Instead of going after a clerk, Sen. Brattin should put pressure on Hoskins | Opinion
Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin needs to chill. The hard-charging, far-right Republican from Harrisonville is no stranger to needless controversy — he once falsely accused an Olathe man of being an illegal immigrant responsible for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade mass shooting.
In his latest attention-seeking dustup, Brattin wants Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon removed from office because Lennon refuses to update voter rolls in that county to align with a new gerrymandered congressional map in the August primary.
I can’t say that I blame Lennon for her stance. Until Secretary of State Denny Hoskins certifies a referendum petition that would place the so-called Missouri First Map before voters, none of us have a clear picture on which map is legal.
Truly, I believe Brattin’s screed against Lennon is nothing more than a calculated move to draw attention to his campaign for the revamped 5th Congressional District seat held by longtime U.S. Rep. Emanual Cleaver, a Democrat from Kansas City.
Brattin’s fixation on creating headlines is so bad that on May 14, the day before the latest session of the General Assembly ended, he filed a formal objection known as a remonstrance against Lennon in the senate. In Missouri, the legislative procedure is a non-binding formal statement of protest or grievance entered into the Senate Journal as a matter of record.
“As the chief election official in Boone County, it is Ms. Lennon’s duty to comply with the election laws of this state, including the maintenance of accurate voter rolls for congressional district elections,” Brattin wrote in the complaint.
Like every other clerk and election official in Missouri, Lennon is in a holding pattern until Hoskins either certifies the signatures on the referendum petition or declares the petition unconstitutional. Whatever decision Hoskins makes would most likely be contested in court anyway.
Messages I sent to Brattin’s office seeking comment were not returned. Neither were messages sent to the secretary of state’s office.
When Lennon told Hoskins in a recent letter that she intends to use the 2022 congressional map in the August primary, Brattin claimed Lennon failed to comply with Missouri law and called for her removal. How rich.
In an email sent to me, Lennon said she has not heard directly from Brattin and did not comment on his political grandstanding.
“Whether or not the petition ends up certified, the uncertainty of not knowing if the map will be paused before the August primary is concerning because we may end up in a situation where Missouri holds a primary election on a set of districts that are paused as of December 2025,” Lennon wrote. “We’ll start creating ballots in the first week of June and I hope by that point there is more certainty about the status of the referendum petition. The best case scenario would be the secretary of state’s office making a decision about the petition.”
Freedom Caucus connection
Brattin is a former member of the Missouri legislature’s far-right Freedom Caucus, as is Hoskins. Instead of threatening a duly-elected county clerk for doing her job, Brattin should urge his close ally and former colleague at the state capitol in Jefferson City to fulfill his duties and verify signatures on the petition.
Until the matter is settled, every Missourian should be concerned. As I wrote recently, the delay tactics being employed by Hoskins are undemocratic and un-American. Under the state constitution, Missourians have the right to petition any law passed by the General Assembly. Historically, those laws subject to referendums had been suspended until voters had their say.
But Hoskins continues to ignore precedent and slow-walk the process, which has caused mass confusion all over the state.
A lawsuit filed recently by Richard von Glahn, executive director of political action committee People Not Politicians Missouri, would compel Hoskins to make a decision on the validity of the petition, which was a project of the PAC.
“I think he, in fact, has made a decision, and so we should move forward with the judicial review of that decision,” Von Glahn told me Thursday in a phone interview. “His decision, from his public pronouncements, is that he does not believe the referendum is sufficient. I don’t think that decision will withstand judicial scrutiny. I don’t think he does either, which he’s why he is trying to pretend that he hasn’t made that determination.”
Miller County Clerk Clinton Jenkins, president of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities, told me last week that the association has concerns about how Hoskins is handling the petition process. The group has yet to take a formal position on the issue but it should do so sooner rather than later.
“We have a voting conference at the end of next week so hopefully that will produce a result,” Jenkins, a Republican, wrote in an email sent to me on Thursday.
Another Republican, St. Charles County Elections Director Kurt Bahr, told the Missouri Independent that although he favors the new map, he prefers a much smoother election process and wants Hoskins to rule on the petitions before the Aug. 4 statutory deadline.
If Hoskins waits, the primary results in August could be invalidated, Bahr told the outlet.
“We need the secretary of state to make a decision so the courts would give us a decision on which map is in effect,” Bahr said. “We don’t want to have confusion as well as a potential lawsuit if we are going from one election to another election with a different map.”
Confusing ruling
A recent ruling by the state Supreme Court determined the construction of the new map — while highly objectionable in Democratic circles — is constitutional. In a separate ruling, the high court declined to suspend the new congressional districts but made it clear that it was impossible to say if the gerrymandered map was legal or not until Hoskins acts.
And that is the issue Brattin should be addressing — but he hasn’t so far.
“Even if (Lennon) disagrees with the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court, she must comply with such decisions and if she continues to not follow the laws of this state and the decisions of the highest court in this state, then proceedings under chapter 106 to remove her from office may be justified,” Brattin wrote in the complaint he filed against Lennon.
Instead of threatening Lennon, Brattin should urge Hoskins simply to do his job and certify the petition as sufficient or not.
In the meantime, if voters in Boone County have an issue with Lennon’s job performance, they’ll have their say at the ballot box when she is up for reelection later this year.
