Scott County candidate disqualified from August primary

A Scott County candidate for associate circuit judge was disqualified from the August primary ballot for failing to file a financial disclosure statement, the Missouri Ethics Commission voted Friday.

Scott Horman, who is seeking to unseat incumbent David C. Mann in the Democratic primary, was one of nine candidates statewide who missed the deadline for filing the personal financial disclosure statement required by law.

Horman will be able to file a court petition to be reinstated to the ballot if he chooses, commission executive director Robert Connor said.

The commission had originally named 11 candidates for disqualification, but cut two names from the list. In the case of Stan Schnaare, a candidate for associate circuit judge in Jefferson County, commission staff misplaced his disclosure report, Connor said.

Horman protested that he had been given faulty information that he was not required to file the disclosure, Connor said. Paperwork supplied by the Scott County clerk's office showed that was true, he said. But the commission was required to follow the law mandating the disqualification, Connor said.

The commission's action to disqualify candidates is usually overturned when candidates file court petitions, Connor noted. "The action" to disqualify a candidate "has only been upheld once since I have been here, and that was for a candidate in a hospital district," Connor said.

Horman will be able to petition to be place back on the ballot after the Scott County clerk's office receives notice from the commission, Connor said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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