County candidates battle to finish

Since the beginning of the local election season in March, much has been said, written and speculated about the county commission races.

The field grew to 20 and is now down to four.

But as Nov. 2 draws closer, it's the coroner and public administrator campaigns that have stoked the most emotion.

Both incumbents, Coroner Mike Hurst and Public Administrator Phyllis Schwab, have at times been placed in a defensive mode.

Their opponents, John Clifton for coroner and Deborah McBride for public administrator, have challenged their opponents on various fronts.

In the coroner's race, Clifton has said publicly he doesn't believe Hurst is putting in as much time as he says he is. Clifton, once a deputy coroner, said there is no way a coroner could put in 50 hours a week and denounces Hurst's stance that the coroner should get paid a full-time salary in line with the county's other elected officials.

Hurst counters the argument by saying he has a bigger workload than previous coroners.

"When he was deputy coroner, all he did was sit back and take reports," Hurst said of Clifton. "He only did 108 cases. My first year, I did 278 cases and I'm already over 500 this year. To me, that tells me there was a problem with reporting and recording when he was deputy coroner. What I did is, I trained nursing homes about what they had to file. I've been to hospitals and had people come in from the state to make sure the Missouri laws are being followed."

Clifton said he thinks Hurst is playing with the numbers.

"What do you call a 'case'?" Clifton said. "I think Mr. Hurst is calling it a case every time he gets a phone call of a death. It might require making a note of it. If he wants to consider that a case, then yes, he's had an increase in cases. And there's a fairly new law that nursing homes must report all deaths and that requires the filling out of a single sheet and faxing it over to the coroner's office. It does not require getting out of bed. What we considered 'cases' was when we got up, got out and made an investigation. It's a numbers game."

Hurst, who was appointed to the coroner position by the governor after then-Coroner John Carpenter died, also believes Clifton has wrongly portrayed Hurst as unqualified for the position.

"He is implying, with his innuendoes, that I'm not qualified," Hurst said. "He's making the innuendoes, and I don't appreciate that. I think I'm better qualified and I think I've proven that."

As far as his workload, Hurst says it has increased only because nursing homes and hospitals have been made aware of Missouri's laws under his watch.

"I think I have ran an up-front campaign, I'm not trying to disguise anything," Clifton said. "I'll stand behind my statement that I think if people just ignore parties, politics and personalities, and they just look at the qualifications; if they just look at what coroner's job really is -- that it's an investigator's job -- then I'm the best candidate.

"All I've done in my life is investigative work. Mike has chosen to do other things, and that's his right. But he says he's worked 15 years with the sheriff's department, but the majority of that time he worked in the jail and not investigating homicides like I've done. He's a nice guy, but he's not an investigator. If he thought he had all these great qualifications, why didn't he run for coroner in 2000 instead of public administrator?"

Public administrator

In the public administrator race, challenger McBride's campaign has been fueled by people -- including friends and family of wards, nursing home and funeral home directors -- who are upset with incumbent Schwab.

The public administrator's job is to become the guardian, or conservator, of people who are declared unable to take care of themselves by the court.

"Incompetent is the word I'm using strongly," McBride said of her opponent. "One thing I want the county to understand is the important job of public administrator. It's not a power position at all. It's also a position that should not be seen as heartless, and that's what I'm finding. The person that's in the office has to have compassion."

When asked about the campaigns, Schwab said the challenger "has to say something. I don't comment on those types of things. I just do not respond to negative comments."

Schwab does recognize that she has upset people over the last four years. She said she is often thrown into the middle of situations and sometimes she has information -- such as abuse or theft -- that only she is privy to.

"My office is a difficult one for people to understand," Schwab said, "because I don't get to choose personal feelings. I'm generally guided by the law and what the court directs me to do. The court usually puts me in the middle of something and when you start that way, you're not going to make everybody happy. I cannot take someone over unless there is medical proof and testimony on the stand that this person needs a guardian."

McBride said the law still allows for a softer approach.

"Just because a person is a ward, doesn't mean he or she is incarcerated," she said. "They still have rights. Right now, they have no rights except the rights she gives them. In a sense that's true; in another sense that's not true. That's why I feel I'm a better candidate for the position-- not only for my education and experience, but my compassion for the job and the people."

In other races, Republican city councilman and Cape Girardeau businessman Jay Purcell is running against retired teacher Jim Bowers for the county commission spot for District 2. District 1 incumbent Larry Bock, a Republican, is running against Democrat Fred Wilkinson.

Republican Roger Hudson and Democrat Len Barreca are dueling for treasurer. Republican Sheriff John Jordan and Democrat Assessor Jerry Reynolds, both incumbents, are running unopposed.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635