Lawfare in Missouri Politics

 

 By Gretchen Garrity

A detailed document has just been released that exposes three instances of alleged lawfare against Missouri citizens (all women) by the Secretary of State's Office.

Quoting from the document, the three instances include:

"First Scenario: If the Missouri Secretary of State seeks the criminal prosecution of a citizen
activist who previously stated in writing to the SOS that she perceived a letter from them to
her contained a “thinly veiled threat,” and, if the grounds the SOS is using for criminal
charges is based on election complaints from two members of an opposing political party,
and, if the total ‘evidence’ collected by the SOS is deficient and/or false, could this be the
weaponization of the Secretary of State’s office? What if the charges sought against the
citizen activist are the same as a 2022 complaint against a different person,2 and the
Secretary of State determined these similar charges in 2022 were “not an election
offense”?3 (This scenario begins on page 3)

 Second Scenario: If the Missouri Secretary of State coordinated with county officials to file a
lawsuit against citizens who exercised their rights for open records requests, could this be
lawfare by the Secretary of State and other elected officials against citizens? (This scenario
synopsis is on page 16)

 Third Scenario: If a citizen activist has the courage to research and collect proof of election
violations, to carry the burden of taking the fight to the courts, to sacrifice time and treasure
for the sake of securing elections, only to learn that the primary gatekeeper blocking this
case from getting into court is the chief election officer for the state, could this be lawfare by
the Secretary of State? (This scenario synopsis is on page 17)"

The first instance involves Linda Rantz, a Missouri elections activist with Cause of America, who wrote the eManual for Hand Counting. Rantz has been at the forefront of election reform, seeking to share and teach hand counting, and authored the document referenced here: "Lawfare and the Weaponization of the Missouri Secretary of State's Office."  You can access the document HERE. UPDATE: If the link does not work, try this ONE. The links keep breaking for some reason.

In Rantz' case, after she made a complaint regarding improper handling of post-election hand-counted ballots in a local Osage County election, "The County Clerk and the Secretary of State wanted to “prove or disprove the accuracy of the hand count.” For this reason, after the election, hand counted ballots were unsealed by the County Clerk, Nicci Kammerich, and the Front Desk Clerk, Brooke Dudenhoeffer, and run through a Dominion tabulator.6 This was NOT done in the presence of a bipartisan team, as required by law. 

There was also a complete recount of every ballot to ensure that the hand count teams were
“accurate,” as stated by one of the election judges who recounted the ballots.7

According to Dudenhoeffer, everything done post-election was either under the “guidance” or
“instructions” of the “Secretary of State’s Office.”

Soon after her complaint was made, Rantz received a communication from the Secretary of State's Office finding no validity to her complaint, but accusing her of lying. "Likewise, though you swore or affirmed in your complaint that the allegations you alleged were true to the best of your knowledge, a review of your complaint demonstrates they were not. I recommend you be more careful next time you file an election complaint with this office."  

According to Rantz, "Although a more ‘toned-down’ version was subsequently sent to me,12 my 40+ years of experience working for lawyers gives me an understanding of threats written in legalese.
I have many contacts in the legal and law enforcement fields. Those with whom I shared the reply
letter from the Secretary of State agreed that it was an apparent threat." 

There is much more and I recommend readers take the time to read the document. The body of the three instances runs 17 pages, with a total of 67 pages of references, links, documents, etc., to back up the alleged lawfare on the part of the Secretary of State's Office.

The second instance of alleged lawfare is almost unbelievable. Greene County Clerk, Shane Schoeller, who is currently running for Secretary of State, sued a citizen for merely making a Sunshine request for the Cast Vote Records of the 2020 election. According to the document, "Because of Sunshine Law Requests, it was revealed that the Missouri Secretary of State was involved in not only the Greene County lawsuit against a citizen, but Camden County was apparently also planning to sue one of their citizens.

An email47 from the Greene County Attorney, Austin Fax, to the Secretary of State’s attorney, Jesus
Osete, states, “We have discovered that Camden County’s software is potentially different than
Greene County’s software. So, we are going to hold off on including Camden County as a Plaintiff for
now.”

Note: Green County Attorney, Austin Fax, is also the Christian County Attorney.

The third instance of alleged lawfare on the part of the Secretary of State's Office concerns Ali Graef who has worked to expose the lack of certification of voting machines in the state. Referenced in the document is an interview that David Rice conducted with Graef:

J@y Ashcr-ft is using the SOS office to Certify Illegal Elections and Block Legal Actions to Expose Him and Others by David Rice

Missouri's Election Fraud is so deep that almost none of our recent elected officials or laws are legal and need to be thrown out of office or statute.

Read on Substack

 

 The meticulous appendix of information lays out the evidence for the alleged lawfare on the part of the Secretary of State's Office.

 

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is running for governor against State Senator Bill Eigel, and Mike Kehoe.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft Comes to Town

Packed room for Brave Books event

By Gretchen Garrity

Taking advantage of the Brave Books event in Springfield on Feb. 2, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is running for Missouri governor, appeared to speak briefly in support of women's sports. Candidate for Secretary of State, Valentina Gomez, 24, a former NCAA Division I swimmer, also appeared.

The event featured swimmer Riley Gaines and surfer Bethany Hamilton, both of whom have authored children's books for the Brave Books line. Gaines authored "Happy No Snakes Day," while Hamilton authored "Surfing Past Fear."

Riley Gaines and Bethany Hamilton in Springfield

 

The event was standing room only with lines eventually reaching outside the Springfield Library Center's doors. Hundreds of people showed up to see Gaines and Hamilton read their Brave Book stories.

Although LGBTQ+ activists vowed to "take up space" according to a Springfield News-Leader article, their small numbers were overwhelmed. One quiet protester muttered that she was in conservative hell before absconding.

Secretary Ashcroft seemed to forget the names of Hamilton and Gaines when he spoke (see video below). Also, he mentioned the National Library Association, and not the American Library Association. Oddly, when a search was conducted for the National Library Association, search engines like Google and Brave took seekers straight to the American Library Association. An additional search for the president of the NLA took seekers to Emily Drabinski, president of the ALA.

Sec. Ashcroft is well aware of the ALA. He knows the ALA advocates for transgender ideology, as well as other far-left positions. In fact, in the past he has written a letter rebuking the ALA and withholding funds from them for previously trying to prevent a Brave Books event. Previous articles about our libraries are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

 

Perhaps it was an inadvertent error to refer to the ALA as the NLA, an organization that does not seem to exist. But it's odd that a search engine automatically directs searchers to the ALA. Something seems amiss.

Brave search for National Library Association

It is a testament to Gaines and Hamilton that their example of standing for women and women's sports have inspired so many.

Queering the MLA: Emily Drabinski is Keynote Speaker at Upcoming Conference

 

 By Gretchen Garrity

Just as citizens are finding out their local school districts are run in a top-down manner, so public libraries are also the victims of pressure from state and even national organizations like the American Library Association and its chapter, the Missouri Library Association.

Currently in the Christian County Library

 These organizations, many of which receive taxpayer funding, are pushing agendas whose aim is to  indoctrinate children into sexual and political agendas that are often contrary to parents' and the community's values. Emily Drabinski, the current president of the ALA, has spoken about an encounter with a library book at age 14, in which two of the characters engaged in "fantastic queer sex." She says, "...my body told me I was probably whatever that was!"

Drabinski is slated to be the keynote speaker at the Missouri Library Association's annual conference in October.

You can read about her introduction to queer sex and more in this report from the American Accountability Foundation. 

The Missouri Library Association put out a statement in February regarding Missouri Code of Regulations 15 § 30-200.015, "The Missouri Library Association continues to oppose 15 CSR 30-200.015 Library Certification Requirement for the Protection of Minors and now opposes the HB 1159 filed in the House of Representatives on 2/15/2023. While the final version of the Secretary of State’s proposed rule reduces potential for frivolous challenges to library collections from any individual, it remains vague and continues to engender strife between the library and its community. The newly filed HB1159, however, makes no such distinction on who may challenge the library's collection. It goes beyond the rule to institute punitive damages against libraries and librarians for merely doing the work of the library, providing access to information resources."

The MLA asserts, "Of course, providing minors with obscene materials is already both illegal and against library ethics and standards, so the rule seems to be based on personal interpretations of what materials, displays, and programs are ‘age appropriate." 

However, they do not explicitly deny that such materials are present in the children's sections of Missouri libraries. 

Books like Gender Queer and All Boys Aren't Blue are currently in the Christian County Library and available to minors in the teen section, or as the library titles it, the "Young Adult" section, which is geared toward ages 12-17.

From Gender Queer

 

And while this Federalist article says the State of Missouri has cut ties with the ALA, what has publicly occurred is that Secretary of State John R. Ashcroft sent a letter withholding any future funding of the ALA. Ashcroft stated, "Therefore, I have instructed my staff to discontinue any future financial payments to the American Library Association. My hope is that you reconsider this blatantly political stance, abide by your own principles, and protect the right of Missourians." Ashcroft is specifically referring to the kerfuffle that happened when it was found the ALA was flirting with denying Kirk Cameron's Brave Books events meeting spaces in public libraries. 

Ashcroft said, "The American Library Association Library Bill of Rights states in Article VI, "Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affirmations of individuals or groups requesting their use."

May this be similar to when Missouri lawmakers threatened to withhold funding from public libraries in March of 2023, but by April 2023 the Missouri Senate had restored that funding?

Here are the April meeting minutes of the Secretary’s Council on Library Development, “Secretary of State Office Update; Trish Vincent: Vincent states that the state aid budget the House cut has been restored by the Senate. Vincent believes this money should stay.” Who is Trish Vincent? She is the Executive Deputy Secretary of State/Chief of Staff for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

From the ALA's website

 

Has there been a formal withdrawal from membership with the ALA, or just a withdrawal of support? Even the headline of a July press release from the Secretary of State mentions the word "admonishes" but not an actual divorce.

To illustrate how this works, ALA President Emily Drabinski is the keynote speaker at the upcoming October 2023 MLA state conference. Is the MLA continuing their relationship with the ALA until next year's membership funds are due? Will the MLA use private funds to continue their membership with the ALA?  Since it is a chapter of the ALA, has the secretary of state also withdrawn support from the MLA?

Drabinski the keynote speaker at the MLA Conference

 

Noticeably missing from Sec. Ashcroft's letter was any mention of the Missouri Library Association (a chapter of the ALA), and the Missouri State Librarian's ties with it. Robin Westphal is the state librarian, and here she is quoted in a January 2023 article from American Libraries Magazine: "As a state librarian, Westphal connects the 160 libraries that are part of the Missouri Library Association (MLA) with needed resources. Most MLA members are rural libraries, she said, and they are seeking to “evolve and adapt” services provided to their communities. 'Sometimes the best stories come from small towns,' Westphal said."

Here is a screenshot from Westphal's appearance at the MLA's "Library Advocacy Day":

Westphal speaking at the MLA in February 2023

And here is Sec. Ashcroft speaking with the MLA in February:

How is the MLA not accountable for its current membership in the ALA? The connections are clear as seen in the MLA handbook and its Intellectual Freedom page. 

As long as our taxpayer-funded libraries continue to walk hand-in-hand with organizations like the MLA, the indoctrination of children into sexualized and politicized agendas will continue. Local public libraries who retain membership in these organizations will continue to be pressured to implement policies and agendas that are not in consonance with the values of their communities.

Again, ALA President Emily Drabinski is the keynote speaker at this year's MLA annual conference. Ponder that.

And just in case you think of the MLA as library professionals fighting valiantly for free speech, here is a short video clip from a post the MLA featured on their Facebook page, detailing a fundraiser for the MLA by Rude Revue's Booklover's Burleque: Kansas City Edition. 

MLA representative, Brian McCann detailed the August 26 show, explaining that the adult performance was all in good fun to raise funds for a beleaguered MLA trying to stop censorship. There's lots more at Rude Revue's Facebook page about the August 26 show, including another video clip with McCann.

Protecting vulnerable children and youth from sexually explicit books does not mean censoring adult entertainment--however vulgar; but the MLA is apparently fine with making that false connection.