Hodits Asks Prosecuting Attorney Banas For Ballot Placement

UPDATE

As expected in the previous story, Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas has refused to intervene in the ballot positioning in FHSD. Since this is not considered a criminal issue, it doesn't make sense for the PA's office to step in.

This is the first step in what could be a long journey for Marty Hodits, whose name appears third on the ballot for the Board of Education, although he was second in line to file. He could appeal to Eternal General Jay Nixon, but at what cost?

According to Director of Elections Rich Chrismer, Hodits was properly in line, in accordance with Missouri statutes. Unfortunately for Hodits, it's not up to Chrismer to make any changes in ballot order.

Stay tuned ...

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In an update from the last post, filing for school board races has closed and, as expected, the ballot was turned in to the Election Authority with Marty Hodits third on the list of candidates for the Francis Howell School Board.

Hodits has asked St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas to have the ballot changed to reflect the manner in which candidates lined up in board secretary Claudia Geile's office.

Now, I don't know whether or not there is precedence for someone sitting in the parking lot to hold a place in line to file for a ballot position, so I'm curious to know where this ends up. If precedent has been set, so be it. But it flies in the face of the time-honored tradition of waiting in line to file for office.

Many governmental entities have moved away from that style to a first-day lottery program, in which those that show up on the first day draw a number, and the lowest number for the day files first. I don't necessarily agree with that, since ballot position can bring as much as five percentage points to a candidate at the top, and being in line to file is as much a part of the campaign as going door to door.

More on this as things unravel.

If You Pay The Right Price

I suppose you can get whatever legal opinion you desire from your law firm!

That's the new skinny on a recent decision in the Francis Howell School District. With several years under Celynda Brasher's belt as the district's legal counsel, current board president Mark Lafata decided that he wanted a lawyer representing him that wouldn't tell him no. Therefore, a Request for Proposal was prepared and a number of law firms answered with bids. Rumor has it that, right up until the time he left town, Jeff Morrison had been Lafata's personal choice.

The fact is, the firm of Tueth, Keeney, et al represented Francis Howell, as well as numerous other school districts throughout the St. Louis area for a number of years, specializing in school law. On numerous occasions, Brasher, the district's attorney, had to step in and stop Lafata from doing a number of the things he wanted to do in the district because they would violate the constitution, the statutes or administrative rules.

Knowing that certain parties' days were numbered when Lafata took over the school board, it is not a big surprise to know that the district's law firm would be one to get the axe.

Lafata has now put the new firm, Crotzer, Ford and Ormsby to the test. On December 13, when filing began for school board candidates, two candidates lined up in board secretary Claudia Geile's office, incumbent Mike Sommer and Marty Hodits, a frequent visitor and commentator during board meetings. Shortly before the filing opened, a third person, Ken Schaller, arrived and took his place in line, shortly followed in by Lafata, who greeted Schaller by name. Some whispering took place and Lafata demanded that Schaller's name appear second on the ballot instead of third, because he was "in the parking lot in front of the building."

In every occasion that I've witnessed candidates filing for office, those candidates stood in line for hours, sometimes as much as days, prior to actually filing, in order to hold their place in line. (This is currently going on in the city of St. Louis by candidates hoping to fill the vacant seat of the license collector.) But apparently, if you're a friend of Lafata and filing for the Francis Howell School Board, you merely have to be "in the parking lot" drinking a warm cup of coffee in order to hold your place in line.

When questioned about this, Lafata immediately called new attorney, Cindy Ormsby, in order to get an "official" legal opinion that sitting in the parking lot is an appropriate way to hold one's place in line to become an official candidate. And he got what he paid for!

The district's new hand-picked lawyer advised Geile to place Schaller second on the ballot, above Hodits' name. Hodits stands prepared to petition the Attorney General's office for an opinion once filing closes January 17th.

One has to wonder why an attorney would make such a short-sighted decision. By the way, the previous law firm for the district, Tueth, Keeney, et al had a contract worth $232,000 last year.

Stay tuned ...