(Below is an edited text of Scott’s speech to his supporters)

Scott Sifton delivers his campaign kickoff speech

Signs this wasn’t going to be an ordinary economic downturn came early. Two years ago my neighbors lost their home in one of the foreclosures which have now become so familiar.

Theirs was a sad story. They were a three income family with two young sons. He worked two jobs, she worked one. When she lost her job they tried to sell their home, but the market had collapsed. They were caught.

Their children were the innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control. They bear no responsibility, yet losing their home will certainly impact them throughout the rest of their childhood and beyond.

I know, because I was 15 when the same thing happened to my family.

My father had been in management at Trans World Airlines. When the airline became a takeover target, my father helped lead an effort to have the employees buy the company. They failed, and my father moved on.

He landed on his feet at Republic Airlines. But six months later Northwest acquired Republic. Having lost one job because of an unsolicited takeover, my father now lost another due to a friendly merger — all in less than a year.

He found work again as a project manager for a data processing company but his project ended as the recession of the early 1990s began. The twin forces of the recession and the savings and loan failures had slowed the real estate market to a crawl. Our home was on the market for almost a year, but time ran out. My parents signed the house over to the bank and went bankrupt.

Even through all that, we fared better than many families did in that recession. We landed in rental housing.  In time my parents found new career paths. But we all felt a tremendous sense of loss.

I am a different person today because of that experience. From that point on I worked as close to full time as I could during the school year and every summer waiting tables, washing dishes and doing whatever else I could to help support myself.

I worked hard but was also very fortunate. My public school education allowed me to obtain a scholarship to Truman State University. Truman led to law school, which in turn led to a great opportunity to practice business law in St. Louis.

These experiences forged my belief that government needs elected officials who understand that sometimes bad things happen to good people who work hard and play by the rules.

Government cannot protect us against all of life’s adversity, nor should it. But we must work to ensure our policy decisions help avoid or alleviate, rather than compound, the challenges that can befall any of us. Unfortunately, many of the policy decisions made in recent years both nationally and in Missouri have only increased the challenges so many of us face.

There are all sorts of issues to be addressed in Jefferson City, ranging from those unique to the Lemay and Affton communities to those impacting every Missourian. I’m not big on campaign promises, but will make at least this one:  if I am fortunate enough to earn your trust to represent you in Jefferson City, you will have a representative who understands that sometimes hard times can fall upon those who work hard.