CARTHAGE, Mo. —
Jasper County voters may have made their choice for a new county sheriff on Tuesday, but the effect of that selection does not become official until January.
Left unanswered on Wednesday was whether the voters’ decision will have any impact on the operations of the Jasper County sheriff’s office in the meantime, or any effect on the lawsuit Sheriff Archie Dunn has filed against the Jasper County Commission and others.
Dunn lost his re-election bid to Randee Kaiser, assistant chief of the Carthage Police Department, in primary election balloting on Tuesday. Kaiser received 60.6 percent of the vote, compared with 30.3 percent for Dunn and 9.1 percent for a third candidate, Larry Newman, a former sheriff’s deputy.
Globe efforts to contact Dunn on Tuesday night were unsuccessful, and he did not respond to an interview request left on his cellphone on Wednesday morning.
Bill Fleischaker, Dunn’s attorney, said Wednesday it was “too early to tell” if Dunn’s ouster will have an impact on the lawsuit.
“The sheriff told me before the election, regardless of the outcome, he would like to get those issues resolved. Whether we can get that done by the end of the year, I don’t know,” he said.
John Bartosh, Jasper County presiding commissioner, who backed Kasier in the election, said he wants to know about the lawsuit because of the potential impact on county funds. State law allows a sheriff’s attorney to be paid from funds allocated for sheriff’s department salaries.
“We haven’t received a bill yet, so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
In arguments before the court in April, Fleischaker contended county commissioners should be ordered to pay attorney fees under a provision of the law that allows such orders in cases of “bad faith.”
The commission’s actions against the sheriff have been “politically motivated,” he told the court.
Judge Neal Quitno, of Vernon County, has been assigned to preside in the case, which centers primarily on conflicts concerning the county’s quarter-cent law enforcement sales tax. After the April hearing, he denied county motions that the lawsuit should be dismissed. Both sides are questioning potential witnesses and gathering information for use in a trial.
Kaiser on Wednesday said he had not heard from Dunn in response to a message he left Tuesday night “telling him I hope we can continue our good working relationship” through the end of his tenure.
Kaiser won in every precinct, but by larger percentages of the vote in Carthage. There, the margin of victory exceeded 2-to-1 in three precincts, and 3-to-1 in two others.
Nearly 28 percent of Carthage voters turned out — compared to a county average of nearly 24 percent.
The countywide vote was 9,749 for Kaiser, 4,881 for Dunn, and 1,466 for Larry Newman.
Jim Woestman, a former Carthage mayor active in the Kaiser campaign, said the assistant chief “is well-known in Carthage,.
“He’s been upfront with everybody on the campaign, and he worked hard in Joplin, too,” he said.
Woestman said people who talked to him said they were upset about the frequent battles between the sheriff and the commission.
“He (Dunn) was blaming his problems on everyone else. They read between the lines, and they realized he couldn’t always be right,” he said.
Bartosh also was on the ballot Tuesday when he challenged incumbent John L. Putnam in the race for Republican county committeeman from the Gem precinct. Putnam, who is chair of the county’s GOP central committee, won with 69.6 percent of the vote.
Also winning contested GOP committeeman or committeewoman races were Victoria Myers, in Joplin No. 23; Bill Birkes, Carterville No. 4, Pamela Morris, Webb City No. 4 and Ray Schell, Rex precinct.
General election
There is a Libertarian candidate — J
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