120th District committee hopes for earlier special election

After eight months without a representative, residents of Missouri's 120th Legislative District hope the Supreme Court of Missouri will require an election sooner rather than later. Today is the last day the court will have to rule on the subject in order to place the election on the ballot in April rather than August, but there was no word on whether it would take up the issue.

The district's seat has been vacant since the June 5 resignation of Jason Smith, who was elected to Congress during a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

Gov. Jay Nixon set the special election to fill Smith's seat, as well as two other House vacancies, for Aug. 5. But Pamela Grow, chairwoman of the 120th Legislative District Republican Committee, said she would like to be represented before the General Assembly ends its session in May.

Grow said an April election would allow the new representative six weeks to review and vote on bills before the close of session.

She's the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that was filed in early January that demanded Nixon set the special election. On Jan. 31, the governor announced the August date, and Feb. 18, a Cole County circuit judge rejected the lawsuit. The one-sentence ruling provided no reasoning.

Grow said an appeal was filed Feb. 19 with the Missouri Western District State Court of Appeals to bump the special election up to April, but the appeal was denied the next day. Rather than abandon its attempts, the group filed its case with the Missouri Supreme Court.

According to Grow, the court has until the sixth Tuesday before the election to place an individual or an issue on the ballot. For the April 8 election, that deadline is today.

The 120th District's Republican committee selected Rolla, Mo.-area businessman Shawn Sisco, whom Grow called a good example of a "citizen politician," last week as its nominee. The district's Democratic committee has yet to set a date for its meeting to declare a nominee.

The longer the 120th District goes without representation, the more "disenfranchised" the people become, Grow said. She also said forcing the governor's hand to set the special elections was about giving districts with vacant House seats a voice in the government.

"If people don't push back, they get steamrollered," she said. "It happens pretty easily and pretty often."

Grow also said some "eyes have been opened" by the lawsuit and legislation regarding the setting of special elections may be coming in the near future.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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