SEMO instructor to challenge Summers for Ward 3

Looks like there will be a Ward 3 race after all. On Monday, Southeast Missouri State University speech and communications instructor Ellen Dillon signaled her intentions to run for Cape Girardeau City Council against Trent Summers in the April 3 election.

The announcement sets up a campaign between Dillon, a former peace activist who says she is environmentally minded, and Summers, the pro-casino account executive with a background in government. Summers, 32, works for Red Letter Communications.

Dillon, 53, picked up a petition Friday that requires 50 signatures from residents of the central-city Ward 3. She said Monday she had received the go-ahead from her employer, Southeast Missouri State University and that she plans to begin gathering signatures.

The filing deadline is Nov. 22. Summers and Dillon are seeking the seat being vacated by Debra Tracy.

"I think Cape is going through a real interesting time with the riverboat coming and other things," Dillon said. "I think we're kind of in a nice transitional phase that I'd like to be a part of."

Dillon is a native of Wyoming who moved to Missouri to attend college. She got her associate degree in liberal arts from Cottey College in Nevada, Mo., before getting her bachelor's in theater arts at the University of Northern Colorado in theater arts and later her master's in communication and theater from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

She's worked as an instructor for more than 20 years since moving to Cape Girardeau in the fall of 1989. Dillon is married to theater and dance professor Rob Dillon. She's worked in both theater and communications over the years.

On Monday, Summers welcomed Dillon to the race.

"Certainly voters having a choice in an election is never a bad thing," Summers said. "Her entering the race doesn't impact my decision to run. I still intend to take my case to the voters."

Dillon has sought public office before, both times dropping out because of job concerns.

She filed as a Democrat in 2007 to challenge Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, in the six-county 27th Senate District. But she dropped out of the race after she learned that the university would require she take a leave of absence to campaign. In 2005, she filed to run for Cape Girardeau City Council to replace Jay Purcell in the Ward 3, but she dropped out of that race. She did not work for the university at that time, but she said her employer didn't want her to run. She declined to say who that employer was. The city council race is nonpartisan that does not require candidates to list party affiliation.

"At this point, now I'm in a position where my kids are gone and I have more time to devote to such things," she said.

One of the things in her background she points to is her service for two years on the Girardeau Goes Green Advisory Board, which she helped form as a representative from SEMO Climate Protection Initiative.

Dillon also serves on the Zonta International Club of Cape Girardeau and is on the Friends of the Cape Girardeau Public Library board and has served as assistant treasurer of the NAACP chapter in Cape Girardeau. She is a volunteer at the Safe House for Women and Habitat for Humanity, among other organizations.

"I haven't done any big political stuff like Trent has," she said. "He has more experience with the state government and so forth. I have not ever done that. But I do know the community of Cape."

Dillon doesn't think any environmental leanings she may have should cause voters to consider her "the environmental candidate."

"It's not one of the primary ways I'd label myself," she said. "But I'm aware of those issues."

She also said she had "mixed feelings" about Isle of Capri's planned $125 million casino but that they weren't strong enough one way or the other to take action on it. Summers was chairman of the Yes for Gaming campaign.

"But now," she said, "the point is kind of moot. We're going to have a riverboat. Now we're going to just have to make sure we're going to move forward -- not just with business, but with all the residents of Cape Girardeau in mind."

On Monday, the city clerk's office confirmed that Ward 4 council member Loretta Schneider turned in her petition Friday.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers said that Ward 5 council member Mark Lanzotti's and Trent Summers' signatures had been certified. Kara Clark Summers, who is Trent Summers' wife, said she did not involve herself with the certification process to avoid the appearance of impropriety. She left that up to Cape Girardeau County elections director Joey Keys, she said.

Her involvement was limited to looking over the certifications and signing off on them, she said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO