The Republican candidate for Livingston County Coroner has been charged with misdemeanor committing class four election offenses. Online court information shows an initial appearance is scheduled for 37-year-old Joshua Michael Dennis of Chillicothe in the Associate Division of Circuit Court September 30th.
A probable cause statement from Chillicothe Police Officer Whitney Murdock claims Dennis said in a newspaper article he would donate his first-year salary to Livingston County and do the coroner job for free to help cover any cost that may occur from the office moving. He also allegedly promised in a video that he would donate his first-year salary back to the county.
Murdock says Dennis’s statement violates Missouri statute, which says “on the part of any candidate for election to any office of honor, trust, or profit, offering or promising to discharge the duties of such office for a less sum than the salary, fees, or emolument as fixed by law or promising to payback or donate to any public or private interest any portion of such salary, fees, or emoluments as an inducement to voters.”
Incumbent J. Scott Lindley is the Democratic candidate for Livingston County Coroner in the November General Election.
