NEVADA, Mo. â Eight candidates, all registered Republicans running for office in rural Vernon County in western Missouri, will not be allowed to stay on an August primary ballot as Republicans. The candidates had refused to take a âmoral valuesâ survey and undergo other vetting by the countyâs Republican committee.
A circuit court judge on Thursday evening ruled that the county clerk improperly placed their names on the ballot.
âI think the judge ruled correctly,â said Mark McCloskey, the șüÀêÊÓÆ” attorney representing the countyâs Republican committee. âHere is the bottom line: What this means is that no one but the party gets to decide who runs on that partyâs ticket. ⊠They can file as independents.â
The ruling in Vernon County Circuit Court focused on a narrow issue, although one with broader implications.
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It began in March, when the Vernon County Republican Committee, led by chairwoman Cyndia Haggard, filed suit against the Vernon County clerk, who is also a Republican.
Haggard is a self-described pro-Trump, MAGA Republican who continues to assert that the 2020 election was â100%â stolen, a contention proven false. She is a passionate proponent of candidate vetting to weed out RINOs â Republicans in name only.
Last year, she began a nonprofit, the , whose website describes RINOs as âa virus that infects & destroys our partyâs values. Vetting is the vaccine that stops the virus cold.â
In its suit, the committee was represented by McCloskey, a conservative podcaster who in 2020 gained instant notoriety when he and his wife, Patricia, emerged from their affluent Portland Place home brandishing weapons to ostensibly protect their property from Black Lives Matter protesters.
On March 3, McCloskey filed what is known as a writ of mandamus. It essentially holds that Vernon County Clerk Adrienne Lee overstepped her authority in February when, after receiving candidate filing fees, she placed the names of four, then four more, Republican candidates on the August primary ballot as Republicans.
The committee argued that, per Missouri law, the sole authority for determining who runs under the Republican or Democrat banner lies with the political parties. Although the clerk can accept the paperwork and fees, they said the law required the clerk to receive a receipt from the Republican party committee acknowledging that the individualsâ fees and their candidacies had been accepted by the party.
In this instance, no receipt was received. The candidates had been rejected because they failed or refused to submit themselves for the committeeâs âmoral valuesâ survey or other financial or ethical vetting. The committee refused to cash their filing fees.
Judge Gayle L. Crane on Thursday agreed. A Jasper County Circuit Court judge, Crane was chosen to adjudicate because the case involved Vernon County public officials.
âThe Court finds that the Vernon County Clerk should not have received the declaration of candidacy from the eight candidates,â Crane wrote. âThe Court finds that the Vernon Count Clerk should not place the eight candidatesâ names on the ballot.â
Haggard said she was âthrilled to deathâ with the decision.
âWe are so happy that the judge vindicated our position,â Haggard said. Of vetting, she said, âThey waived their rights to file with the Republican party when they decided they did not want to follow the Republican party rules.â
Five of the candidates are current office holders, all elected previously as Republicans: Vernon County Administrator Kelsey Westerhold, County Treasurer Brent Banes, County Assessor Lena Kleeman, County Commissioner Cindy Thompson and Rich Hill Police Chief Mike Buehler, running for county sheriff. The other candidates were Jimmy Dye, John Shorten, and Frank Radspinner.
Travis Elliott, the attorney representing the Vernon County clerk, said they are âreviewing the decision to decide what the next options are.â
Candidates Thursday night reacted with either shock or reticence.
âIt affects all of us,â Westerhold said. âIt affects all of Vernon County. All of us are not speaking now, because it is under advisement with other judges.â
âVery disappointed. Very disappointed in the judgeâs decision,â said Banes, who said that while the judgeâs decision came down to a filing fee, the true issue was vetting.
âThey were wanting us to go through the vetting process,â Banes said of the committee. âHad we gone through the vetting process, they would have accepted the filing fees.â
The lawsuit and issue of vetting have raised ire across Vernon County.
Haggard and others hold that vetting assures that candidates prove faithful to the values of the Republican party platform. They insist they are not keeping anyone from running for office, or asking candidates to walk in lockstep. âNo one is 100% in lockstep,â she said. They want to make certain, however, that individuals agree with the majority of the platform.
They insist that more scrupulous vetting is necessary statewide, and point to the massive embarrassment that erupted in March.
Thatâs when the Missouri Republican Party filed suit to get Darrell Leon McClanahan removed from the ballot for Missouri governor after a photo surfaced of him saluting a burning cross and showing an affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan.
McClanahan, who has described himself as a âPro-White man,â has said he is not a member of the racist organization, but was provided an âHonorary 1-year membershipâ by a Missouri coordinator. The party failed to vet him.
Others in Vernon County, meanwhile, see vetting as a means for a group of about 30 committee members â none of whom were elected â to push their own conservative agenda by keeping tight control over who qualifies as a âtrue Republican.â
âThis was my third term,â Banes said. âI filed for my third term. I guess the only option is to file as an independent. It is kind of my livelihood at this point. The judge has made her ruling. Iâve heard a lot of people are not happy with the decision. Weâll see what happens at the polls.â