King James Bible.

Skelton said she wasn’t thinking of either source when she made the statement.

“Those are principles that I grew up with in the church that I grew up in,” Skelton said. “Essentially, it is taking care of your neighbor according to their needs the best you can.”

Scharf declined to be interviewed for this story. In one Twitter response after Skelton referred to the Bible, Scharf was skeptical.

“Speaking personally, I've never meant to refer to the bible and accidentally quoted a Communist,” he wrote.

The specter of ads or direct mail highlighting the statement and pairing Skelton with Marx isn’t troubling, Skelton said after finishing at Muleskinners.

“They were going to call me a socialist anyway,” Skelton said. “Now they have that one quote, that is actually a memorable quote when you think about it from a logical and conservative perspective. We are not expecting anyone to give more than they can to support our community and not giving anyone more than they need. So it is also a very conservative principle.”

In her talk to Muleskinners, which drew nearly 50 people and lasted most of an hour, Skelton called for reversing the tax cut, reinstating other taxes on business that have been repealed over the past decade and ethics reform to control lobbying and campaign fundraising.

The legislature has given tax breaks that have left the state without the revenue necessary for schools, higher education and health care, she said. The reason is lobbyists and their friends in the Republican leadership, she said.

“The party is ruled in a top-down, iron fist type manner,” she said. “That is why you see straight party-line votes all the time.”

rjkeller@columbiatribune.com

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