Including its $100,000 direct donation to Brian Stumpe's campaign, the Republican State Leadership Committee spent nearly $300,000 in its effort to unseat incumbent Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce.
County Clerk Marvin Register plans to certify last week's vote totals Monday, but based on the unofficial totals released Tuesday night, Joyce was re-elected over challenger Brian Stumpe, by a 1,343 vote margin out of a total 22,781 votes cast.
Jill Bader, the national RSLC's spokeswoman, has not answered several News Tribune requests for comment on the election's outcome or on the amount of money it spent.
But Gov. Jay Nixon told reporters last Wednesday: "I think this is a real, solid statement by the people of this area - that judges who work hard, who make decisions (and) who are close to their community should be re-elected regardless of their party or their background, so that they can continue to make the necessary, independent decisions that are vital for a democracy.
"So I think that the rebuking of these external, over-politicized dollars that come flying in is a great signal that Missourians like to have an independent judiciary - not a political judiciary."
Stumpe promised during his campaign that, if elected, his decisions would be based on the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions, and on existing laws. He said in an interview that his promise was not intended to be a criticism of the way the current circuit court judges were deciding cases.
Joyce repeated last week, after the election, "Politics play no part in the judiciary - (and people) should have confidence that when they go in front of a judge, that their case is going to be decided only on the merits and the law, and not be decided on some hidden political agenda that someone else might have."
During the campaign, several people wondered if the Cole County circuit court should be added to Missouri's Nonpartisan Court Plan, where judges are appointed to vacancies by the governor and, after serving on the bench for at least one year, have their names placed on the general election ballot so voters can retain the judge for a full term or vote to remove the judge from the bench.
In the 72-year history of the plan's operations, voters have rejected only two circuit judges: in Jackson County in 1942 and Clay County in 1992.
Voters first approved the plan in 1940, for the appeals and Supreme Courts, and the trial level courts in St. Louis City and Jackson County.
Otherwise, Joyce noted last week: "We've had elected judges since 1820 in this state."
The Constitution allows other circuits to join the plan, if their voters approve - and St. Louis, Clay, Platte and Greene counties have done so.
Former Supreme Court Judge John Holstein, now a private-practice lawyer in Springfield, helped lead the 2008 campaign switching Greene County to the Nonpartisan Plan.
"There was no stunning event, and certainly no "corruption' or "aha' moment" that led to the petition campaign to make the change, he wrote in an email last week. "Our local bar association spent about two years discussing whether it was time to adopt the Nonpartisan Court Plan. ...
"More and more, sitting judges were required to campaign to retain their seats and the races were more contentious and costly.
"Many of our local lawyers were being solicited for donations or support for these campaigns - it was awkward to appear before a judge when you were donating money or support to his opponent. Equally troubling was where a lawyer thought the opponent in a particular case was supporting the sitting judge."
The Constitution requires a petition signed by registered voters equaling at least 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor during the last governor's election - so, in Cole County, that would be a minimum of 3,687 signatures, based on the 2012 election.
If there's a successful petition, a simple majority of the voters must approve the proposal at the next general election.
If they reject the idea, there must be at least a four-year wait before it can be proposed again.
Even though the question was raised during this year's Stumpe-Joyce race, no Cole County group or organization has announced plans for such a petition.
Joyce said: "I think our county - certainly after this election and what happened - should be looking at the Nonpartisan Court Plan."
Nixon, who served as Missouri's attorney general for 16 years, said last week: "It's up to local jurisdictions whether they want to have the Nonpartisan Court Plan or not.
"But judges in this state have a history of being able to make their decisions absent a concern of partisan politics.
"And generally around this state - even where they're elected - it remains a bastion where we have not seen as much kind of political pressure, or, "If I make this decision, what will happen politically?'
"And that independent branch of the government has been able to operate independently. Whether I agree with them, or not. Whether any of us agree with them, or not."