Saint Louis Mo. — Missouri Right-to-Life believes the Missouri Republican Party deliberately misled Jefferson County voters when they distributed a mailer for House candidate Becky Ruth which features the organization’s logo. MRL does not plan on endorsing Ruth or her Democratic incumbent opponent, T.J. McKenna.
Ruth, the challenger to McKenna that he only narrowly defeated in 2012, has a mailer circulating the district showing the MRL logo next to logos from the Missouri State Teacher Association and the National Rifle Association. The MSTA has endorsed Ruth and she’s received an “AQ” rating from the NRA, the highest ranking for a non-elected official.
The mailer was designed and paid for by the Missouri Republican Party. Party Executive Director Matt Wills said the logo was placed on the mailer to indicate her “pro-life ranking,” not to imply an endorsement.
But Dave Plemmons, Missouri Right-to-Life PAC President, disagrees. ‘
“Everybody knows we are protective of our logo,” Dave Plemmons MRL PAC President, said. “I believe it’s a deliberate implication of an endorsement or support. If you put the Better Business Bureau on your company’s sign and it turns out you’re not affiliated with them at all, but you just like them or what they do, you’re still not a member. You’re using the logo to imply something that the electorate will see as an endorsement.”
Wills said endorsements were usually more clearly expressed.
“Typically with an endorsement, you might see some actually language,” Wills said. “Often you might have the word ‘endorsements’ and list the organizations supporting you. It’s a stylistic choice.”
Wills provided The Missouri Times with a link to Ruth’s campaign website as their “reference” to Ruth’s ranking.
There, under “Events/News” on Ruth’s website, there is an “Endorsements” category. It reads:
“Rated Pro-Life by Missouri Right To Life. Protecting both the born and unborn is a priority for me.”
Plemmons said that MRL no longer rates candidates or officials as “pro-life” unless they provide an official endorsement. Ruth filled out one of MRL’s candidate surveys and Plemmons says she is “as pro-life as the day is long.” But without an official endorsement, her “rating” from MRL would simply be “good survey” or “GS.”
“A good survey indicates that someone is pro life and that they have filled out one of these surveys showing that,” Plemmons said. “But we don’t rate anyone as pro-life in any official way unless we are endorsing someone, and we chose not to endorse anyone in that race.”
McKenna has long identified himself as a pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment Democrat in the increasingly conservative Jefferson County. He’s voted almost universally for pro-life legislation in the House. Plemmons said that McKenna may have gotten the MRL endorsement if he had submitted a completed survey. Since Plemmons and MRL see McKenna as an incumbent who supports their cause, they chose not to endorse his opponent.
Jefferson County Democrats see the move as a deliberate manipulation of the truth. Ryan Burke, a Democratic strategist and general consultant to senate candidate Jeff Roorda, said Republicans in the area “have a record of lying to voters.”
“Paul Wieland said he has been endorsed by the NRA, and that’s just not true,” Burke said. “Then [House candidate] Shane Roden lied about his NRA endorsement while also posing in a military flight suit while his Democratic opponent Mike Frame is an actual military veteran. Roden is not. Frame is the endorsed NRA candidate. Roden is not. Now Becky Ruth is pretending to have the endorsement of Missouri Right to Life and the NRA. She is not. TJ McKenna is the NRA endorsed candidate.”
As is common for House races, Ruth confirmed she didn’t see the mailer until it was sent to her by the party and did not provide input into its design. She echoed Wills, saying it was meant to indicate her “pro-life rating” and not an official endorsement.
“I’m 100 percent pro-life and took a good candidate survey,” Ruth said. “I have no input on those until I see them in my mailbox.”
Plemmons said he had not yet spoken with the Missouri Republican Party or the Ruth campaign, because he had just been made aware of the mailer. He confirmed that the MRL was having an “internal discussion” about what to do next.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
