Shelley Keeney files for new 145th House District seat

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Rep. Shelley Keeney, R-Marble Hill, has filed to run for a third term in the Missouri House, where she said she hopes to continue to promote issues that she thinks are important to her conservative constituents.

Keeney, 32, so far is the only candidate interested in the new 145th District, which was shuffled in light of redistricting that was prompted by the 2010 census population data. Keeney filed last week for the seat, which now encompasses all of Bollinger and Wayne counties and the western edge of Perry County.

Redistricting removed Wayne County from the old 156th, which Keeney was first elected to in 2010, taking over for former House speaker Rod Jetton for whom she worked as a district aide.

"I think the demographics of the new district will be similar to that of my current district," Keeney said Tuesday. "I just want to make sure I do the things I've been working to do the last four years -- protecting the sanctity of life, protect our Second Amendment rights and ensure Missouri continues to live within our means and balance our state budget."

While the filing deadline doesn't end until March 27, Democrats don't look to be putting up a fight for the seat. Nick Bollinger is the president of the Bollinger County Democrat Club and he said he's heard of no one who wants to challenge Keeney.

"We usually try to get somebody to run against her on the Democrat ticket, but we haven't heard anything yet," Bollinger said. "We're outnumbered 2-to-1. She'd be hard to beat in Bollinger County."

It's traditionally been hard for Democrats to win offices in Bollinger County, he said.

"It's like being the captain of the Titanic," he said of his job as president of the Democrat Club.

Keeney defeated Michael Winder, a Democrat from Marquand, in the Nov. 4, 2008, general election. She beat Winder, an iron worker, by more than 8 points with 54 percent of the vote to Winder's 46 percent. In 2010, Keeney, a former schoolteacher, ran unopposed.

Issues Keeney has discussed recently include taxes, the so-called "pharmacy conscience bill" and English-only driver's tests in Missouri.

Keeney supported a House resolution last month to prevent tax increases on the top four grades of agricultural land. She also touted her vote for House Bill 1075, which she referred to as the "pharmacy conscience bill." Simply put, she said, the bill prohibits the state from requiring any licensed pharmacy to carry any prescription or nonprescription drug or device.

The bill touched on a big issue that she said is important to her -- protecting the "life of the unborn" by not forcing a pharmacy to carry emergency contraceptive drugs like RU 486.

"A pharmacy should never have to choose between their religious convictions and the products they sell," she said.

The House also debated last month a measure that would require driver's license examinations to be administered only in English, which she supports. She noted that such laws are a growing trend across the nation and that Missouri voted in 2008 to make English the official language of all government proceedings by 89 percent of the vote.

"In the House, we have taken that vote seriously, and now, we are taking the next step," she said.

In her most recent campaign finance filing in January, Keeney reported she had $17,376 cash on hand.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

Bollinger, Wayne and Perry counties, Missouri