Walton loses appeal on ballot status in U.S. Circuit Court of

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jun 26, 2008 by Donna Walter

Rep. Juanita Walton is - still - off the ballot in the race to become the Democrat's candidate for senator of the 13th District.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals summarily affirmed Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh's decision that Walton is not qualified to be a candidate.

Walton was represented by her husband, Elbert A. Walton Jr. He had no comment except that he plans to request a rehearing by the full 8th Circuit court and, if necessary, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision comes a day after the deadline for courts to add or remove candidate names from ballots. Section 115.125 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri states, "No court shall have the authority to order an individual or issue be placed on the ballot less than six weeks before the date of the election, except as provided in sections 115.361 and 115.379."

Elbert Walton asked the court to issue a decision by June 25, but he also said in his brief that the federal court is not bound by the state law.

Juanita Walton had filed to run against incumbent state Sen. Timothy Green, but Secretary of State Robin Carnahan disqualified Walton's candidacy on April 30, two days after Walton filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal court. Green, Walton and Carnahan are all Democrats.

Carnahan disqualified Walton based on Section 115.342. The law, which Green proposed, disqualifies candidates for running for public office if they're delinquent in any state taxes. It also disqualifies any candidate who is a "past or present corporate officer of any fee office that owes any taxes to the state."

Walton was an officer of a corporate fee office, El-Juan Group Inc., for 1993 and 1994. The state shut down the fee office in 1994 after it discovered the fee office hadn't turned over $40,000 to the state, Assistant Attorney General Paul Wilson said in the trial court.

Walton had argued that Green targeted her with this law and that the law is unconstitutional because it treats fee offices differently than other corporations.

In the decision he issued May 23, Limbaugh said the state has a legitimate reason for treating fee offices differently.

"Taxpayers trust fee offices to facilitate the payment of taxes to the State. This trust is sacrosanct and should not be treated lightly," he wrote. The law proposed by Green fosters this trust, he said.