CANDIDATE KLINE FACES ASSAULT CHARGES

Richard Kline, Reform Party candidate for governor of Missouri, faces third-degree assault charges, following an incident at the St. Charles County Administrative Building Thursday.

Kline, 59, of Gipsy in Bollinger County, was released Thursday evening on bond. He was arrested earlier in the day when St. Charles County assessor Gene Zimmerman said Kline slapped him, following a confrontation about passing out campaign literature in the office areas of the county building.

Kline will appear at 1:30 June 7 in St. Charles District 6 Court for arraignment on the misdemeanor charges.

The candidate told authorities he had passed out literature in 99 county buildings in Missouri, and this was only the second time that he been asked to leave.

Kline, contacted at his home Friday, declined comment on the Thursday incident.

Zimmerman did not return calls from the Southeast Missourian, but told authorities Thursday that Kline was in violation of a St. Charles County ordinance that bans political activity on work sites.

"That activity includes passing out campaign literature," the ordinance states.

The St. Charles County Sheriff's Department said it was called out Thursday morning.

Lt. Craig McGuire, a spokesman for the sheriff's department, said the incident apparently started when Kline started passing out campaign literature in the assessor's office.

"Zimmerman said he asked Kline to leave several times," said McGuire. Zimmerman told authorities that when Kline started to get on the elevators, he (Kline) dared Zimmerman to get on the elevator. Zimmerman told authorities that when he started to get into the elevator, Kline slapped him.

Zimmerman then called the sheriff's department next door and deputies arrested Kline in the lobby.

Kline denied hitting Zimmerman, telling authorities that he (Kline) felt threatened.

No one saw the alleged assault, but Zimmernan's secretary said she saw Zimmerman when he came into the office with a red mark on his face.

Kline, an ex-Navy man is running for governor as a Reform Party candidate.

This isn't the first time in politics for Kline. Over the past four years, he has lost two congressional contests in the 8th District, once as a Republican and the second time as a Democrat.

In 1996, he won the Republican primary, which occurred several weeks after the death of incumbent Bill Emerson. But the Republican Party didn't support him, choosing instead to back the congressman's widow, Jo Ann Emerson, who ran as an independent.

Upset with the way he was treated by the party organization, Kline ran as a Democrat in 1998.

Kline initially pre-filed with the Missouri secretary of state's office as a Republican candidate for governor this year. But he stopped payment on the $200 filing-fee check and then re-filed as a Reform Party candidate, paying the filing fee.

Kline said this will be his last attempt at political office.