Columbia Fourth Ward candidate juggles being a lobbyist, running for office

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia Fourth Ward city council candidate is running for office while continuing her work as a lobbyist, creating an extra challenge for funding her campaign.

Missouri law prohibits a candidate from creating or maintaining a candidate committee if they're a lobbyist.

However, a new law that takes effect at the end of August would eliminate that requirement when a lobbyist is running for a local office, including a county, municipal or school board office, according to the bill summary, as long as the candidate isn't lobbying the office they're running for.

The Fourth Ward election is Aug. 4, and while candidate Sharon Geuea Jones waits for the new law to pass, she has formed a political action committee that she won't manage as a way to get around the roadblock the current law poses.

Geuea Jones is a registered lobbyist for seven organizations, including the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the Missouri NAACP State Conference and the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

This isn't the first time a lobbyist has run for office in Columbia. Former Mayor Brian Treece was told to extinguish his campaign committee in 2021, according to previous reporting. Treece worked as a lobbyist while also maintaining a campaign committee for mayor, which has existed since 2016.

In 2023, First Ward residents petitioned for a recall vote against former councilman Nick Knoth because he accepted a position as director of government affairs and regional advocacy for the Missouri Association of REALTORS, according to previous reporting. While the Missouri Ethics Commission didn't see a legal issue, some residents said it was an ethical issue.