Another dramatic week in Platte County politics. Pretty incredible stuff. You can’t make it up. Well, you could, but if this were a movie a lot of critics would say it’s too far-fetched.
It appears the criminal investigation into whether he illegally accessed Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd’s email account is what drove Scott Fricker to end his campaign.
Of course, let’s keep in mind the filing deadline for county office isn’t until March 31. Fricker withdrew on Monday but apparently still has time to change his mind and jump back in. By unofficial count, it would be the 69th time he has changed his mind on this. Which in itself is a message to voters.
Only one criminal investigation into happenings at Platte County has come to public light thus far, and that’s the one dealing with the allegations that Fricker illegally accessed Zahnd’s email account. Are other investigations involving Platte County on the horizon? There is some chatter about at least one more, possibly two. I can’t tell you for certain there will be, but there’s enough virtual smoke billowing from the county building that I’m advising you not to be surprised if there’s more fire.
Anytime there’s Scott Fricker news I always look forward to the phone call or text exchange seeking comment from him. You might think that’s because Fricker has very little self-awareness, thin skin, an embarrassingly short fuse and the emotional maturity of a middle school bully. And you would be correct.
Also, in nearly every conversation Fricker will try to insult me or The Landmark in some way. It’s like Love Notes From Nan Johnston all over again. Fricker’s naivety is really amusing. He has been in office nearly four years but has never quite grasped the fact that The Landmark’s accountability journalism has been around a whole lot longer than that. This newspaper will never be intimidated just because Scott Fricker whines and curses after getting his ego bruised by factual reporting.
The conversations almost always result in good copy because Fricker has proven time and time again he can’t control his emotions or his words, even when he knows he should. For example, when I called him the night of Feb. 25 for comments to go with our story about the criminal investigation underway against him, he was so emotionally hyped up that at least one of his quotes was interpreted as an admission of guilt in the eyes of many Landmark readers.
By the way, during that Feb. 25 phone call, recognizing that perhaps he might benefit from a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts, I took the time to read his profanity-laced quotes back to him before ending the interview. In other words, I gave him a chance to strike any quote that I was about to print. He cut none of them.
I know he recognized that I didn’t have to do that, because he thanked me for doing it. I’m sure he would never admit this to his supporters and his friends, but he knew I had gone out of my way to be fair to him. And that’s all that matters.
As you’ll see in our front page story this week, I called Fricker’s cell phone Tuesday morning to see if he had additional comments about his decision to pull out of the race. His phone rang once then went straight to voicemail. I left a message asking if he had further comments and if so to call me back. Less than couple of minutes later, two texts came into my cell phone from Fricker’s phone. Here they are.
Text No. 1: “Ever since I became a commissioner, you have done everything in your power to destroy me, my reputation and my family. You are no better than your partner Zahnd. I don’t know if this is all just to make a buck, or that you’re just a terrible person. Either way, I will have nothing else to say to you ever.”
Text No. 2: “Print that asshole.”
Forget the worn out self-victimization and ‘shoot the messenger’ strategy employed by our presiding commissioner in text No. 1. We’ve seen that move from nearly every politician who gets themselves into a bind. In their minds, their fate is never their own fault, always someone else’s fault.
Instead, let’s focus on text No. 2. What a charmer. Now there’s a guy with mastery of the English language. Gotta admire an elected official who is suave, debonair and sophisticated. Classy dude right there.
Not to get to too technical, but he didn’t put a comma in text No. 2. It should be “Print that, asshole.” Because when you just text “Print that asshole” it sounds like he’s encouraging me to print news about a butthole.
Weird.
Somewhat amused by the fact Fricker would not pick up his phone but instead opted for sending texts in mean girl style, I forwarded them on to some trusted friends who might be able to help with interpretation, including one attorney. The most common reaction?
“Wow. . . he guilty.”
“Sounds like the words of a guilty man.”
I sent the messages on to Speck, our everyday man columnist on page 3, for his reaction. Speck’s response:
“May we all refer to you as asshole going forward? Do we need to let Linda know. . .or probably not?”
Here’s one possible explanation as to why Fricker refused to answer my call but instead opted for sending raging text messages. Fricker’s attorney likely read our Feb. 25 story about the investigation–the story in which it can be interpreted that Fricker practically confesses guilt–and advised him to do no more interviews on the topic of the investigation.
I mean, if I were a defense attorney that’s certainly the advice I would have given. Of course the defense attorney probably would also advise him not to send raging texts to the newspaper, or to speak to the prosecutor in the fashion that you’ll see in our front page story.
This week reminds me of a phone call I received from a former Platte County commissioner back in November of 2022, right after Fricker won his election. I still have my notes from that phone conversation.
“You’re going to get sideways with him. He’s very thin skinned, he’s a hothead and he has trouble with the truth,” this former commissioner told me.
Nostradamus.
(Find Foley correcting punctuation in mean girl text messages. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
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