Power Profile: Rusty Black, Missouri State Senator
Being an FFA advisor and a lawmaker has more in common than initially meets the eye. According to Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, both require compromise with the understanding it is impossible to make everyone happy and priority often goes to what is best for all involved.
“My experiences, including navigating upset parents, have helped me negotiate in the State Capitol. More importantly, it taught me when to keep my mouth shut — I do like talking,” Black said. He added that listening, whether to an upset parent or someone on the opposite side of an issue, can help provide a solution or resolution to the situation.
Before becoming part of the Missouri General Assembly, Black spent more than three decades teaching agriculture and serving as an FFA advisor. In 2016, he retired and threw his hat into the political ring, first as a state representative and now as a state senator. He also runs a small Hereford seedstock operation in Chillicothe.
“I hope that I can help improve things for the state and have a positive impact throughout Missouri, not just my district,” Black said.
He noted that doing what is best for Missourians and compromising goes hand-in-hand.
“When we use the word ‘compromise,’ it doesn't mean that we're harming anybody. And sometimes, in today's world, when you say you're going to compromise, people take that as you're willing to sacrifice something,” Black said, pointing out that there are areas he will hold firm on. “I'm not one of the people where you either get on my page or you get out. I am one of those people who can sit at a table and negotiate. And when I make an agreement with you, I don't think you can find anybody that ever said in my entire life that can say, ‘he went back on his word.’”
Currently in his first legislative session in what is known as the deliberative body, Black has focused on how the state is spending taxpayers' dollars, PTSD treatment for veterans and Missourians, the retirement and pension systems and property rights.
One of the bills Black sponsored, Senate Bill 568, would protect Missourians from out-of-state companies utilizing eminent domain to build new lines where easements already exist.
“The colocation piece is important. It protects landowners,” Black said. “Without it, you’ll have fields with line A in one spot and 60 feet away, line B, which is not good for farming.”
Politics has always been on Black’s radar. In high school, his ag teacher conducted an exercise where everyone wrote goals on an index card. Black wrote down “governor.” While he isn't the chief executive of the Show-Me State, he does wield a strong voice as one of 34 members of the Missouri Senate.
“I believe I'll have an impact — hopefully, a positive impact — on the citizens of Missouri in this position,” Black said.