A new political action committee funded by the national Republican Party won a delay Thursday in a trial over the effort to force a statewide vote on Missouri's gerrymandered congressional district map.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green's decision to postpone the hearing and transfer the case to a new judge unleashed a storm of criticism of the new PAC, called Put Missouri First, and its attorney, Marc Ellinger.
"He's trying to subvert justice and prejudice my client," said Chuck Hatfield, the attorney representing a PAC called People Not Politicians that is leading the referendum campaign.
Ellinger said he can be ready quickly and because signatures are not due until Dec. 11, nothing crucial will happen before the case can get before a new judge.
"There's no urgency in getting a resolution on this case," Ellinger said.
The postponement is the second delay in the case. Green became ill and was unable to convene a trial originally set for Nov. 3.
Without his illness, Put Missouri First would have been too late to intervene. It was organized on Oct. 31 and did not receive any funding until Nov. 4, when the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee each donated $50,000.
Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, said after Thursday's hearing that the move to slow down the case shows the GOP knows how unpopular the gerrymandered map is.
"It's pretty easy to tell desperation when you see it," von Glahn said. "What Mr. Ellinger did today shows that committee is simply desperate to not have the illegal and unpopular action that they took placed before Missouri voters."
People Not Politicians must gather at least 106,134 signatures, spread over six of the state's eight congressional districts, to trigger a referendum on the new congressional map approved on a party-line vote during a September special legislative session. The signatures must be turned in by Dec. 11.
The case postponed on Thursday is one of six — five in state courts, one in federal court — focused on the September special session. One case, challenging the authority for the special session, has been decided at the trial court level and is under appeal.
Another, questioning whether lawmakers had the power to revise districts without new census data, was heard on Wednesday. A hearing in the federal case, which attempts to win a decision that congressional redistricting maps are protected from citizen referendum petitions by the federal Constitution, is scheduled for Nov. 25 in St. Louis.
In the case postponed Thursday, People Not Politicians is arguing that the right to seek a referendum on any law is triggered when lawmakers take a final vote on a bill. The committee is suing Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who rejected petition forms because Gov. Mike Kehoe had not signed the redistricting legislation.
Kehoe called lawmakers into special session in September at the insistence of President Donald Trump in a bid to give Republicans seven instead of six of Missouri's eight congressional seats.
Under the bill scheduled to take effect Dec. 12, Missourians would vote next year in revised districts. The new Missouri map targets the Kansas City-based 5th District, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, to flip to the Republican Party.
Trump wants to preserve and expand the GOP's slim majority in the U.S. House, where they currently have a 219-213 edge.
The efforts to delay the petition drive will not succeed, von Glahn said. The campaign has collected more than 200,000 signatures, he said.
The case will preserve the rights of the 90,000 people who signed the petition between Sept. 15, when the first version was filed with Hoskins, and Oct. 14, he said.
That is when Hoskins issued a news release warning that no signatures gathered before he certified the petition for circulation were valid and anyone who had signed it could be prosecuted for an election offense. Von Glahn said he wants a declaration from the court that those people have not done anything wrong.
"There is not a question that every single signature that has been gathered is on a form that the Secretary of State has himself said is the appropriate form," he said.
The late intervention and delays are "ridiculous and they're undemocratic," Hatfield said. "If the Republican Party and the proponents think that redrawing Missouri's congressional districts to go to a seven to one Republican is a great idea, then let's vote on it and see whether it's a good idea or not."
In the petition seeking to intervene, Ellinger wrote that Put Missouri First will incur heavy expenses and time-consuming organizing efforts if the map is put to a vote.
"The judge found it convincing and allowed us in the case," Ellinger said "We have a vested interest in the expense of campaign funds and in the advocacy for or against a measure."
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