Emily Parks Selected By Republican Party To Vie for County Collector in November
The Butler County Republican Party met at the Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce to nominate a replacement candidate for the upcoming November election for County Collector. The office was vacated earlier this month when County Collector Brenda Fox passed away. In a very cordial yet extremely professional meeting, Chairman Eddy Justice and Secretary Joe Leahy laid out the ground rules for the evening’s nominations and voting. With 22 of the 24 Butler County Delegates present, Justice informed the room that 12 votes was necessary to carry the nomination.
Tammy Marler, Larry Kimbrow, Emily Parks and Jerrica Fox were nominated by the delegates. Once the nominations were closed each candidate was given up to 3 minutes to stump for the party’s nomination.
The delegates voted and while the ballots were being counted, several questions were asked from the room to Justice. At one point, Justice began discussing campaign strategy and quickly recalled that the press was in the room (the local daily newspaper was also present). He looked to the press seats and said, “That’s off the record, right?” and the room broke out in laughter.
No majority was won during the first vote and the lowest vote-getter, Larry Kimbrow, was removed from the ballot and the delegates re-voted.
Again in the second vote, no majority was won and Jerrica Fox was removed from the ballot and the re-vote began.
In the third vote, Emily Parks won the majority and was then accepted by a unanimous vote of the party to be their candidate for County Collector.
Parks spoke of her six years working political campaigns out of college, her two years as interim County Clerk and her educational and service credentials which make her fit to serve the Butler County citizens. As the race gets closer, Parks says she is prepared to work hard to win the vote of her community.
SIDENOTE:
It was reported several weeks ago that Chris Michel was to be appointed interim Collector and selected by the Democratic Party to be on the ballot in November to contest the republican nominee. Chris Michel told the SEMO TIMES at that time, “I can tell you that I am officially the Democratic Candidate for County Collector.” That same weekend, Michel was introduced as the interim County Collector at a large gathering at the Black River Coliseum. News out of Jefferson City at that time confirmed that Governor Nixon was to appoint Michel as the interim Collector, however, that appointment never took place and there is still some question as to whether Michel will be on the ballot in November.
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