The presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton has dominated headlines this election season, but voters on Tuesday also will cast ballots in a bevy of important state and local races.
In Boone County, voters will choose their representatives to the Missouri House and Senate and two of the three members of the Boone County Commission. Hallsville voters also will decide whether to authorize two new sales taxes to pay for capital improvements, stormwater control projects and parks.
Voters across Missouri will choose new members of statewide offices, including a new governor after two terms under Jay Nixon, and decide on such issues as tobacco tax increases, limits to political contributions and an amendment to require voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Look for coverage of the races and issues Tuesday at www.columbiatribune.com and Wednesday in the Tribune.
BOONE COUNTY COMMISSION
Southern District
Republican Fred Parry, publisher of Inside Columbia magazine, and Democrat Brianna Lennon, an attorney who has worked in the attorney general’s and secretary of state’s offices, are vying to replace outgoing Southern District Commissioner Karen Miller, who has been in the position since 1993.
Parry has campaigned on his business experience and community involvement. He has been on the Boone Hospital Center Board of Trustees for 13 years, serving the past five years as chairman. If elected on Tuesday, Parry said, he immediately will step down from the board upon being sworn in as commissioner on Jan. 1.
He has touted his plan for the Central Missouri Events Center, his networking and communication abilities and won endorsements from well-known Democrats, including many who ran for Southern District commissioner in the primary. Parry has questioned his opponent’s experience throughout the campaign.
Lennon was an assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division. She later became the first coordinator of the Elections Integrity Unit in the Secretary of State’s Office.
Lennon has said she as commissioner would implement an online accountability portal to make county documents more accessible. She also wants to dedicate more resources to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Unit to combat fraud and identity theft.
The Southern District encompasses the southern and central-western portions of the county, including west Columbia. Southern and Northern District commissioners are paid $95,259 per year.
Northern District
In Boone County’s Northern District, incumbent Democrat Janet Thompson hopes to withstand a challenge from Republican Brenndan Riddles, an electrician.
Brenndan Riddles, Republican candidate for the Northern District seat on the Boone County Commission, speaks Oct. 7 during a forum at the Columbia Country Club. Also pictured are, from left, Democratic Southern District candidate Brianna Lennon, Republican Southern District candidate Fred Parry and incumbent Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson, a Democrat.
Riddles, 54, has said a lack of leadership over two controversial issues prompted him to run for county commission: the removal of the Desert Storm war memorial from the county courthouse grounds because of its religious symbol and the closure of the Central Missouri Events Center.
Riddles is appealing to outsider sentiment, saying throughout the campaign that he’s an electrician, not a politician. He was a volunteer and officer with Motocross Parents, an organization promoting motocross in Mid-Missouri, and is a road captain for the Central Missouri Honor Flight escort.
Thompson was first elected to the commission in 2012 and is seeking her second term.
A former public defender for nearly 25 years, Thompson has an interest in mental health issues, particularly diverting people with mental illness from jail and to services and treatment. Thompson is a leader of the county’s Stepping Up Initiative and the county representative for the White House Data Driven Initiative, each of which aims to decrease the number of inmates with mental illness.
As a commissioner, Thompson has worked on plans for the Central Missouri Events Center. She has said a mix of a hotel or sales tax, private dollars and revenue generated with events is needed to pay for events center operations.
The Northern District includes northern and central-eastern Boone County, including east Columbia.
LOCAL LEGISLATIVE RACES
Four of the five Missouri House districts with Boone County voters have contested races this year. Two of the districts, the 44th and 47th, are represented by Republicans and include voters in Columbia, small towns and unincorporated portions in the northern half of the county.
The other two, the 45th and 46th, are represented by Democrats and lie almost entirely within Columbia city limits.
State Rep. Caleb Jones, R-Columbia, is unopposed for re-election to his fourth and final term in the 50th District, which covers portions of southern Columbia in the Fifth and Sixth Wards, southern Boone County including Ashland, and portions of Moniteau County.
44th District
Includes portions of the Third and Sixth wards in Columbia, Boone County north of Richland Road and Route WW including Hallsville, Centralia and Sturgeon and the area surrounding Clark in Randolph County.
Democrat Tom Pauley is making his second run for the seat, currently held by state Rep. Caleb Rowden. Cheri Toalson Reisch, who narrowly lost a bid for Boone County Collector in 2014, is running on the Republican side.
Pauley is a former sheet metal worker who developed his interest in politics as a union leader and working on behalf of Freedom of Road Riders, a group that advocates the repeal of motorcycle helmet laws. He earned a political science degree from the University of Missouri in his 50s and operates an insurance agency. Pauley was a Hallsville alderman for three years.
Pauley supports expanding Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act and enacting stronger ethics laws and opposes right to work legislation. Democrats need to win enough seats to force Republicans to negotiate on Medicaid and kill right to work, he said.
“Breaking the supermajority will force both sides to come together,” Pauley said.
Reisch worked for Hallsville for 30 years as town clerk, earning certification as a municipal clerk and municipal court clerk. When she was fired during a dispute with the city administrator, she ran for mayor, was elected, and the administrator soon was gone. Reisch works as a legal assistant and manages rental properties in Hallsville. She received 48.5 percent of the vote for collector in 2014.
Reisch supports right to work, calling it a tool that will attract industry to sites ready for development. She opposes expanding Medicaid eligibility, saying the state cannot afford it. Missouri would pay up to 10 percent of the $2 billion cost of coverage for about 300,000 people if eligibility was expanded to the limits allowed in federal law.
“The bottom line is money,” she said.
45th District
Includes portions of the First, Second, Third and Sixth wards in Columbia.
Democratic state Rep. Kip Kendrick is seeking his second term in office. Independent candidate William Lee, in his first bid for public office, filed petitions to get on the ballot.
Kendrick, won the seat in 2014 without opposition in the primary or general election after receiving the endorsement of state Rep. Chris Kelly. He holds a psychology degree from Columbia College and is pursuing a graduate degree in higher education from the University of Missouri.
Lee is a medical laboratory scientist at Boone Hospital Center. Much of the territory included in the district has been represented continuously by Democrats since 1982 and Lee has said he entered the race to offer a conservative alternative to voters.
In his first term, Kendrick has made student debt relief a major issue. If re-elected, he said, he will file several bills, including a proposal to refinance loans at lower interest rates. Kendrick has supported efforts to expand Medicaid eligibility, opposed right to work and opposed the House budget bill that cut funding to the University of Missouri.
Lee said he disagrees with each of the major parties enough that he decided to run as an independent. He said he opposes abortion rights and opposes Medicaid expansion, calling it too expensive and subject to change by the next Congress.
They also disagree on whether concealed weapons should be allowed on college campuses. Kendrick said at a forum that he does not want to change the law that allows the UM Board of Curators to decide who can carry a concealed weapon. Lee said the decision should be with individuals.
“We need to allow people to take care of themselves and carry a gun if they need to,” he said.
46th District
Includes portions of the First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth wards in Columbia.
Martha Stevens defeated Boone County Public Administrator Cathy Richards in a hard-fought Democratic primary for the seat currently held by state Rep. Stephen Webber. Don Waterman, a first-time candidate, was unopposed in the primary as he seeks to become the first Republican to represent the area since 1982.
Local House of Representatives candidates attend a forum Oct. 5 at the University of Missouri’s Rhynsburger Theatre. From left are state Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, and his opponent, Democrat Susan McClintic; Republican Don Waterman and Democrat Martha Stevens, who are trying to win the 46th House District; independent William Lee and his opponent, state Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia; and Republican Cheri Toalson Reisch and Democrat Tom Pauley, candidates for the 44th House District.
Stevens called on relationships built as an advocate for Planned Parenthood and for Medicaid expansion with the Missouri Rural Crisis Center to secure the nomination. She was endorsed in early 2015 by Webber, who is seeking the 19th District state Senate seat.
Her campaign is built around her advocacy for Medicaid expansion, which she said would provide hundreds of health care jobs in Boone County, save the state money and increase revenue through greater economic activity. Medicaid expansion will help Missouri pay for other priorities, Stevens has said.
She also opposes right to work and allowing concealed weapons on college campuses. Stevens opposes legislation allowing businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings and supports adding sexual identity and sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination law.
Waterman, who works for Bass Pro Shops, has not received the major infusion of money from the House Republican Campaign Committee that is helping other Republicans. He has raised about $10,000.
Waterman supports right to work and allowing concealed weapons on campus. He opposes Medicaid expansion and while he said he opposed a constitutional amendment allowing business to refuse to serve same-sex weddings, it is because the bill was flawed, not because the concept is wrong.
“To compel them to say you’re going to have to abandon your faith because they want you to do something, I don’t think that’s right,” Waterman said.
47th District
Includes portions of the Second, Fourth and Fifth wards, western Boone County north of Huntsdale including Rocheport and Harrisburg and adjacent portions of Cooper, Howard and Randolph counties.
Retired teacher Susan McClintic wants to become the second Democrat and the third person elected to represent the 47th District since the current boundaries were drawn in advance of the 2012 election. State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, is seeking to keep the seat he won by 361 votes in 2014.
McClintic’s campaign relies heavily on her education experience, including leadership of the Columbia teachers’ union and as an elected teacher representative on the Public School and Education Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees. She argues Basye voted to shortchange schools by supporting a bill altering how state aid is determined and failed the district by opposing Medicaid expansion.
“He supported moving the goalposts, and so the funding is less,” McClintic said.
Since taking office in January 2015, Basye has been a reliable Republican vote, supporting his party on every override of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s vetoes, supporting right to work legislation and voting for the bill repealing permit requirements to carry a concealed weapon. He has opposed Medicaid expansion and says the state is providing record funding for public schools.
The bill changing the formula did not take any money from schools, he said. Basye is a graduate of public schools, sent his children to public schools and his wife works for Columbia Public Schools.
“Why would I try to do anything to hurt our public school system?” Basye said.
19th Senate District
Includes Boone and Cooper counties.
The most expensive legislative race before Boone County voters features television attack ads telling voters that state Rep. Stephen Webber, the Democratic candidate, can’t be trusted to show up for work and that state Rep. Caleb Rowden, the Republican nominee, runs away from controversial votes.
Through Wednesday, the two candidates had raised $3.7 million between them with more money on the way. In 2012, state Sen. Kurt Schaefer and state Rep. Mary Still raised a combined $1.7 million for the race.
Webber, a former Marine and veteran of the war in Iraq, uses his military record to emphasize his commitment to community service. He is finishing his fourth term in the Missouri House. Webber attacks Schaefer for putting political ambitions ahead of constituents.
“I think this community has paid a price for thinking that we could elect someone who didn’t share our community’s values just because they are in the majority,” Webber said.
Webber supports Medicaid expansion and voted against repealing the permit requirement for concealed weapons. For the past several years, he has sponsored a bill to add gender identity and sexual orientation to state anti-discrimination laws.
“I am determined to get that done before I leave the Missouri legislature,” Webber said.
Rowden has been a rising star among Republicans since winning a closely fought election in 2012. A former Christian musician, Rowden owns a public relations firm and decided to run against Webber after dropping out of a race for House majority leader.
Rowden argues that as a member of the Republican majority in the Senate, he will be able to protect the University of Missouri more effectively than Webber. He opposes Medicaid expansion but said he could support a proposal that expands rolls if it overhauls the program to make it more like private insurance and saves the state money.
Rowden won passage of an ethics bill imposing a six-month waiting period after leaving office before taking jobs as lobbyists. He filed other ethics bills and said he will try again if elected. Webber’s accusation he is only concerned about his political future is wrong, Rowden said.
“If I was looking for political expedience, I would never have brought it up,” he said.
FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Twenty-four counties including Audrain, Boone, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, Randolph in Central Missouri.
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, faces Democratic nominee Gordon Christensen, a Columbia physician, and Libertarian Mark Bliss of Warrensburg as she seeks her fourth term representing the Fourth Congressional District.
Hartzler gained political prominence in 2004 as the spokeswoman for a statewide campaign to ban same-sex marriage in Missouri. She defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, a Lexington Democrat, in 2010 and handily won re-election in 2012 and 2014.
Christensen first came to public notice in the 1990s, when he exposed attempts by the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover up charges of murder by a nurse at Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital. Christensen, an epidemiologist, was assistant chief of staff at the time and his analysis, suppressed by the VA, showed that the 50 deaths under the nurse’s care in a three-month period could not have happened by chance.
While in office, Hartzler has been a determined opponent of the Affordable Care Act, voting to repeal it several dozen times. Christensen is a strong backer of the law requiring people to buy health insurance and offering coverage paid by taxpayers to low-income individuals.
Christensen has raised $202,000 for his campaign but it has not been enough to engage in a visible television campaign to make himself better known. Hartzler has raised $856,000 for her campaign and has paid little heed to Christensen. Bliss has not actively campaigned.
HALLSVILLE BALLOT ISSUES
Hallsville residents will vote on increasing sales taxes for capital improvements, stormwater control and the city’s park system.
The city would like to impose a half-cent sales tax for capital improvements. Hallsville Mayor Mickey Nichols said the tax likely will be dedicated to the city’s sewer system, which is more than 60 years old.
Hallsville officials approved spending about $1.6 million in bond proceeds on sewer system upgrades in recent years, but more work needs to be done, Nichols said. The tax also could be used to pay back the bonds, he said.
Voters also will decide on an eighth-cent sales tax for stormwater control and park improvements. During heavy rains, Nichols said, stormwater infiltrates the city’s sewer system and overloads the treatment facility. Hallsville’s only park, Tribble Park, needs new equipment and repairs to the shelter.
Nichols has said the increases are projected to bring in $60,000 for capital improvements and $15,000 for stormwater control and parks annually. Neither proposal includes an expiration date.
AMENDMENT 1
Amendment 1 might be the least publicized, least controversial issue on the November ballot. The measure would extend a tenth-cent sales tax on soil and water conservation that was first approved by voters in 1984, then reauthorized in 1988, 1996 and 2006. The tax generates about $90 million annually for soil and water conservation and operation of the state park system.
AMENDMENT 2
Missouri has gained a reputation for loose ethics laws, including its lack of limits on campaign contributions. Amendment 2 would change that by imposing a $2,600 limit on contributions to candidates and $25,000 on donations to political parties. Money transfers between committees would be prohibited, as would direct donations by corporations and unions to candidates. Political action committees would be allowed but could not transfer large sums, and committees with headquarters out of the state would be required to file reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Opponents have said the amendment restricts political activity. At a recent forum, a spokesman for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives said Amendment 2 would limit the organization’s ability, and thus its members’ ability, to participate in the political process.
AMENDMENT 3 and PROPOSITION A
Among the November ballot measures, these might be the most contentious. Voters will be asked to decide on two increases to Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax. Amendment 3, financed largely by the parent firm of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company, would increase taxes on major brands by 60 cents by 2020. However, the measure would increase taxes on smaller brands that were not part of a major tobacco legal settlement by an extra 67 cents on top of the 60-cent-per-pack tax increase. Convenience store owners and smaller tobacco companies have criticized the tax as unfair to the non-major tobacco brands; others have panned Amendment 3 for barring the use of the tax proceeds for stem cell research and tobacco research. The estimated $263 million to $374 million the tax brings in would pay for early childhood health and education programs.
Proposition A would impose a 23-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes phased in through 2021 and increase taxes paid by sellers of other tobacco products by 5 percent. The taxes would raise about $95 million to $103 million each year when fully implemented, and the money would be used for transportation infrastructure projects. The ballot language says decreased tobacco sales might lower revenue for local governments.
Proposition A is backed by small cigarette companies. Two — Cheyenne International and XCaliber International — have spent about $3 million to support Proposition A and oppose Amendment 3. The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association backs Proposition A.
AMENDMENT 4
Amendment 4 aims to stop new sales taxes from being established, making Missouri the first state in the nation to put such a questions before voters. National and local organizations that represent real estate agents have put millions into the campaign to pass Amendment 4, fearful that states might try to tax services related to home sales.
The Missouri Municipal League is among the measure’s opponents and has warned that barring local governments from expanding their sales tax base could hurt essential services like police and fire protection. Local and state governments rely heavily on sales tax revenue to fund operations. In Columbia, city leaders took measures to keep spending down in the current fiscal year because of flat sales tax revenue.
AMENDMENT 6
Amendment 6 would change the constitution to require voters to show a government-issued photo ID when they go to the polls. The debate over the measure has been heated, with proponents warning of the potential for massive voter fraud and opponents warning that a photo ID requirement could disenfranchise many voters, primarily the poor and elderly.
Under current law, Missouri voters can prove their identity at polling places with items like utility bills that verify name and address but do not include photos. Photo ID proponents say such a system creates the opportunity for someone to pretend to be someone else at the polls, but opponents point out that such cases of ballot fraud are extremely rare.
The proposal would allow a voter without a valid photo ID to vote by signing and affidavit.
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