LIBERTY, Mo. – Clay County was named for the late U.S. Representative and Secretary of State Henry Clay, which is perhaps most appropriate considering the spotlight the county’s presiding commissioner’s race is on economic growth.
The incumbent presiding commissioner, Pam Mason, is finishing up her first term in office and running for her second. She previously served as county clerk.
Mason has come under fire throughout her term. This spring, several elected county officials came forward questioning Mason’s professionalism as information arose regarding a change in economic development organizations and the confusion it caused. Mason and her husband, who was county auditor while she was clerk, were sued by the county for their decision as clerk and auditor to build a wall in the courthouse without approval in 2006, which subsequently damaged parts of the historic county landmark.
In March, county Auditor Sheila Ernzen sent a letter to Clay County political blogger Andrew Palmer irate at the “irresponsibility and lack of professionalism of their county government.” Palmer has also received and published letters from the Clay County sheriff. Ernzen’s letter repeatedly did not mention Mason by name, but alluded that the issue may or may not have been because of an employee’s relationship with Mason’s husband. Ernzen has run into repeated difficulty receiving cooperation with Mason over issues such as payroll audits.
Regardless of the criticism, Mason has been resilient.
“I am looking forward to winning the primary and the general election,” Mason said. “In 2010, I defeated former Senator Ed Quick who was in Senate leadership in Jefferson City. He was pro labor, pro partial birth abortion and he raised county property taxes from $.0 to $.24.”
Mason says that she’s kept her campaign promises, which were reinforced by a rejection of proposed county constitutional changes last fall.
“I ran on cutting taxes and expenses and I did,” Mason continued. “I ran on attracting jobs, and since 2013, we have been very successful with the new EDA. Because I have the respect of the other elected officials, the county is viewed favorably. In November 2013, the voters overwhelmingly rejected a change to the current county government with a 63% win.”
Ernzen’s letter paints a far different portion of Mason’s stewardship of the county.
“I believe that I have as much of an obligation to inform the voters of who is responsible for the dysfunctional state of their county government as I do to compromise and work with other County officials and employees to serve the citizens of this county within the bounds of law,” Ernzen wrote. “The last week and a half has been a classic example of the lack of professionalism, lack of communication and unwillingness to compromise that currently plagues our county courthouse.”
However, the lawsuit and alleged lack of cooperation are not the issue that have driven former state Rep. Jerry Nolte and current Rep. Jay Swearingen to run for the seat. Nolte will be in the primary with Mason for the GOP bid to come out to face Swearingen in November’s general election. Both state representatives told the Missouri Times that the economic future of Clay County has motivated them to run.
Clay County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state for many years, growing over 40% in the last 20 years. Directly south of Clay, across the Missouri River, lies Jackson County – the second largest county in the state by population.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to make Clay County better and have better management,” Swearingen said. “The very specific way that she handled the economic development council is how she got her primary opponent. She didn’t like how they were doing business and she elected to change that.”
The county stopped paying their dues to the Economic Development Council. Nolte is currently the co-chairman of the Economic Development Council’s Strategic Planning Committee.
“She elected to stop funding the EDC, and the [Economic Development Alliance] is what she created,” Swearingen continued explained.
“EDC has been in place for 47 years and the Alliance is a relatively new entity,” Nolte said. “What that tells me is that when a company considers locating here, there’s confusion and uncertainty as to who to talk to, which is detrimental to the atmosphere of keeping the doors open to business and job creation. We need to be speaking with one voice when it comes to economic development and I believe that voice needs to predominantly from the private sector.”
Mason says that the need for change was necessary for cooperation within the Kansas City Area Economic Development Council (KCADC).
“We switched because major companies in Clay County and the KCADC called for a change due to significant issues with the leadership at the EDC,” Mason said. She further contends that the CCEDA is doing a “marvelous job in attracting companies and major announcements are coming later this week.”
Beyond the need for to consolidate the economic development services offered, Nolte and Swearingen both touted their enthusiasm and personal investment in local government, as well as how their state experience strengthens their candidacy. Mason is more critical of their applicable experience, saying that state government is completely different than local.
“It requires a real and complete understanding the statutes applicable to county government,” Mason said. “It requires experience with county operations and knowledge of county ordinances.”
No one in the race sees any potential for Clay County to slow down economically any time soon. Clay’s continued growth and the need for diligent management of the growth seem to be the only thing all candidates will agree on.
“Clay County is growing rapidly,” Nolte said. “There’s nothing we can do about that one way or another, but what we can decide is how we grow as acommunity, how Clay County is going to look and how to best serve the people that are going to live here.”
As for the primary, Nolte critiques the lack of transparency in the Mason administration and promises to expand government access, if elected.
Nolte is looking towards the general election and says what distinguishes himself from Swearingen is his lifetime of residency in Clay County, as well as his longer career representing and serving the people of the county.
The entirety of the district Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-North Kansas City, serves is in Clay County.
“Clay County is one of the biggest swing counties in Missouri,” Carpenter said. “This race will tell us a lot about the current state of politics in Missouri and the outcome will have real implications for any candidate running statewide in 2016.”
Swearingen is reserving comments regarding either of his potential opponents until after the primary.
Rachael Herndon was editor of The Missouri Times until 2019. She also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. Herndon joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer. In 2019, she entered Missouri’s cannabis industry, co-founding Greenway Magazine.
