Politics is not getting any gentler in one of Missouri’s most contentious state House districts, where two St. Charles County Republicans are locked in a battle that features criminal charges, accusations of lying and civil lawsuits.
Max Calfo, who lost the Republican primary for the 108th District in 2024, said this week that he has documents proving the incumbent, state Rep. Mike Costlow, lied on his candidate declarations last year. Calfo has, since early 2024, been working to obtain court records from Georgia showing that Costlow pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge there in 2008.
The records were released Sept. 12, when Judge Gregory A. Voyles of Lowndes County, Georgia, found “the facts show that the defendant entered a plea of guilty,” and there was no restriction on releasing all the court records.
Costlow took 60% of the vote in the 2024 primary against Calfo. He is seeking re-election and Calfo also intends to file for the seat next year.
Last year, Calfo tried to get Costlow thrown off the ballot based on the guilty plea, but he did not have the document he has now and the case was dismissed. Since obtaining the document, he said, he has filed a complaint with Secretary of State Denny Hoskins that Costlow lied when he signed a declaration of candidacy, under penalty of perjury, stating he had no past felony convictions or guilty pleas.
Hoskins’ office did not respond to an inquiry Thursday about the complaint.
Asked why he has continued to pursue the issue long after the primary, Calfo said he feels cheated.
“I think it is the fact that he defrauded his voters and disenfranchised mine and that really lit a fire under me,” he said.
Costlow, in an interview with The Independent, said he expects Calfo to sue him again. He declined to discuss the specifics of the Georgia charges or Calfo’s new documents, citing the likelihood of being in court again. But he insists he did not lie on the declaration.
“He’s just trying to find some sleazy way to become a politician, and that’s the kind of action that the voters hate, quite frankly,” Costlow said.
When Calfo first became a candidate in the west St. Charles County district, the incumbent was state Rep. Justin Hicks. Calfo obtained documents about a 2010 domestic violence case against Hicks in St. Louis County, published them on his campaign website and was in return sued by Hicks.
Instead of filing for re-election, Hicks filed in the Republican primary for Congress in the 3rd District. Costlow entered the race when Hicks declined to run again.
The disputes within the district haven’t been confined to Calfo and his direct rivals and the old Georgia case isn’t the only criminal charge.
On Wednesday, Hicks’ mother-in-law, Elizabeth Sparks, will be in court in St. Charles County to learn her trial date for charges filed in July 2024 accusing her of harassing Calfo and filing a false report.
In the probable cause statement, a detective from the O’Fallon Police Department accused Sparks of “falsely reporting the victim allegedly sexually assaulted juvenile females to damage (Calfo’s) reputation.”
Sparks admitted she lied in the report, the detective wrote.
The new records available from the Georgia case will, Calfo said, become the basis for a challenge to Costlow’s qualifications to be a candidate if he files for re-election.
Missouri law disqualifies any person seeking to run for elective office “who has been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony” in the state, in federal court or in another state. If the offense occurred in another state, it must be a crime that would also be a felony in Missouri.
In 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the disqualification applies in cases where the candidate had been pardoned by the governor. While the pardon eliminated the conviction from the candidate’s record, the opinion stated, “it did not erase the fact that he pleaded guilty to a felony offense.”
In Costlow’s case, Georgia court records provided by Calfo show he was charged with theft by agreeing to take a paintball gun, barrel kit and $150 in trade for an expensive paintball gun but reneging on the deal. Costlow was charged with two similar counts and pleaded guilty to one.
Costlow, the documents show, was placed in a diversion probation program for first offenders. His successful completion of probation means, Voyles wrote in the Sept. 12 ruling, “may not be used to disqualify a person in ... appointment to office in … the public sector.”
Whether the law disqualifying candidates with a felony conviction applies to members of the legislature is a question that has not been addressed in court. The Missouri Supreme Court decision was about a candidate for a county commission seat, an office created by statute.
The Missouri Constitution only requires that representatives be a voter for two years, residents of their districts for at least one year, and at least 24 years old. State senators must have been a voter for three years and 30 years old.
Calfo said he will seek to enforce the law if Costlow files for office again.
“On March 22, 2024, he swore under oath that he had never pled guilty to a felony in a separate state and that is indisputably not true,” Calfo said.
“There is really nothing sleazier than lying to the public about one’s past,” Calfo added later.
Costlow, in response, said Calfo has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get him arrested, calling police agencies in Jefferson City and St. Charles County, as well as asking the FBI to get involved.
“Everyone recognizes him for what he is,” Costlow said. “So frankly, I’m not worried. He’s just a thorn in the side.”