Missouri Judge Eliminates Residency Requirement for State Reps...and Potentially ANY Elected Official
Missouri Rep. Nick Schroer (R) has fueled his relatively short political career with equal parts racism, misogyny, and conservatism that would likely even make Barry Goldwater take a knee. Amongst his horror show of legislative accomplishments includes sponsoring HB 126, one of the most extreme anti-Abortion acts (a so-called “heartbeat bill”), signed into law by equally controversial Republican Governor Mike Parson in mid 2019.
Schroer regularly taunts constituents (particularly of the female variety) on his Facebook feed with such over-the-top trolling that Missouri Representative Peter Merideth referred to him as the “most Trumpian elected Republican in Missouri.” His social media posts consist of exactly what you’d expect from a hard-red, far-right Republican in a state like Missouri in 2020: Blue Live Matter, they’re coming for your guns, the lockdown was worse than the disease, masks are for pussies, etc. (He regularly flaunts common-sense COVID protocols, appearing at in-person campaigning events maskless, even with a Governor who was diagnosed with COVID earlier in October.)
LEFT: MO Gov Mike Parson, on the trail just two weeks after a positive COVID-19 test at a Trump Tractor Rally, October 17, 2020. RIGHT: Schroer CENTER: someone who hopefully doesn’t now have COVID
Schroer serves the 107th house district in the Republican stronghold of O’Fallon (just west of St. Louis). In May, Schroer moved his family about 20 miles away to Defiance, MO (because, presumably, the O’Fallon school district wasn’t quite white enough for him). He argued that because he signed “lease” (claiming that he’s living full time in an unconverted basement and renting from a 60 year-old woman and her elderly mother) he is still technically a “resident” of the very district which he represents.
Maskless Schroer at the Tractor Rally for Trump posing for a pic with St. Louis city folk who like to pull guns on law abiding protesters.
Schroer has all made all varieties of public statements, insisting that normal family men with children and wives live in unfurnished and unfinished basements instead of in their nearly half-a-million dollar home with his wife and his kids. Sure, he claims he is working within the framework of the law. He clearly and obviously isn’t.
In August, Schroer’s opponent Victoria Witt Datt filed a suit (because of course she did) claiming that it is against prevailing state law for a state representative to live anywhere outside of the district that they represent.
Court documents prove that his mortgage list the new home in Defiance as his permanent residence. His voter registration shows his permanent resident as the house where he claims lives in O’Fallon, (because, once again, totally normal for a guy who preaches about Christian values all the fucking time to sleep on a concrete floor away from his family in another town).
Worth noting that the space he allegedly calls home was named uninhabitable by the City of O’Fallon, further proving that the so-called lease Schroer presented is essentially bullshit. He now claims that he’s staying in a guest room, where he has no possessions other than a small suitcase.
The case had its first verdict handed down yesterday from a St. Charles judge who is clearly vying for GOP asshole of the year. In his judgement, what he said was tantamount to Schroer can indeed still run for his seat and represent the 107th, even though that’s probably NOT his current permanent residence because it’s his INTENT to serve the people of the 107th.
Yep. That happened.
From the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s coverage: “Fagras wondered how the court could reconcile Schroer’s mortgage in Defiance with his lease in O’Fallon “with the intent (emphasis added) to serve and advocate for the constituents of the 107th, not to mention several address changes” including on his voter registration and driver’s license.
“Without a doubt the facts in the present case are conflicting,” Fagras said. “It may not be so much what Schroer intended to do but what he never intended to do which appears that he had no intention of relinquishing his residency to remain in the 107th.””
Schroer’s Facebook post in which he praises both the Republican judge and the constituents of a district in which he no longer lives
In an official statement, Kyle Garner, Executive Director of the St. Charles Democratic Party stated: “The ruling ignores the overwhelming, unrefuted evidence showing Schroer resides in Defiance with his family, ignores Missouri statute defining a man’s residence as where his family lives, ignores multiple legal documents Schroer signed under penalty of felonies saying he resides in Defiance, and ignores Schroer’s own sworn testimony that he spends every free moment in Defiance with his family and that he sleeps there more often than in O'Fallon even after the suit. The judge refused to address the evidence in his ruling, instead relying solely on Schroer’s self-serving testimony.”
Court documents further include testimony from the owners of the dwelling where Schroer claims to live stating that they can’t name a single time they’ve seen him in the house. Ever.
Matt Vienello, who is representing Datt, spoke to me and clarified that what’s at issue isn’t where Schroer claims he lives, it’s how the court ruling and the law differ on how to characterize a legal, permanent residence.
“The trial court never actually defines what residence is. The law says that it's an intention to remain somewhere not for a fixed, but for a permanent period of time. It's where one considers one's home. The court did not actually address that. The court clearly says throughout [the judgement] that, Schroer’s intent is to enter into a lease, in order to serve the constituents of Missouri 107th District.
“If that's the standard, then anybody can sign a lease in any district and be a resident there.That is not the legal standard, uh, for determining one's residence. It is not simply where one signs a lease. It is where one considers, their home to be. The evidence overwhelmingly shows that Schroer considers his home to be in defiance with his family.”
I also had a chance to speak with Garner, who addressed specifically how this is increasingly characteristic of a statewide Republican apparatus that is consistently willing to overlook horrifyingly bad behavior from their candidates and elected officials. We discuss the scandals surrounding former governor Eric Greitens. We talk about the obvious residency laws that then Attorney General, now-Senator, Josh Hawley, broke when he refused to relocate to Jefferson City after he was elected to Attorney General.
We discussed (at some length) Steve “Hitler was right” West winning his primary seat and the lack of condemnation from the state party, as well as Rick Roeber, House candidate for Missouri’s 34th, whose children just came forward with very credible claims that he sexually and physically abused them.
“Through all of this, the leadership of the Republican Party hasn't stood against it at all,” Garner said. “You will not find a public statement from Republican leadership. They just sit in silence, and they support it because holding on to those seats is more important than anything else in the world to the Republican Party. In terms of the undermining of our democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law, [Schroer’s move] was something Republican leadership is known about since April or May of this year, and even after the story broke...You cannot find a public statement from anyone in leadership in the Republican Party on any of these issues.”
The Republican money machine continues to funnel campaign financing to the certifiable nazi and (alleged) pedophile, as well as Schroer.
When I spoke to state representative Peter Merideth (who alerted his constituents about the judgement on his Facebook page), he was adamant that the game is being played unapologetically and in broad daylight. The back and forth we had amounted to “they’re not even trying to hide this from us anymore.”
“I’m scratching the surface of how obvious it is,” he said from his car. “The Missouri statue literally defines residence as a place where one's family resides. Except in the case of a person without a family, it's where they primarily lodge. His family lives [in Defiance]. He says his wife and he are in a happy marriage. The only cases like this where a person lived in a different place from their wife was when they were having marital problems. Then they've [get] away with it in the court.”
If Schroer is having mairial problems, you certainly can’t tell from his social media activity, where he consistently posts pics of his (admittedly attractive and smiling) family. What is missing from his social media activity is a single photo of him ever doing anything in the O’Fallon house where he still claims as his permanent.
The burning question that we should all have from this is what type of fraud is Schroer actually committing: voter, insurance, or mortgage? Where is the Republican outrage that his driver’s license reflects an O’Fallon address and his car insurance does not?
Datt’s team is appealing the ruling.
Peter Merideth’s Facebook post: