Officials from Jefferson County’s Republican Party attempted to remove one of the party’s candidates from the Aug. 7 primary election ballot.
County Clerk Randy Holman said a letter written to him by Angela Alter-Wren, who chairs the county’s Republican Central Committee dated May 11, asked him to remove Gary Stout II, a candidate for the Republican nomination for county executive, from the primary election ballot.
“Democrat Stout has never demonstrated any interest in the Republican Party, never run for elected office as a Republican, never acknowledged support for the Republican Party and never worked with any Republican candidates in their effort to be elected,” Alter-Wren wrote. “The JCRCC does not want to be associated with Democrat Stout.”
The letter cited case law as a precedent for a political party asking for the removal of a candidate.
Stout, who lives in Festus, works in the narcotics division of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and is running as a Republican in this year’s primary election for county executive against Dennis Gannon of De Soto.
The winner of the primary election will run against Jeff Roorda of Arnold in the Nov. 6 general election. Roorda is running unopposed in the Democratic Party’s primary.
Stout ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in the August 2014 primary election for county executive, losing to the late Sam Rauls.
Rauls was defeated by Ken Waller in the November 2014 general election. Waller is not running for a third term as executive, but instead has an Aug. 7 primary race for county clerk against Republican Jeremy Day. Holman is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for the job.
Alter-Wren could not be reached for comment.
Holman said he responded to her letter on May 15.
“My response was very simple,” Holman said. “To remove a candidate from the ballot is beyond my authority. I would need a court order to remove someone from the ballot, and I advised her that if that was the way her party wanted to go, to do so as quickly as possible. I have not received such an order.”
Ballots have been printed and absentee balloting already is underway for the August election.
Holman said he consulted with then-county counselor Tony Dorsett, the Secretary of State’s Office and other county clerks for direction before he replied to Alter-Wren’s request.
“All of them agreed that a court order would be necessary,” Holman said.
Holman noted that in some counties in Missouri, candidates for partisan races file with their county’s political party committee, which then turns over the list of candidates to the county clerk’s office.
“It’s up to them (the party committee) to decide whether to accept a candidate’s filing fee or not,” Holman said. “That’s not the way we do it in Jefferson County. My office is not qualified to determine whether someone is a Democrat or a Republican.”
Holman, who has served as county clerk since March 2017, said he had never heard of a similar request in the county, and neither had longtime staff in his office.
Stout said he knew of the effort to remove him from the ballot.
“It’s clear to me that this is typical political bullying in Jefferson County. They figure that because I once ran as a Democrat, I must always be a Democrat,” he said.
Stout said he casts himself more as a political outsider, which may be a reason why the letter was directed at him.
“They don’t understand that I’m not a politician at all. I don’t go through all that B.S. I’m running because I think Jefferson County government is broken, and it needs to be fixed. I don’t know whether I can fix it, but I’d like to give it a try. But I’m not going to kiss the rings of a committee, and I guess they take offense to me because I didn’t come to them. I’m sorry if I don’t attend their meetings, but I have a demanding job plus a business to run.”
Stout said he ran as a Democrat four years ago because traditionally, most county officeholders had been members of that party.
“The county’s obviously changed over the last few years,” Stout said, “It used to be that if you want to hold office, you had to be a Democrat. But if anyone would check my voting record, the only time I voted Democrat was four years ago, when I ran as a Democrat.
“Four years ago, I went to one (Democratic county) meeting, and I was told I didn’t fit their mold. They told me they wanted me to back out and let Sam Rauls have it.
“If I’m a Democrat, I may be the only one in the country who owns a gun shop.”
Stout owns Deranged Entertainment and Shooting Experience, an indoor simulated shooting range, in Crystal City.
The letter did not reference other candidates in the Aug. 7 election who are running as Republicans but in the past were associated with the Democratic Party. Those candidates include Joe Rathert (running for Div. 1 circuit judge), Troy Cardona (Div. 6 circuit judge), Ed Page (Div. 11 associate circuit judge), Tim Miller (Div. 14 associate circuit judge) and Shannon Dougherty (Div. 15 associate circuit judge).
Cardona, Miller and Dougherty are running unopposed in both the primary and general elections. Rathert and Page have primary races.