Lee’s Summit council candidate served prison sentence

A candidate for Lee’s Summit City Council served more than four years in prison for stealing in Missouri, and election officials say he is ineligible to hold office because of his felony conviction.

Franklin DaVere Tatro is running against District 1 incumbent Rob Binney and Sue Coffman in the April 5 municipal election.

Tatro said he is prepared for the legal challenges he will face if he wins.

“I’ll cross that bridge as it comes,” he said. “And it will be dealt with in time for me to run for Missouri representative in 2018.”

Tatro, who is a laborer for a moving company, moved to Lee’s Summit in 2010 from the Joplin area.

According to court records, Tatro was convicted of a Class C felony of stealing in 1995, put on probation, then had his probation revoked in May 1996.

He served his sentence in several prisons, the last being the Central Missouri Correctional Center at Jefferson City, when on Sept. 6, 2000, he was transferred to a residential facility, according to a records clerk with the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center.

He was released on parole on Nov. 9, 2000, and finished supervision on March 19, 2001, a clerk said. An official with the Jasper County Circuit Court said no more details of the case were available.

“It was wrong what I did, and I get that,” said Tatro, 54. “It was 20 years ago and I made a mistake.”

Bob Nichols, Democratic director of the Jackson County election board, said the county election board faced a similar situation about six years ago.

A mayoral candidate in Levasy was a convicted pedophile who challenged the state law against felons holding office. Nichols said at the time of the appeal the statute had some wording that made exceptions for special districts and municipalities, and the man prevailed.

But since then the legislature has tightened the law, Nichols said.

The law now reads, “No person shall qualify as a candidate for elective public office in the state of Missouri who has been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony or misdemeanor under the federal laws of the United States of America or to a felony under the laws of this state or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in this state.”

“That sounds like any public office to me,” Nichols said.

With the April 5 election less than a week away, there’s no time to remove Tatro from the ballot, even if he isn’t eligible to hold office, Nichols said.

After the election, Nichols said, the Lee’s Summit City Council votes to accept election results and seat new members. If Tatro wins, the current council will have the option of taking steps to prevent him from taking office.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Lee’s Summit council candidate served prison sentence."