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Independent candidate Turilli will be on statewide November ballot

By Monte Miller, Record Staff Writer
Posted 6/9/16

Like Jesse James, and his grandfather Lester Dill, Lester Turilli wants to become the next famous Missourian associated with Meramec Caverns.  After garnering more than 20,000 signatures, …

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Independent candidate Turilli will be on statewide November ballot

Posted
By Monte Miller, Record Staff Writer
Like Jesse James, and his grandfather Lester Dill, Lester Turilli wants to become the next famous Missourian associated with Meramec Caverns. After garnering more than 20,000 signatures, Turrilli’s name will be on the November statewide ballot as an Independent gubernatorial candidate.Turilli, whose family owns and operates Meramec Caverns at Stanton, said he and his campaign were obviously excited.“Gathering the signatures was a long and arduous task,” Turilli said. “But, it became a very natural grass roots effort that allowed for a lot of face to face time and our name getting spread on the most basic level through word of mouth.”Turilli added the process to collect signatures began about 10 months ago and his supporters collected more than double the amount required by the state of Missouri.After the signatures were turned in they had to be verified by the election authorities in each of the 114 counties in Missouri.“We were advised to get an abundance of signatures, but they didn’t tell us what that number should be,” Turilli explained. “We wanted to go above and beyond.”During the vetting process, authorities double check the names of those who signed with the addresses given and make sure they are indeed registered voters.If any of the information does not match, the signature is thrown out.Moving ForwardHere at home, Turilli said the support for his campaign has been great as the hometown boy, whose family ties to Franklin County go back more than 100 years.“We’ve seen a lot of people on the Republican side are not content with the nominee,” Turilli said. “This is home. We’ve had a flood of support and it’s been great.”Turilli said he hopes to capitalize on disenfranchised Republican voters, who may not have voted for Eric Greitens during the crowded primary season.Of the more than 684,000 Republican ballots cast, Greitens garnered 236,481 votes statewide.Although he bested his three opponents by a wide margin, if you add the votes received by the other three candidates, 447,392 Missouri Republicans did not vote for Greitens.“Missouri has the second most watched governor’s race in the nation,” Turilli said. “I’m also going after the left. People are fed up with the two-party system, the lack of cooperation and they’re tired of politics. I’ll be right here standing in the middle.”Historically, third party candidates have been shown to simply split the ticket of one particular party or another.It is widely speculated that the 1992 presidential campaign of Texas businessman Ross Perot was responsible for George H. W. Bush not winning reelection.“Ideologically, Perot ran simply as a businessman and the political climate at that time wasn’t ready for that,” Turilli said. “I am a businessman and I do have that executive experience, but I am also a man of faith and I am bold in that fact.”Next StepsNow that he is officially on the ballot, Turilli is in the process of organizing his campaign and thinks 2016 may be the time to strike while the political iron is hot.“It’s actually been a bit chaotic,” Turilli said. “It was a relief finally finding out we would be on the ballot. That was Aug. 23, and needless to say, we’ve had a lot to do in the last week.”To this point, Turilli has been self-funding his campaign along with donations from family and friends.According to July filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission, Turilli has spent $57,831 since Oct. 2014.“It’s hard running as an Independent,” Turilli said. “The money from the old establishment doesn’t roll in like it does with the other parties. On the other hand, it’s nice not being beholden to anyone and being able to make my own decisions.”Turilli said he is working on some press items around the state and they are planning on having a few political events in the next few weeks at the Caverns, which is serving as a base camp for the campaign.

Lester Turilli Jr. is an independent candidate for Missouri governor in 2016. Submitted photo.

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