An attorney hired by the City of Springfield to investigate City Council member Kristi Fulnecky’s eligibility to run for and hold office has issued his report.
Last fall, five council members sent a letter to Mayor Bob Stephens asking for an independent hearing into whether or not Fulnecky is eligible to serve. They questioned whether she was eligible to take the oath of office due to failure to obtain a business license and pay the required taxes for her business, Fulnecky Enterprises, LLC.
Attorney Kevin O’Keefe said in a report to the city that Fulnecky did not pay business license taxes for her business for seven years. And according to O’Keefe, Fulnecky’s “voluntary payment of these taxes eliminates any basis for dispute as to whether they were owed at the time she ran for and took office.”
The issue arose when the city’s licensing supervisor, in a plans and policies meeting, heard Fulnecky say she was a business owner. Buffee Smith then decided to look at city records to see if the business was properly licensed.
O’Keefe said Springfield City Charter empowers the City Council to be the judge of election returns and qualifications of its members.
Springfield Mayor Bob Stephens said there are three actions council can consider.
"We can vote to expel her--remove her from her seat, we can suspend her for a period of time or we can censure her, which would not entail any lost time in her seat on council but would certainly, I think, reflect badly on anyone who is censured by the body they are elected to," he said.
But while O’Keefe found that Fulnecky was not qualified to run for office because of unpaid taxes, he advised City Council that, “because this authority has the potential for invalidating the electoral decision of the voters it should be exercised prudently and cautiously.”
In a text sent to media Wednesday, Fulnecky's attorney, Dee Wampler, said, "Mayor Stephens and his gang of five brought the same charges originally--and then backed off--and withdrew the allegation. They blew their chance to present their case to the finest jurist in the state. Now--let the games continue! Taxpayers are getting soaked for more St. Louis attorney fees."
On Monday, City Council will consider a resolution accepting O'Keefe's report, which can be viewed here.
