• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Saturday, June 21, 2025
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Weekly Pickem Updates
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Zahnd to pay $5,000 in ethics case settlement

Ivan Foley by Ivan Foley
August 7, 2003
in Platte County
4
SHARES
96
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

Ending a dispute that had carried on for years, the Missouri Republican Party and two former GOP candidates—including Eric Zahnd of Platte County—have reached a financial settlement with the Missouri Ethics Commission over campaign contributions made in 1998.

The settlement ended a case that the commission referred to as “non-allowable excess contributions” from the state Republican party.

RelatedNews

Three local judges up for retention Nov. 5

Summer concerts set on courthouse lawn

Free summer concerts begin June 7 at Zona Rosa

Under terms of the settlement, Zahnd will pay $5,000 to the state. He was his party’s candidate in a State Senate race vs. Sidney Johnson in 1998 when the state GOP gave a $59,875 donation to his campaign.

As part of the settlement, the state GOP must pay the state $60,000.

Another candidate who received a large contribution from the state Republican party was Chuck Pierce, a former candidate for state auditor. Pierce received a $122,750 donation from the party. Pierce will also pay $5,000 in the settlement.

The settlement ended a legal battle that Zahnd says was getting expensive.

“The Missouri Republican Party had paid over $100,000 in attorneys’ fees,” he said. “The attorneys’ fees had become too burdensome. It was time to move on.”

Zahnd—who last year was elected Platte County Prosecutor in a hotly-contested race against Democrat Tammy Glick—said most of his $5,000 settlement will be paid for using money from his 1998 campaign committee fund.

“I left it (the 1998 fund) open because of this ongoing dispute,” he explained.

“We always said this would be resolved without any fines and it was resolved without any fines. This is not a fine, it’s not an assessment. It’s nothing other than a settlement that the party was willing to enter into,” he said.

Zahnd says his side had won a decision at the circuit court level in Cole County. But the case had been taken to the Western District of Missouri Court of Appeals when it was settled.

“The settlement agreement clearly says neither side admits any wrongdoing. We continue to believe the party was entitled to contribute to its own candidates. At that time there were no individual contribution limits,” he said.

Zahnd said the state GOP was “deeply concerned that the ethics commission had ignored Democrats who were in the exact same position as Republican candidates” as far as alleged violation of contribution laws.

“Both the ethics commission and the Republican party chose to walk away without either side admitting any wrongdoing and without anyone paying any sort of fine,” he said in a phone interview this week.

“It was just time to move forward. This will prevent any candidate in the future from saying Eric Zahnd was fined,” he said.

Bob Connor, executive director of the Missouri Ethics Commission told the Associated Press the payment is the largest liability assessed for an alleged violation of state ethics laws in the commission’s 10-year history.

Under the settlement, the Republican Party will have to pay an additional $122,675 if it fails to pay the $60,000 or violates state campaign contribution laws.

The Republican Party will be required to make three payments of $20,000, with the first required by Monday, Aug. 11. The second payment will be due by Feb. 2, 2004, and the final payment by Aug. 2, 2004.

  

Tags: eric zahndethicsplatte county
Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley, longtime owner/publisher of the Platte County Landmark, is a past winner of the national Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, presented by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. He lives in Platte County not far from KCI Airport.

Related Posts

45 Years Ago–June 20, 1980

by Ivan Foley
June 20, 2025
0

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Baker, Jr. of Platte City announce the engagement of their daughter, Lori Ann Baker, to Devin Sherry, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Sherry of Smithville. The future bride is a 1980 graduate of Platte County...

30 Years Ago–June 22, 1995

by Ivan Foley
June 20, 2025
0

Robert Vick, the Dearborn reserve police officer suspended for 30 days by the city’s board of aldermen last month, has been reinstated. This action came at the board’s meeting last Wednesday. Vick had been suspended after many residents of Dearborn...

15 Years Ago–June 23, 2010

by Ivan Foley
June 20, 2025
0

Platte City police expect to submit a case file to juvenile authorities this week regarding a report they received from a local 17-year-old girl claiming to have been raped and sodomized over a span of four years by her step-brother....

Don’t know if you’ve heard but. . .

Protests, dinner parties and such

by Guy Speckman
June 20, 2025
0

Just reread my column from last week, I was in a dark place, you probably should have sent help. Try to be a better reader going forward. I did not make it out to any protests last week. I voiced...

Next Post

Dearborn delays decision on mayor's post

Popular News

  • Ruslan Huseynov

    Details about murder suspect begin to emerge

    131 shares
    Share 52 Tweet 33
  • Platte City makes offer to man from Arnold, Mo.

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • New bridge going in on Hwy. Z

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • I-29 pedestrian struck by three vehicles dies at scene

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • KC man charged in shooting death of local sports reporter

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Online
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem
    • Results by Week
    • The Leaderboard
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved