Impeached secretary of state makes comeback bid

SEDALIA, Mo. -- She was Missouri's first female secretary of state and the only statewide official ever to be ousted from office after impeachment.

Now eight years later, Democrat Judi Moriarty-Ebers is making a political comeback bid for the legislature -- running against a Republican who voted to impeach her.

Republican Todd Smith, making his own comeback bid for the House seat he held from 1985 to 1995, says he considers Moriarty-Ebers a friend and has no plans to bring up the past.

Despite that background, the race for west-central Missouri's House District 118 has generated little attention just a month before the Nov. 5 election. There are few campaign signs around the candidates' hometown of Sedalia. And neither candidate had done much fund raising before this weekend.

Moriarty-Ebers is intentionally avoiding publicity. Although she talked with a reporter, she declined an on-the-record interview.

Instead, Moriarty-Ebers issued a statement through her campaign treasurer promising to "put people first" -- a motto she also used as secretary of state.

"I am an honest and hardworking person," Moriarty-Ebers, 60, said in the statement. "I want to serve the people of our district."

While serving as Missouri's chief election official, Moriarty-Ebers was found guilty in Cole County Circuit Court of a misdemeanor charge of backdating her son's filing paperwork for a state House seat.

The Missouri House approved three articles of impeachment, and the Missouri Supreme Court, which tries impeachment cases, voted to oust Moriarty-Ebers in December 1994.

Yet none of that is relevant to this year's legislative race, her opponent said.

"I have no intention of discussing it," said Smith, 43. "I'm running on my record, and I'm sure Judi is going to talk about her record and the issues she thinks are important."