JEFFERSON CITY — Lawyers for Missouri's former director of election integrity gathered Monday to announce a whistleblower lawsuit against Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
The lawsuit alleges that Nicholas La Strada, a Republican whom Hoskins appointed, was fired for whistleblowing what the lawsuit called illegal and unethical conduct in the Secretary of State's Office.
This allegedly included a plan to fabricate evidence in a federal hearing and the decision to overturn a certified municipal election result, according to the lawyers' news release.
The communications director for the Secretary of State's Office, Anne Marie Moy told KOMU 8 News on Monday that Hoskins would not comment on pending litigation involving a personnel matter.
Dennis E. Egan, one attorney for the plaintiff, said democracy counts on people like La Strada to be the guardrail against illegal attempts to mess with elections.
"It turns out, and these were in Nick's own words, he said that, 'It turned out I was the one that had too much integrity for what the job intended to be,'" Egan said.
Attorneys spoke about the lawsuit on the steps of the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City at 10 a.m. Monday.
La Strada was not in attendance, as he is currently overseas serving as a U.S. long-term election observer in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The petition alleges that members of Hoskins' staff conspired to create a false whistleblower submission to use as evidence in a federal trial.
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