Published in the January 29 Edition
Being a reporter has its bad days and good days, much like any job.
My favorite kind of good day is when you hear a rumor and start chasing it – following leads, checking records, talking to multiple sources. In the best case, you’ll reach an “ah-hah” moment and be able to write a story that proves a theory, or at least comes pretty close.
In the case of the potential Stalking Horses of 2014, the Leader – make that, government reporter Steve Taylor – did a lot of work but couldn’t get to an “ah-hah” moment. Instead, it was more of an “ah.”
Interesting, but no slam dunk on a conclusion.
The term “stalking horse” originates from a hunting strategy in which a hunter would walk alongside a horse, hiding, until close enough to take a good shot at his quarry. Ka-pow! Dinner.
In political terms, a “stalking horse” candidate is one who does not intend to win, but files to split the vote and boost the chances of another candidate in a race, usually an incumbent.
The Missouri Ethics Commission says it’s not against that agency’s rules to recruit a “stalking horse” candidate or be one. But there have been successful prosecutions in the state over the years when a race with a stalking-horse candidate included hanky-panky with campaign funds or tax violations.
Our suspicions that some hunters might be hiding behind some horses in Jefferson County last November were aroused after Taylor sent out surveys for the Leader Voters Guide to all the contested candidates in the November 2014 election. Among those candidates were six who had filed for the Constitution Party.
None of the six responded – not all that unusual. But, interestingly, when Taylor tried to figure out how to reach them, Donna Ivanovich of Arnold, the Constitution Party contact for Jefferson County, said she didn’t know three of the candidates, and nobody in her circle knew them. Ivanovich is a founding member of the party in Missouri and its state communications director.
The three candidates were:
■ The ambiguously named J. Bennett of Cedar Hill, running against incumbent Republican Ken Waller and Democratic challenger Sam Rauls for Jefferson County executive. The survey and advertising materials mailed to Bennett at the address he gave when he filed at the County Clerk’s Office came back in July as undeliverable. Bennett didn’t supply a telephone number when he filed last winter – some candidates do, some don’t – but did give an email address. So Taylor sent an email to that address, asking him to contact our office so we could get him a copy of our questionnaire. No reply.
■ Terence G. McCarthy of Hillsboro, running against Democrat incumbent Wes Wagner and Republican challenger Jeremy Day for county clerk.
■ Lawrence Lott of Hillsboro, running against Democratic incumbent Beth Mahn and Republican challenger Leslie Hanson for Jefferson County collector.
The election was held, and all three incumbents in those races won: Waller and Mahn by comfortable margins, Wagner much more narrowly.
In each case, the Constitution Party candidate drew a small percentage of votes cast: Bennett got 2,545 votes (4.8 percent), Lott received 1,717 (3.2 percent), and McCarthy got 2,465 (4.7 percent).
The winner would have been victorious regardless of the Constitution Party candidate in each race. Even if every vote for McCarthy had gone to Day in the county clerk’s race, Wagner would still have won by 28 votes out of 52,888 cast.
There were no Constitution Party candidates for several judgeships on the ballot or for county recorder of deeds, circuit clerk or auditor, all won by Republicans over their Democratic opponents.
Incumbent Debbie Dunnegan was easily re-elected as recorder, and Mike Reuter also didn’t break a sweat to win circuit clerk, an open seat after the retirement of Howard Wagner. A third party candidate would not have helped the Democrats in those contests.
But incumbent Democratic Auditor Dorothy Stafford might have won if she’d had a Constitutional Party candidate in her race. Republican Richard Carter III received 26,552 votes to Stafford’s 25,272, a difference of 1,280 and vulnerable to the block that swung to the Constitution Party in the other races.
After the election, the Leader got a tantalizing tip that stalking horses were recruited Nov. 4, and that Sam Rauls, the county executive candidate, was the guy to ask about it.
A closer look at the filers’ addresses showed that Rauls, McCarthy and Lott all live in the Hillsboro-area Raintree Plantation Subdivision – Rauls on one end of Vista Drive and the other two on the other end. Bennett’s address at filing turned out to be a vacant house in Cedar Hill Lakes. A neighbor said no one had lived there for six months or so and the home is now owned by a property management company.
Taylor got busy.
He talked to Wagner and Mahn, both of whom said Rauls had not approached them about recruiting a stalking horse.
He tried again unsuccessfully to reach Bennett and Lott, but he was able to reach McCarthy.
“I wasn’t recruited to run by anyone,” McCarthy said. He said he “wasn’t crazy about the other two parties” and thus decided to file under the Constitution Party label. He said he did not campaign.
“I didn’t have the resources,” he said. He said he “may have” gotten a letter from the party.
Ivanovich said she tried to contact the three candidates.
“I mailed each one of them letters (to the addresses given at filing) thanking them for running on our party on the ballot, and asking to meet with them or at least asking them to fill out a questionnaire to see where they stood on the issues. They never responded to the letter.”
She said she hadn’t heard any rumors about ballot maneuvers in which the Constitution Party might have been used as a spoiler. But she sure hopes that didn’t happen.
“There’s no way we support something like that,” she said. “We’re trying to stay as pure as the driven snow. If we were a party to something like that, we might as well be Republican Light. We stand for principles.”
For the record, Ivanovich said Constitution Party voters don’t lean Democratic or Republican when the ballot doesn’t offer a Constitution Party candidate.
“I think they (Constitution Party voters) would have stayed home.”
Finally, Taylor talked to Rauls, the former public administrator, Jefferson County commissioner and county economic director.
Question: Does he know the three candidates?
On J. Bennett: “I know of him. As far as I know, he lives in Cedar Hill. I wouldn’t call him a friend.”
On Lott and McCarthy: “I’m familiar with them. They both live in Raintree. No, I didn’t think I’d call them friends. What are you getting at?”
Question: Did you approach Democrats about whether they wanted a Constitution Party candidate in their race to serve as a stalking horse?
“Who is crying over November’s spilled milk? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Somebody’s crying about something. What Republican is crying about this?”
So, there you have it. There’s maybe enough to visualize a barn and some stalls, but whether there are three horses nickering in the background is going to be a matter of opinion.
Of course, that’s what makes it a horse race. The bothersome question that remains – what kind of horses were running?
