The District 50 Missouri House of Representatives race got a little hotter this week when Democratic candidate Michela Skelton sent a “cease and desist” letter to Zimmer Radio and Republican incumbent Sara Walsh.

Skelton is protesting a radio ad which directly calls her a “radical element who endorses violent protest against police.”

Skelton vigorously denied the charge and claimed the ad was baseless.

“This is the way politics has turned in the past 10 years,” Skelton said, “and it keeps getting worse.”

Skelton said a call to the Missouri Ethics Commission got her nowhere. She has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission as well as with the Walsh campaign and Zimmer Radio.

The advertisement was paid for by the House Re-election Campaign Committee.

The advertisement was heard again on Tuesday morning, according to those in the Skelton campaign committee and Skelton said she and her attorney are moving forward with a defamation law suit.

Candidate Walsh could not be reached for comment as she has been pulled out of town this week due to a death in the family.

However, her husband, Steve Walsh, said that the Walsh re-election committee – and the candidate herself – were unaware of the radio ad.

“By law we are not allowed to communicate with a PAC or third-party election committees,” Steve Walsh said. “If they said that ad was paid for by the HRCC, we wouldn’t know about it until it had been published or aired.”

Walsh said he would not comment on why such a claim would be made against Skelton.

“I don’t know what information they have that would make them make that claim,” Walsh said.

Skelton says the ad is one of many that uses “lies and half-truths.”

In a video message on social media, Skelton blasts the ad and campaign against her.

“They don’t talk about people, they use labels to stir people up and they use lies and half-truths,” Skelton said.

As to the HRCC’s claim that Skelton endorses “violent protest against law enforcement?”

“That’s defamation,” Skelton said. “The people of our district deserve someone better than a candidate who will hide behind third-party lies.”

Skelton said the campaign should be about “truth and respect for a candidate’s opponent.”

By Bruce Wallace