Republican vetting process sets stage for lawsuits, leaves MO primary ballots uncertain

Late last year, Republican central committees across Missouri chose to adopt a vetting process for candidates who choose to file as Republicans in county races. But their goal of keeping those off the ballot who either do not go through vetting or fail the vetting process is proving more challenging than expected.

Almost 300 candidates in Missouri for county, state and federal seats have been vetted. Despite this, in Christian County, two Republican county candidates currently remain on the ballot ahead of the August primary election despite one failing the vetting process and the other not taking part in the process.

In Vernon County, a lawsuit has been filed against the county clerk for allowing Republican candidates who have been denied by the central committee onto the ballot.

The vetting process was developed by the Republican Association of Central Committees for Missouri, or REPACCMO. The nonprofit organization was created in October by Cyndia Haggard, the chair of the Vernon County Republican Central Committee, who now leads the organization.

The goal of the vetting process is to ensure those running as Republicans will govern in line with party principles. The REPACCMO website lists numerous county candidates who have passed vetting and statewide and federal candidates who have volunteered to be vetted and have passed.

The vetting process is proctored and includes an "objective review" of each candidate's background, a 25-question multiple choice "values survey" based on the state and national party platform and requires candidates to sign a statement pledging their allegiance to both the state and federal Republican Party platforms and constitutions. Incumbents and those who have held office in the past have their voting records reviewed. Survey questions are not shared with central committees that are considering or have already adopted the vetting process.

Local Republicans raise concerns about the vetting process

Don Carriker, chairman of the Christian County Republican Central Committee and REPACCMO survey administrator, said most people who have gone through the process have successfully passed — meaning they received at least 70% on the values survey. He said the results fall on a bell-curve, with no one scoring a 100% and the mean falling at 84%. He said only about five, of the roughly 300, have failed to meet the 70% threshold.

Carriker says the vetting process is essential to ensure candidates are genuine in their values and not simply running as Republicans to garner votes in red counties. With the vetting process, the candidate simply must be a majority Republican and pass the test with 70%, even if there are some issues or topics where their thoughts may differ from the Republican platform. He said central committee members and candidates should also be vetted, though there are not enforcement "teeth" to that practice as filing for those seats do not require fees.

"That's all we're trying to do is just keep out the few rats that are trying to get into the tent that don't belong in the tent," he said. "That's the most important thing to understand is that this isn't playing favorites."

Some Republicans have raised concerns about the vetting process because they feel that the party platform in its current state is imperfect. Rep. Darin Chappell, R-Rogersville, agrees with the premise of vetting and passed the vetting process himself, but disagrees with pledging loyalty to an ever-changing party platform, when alterations are sure to be made in future election cycles.

“Where I get wound up a little bit is when they want to say that you have to sign a pledge to the platform or that you have to agree that if you don't legislate according to the platform, then you're not eligible to run as a Republican the next time around,” Chappell said.

The party platform is subject to review every four years, meaning that even if a candidate agreed with the platform when first elected, it wouldn’t necessarily be the same platform if they ran for office again.

“I'm fine with vetting. I think it should happen, I really do,” Chappell said. “The problem comes when they want to insert into the platform itself, not just guidelines, but expectations and corresponding punishments if those expectations are not met.”

During the Greene County Republican caucus in March, local Republicans proposed amendments to the party platform. The only amendment to be struck down was one that would have required candidates to be vetted in order to run as a Republican.

Danette Proctor, chair of the Greene County Republican Central Committee, said that voters have different needs in diverse areas across the state, and even across Greene County, which includes both urban and rural districts.

"How you could pick one small committee to vet for people in all those areas, that's not possible," she said. "My position is vetting should be left up to the people, and we have the vetting date in the August primary."

Proctor went on to say that the voters should be informed about the candidates on the ballot, but that their decisions shouldn't be limited by the arbitrary choices of a vetting process designed by people who don't live in their voting area and understand their unique needs.

"Now everyone needs to study those candidates and find out, 'Hey, do they represent the area? Are they voting like I want them to vote or can I feel comfortable if they're brand new that they'll vote the way we want them in our district?" Proctor said.

Appealing vetting results

Those who fail the vetting process can go through an appeal and interview with the central committee to clarify some of their answers to the questions, which could then approve them to run as Republicans through a secret ballot vote in closed session. Although one candidate failed both the initial vetting process and the interview follow-up, he is still listed on the Christian County Clerk's list of candidates on the Aug. 6 primary ballot.

Brent Young, Republican candidate for Christian County West Commissioner, has spent 32 years working at the county, and the past few years working directly under the current commission. A Christian County native, Young said he has gotten to know the west side of the county over the years and has been asked several times to run for the seat.

He said the vetting process being overseen by Carriker, who has ties to the county, was a conflict of interest. After being told he did not pass the vetting survey, he said he was not allowed to see his score or the questions he got wrong, though Carriker said they went over the questions verbally to allow Young to explain his answers.

"I've got a list of people I have campaigned for in the past and supported, that's all Republican," Young said. "I've got nothing to prove, I'm nothing but Republican, so that's what's puzzling."

At the appeal hearing, he brought with him a former Republican commissioner who vouched for him and explained his previous ties with several Republican candidates, including volunteering with the Christian County central committee in the past. Yet, the central committee asked questions about what he'd do as a commissioner and ultimately did not let him through as vetted.

"The original purpose of this, what I was told, was to keep Democrats from running," Young said. "As it's going along ... it's not that you're a Democrat. It's not that you're a Republican, but you got to be Republican enough."

He said the questions were based on the party platform and the answers, five options per question, were written similarly, in a way that was confusing and could be misleading. Carriker noted each choice is given one to five points depending on how closely it aligns with the platform. Although Young said he understands the intentions of the process, he said any person could study the state platform and take the survey and pass it.

Chappell raised similar concerns that, even though some lawmakers may pass the vetting process initially, their actions once elected may not reflect conservative beliefs. Candidates who have not previously held office don’t have a voting record to take into consideration, which is a factor considered in vetting candidates running for reelection.

“There are people who come up here (to Jefferson City) who have been labeled as conservative through this lackluster vetting process, and they get up here and, shazam, they're not conservative at all,” Chappell said.

State Sen. Bill Eigel, a gubernatorial candidate who has been an outspoken supporter of the vetting process, feels that candidate vetting is important for sorting out true Republicans from those just looking to win elections in a state with a pervasive Republican supermajority.

“We've seen a lot of Republicans deviating from what they said they would do in campaign season once they got down to Jefferson City, and so the idea of a vetting process, regardless of where it's coming from, is actually a very natural continuation of the discussion of a party that's been in power for a period of time and now is looking for purity,” Eigel said.

While Young said he appreciates the goal of the vetting process, he also noted that it makes more sense for state-level candidates rather than county candidates who are bound by actions set by state statute and where party affiliations can only do so much. In his eyes, it could also be improved if any conflicts of interests, whether perceived or real, are avoided.

"I would like to see the committee focus on state level that actually creates laws and creates policies and bills, if they want to do something really helpful," he said. "The intention is good, I understand that. I just don't know if they're going about it the right way to be effective."

County clerks face uncertainty, legal challenges

Christian County Clerk Paula Brumfield said she, and other clerks in similar positions around the state, accepted the filing fees for candidates regardless of whether they were vetted or not, because of their interpretation of state statute.

"I still do the same process, I follow the state statute of the law when it comes to candidate filing," she said. "But the vetting is not a requirement to sign up for a position."

The state statute in question is RSMo. 115.357, which sets guidelines for filing fees. It states, "each candidate for federal, state or county office shall, before filing his or her declaration of candidacy, pay to the treasurer of the state or county committee of the political party upon whose ticket he or she seeks nomination." It also notes that these fees may be submitted to the official accepting declarations of candidacy, in this case the county clerk, who then forwards the fees to the political party county committee.

Central committees that have adopted the vetting process have noted that they will not accept the filing fees from unvetted candidates or those who did not pass the vetting process. Brumfield said she had forwarded the filing fees to the Christian County Republican Central Committee and was awaiting return of those from candidates who did not vet. Carriker said those fees were never accepted.

"We're still in limbo at the moment," Brumfield said. "It's all new ... It's a learning experience, because it's never happened before."

More: New entries double the candidates seeking GOP nomination for Missouri secretary of state

Similarly, this is what the lawsuit filed against Vernon County Clerk Adrienne Lee is also trying to establish, where those filing fees were returned to the clerk for unvetted candidates. The petition was filed in Vernon County Circuit Court in March.

The central committee is being represented by Mark McCloskey, an attorney who attracted national attention after he and his wife pointed guns at protestors from the front yard of their home in St. Louis in 2020.

Vernon County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane issued a preliminary order in mandamus Monday, April 8, asking Lee to remove eight of the total 14 Republican candidates from the ballot whose fees were not accepted by the central committee. The county has until April 23 to file a response. If the judge's decision stands and the clerk removes the eight candidates, two county seats will not have any candidates on the ballot and leave the sheriff, assessor and southern commissioner ballots with only one candidate each. Four of the people subject to removal are incumbents.

Proctor, the chair of the Greene County Republican Central Committee, is concerned about the long-term implications that removing these unvetted candidates from the ballot could have on the future of the Republican party.

"It could destroy our party. It literally could. I mean, (the judge) is pulling incumbents off, and then she's pulling new people off," Proctor said. "Our party is full of all types of different people representing different areas, and it's dangerous to me, vetting is."

Carriker said Christian County may also file suit but will wait to see the result of the situation in Vernon County.

Could vetting keep out members of hate groups?

Some proponents of candidate vetting argue that the process would have prevented Darrell Leon McClanahan III from filing to run for Missouri governor this year. The Missouri Republican Party filed a lawsuit in March to remove McClanahan from the ballot after his ties to the Ku Klux Klan were revealed on social media.

McClanahan, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, was seen in photographs with KKK members performing a Nazi salute in front of a burning cross. He was offered an "honorary one-year membership" with the group, according to court documents referenced in USA Today reporting, although further documents state that he pursued no further role or activities with the group.

State Sen. Eigel feels that instituting candidate vetting in order to run as a Republican would have prevented McClanahan from appearing on the ballot for Missouri governor.

“I think that this vetting process absolutely could have avoided the situation where we have an individual that doesn't represent the Republican brand at all, at the top of the ballot for the gubernatorial primary election,” Eigel said. “I think that's a real black eye for the Republican Party.”

He went on to say that vetting might have thinned the candidate list in several Republican primary elections.

“Not only do I think that Mr. McClanahan would not qualify under the vetting process, I know for a fact that several of the Republicans running for statewide election right now would not qualify,” Eigel said.

But Carriker wasn't so sure that vetting would've kept McClanahan out. He said, as long as a candidate is "majority Republican," they would pass the vetting process which currently does not account for group affiliations or social media activity, because the goal was to make it as objective as possible with the first time around of vetting.

"They're denying this person from running as a Republican even though his beliefs may be totally in line with the Republican Party except for he's racist," Carriker said, noting that the state party's denial of McClanahan was them vetting "willy nilly" while REPACCMO takes an objective approach to vetting.

More: Want to run as a Republican in Christian County? You'll have to prove yourself first

While REPACCMO would like to see the vetting process adopted state-wide, the Missouri Republican Party has been critical of the practice, warning of legality questions and the potential for lawsuits. Carriker noted candidates would not be kept off the ballot, they would simply not be allowed to run as Republicans, but could still file as Democrats or independents.

"I feel it's a very dangerous precedent that you're setting by saying, 'Well, we just don't like this part about you, so we're not gonna let you run,'" Carriker said. "That's where we are different than what the party is doing outright subjectively. They're saying, we are subjectively looking at this person saying, we don't want to associate with you, and yet they're getting mad at us."

He said he believes just as the state party has the right to not allow candidates to associate with them, the county committees have the right to do the same through the vetting process.

Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Republican vetting process sets stage for lawsuits, uncertainty