The gloves are off in the 1st Congressional District race, and the first haymaker has been thrown at ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
And in the other corner is not incumbent U.S. Rep Cori Bush but another Bush challenger — former state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal.
“Wesley Bell, you’re messy,†Chappelle-Nadal said in a social media post in which she accuses Bell of having sexual relations with employees in his office.
Her post Friday evening included a photo of the first page of a motion filed in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Court that seeks to compel a party in a discrimination case to answer questions regarding sexual relationships in Bell’s office.
The name of the specific party in the motion is redacted, but Chappelle-Nadal calls out Bell, saying “I strongly urge Wesley Bell to stop sleeping with ... subordinates in the prosecuting attorney’s office.â€
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For , I strongly urge Wesley Bell to stop sleeping with his male and female subordinates in the Prosecuting Attorney's office.
— Maria Chappelle-Nadal (@Maria4Missouri)
Wesley Bell, you're messy.
Bell and Chappelle-Nadal are both challenging Bush, a two-term incumbent, in the Democratic primary in August for the congressional seat that covers all of ºüÀêÊÓƵ and parts of north and west ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
Bell’s campaign released a short response Monday to the social media post: “Wesley has a practice of not commenting on matters that are subjects of ongoing litigation.â€
In an interview Monday, Chappelle-Nadal said she felt the need to speak out about a situation she said had been brought to her attention several years ago.
“After I read the motion, I felt I needed to say something,†Chappelle-Nadal said, adding that discrimination and sexual politics in the workplace “continues to be an issue.â€
“We don’t need this kind of behavior from any elected official,†she said.
The genesis of these recent events is a discrimination suit filed against ºüÀêÊÓƵ County in October 2020 by longtime prosecutor Susan Petersen.
The motion was filed on Feb. 14, alleging that a person involved in the case refused to answer questions from Petersen’s lawyers during a deposition taken on Jan. 29.
The motion states that during the Jan. 29 deposition, Petersen’s lawyers asked the deposed party if he “had ever been involved in sexual relationships with any employees in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, including several specific employees ...â€
The deposed party refused to answer the question on advice from attorneys, who argued the questions were “highly prejudicial†and do not prove anything in the case.
Petersen’s attorneys counter that the questions are pertinent to their client’s case, arguing that the answers may illustrate the redacted party’s “attitude toward and general treatment of women in the workplace.â€
Petersen’s side further argues that the redacted party engaging in “intimate relationships with his female subordinates would make it more probable that (he) would use his power ... to treat other women in the office, including (Petersen), in a disrespectful and demeaning manner ...â€
The motion goes on to also allege that (redacted party) “treats younger women in the office more favorably than older women, which is relevant to (Petersen’s) claim of age discrimination.â€
A hearing on the motion is set for March 19 in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Court. A jury trial on the lawsuit has been set for April 15, but the county has asked for a delay.
Petersen’s lawsuit, filed in October 2020, says she worked for prosecutor’s office for 21 years and then was fired in 2019.
Her suit contends that she was one of five white prosecutors older than 40 who either were forced out or quit in Bell’s first term as county prosecutor.
The lawsuit says Bell favored hiring and promoting male employees and attorneys, noting the appointment of several men to Bell’s executive staff.
Her suit also alleges that Bell intervened in two of Petersen’s cases by making plea deals with Black defendants who were charged with violent crimes against police and a white victim.
Those deals were made without input from Petersen, she said.
One of those deals was with a Jennings man who got a 15-year term for shooting at four undercover police officers in 2017, the lawsuit says. The other case was a Webster Groves woman who went to prison for 15 years on a reduced charge of manslaughter for fatally stabbing a man who was white.
Petersen, who was 46 at the time, was suspended with pay in September 2019 after she complained to her superiors about the interference.
The following month, Bell demoted Petersen and sent her a written reprimand saying he had lost faith “in her ability to handle criminal cases and work with police officers on criminal cases (in) an honest, ethical and professional manner.â€
Petersen left the office on Oct. 7, 2019. She now is lead counsel for the , which represents police departments in the region. Her suit seeks at least $100,000 in damages.
This recent motion to compel is not the first such action in this case.
On Oct. 10, Joshua Canavan, a prosecutor in Bell’s office, was deposed, according to filings on Missouri Casenet.
On Oct. 26, Petersen’s attorney filed a motion to compel with the courts, claiming that a party involved in the suit was deposed on Oct. 10 and refused to answer questions.
Supporting documents on Casenet show that the person refused to answer questions about the attitude toward women in the office; whether male and female employees were treated differently; and if that person had any knowledge about sexual relations in the office.
Records show that a hearing on that motion to compel was set for Dec. 15. But it was canceled on Dec. 4.
Court records show that Canavan gave another deposition on Dec. 18.
Chappelle-Nadal, a Missouri state representative and senator for a total of 16 years, is no stranger to volatile social media posts.
In 2017, she gained notoriety for calling on social media for the assassination of former President Donald Trump. She apologized for the post and removed it.
As to Bell, Chappelle-Nadal has been a vocal critic of his performance in office and said he needs “to be held accountable†for failing to prosecute violent criminals.
Chappelle-Nadal has been sharply critical of Bell since 2021, when Bell’s office released a man from custody who, one month later, was charged in the shooting death of Chappelle-Nadal’s cousin.
Bell, who upset longtime incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch in 2018, has stayed busy running for political offices that are available in 2024.
In June, one week after saying on television he was not interested in another office, Bell filed to run in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat now held by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
Then in October, shortly after Bush began to draw fire for her pro-Palestine response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Bell switched over to become a candidate against Bush in the congressional race.