Cape County Republican committee looks to isolate Purcell from party

A news release issued Friday accepting Commissioner Jay Purcell's resignation from the Republican Party is an attempt to bring closure to the local party and move toward Tuesday's primary, party officials said.

Purcell, a Republican candidate for Cape Girardeau County presiding commissioner, recently announced in an online video and at the presiding commissioner forum Tuesday that if he is elected, he will leave the party and become an independent. However, after the news release was issued, Purcell said he has yet to resign from the party and is still a Republican.

Fritz Sander, former committee chairman and acting spokesman for the Cape Girardeau County Central Committee, said the committee has taken Purcell's recent comments as a resignation and that the party is ready to move forward. With a primary election only days away, Sander said, it is time to concentrate on the issues affecting the county.

"It was an attempt to get to a better place and not the continual conflict we have had," Sander said.

If Purcell does not win the presiding commissioner spot, he will retain his position as 2nd District commissioner. If he is elected, Gov. Jay Nixon will appoint a replacement for the 2nd District vacancy. That appointment is one of the reasons the Republican central committee issued the news release.

"If he wins and the governor appoints someone to his seat, that is an unelected official sitting on the commission," Sander said.

Purcell said in his online video and at the forum that if that happens, the county will be represented by himself, an independent, Commissioner Paul Koeper, a Republican, and a presumably Democratic appointment made by Missouri's Democratic governor. It would, Purcell said, achieve a diversity that is unprecedented and that was the motivation behind his actions.

Friday's statement has broad-based support among the committee. Sander said the central committee met Thursday evening and worked until 1:30 a.m. Friday to draft the release. Of the 49 committee members, 42 were able to be contacted in regard to issuing the statement. Sander said 39 agreed with the measure. He said these committee members represented different parts of Cape Girardeau County and were elected by Republicans from across the county.

Even though committee members felt they had to make this decision, Sanders said, it was still difficult.

"It isn't a function we relish. There was no pleasure in it. We feel we have been pushed in a corner," Sander said.

If Purcell wins the Republican nomination Tuesday, Sander said, he does not know who the party will support, Purcell or the Democratic nominee, or whether there will be Republican-backed write-in candidate.

"We are waiting until Tuesday. We are keeping our options open," he said.

He also said there were no present plans to question the legalities of Purcell announcing his intent to leave the party while actively running for the party's nomination. However, he said those plans could change.

In a written statement Saturday, Purcell said he has not resigned from the Republican Party, nor does he intend to do so in the near future. He said recent attacks on him from a "few powerful people" within the local party are attempts to maintain their "stranglehold on power." He said any decision he makes will be based on what is best for county residents, not a political party.

While Purcell has publicly addressed his plans if he is elected, he has yet to say what he will do if he is not elected presiding commissioner.

cbartholomew@semissourian.com

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