Joplin Globe ignores taxpayers, Banwart-Adams conflict of interest

The Joplin Globe is on another crusade.

We have seen this before. The newspaper featured one story after another about the firing of City Manager Mark Rohr, almost totally ignoring allegations of conflict of interest against City Councilman Mike Woolston and warnings about Wallace-Bajjali.

The newspaper published one story after another about the cost of the Loraine report, yet barely featured any reporting on what that report included.

Now it has launched another crusade- to label newly-elected Joplin R-8 Board of Education members Jeff Koch and Jennifer Martucci, as well as Debbie Fort, as a voting bloc (where have we heard that before) standing in the way of moving the school district forward by refusing to accept the resignations of board members Mike Landis and Randy Steele and letting the decision on the appointment of new board members fall into the hands of the Jasper County Commission, two of whom are not even from Joplin.

In the Globe's coverage, it has been made to appear that three school board members are holding the district back while the one solitary member who refuses to go along, Lynda Banwart, is given the Joan of Arc treatment.

The Globe reporting fails to mention that Koch, Martucci, and Fort voted for a candidate that had received Banwart's stamp of approval just three days earlier, but Banwart suddenly had a crisis of conscience about the whole process, thought it was becoming too politicized and wanted it to go to the County Commission.

It didn't matter to Banwart that the voters elected not only Koch, Martucci, and Fort to bring change to the school district, but also voted for Lane Roberts, though voters were fully aware that he would not serve, to keep Anne Sharp from standing in the way of that change. It was change that voters mistakenly thought they would be receiving when they cast their ballots for Banwart the previous year.

The Joplin Globe has completely failed to explore that side of the issue, apparently because it owes nothing to the taxpayers of the Joplin R-8 School District and plenty to the self-appointed Joplin Progress Committee/CART cabal that already ignored warnings and saddled us with Wallace-Bajjali and has spent thousands, most of it unsuccessfully, to ensure that the policies of Mark Rohr and C. J. Huff continue to rule the city and the school district, even if Rohr and Huff are no longer there.

Just as disturbing is that the Globe has failed to mention the clear conflict of interest that Jasper County Commissioner and former Joplin Mayor Darieus Adams has if the vote ends up in the hands of the commissioners.

As noted in the May 29 Turner Report:

Banwart and her husband Christopher have a mutually beneficial relationship with Jasper County Commissioner and former Joplin Mayor Darieus Adams going back several years.

Banwart probably has more than 17,000 reasons to want the County Commission to make the choice instead of a school board in which all of those who think like her were either defeated for re-election or quit.

Banwart and her husband raised more than $4,000 for Darieus Adams during his first campaign in 2004 and his re-election campaign in 2008.

When Banwart ran for school board in 2014, her husband contributed $13,400 to her campaign and all of that money went to Four-States Advertising for television ads. Adams is client relations manager for the business, which has since changed its name to Storm Stanley.

Adams and his wife were also hosts for a fundraiser for the Banwart campaign, according to Missouti Ethics Commission records.

County Commission campaigns

When Adams first ran for county commision, the Banwarts were hosts for a social event at their home May 8, 2004, with snacks and drinks, according to Ethics Commission documents. Twenty-six people attended and $1,650 was raised. The Banwarts contributed $1,000 to Adams during that election period.

On February 23, 2008, they were hosts for another "social gathering," collecting $2,475 from 21 participants. The Banwarts contributed $650.

School Board campaign
(From the April 3, 2014 Turner Report)

The $13,400 that Dr. Christopher Banwart gave to his wife Lynda's Joplin R-8 Board of Education candidacy all went toward television advertising, according to her eight-day-before-election report filed March 31 in the Jasper County Clerk's office.

The Banwart campaign spent $13,420.76 with Four-State Advertising, Joplin, for the ads, the report indicates.

And this.

Sen. Ron Richard and his wife, Patti, provided Mrs. Banwart with the use of Fourth Street Bowl and finger foods and soft drinks, valued at $125, the report said, for a mixer March 14. Yard signs were distributed and $925 in contributions was received. Fifeen people attended the mixer.

Hosts for the event were listed as Ron and Patti Richard, Darieus and Theresa Adams, and Dan and Teresa Brothers.


The Darieus Adams for County Commission campaign also contributed $250 to Banwart.

Not one word in the Joplin Globe.

Thankfully, Joplin has other sources of information.