HILLSBORO, MO – A petition filed Friday afternoon in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Missouri challenges State Representative Rob Vescovo’s legal qualifications to remain on the November ballot. The petition alleges that State Representative Vescovo is not qualified to appear on the ballot because he is delinquent in paying taxes. To be qualified to be a State Representative, a candidate cannot be:
- Delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, real property taxes on the place of residence as stated in the declaration of candidacy
Robert Butler, Vescovo’s opponent in the November election, who is bringing the case, said, “I find it troubling that Representative Vescovo signed a sworn statement that he had no outstanding taxes. He clearly knew this was not true.”
Missouri Case.Net lists sixteen judgments against businesses owned by Representative Vescovo. These cases have been brought by the Missouri Department of Revenue, the Division of Employment Security, and the Collector of Revenue for Jefferson County. According to information taken from Missouri Case.Net and the Jefferson County Collector of Revenue’s office, eight of the judgments have not been satisfied. Two additional suits for delinquent taxes were filed by the Jefferson County Collectors office for delinquent business taxes, but the cases were settled and dismissed prior to a judgment being entered. The outstanding judgments that have not been satisfied total $5,785.30. Sixteen additional law suits against Vescovo or his businesses were brought by other parties and did not involve collection of back taxes.
“Representative Vescovo talks about ending waste and fraud in Jefferson City, but manipulates the court system wasting taxpayers’ money by requiring the State and local governments to repeatedly bring legal action forcing him to pay what he legally owes. This pattern of ignoring his civic responsibility continues in that judgments have been entered against him as recently as May 20, 2016. Additionally, the Jefferson County Collector of Revenue confirms his business personal property taxes owed for 2015 have not yet been paid.” stated Butler.
“This situation also creates a serious conflict of interest for my opponent who votes on matters involving state and local agencies to whom he owes these court judgments,” added Butler.
Matt Vianello, the attorney for Robert Butler, states, “We will be providing the court with judgments and publicly available records showing that Representative Vescovo is delinquent in paying his taxes. We believe these records will prove that Representative Vescovo is not qualified to remain on the ballot.”
