IN THE AUG. 4 PRIMARY ELECTION
The Kansas City Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #99, and the West Central Missouri Regional Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #50, have jointly endorsed Jason Maki, Republican candidate for Platte County Presiding Commissioner, in the 2026 primary election. The FOP is the largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers in the world, with more than 7,700 members in Missouri and 377,000 in more than 2,200 lodges nationwide.
The endorsement follows the unanimous endorsement of Maki by IAFF Local 42 earlier this month, making Maki the only reported candidate in the Platte County Presiding Commissioner race to secure the backing of both the region’s organized firefighters and the region’s organized law enforcement officers. Both organizations operate across jurisdictional lines and represent first responders from every municipality Platte County residents rely on.
In its letter, the FOP wrote that “no one knows the dangers and the difficulties faced by today’s police officers better than another officer, and no one knows police officers better than the FOP.” The letter was signed by Todd Templeton, president of Lodge #99, and Paul Brooks, president of Lodge #50.
“When the officers themselves tell you they are behind you, you listen — and you make sure you deserve it,” said Maki. “This is not a courtesy endorsement. The FOP put my platform in front of the people who wear the badge and asked them what they thought. Their answer was to endorse this campaign. I do not take that lightly.”
Maki attributes the endorsement in large part to a framework he has been running on since day one: the county must be brilliant at the basics and ensure its two core missions — public safety and public infrastructure — are among the first lines of every county budget. He believes that the county must support the efforts to attract, retain, equip, train, and support the people who execute those missions. In a widely shared blog article, Maki treats law enforcement compensation, equipment, training, and vocal government support not as optional line items, but as the standard the commission must be held to.
Where the FOP endorsement breaks new ground for the campaign is in Maki’s insistence that the officer and the prosecutor are two halves of the same job. Maki has committed to fully funding not only the Platte County Sheriff’s Office but the county prosecutor’s office in the same budget cycle, arguing that arrests without accountability tell every bad actor in the county exactly what they can get away with.
“An arrest that doesn’t lead to accountability is a revolving door,” Maki said. “If we ask our officers to make the arrest and then hand the case to a prosecuting office we haven’t staffed to carry it, we have failed on both ends. The officer risks their life on the street and the victim gets no justice at the courthouse. That is not a system. That is a betrayal — of the officer, of the victim, and of every taxpayer paying for both. I intend to fix it.”
Maki has also committed to protecting the funding capacity of Platte County’s municipal police departments — Parkville, Platte City, Riverside, Weston, Tracy, Weatherby Lake and the surrounding communities — arguing that county decisions that pull revenue away from cities directly weaken their ability to recruit and retain officers.
“Whether the badge on the door says sheriff or a city patch makes no difference to the family who called for help,” Maki said. “Our job at the county is to make sure both are strong.”
Maki’s full public safety framework — “Brilliant at the Basics” — is available at Maki4Platte.com.
