KC metro clerks express concern over GOP candidate vetting ahead of appeals hearing

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The battle over how a candidate makes it onto a ballot is heating up in one Missouri county, and it could have bigger consequences statewide.

In Vernon County, ninety miles south of Kansas City, there’s a new kind of political battle brewing. It’s not Democrats versus Republicans. The fighting is happening inside the Republican Party.

“I want fair and free elections,” said Adrienne Lee, the county clerk.

“We are not picking the candidates,” said Cyndia Haggard, the chair of the Vernon County Republican Committee and president of the Republican Association of Central Committees of MO. “We are doing our duty, as a political party, to make sure the people on our primary ballot represent our values.”

In April, Haggard, on behalf of the committee, sued Lee for allowing eight local candidates to be listed as Republicans on the August primary ballot. They include county positions like sheriff, assessor and treasurer.

The committee cited a state statute that requires candidate fees be paid to the treasurer of the committee before filing with the clerk. Lee disagreed, adding that the law also allows clerks to take the fees and forward them to the committee’s treasurer – which she did.

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“I feel like what they’re trying to do is stepping backwards into 19th-century politics,” Lee said. “I’ve never had to wait on a paid receipt before. That’s not listed in the statute.”

“We have campaign conservatives, who run as Republicans to get elected, and then govern as Democrats,” Haggard replied. “We’re tired of it.”

The ballot battle is linked to a new vetting process the committee, some of whom members are appointed, implemented this year. Haggard said they want to vet county candidates to weed out “Republicans in Name Only” also known as “RINOS.”

The vetting process includes a background check and a signed pledge, acknowledging a candidate has read the Party’s platform and that their values and vote will align with it. They also must complete a 25-question values survey. KCTV was denied a copy of the survey when asked.

“Some of them deal with second amendment rights,” Haggard explained. “Some of them deal with abortion issues. Some of them deal with currency and standards, faith and family.”

Haggard, who believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen, said Republican committees across the state have already vetted over 300 candidates.

“It’s not something we can yet control at the state level, but three of the four gubernatorial candidates support it,” Haggard said. “So, it’s not going away.”

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KCTV5′s Zac Summers sat down with election officials and county clerks in the Kansas City area. All of them are Republicans. All of them have been closely monitoring the case in Vernon County.

“If we’re not careful, the election process is going to become the Wild West,” said Diane Thompson, the clerk in Johnson County, Missouri.

Thompson, who has worked in the Clerk’s Office since the late 1990s, believes there’s a small group, within the GOP, who are trying to fundamentally change the party.

“We have never had an issue with taking the filing fees, turning them over to our central committees and putting the candidates on the ballot,” Thompson added. “That’s been the process since 1998.”

It’s a process Tammy Brown, the Republican director of the Jackson County Election Board, agrees has been effective. Brown said this is about control.

“I think the voters deserve choice,” Brown explained. “I don’t think that any – small, large, medium – size central committee should have the right to tell the voters, ‘Yeah, five filed but we didn’t like the other four. So, here’s your one.’” People will quit voting.”

Jeff Fletcher, the Cass County clerk, echoed Brown’s sentiments. He said instead of vetting candidates, committees should just come out and support the candidate they want in the office.

“They have that right,” he said. “So, why don’t do that instead of trying to take away from voters?”

The group believes this case may not only set a dangerous precedent, but they also say it could lead to lawsuits against election officials simply trying to follow the law.

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“Really, there’s no direction and there needs to be direction in state statute, and it needs to be top priority in session next year,” Brown added.

It’s a small county’s fight for now, but one with potential implications across all 114 Missouri counties.

“This will have an effect on politics in the future,” Lee warned.

While a circuit court judge originally ruled in the committee’s favor saying Lee failed to perfect payment, the case is now headed to the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City. Oral arguments begin on June 25.

Meanwhile, all eight candidates who refused to participate in the vetting process remain on the ballot.

KCTV5 checked with county clerks and election officials in the Missouri counties inside the station’s coverage area. They told us, that while some of their Republican committees have discussed vetting, it has not been implemented, and therefore this has yet to be an issue in their respective counties.

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