Some thoughts on the Lincoln Ladies Ice Cream Social

It is not often a political candidate at the county level is able to sum up in a couple of short sentences why voters should elect him and reject his opponent.

At the county level, often candidates have similar qualifications and it comes down to who has the greater name recognition, who is willing to work the hardest, or who is more likable.

Sometimes it comes down to words.

And incumbent Jasper County Presiding Commissioner John Bartosh struck pure gold at the beginning of his three-minute presentation Monday night at the Lincoln Ladies Ice Cream Social at Memorial Hall in Carthage.

His words were spoken moments after his opponent, Mike Landis, courageously admitted that he served on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education (neglecting to mention that he resigned in a huff, so to speak, three years ago). Landis also revealed that he moved from Newton County to Jasper County seven years ago and then about a minute later said, "I set my sights on this (running for County Commission) seven years ago."

Landis left the lectern after his high-pitched plea for voter support and Bartosh was introduced.

"Jasper County is in great shape. We just had a clean audit."

It doesn't sound like much, but it gave a clear picture of the accomplishments of the two candidates. If memory serves me correctly, there was a state audit of the Joplin R-8 School District released about two months before Landis resigned his board position.

They were with us in spirit

A sizable amount of time was devoted to talking about people who were not at Memorial Hall, including Seventh District Congressman Billy Long.

Steve McIntosh, a candidate for Jasper County collector, did not bring up Long's names, but he recalled his time working for Long's predecessor, Roy Blunt, and running Blunt's office at Northpark Mall.

Sadly, Billy Long does not have a Northpark Mall office, but my understanding is he has opened offices in the Venitian and Caesar's Palace where he meets with constituents, gets fed up, and never leaves his cards on the table.

Long's opponents took a few shots at him with Benjamin Holcomb bringing up Long's Las Vegas trips and noted Long had never had a town hall since taking office in 2011. Holcomb promised he would hold regular town halls.

Jim Evans, a former Democrat, noted his outsider status, adding that in that respect he was like Donald Trump, who was also an outsider (and also a former Democrat).

The U. S. Senate candidates were able to take shots at both incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill and Attorney General Josh Hawley, the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Hawley, undoubtedly having to skip political events so he could write the speech he would give the next day in Kansas City praising President Trump's courage, was ripped by his Republican opponents.

Christy Nichols, an inner-city pastor, noted that Hawley "did not show up to meet you."

Austin Peterson, formerly a producer for Judge Andrew Napolitano's show on the Fox Business Network, threw some red meat to the Republican faithful as the first candidate to speak.

"Who's ready to fire Claire McCaskill?"

It appeared that everyone was ready to fire Claire McCaskill.

"We are going to beat her by double digits just like we beat Hillary Clinton."

Peterson criticized Hawley for his willingness to throw another Republican, leaving the name Eric Greitens unmentioned, under the bus.

Courtland Sykes also tickled the fancy of the crowd, with an attack on the Deep State, the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and touted his work for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Sykes graciously conceded that he did not want to send Claire McCaskill to prison. "Just get rid of her." Presumably, he meant at the ballot box.

"I am Pro Trump, Pro Life and Pro Second Amendment," he said.

State Senate race

Rep. Bill White noted that he was a strong Second Amendment and talked about different gun laws he had a hand in passing during his eight years in the House.

He noted he had accepted no gifts from lobbyists during that time.

Former Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce President Rob O'Brian noted his expertise in bringing jobs to this area, his support for public education (but also for school choice and home school, so no one would feel left out).

Both candidates noted they were pro-life.

With only three minutes to speak, O'Brian was unable to have his Herbert Hoover moment and fit in any mention of the possibility of having a minor league baseball team in every ballpark and a master developer in every community.

Jasper County Clerk

Mary Lou Newman-Teel spoke of her 23 years of experience working for the people of Jasper County, the last 11 as deputy county clerk and the previous 12 as deputy county collector.

Rep. Charlie Davis also spoke of his service. Davis has been in the House of Representatives for the past eight years and has run a computer business in Joplin.

(The accompanying video and screenshot are from KODE.)

Disclaimers

1. I am involved in a lawsuit against Presiding Commissioner candidate Mike Landis.

2. Mary Lou Newman-Teel worked for me as a reporter at the Lamar Democrat and could write a mean feature story.

3. Charlie Davis recently fixed the computer this post is being written on.

4. Billy Long does not really have constituent offices at Las Vegas casinos. It just seems like he does.