Another gaming official resigns
Former Kansas City Police Chief Floyd Bartch leaves the Missouri commission.
By RICK ALM
The Kansas City Star
Another member of the Missouri Gaming Commission has resigned, just as a new executive director is taking over.
At the close of Wednesday’s regular monthly commission meeting, former Kansas City Police Chief Floyd Bartch said he was quitting, effective today, and nine months before his term expires in April 2007.
Bartch’s resignation was not announced during the session, the first led by new Executive Director Gene McNary, and was made public only during a farewell reception later in the morning.
Bartch offered no reason for his early departure from the casino regulatory agency, which has been beset by key resignations this year.
“I’m tired,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for four years. It’s just time.”
Bartch said his resignation — rumored for weeks — was not related to Gov. Matt Blunt’s recent appointments of new commissioners and the hiring of McNary, all of them having ties to Blunt, including as campaign contributors.
“Give them a chance to run Missouri gaming and I think they will be just fine,” Bartch said of the commission’s new leadership team.
Bartch’s resignation came just two weeks after Commissioner Ralph Biele stepped down.
Biele, of Jefferson City and a retired deputy director of the commission staff, has declined to discuss his resignation. It came 48 hours before the remaining four commissioners voted to hire former St. Louis County Executive McNary.
Four of the commission’s top administrators also announced their resignations since it became apparent to insiders that McNary, 70, and a longtime force in state Republican politics, would be named as the agency’s new chief.
Meanwhile, a third commissioner remains the subject of an inquiry by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. He is examining whether Noel Shull, commission chairman and a Kansas City businessman, legally holds the post.
State law prohibits any “elected official” from serving on the commission. Shull for several years was a publicly elected member of the Clay County Republican Central Committee.
He is again seeking election to a committee post this year while also appearing on the ballot as a GOP candidate for Clay County presiding commissioner.
Shull declined to comment Wednesday.
Party committee posts are decided by the public every two years when the two major parties’ candidates for local district committeeman appear on primary election ballots.
Nixon, a Democrat, opened the inquiry last week after he was asked about Shull’s situation. Spokesman Scott Holste said Wednesday the inquiry was continuing.
Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said Wednesday that Shull apparently was not currently a GOP committeeman.
“It’s my understanding he did resign that position before taking the appointment,” she said.
Robinson and Clay County election officials said Wednesday there were no written records of Shull’s resignation.
Clay County GOP Chairwoman Katharine Shepherd Porter said Wednesday that Shull resigned the post last year in an e-mail to her.
Porter said Shull quit because he had moved out of the district he had been elected to represent and moved into hers, where he is a candidate this year for that district’s committeeman’s seat.
Robinson said that if Shull won his contested party election Aug. 8, “he would have to a decision to make” about whether to remain on the commission or serve in the party post. Shull would face a choice if he wins in November.
Robinson said no timetable had been set for Blunt to name replacements for Biele and Bartch. |
