A Missouri Baptist journalist fired for reporting details of a proposed sale of the Missouri Baptist Convention headquarters says he feels vindicated by voter rejection of a sales tax to fund construction of a jail on the site.
Cole County voters rejected a sales tax Feb. 8 to fund a new jail complex in Jefferson City by a 3-to-1 margin, voiding a contract for pending sale of the Baptist Building for $2.75 million. County officials in August agreed to buy the Baptist Building, contingent on voters approving a half-cent sales tax to finance a proposed $36 million Justice Center in Jefferson City.
Bob Baysinger, former managing editor of convention news journal The Pathway, said Executive Director David Clippard worked with Cole County officials to keep the county’s plan a secret as long as possible and then fired him for unknowingly violating that pledge.
In his first public statements since his Oct. 11 firing for insubordination, Baysinger said Clippard “fired me because I followed the instructions of my supervisor and wrote a news article about Missouri Baptists signing a contract to sell the Baptist Building to the county.”
Baysinger added that he believes the overwhelming rejection of the plan vindicates him. “Voters did not reject the plan because I wrote a story in the official state Baptist newspaper,” he said. “They rejected the plan because of the suspicion secrecy breeds. Voters thought it was foolish to pay $2.75 million for a building and then tear it down.”
Baysinger said Clippard claimed the news story damaged his integrity and the integrity of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Clippard has said that Baysinger’s employment is a personal matter, which he declined to discuss in the press.
A story on The Pathway Web site said the Baptist Building is still for sale. Clippard told The Pathway the convention is under no pressure to sell the 77-year-old former hotel that has served as the Baptist head quarters since 1970.
(Ethics Daily.com)
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