DEMOCRATIC CHAIR IN 156TH DISTRICT FILES CANDIDATE COMPLAINT

The Democratic chairman of the state's 156th Legislative District has filed a complaint against Republican Bill Foster for failing to use a disclaimer on some campaign materials.

The chairman, Jerry Martin, recently filed the complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the state's campaign finance disclosure law. He filed it on behalf of Mark Hackworth of Piedmont, the Democratic candidate in a special election to fill the vacant 156th House seat on July 20. Foster is a candidate for the seat.

Martin said in his complaint that some of Foster's signs and advertising did not have the required disclaimer telling who paid for the material or ad.

Reid Forrester, campaign manager for Foster, said the complaint is unwarranted and falsely attempts to portray Foster as ignoring campaign disclosure laws.

"The claim is ridiculous and Hackworth knows it," said Forrester. "We inadvertently left off the committee name on a few signs at the beginning of the campaign. But as soon as we realized the mistake, we corrected it. The whole thing is not only ridiculous, it is simply not true."

The 156th District includes all of Wayne County and parts of Bollinger, Butler and Ripley counties.

Hackworth and Foster are running for the remainder of the term vacated by Joe Driskill, who resigned in April to become director of the Department of Economic Development.