Chamber endorses Ehrhardt, stays mum on 1st Ward

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors gave its formal support today to Glen Ehrhardt in the race for the 5th Ward City Council seat and decided not to endorse any of the four candidates running in the 1st Ward.
This is the second time the city’s business organization has weighed in on local politics, after making the unprecedented decision to endorse City Council candidates in the April 2010 election. All three of those candidates – Daryl Dudley, Bob McDavid and Gary Kespohl – won their elections.
Ehrhardt, a 30-plus-year-resident of Columbia, is a partner in law firm Rogers, Ehrhardt & Weber LLC, and a Chamber member who was a member of the group’s board of directors from 2004 to 2007. He is running against Planning and Zoning Commissioner Helen Anthony for the council seat being vacated by Councilwoman Laura Nauser.
“I’m honored to be endorsed by the Columbia, Mo., Chamber,” Ehrhardt said. “I believe the Chamber and all the businesses that are part of the Chamber really make the community go.”
Kat Cunningham, the founder of insurance and payroll company Moresource, Inc., chaired the Chamber’s Endorsement Task Force. The task force’s recommendations were approved by the Chamber’s board of directors. The group met Feb. 11 to make endorsement recommendations, after sending out a questionnaire to candidates and attending a Chamber forum Feb. 10 where all the candidates were asked about their experience and priorities.
Cunningham said the task force ranked candidates based on their support for higher education and their support and understanding of the Chamber. But being “pro-business was definitely No. 1” in terms of criteria, she said.
“We thought (Anthony’s) role in Planning and Zoning, that experience was valuable,” Cunningham said. “We just felt that Glen (Ehrhardt) being a member of the Chamber had proven himself as business friendly.”
The task force couldn’t come to a consensus on a candidate in the 1st Ward. Fred Schmidt, Mitch Richards, Pam Forbes and Darrell Foster are all competing for the seat being vacated by Paul Sturtz.
“We just didn’t see one just outshining the others,” Cunningham said. “They all have strengths in different areas.”
Schmidt, the owner of accounting firm Accounting Cycle, is the only other Chamber member running for council. He said he has “never been particularly happy with the endorsement process” so he should “put my money where my mouth is” and be happy he didn’t get the endorsement. Regardless, he said he has a lot of support within the Chamber, and a Chamber endorsement isn’t as important in the First Ward.
“I don’t think it will make much difference with my voters because a Chamber endorsement doesn’t carry much weight in Ward 1,” Schmidt said.
The members of the Chamber Endorsement Task Force were: Cunningham, Cathy Anderson of Williams-Keepers Financial Services, Bill Chrisco of Schnuck Markets, Susan Clark of Diversified Management Company, David Duffy of Loveall Enterprises, Brad Eiffert of Boone County Lumber Company, Michael Kelly of Stoney Creek Inn & Conference Center, Kelley Marchbanks of the College of Veterinary Medicine, David Nivens of Midwest Computech, Betty Tice of House of Brokers Realty and Scott Ward of ABC Laboratories.