Threats, tricks,and taxpayer money- C. J. Huff gets down and dirty in R-8 Board race

It is the dirtiest political race that Joplin has seen in recent years.

Despite all of the attention the Joplin City Council has received, it has been the Joplin R-8 School Board contest that has seen a sense of desperation and a willingness to pull any kind of stunt to gain advantage.

If it were to be made into a movie, it would be easy to see a Robert DeNiro or an Al Pacino playing the desperate boss, willing to do anything to hold on to his territory- in other words, Don C. J.

The race has been filled with dirty tricks, one instance after another of the Joplin R-8 superintendent or his favored incumbents and newcomers using taxpayer money to boost their chances of retaining the seats that are necessary for Huff to continue to maintain his 7-0 stranglehold on the school district.

Even before the race started, Huff met with one potential candidate to discourage that candidate from running, describing the harm it could do to that person's business. and called the employer of another with a strong message that it would not be good for the workplace for that person to run for school board.

C. J. Huff was quick to let these people know that he was a powerful man and it would be best not to step into his path.

When the race began, realizing that for the first time since he arrived in Joplin, there would be serious challenges to the incumbents and that Phil Willcoxon was not going to run for re-election, Huff encouraged the candidacy of his protege, Shawn McGrew, the co-chairman of Huff's Bright Futures. Also brought into the race was Lynda Banwart, who headed the community steering committee that successfully passed, by a 45-vote margin, a $62 million bond issue, the largest in the school's history. Those two, along with the incumbents, Board President Jeff Flowers and Randy Steele, were Huff's hopes to continue to run the show with no one attempting to get him under control.

Since surveys have always shown that undecided voters or uneducated voters often select the first people on the ballot, the infamous slumber party was held in the Administration Building at 32nd and Duquense on the eve of the opening of filing. While others followed the intent of the rules and were content to wait outside the building or to arrive in the morning when filing officially began, Huff's favored candidates, using a key, waited in comfort in the building, out of the cold, able to use the taxpayer-financed Wi-Fi.

When balloting opened, Flowers was the first to file, followed in turn by McGrew, Steele, and Mrs. Banwart. That would have been enough, but the attempts to fix the election had just begun and many of them used taxpayer money and/or facilities.

Among the transgressions:

-One board member, who is not up for election this year, has spent time at an elementary school, making sure teachers knew that they should vote for three of the first four names on the ballot.

-Huff's attack dog, Chief Operating Officer Tina Smith, sent an e-mail to all teachers warning them about the law against getting involved in the running of a campaign for school board. This was the first time Administration had ever seen fit to send such a message. Though Ms. Smith did not say at any point that teachers could not be involved in a campaign (the law only prevents them from taking leadership roles), teachers that I have talked to say the message came through loud and clear that they were to steer clear of the school board election.

 -Yard signs for at least two of the candidates who were not among the chosen four have been stolen.

- A publication, extolling what Administration considered to be high points in recent months was published and sent to district patrons. While this is done on a frequent basis, it usually features a message from C. J. Huff. This time, the message came from Jeff Flowers.

-A deal was worked out with the Joplin Globe to keep the public out of the candidate forum, which was held March 24. Neither Flowers, nor Steele fared well during the forum, so the next night at the monthly televised board meeting shown on taxpayer-financed Jet 14, Huff spent more than five minutes giving what amounted to a thinly-veiled stump speech for the incumbents. Mainly, he addressed questions which Flowers and Steele had fumbled the previous evening.

-Later in that week, the Joplin Globe, which has served as Huff's house organ for his entire tenure in this school district, published an article, which allowed him to explain in depth why the district is not in poor financial shape (which is not true). it was the same thing the Globe had allowed him to do on numerous occasions in the past when he was challenged on such issues as teacher turnover and excessive travel.

-Recently one of the three non-Huff candidates had to change the location for a campaign function because Huff made sure the owner of the business received the message that holding the event could cause problems for that business and a new one owned by a member of the business owner's family.

-On Election Day, a Bright Futures Volunteer Breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at another taxpayer-financed facility, East Middle School. While it is not a campaign rally, it is certain to be a favorable public appearance for Huff's protege, Shawn McGrew.

And this was just a partial list of the ways in which C. J. Huff has tried to influence the election. It doesn't evdn include the infamous Joplin Progress Committee, which also has deep ties to Huff. While the law prohibits teachers from taking leadership roles in school board elections, it has no such limitations for superintendents.

C. J. Huff sees this election, quite rightly, as a referendum on the direction in which he has led the Joplin R-8 School District and he is willing to do anything, including spending the taxpayers' money, to keep that legacy intact.

It brings to mind something that brought quite a few muffled chuckles among Joplin teachers at the opening day pep rally in August at College Heights Christian Church.

The teachers could not believe it when the church's pastor, Randy Gariss, praised C. J. Huff as a man who had not been changed by the acclaim and recognition he has received since the Joplin Tornado.

The teachers thought that C. J. Huff had certainly fooled Randy Gariss.

That was not the case.

The Joplin Tornado certainly changed C. J. Huff's life and has netted him much fame and hefty speaking fees, but he is the same man he has always been.

He signs his letters and e-mails "For the Children," but the public is finally starting to see what some have recognized all along.

It's not for the children; it's for C. J.