Last day for candidate filing closes; commission race draws the most people

This year's August primaries in Southeast Missouri will be crowded affairs, with an 11-way Republican contest for Cape Girardeau County's District 1 commission seat attracting the most candidates and nominations up for grabs for sheriff in Perry, Scott and Bollinger counties.

The final day of candidate filing was Tuesday.

Every incumbent legislator from Southeast Missouri will be renominated without a primary challenge. The only area legislative primary will be in the 158th District Missouri House seat, where Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, is not seeking re-election.

Clint Tracy, son of Cape Girardeau City Councilwoman Debra Tracy, was the last to join the legislative contest. In a news release issued as he was on his way to Jefferson City to file, Tracy said he wanted to be a lawmaker since he attended Boys State in 1991.

"I am concerned with fiscal responsibility, education, taxes and any other issue that hinders the progress" of the district, Tracy said.

Tracy, the general manager of Timberline International Forest Products Inc. and an Iraq war veteran, will face Wayne Wallingford, head of human resources for McDonald's of Southeast Missouri, and Jeff Glenn, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Talent and currently an executive with Delta Companies, a highway construction firm. The winner will face Robert Roland, a Cape Girardeau Libertarian, in the November contest. No Democrat filed.

In the race for county commission in Cape Girardeau County, 11 Republicans and three Democrats filed for the chance to replace Larry Bock, who is retiring after 16 years in office. The final candidates to file were Ken Waldron of Jackson on the Republican side and Myra Moore of Jackson on the Democratic ticket.

Incumbent Commissioner Jay Purcell of Cape Girardeau, meanwhile, drew no opponents. Purcell said he was a little nervous about the final day of filing and spent the last half-hour before the deadline watching the door of the clerk's office. "I was very anxious," he said.

In 2004, when he first ran for office, Purcell faced eight opponents in the GOP primary and won the nomination by 29 votes.

"I feel very grateful and blessed, no question," Purcell said after filing closed.

In the contests for sheriff in Perry and Bollinger counties, Republicans will choose nominees who then must face Democratic opponents in the Nov. 4 balloting.

Incumbent Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf will face Joe Martin in the primary, with Ted Christisen awaiting the winner. In Bollinger County, chief deputy Leo McElrath III will face Ryan McLeary in the GOP primary, with the winner running against James E. Galloway in the fall.

In Scott County, first-term incumbent Sheriff Rick Walter faces Bobby Sullivan for the Democratic nomination Aug. 5, with the winner taking on Republican Wes Drury in November.

Marquee matchups in the fall elections will include the 156th District Missouri House race, where Michael Winder of Marquand will make his second run and will face Shelley Keeney of Marble Hill, a legislative aide to House Speaker Rod Jetton. Term limits prevent Jetton from seeking another term.

Former U.S. representative Bill Burlison will seek to unseat two-term incumbent Billy Pat Wright in the 159th District Missouri House race as Burlison attempts a political comeback in Missouri 28 years after losing his Congressional seat. Burlison served two terms as a county commissioner in Maryland.

And the widow of the man who beat Burlison, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, will face two opponents in the fall campaign. Joe Allen, a Forsyth, Mo., lawyer, will seek to buck tradition in the district, where Emerson has won landslide victories each year since running for her late husband's seat in 1996. Branden McCullough of Cape Girardeau filed as a Libertarian candidate.

Allen said he intends to tie Emerson to Republican taxation, spending and economic policies that he said too heavily favor big oil companies and do too little for rural residents.

In her January campaign finance disclosure, Emerson reported $364,969 in the bank for the 2008 campaign. Allen, who will file his first disclosure report in April, said he realized he is fighting against a strong incumbent.

"She can go to a cocktail party in D.C. tonight and raise more money than I can all year," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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