Speaking Personally: Next week's debate and a good-faith disclosure

Every election season, men and women tear down each other's dignity. And for what? Fleeting positions of power? Self-importance? I don't know why. 2026 is the year I’ve seen more election-time nastiness than ever before.

 

I have some things to say about that. 

 

But first, please consider this a personal invitation to our candidate debate at 6 p.m. next Wednesday, July 22, in the Exhibit Hall of the West Plains Civic Center. Though the event's host is the Howell County News, we have teamed up with the West Plains Daily Quill and Ozark Radio News to collect questions for the candidates from our respective audiences. We have traditionally invited our colleagues to cover our election events. When we work together, we reach about 40,000 people in print and online. The hope is to reach those people as we prepare for the debate. Keep reading for instructions on submitting your question to the candidates.

 

Debates are a routine part of election season for us, no matter the offices on the ballot. This season is a particularly impactful one. State representatives and associate circuit judges make decisions routinely that impact the lives of the people right here in Howell County daily. With stakes like this, our goal is to educate as many voters as possible. 

 

Now then. 

 

One Thursday afternoon in May, I placed a call to State Representative Lisa Durnell. 

 

I wanted to tell her about our new summer intern, who I had recently learned had taken a second job with her opponent, Travis Smith's, campaign this summer. Since it wasn't intentional, and we aren't doing anything wrong, I wanted Durnell to hear it from me first. 

 

The Howell County News plan for our Mizzou J-School student was to help my husband, Ron, with his design work on the newspaper, so I knew there should be no conflict of interest. This intern fills 20 hours a week with work Ron normally does.

 

In fact, we applied for, and received, a grant specifically on the premise that any intern would learn graphic design and page layout during his or her time with us, initially planned to be just five weeks. When this particular intern's limitless potential revealed itself in the first five weeks, we expanded her job to writing features and news, but there has been a strict separation between her assignments and election work. 

 

I explained our hopes and initial plan for the internship to Durnell that May afternoon and asked her to be direct with me if she observed any hint of partiality because of the situation. We haven’t exchanged a spoken word since. Later that afternoon, I texted her about tentative dates for the debate this publication traditionally holds at election time. 

 

She wanted to think and pray about it. 

Because of the intern. 

 

What Durnell chose to do with my good-faith disclosure was to make an announcement on her Facebook page blaming not only a 19-year-old intern, but also my existing friendship with Smith, for her decision not to participate in next week's debate. Up until that announcement, I honestly thought Durnell and I were friends, too. We have worked well together during her time in the House, just as I worked well with Smith when he represented District 155. 

 

I never imagined she would make such a baseless claim about my integrity, and by extension, that of a teenager working her first journalism internship. There isn't a moment in my career that justifies a suggestion that I would teach a brand-new journalist to give any candidate an unfair advantage in a debate, but that's what Durnell is worried about. She told me so in a June 7 e-mail. She worries that this so-called “shared intern”, brand new to the area, would provide questions to her opponent in advance and put her at a disadvantage.

 

That's ludicrous. It's not the reputation this publication has earned. 

 

In the same email, she said the only way should would feel comfortable participating was if all questions were provided to all candidates in advance of the debate. Since that would erase the audience participation portion the night of the event, I suggested a compromise, which is, in fact, the procedure we’re using next week. Durnell stopped responding. 

 

It's been suggested that a debate 13 days before the election is one too many. This one is, however, the only event hosted and curated by members of the media on behalf of the public we serve.

 

 Frankly, it will draw a crowd and attention the other debates won't receive, which is good for informing voters.

 

When respected and credentialed members of the press call on elected officials, the public expects them to answer. It's our job to question politicians, to hold them accountable, and to make them earn their seats at election time. To Durnell, however, accountability to the press appears to be optional. 

 

Next Wednesday, every candidate for both the Missouri House of Representatives' seat in District 154 and Howell County Associate Circuit Judge will be available in one place to debate questions collected by two newspapers and a radio station. 

 

Except the incumbent representative.

 

Maybe she will change her mind. It’s not likely; her campaign scheduled an independent event the same night. 

 

Still, Durnell has been offered a standing invitation up to, and including, the day of the event. What should be a deep dive into the legislative sessions and voting records of both Durnell and Smith (each with terms served in the Missouri House) will instead be a debate between the two challengers, Smith and Democrat JoJo Stewart. 

 

Nevertheless, the capstone of the night will be the only debate among the candidates for associate circuit judge in Howell County. With the state of the county jail and the criminal-justice system of weekly interest to our readers, it should be an informative event. Keep in mind, however, that judicial candidates must conduct themselves by the same rules as judges, meaning they cannot comment on matters that could come before them on the bench. Questions from the public will be very carefully vetted to make sure the candidates can answer them ethically. 

 

For that reason, questions for these candidates must be submitted in advance. We are currently collecting questions for all the representative candidates, as well. Any anonymous questions must be submitted in advance of the event. Questions posed during the event will require a name and city of residence.

 

Kicking off the event will be a panel discussion featuring Presiding Commissioner Ralph Riggs, Assessor Daniel Franks, Collector Janet Crow and Sheriff Matt Roberts on the local impacts of proposed amendments that also will be on the August 4 ballot. Time permitting, we will take questions from the audience. 

 

If you have a question for the representative candidates or judicial candidates, stop by the office at 110 West Main St. in Willow Springs, call 417-252-2123 or send an e-mail to editor@howellcountynews.com.