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Judge disqualifies Missouri council candidate one day before election

Franklin Tatro
Franklin Tatro
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County, Missouri, judge has declared a man seeking a city council seat in the suburb of Lee’s Summit ineligible because of a felony car theft conviction.

Circuit Judge James Kanatzar disqualified Franklin Tatro after a hearing Monday, a day before the election.

Kanatzar concluded that Tatro would be barred from being sworn in if elected.

The judge also ordered the county’s election board to not release any information showing the number of votes ultimately cast for Tatro. Tatro served four years in prison in the 1990s for stealing a car. Under state law, convicted felons can’t be elected or appointed to public office.

Tatro moved to Lee’s Summit in 2010. He says he hopes to have his criminal record expunged and run for office again.

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