| Diana Linnenbringer won't seek re-election as Pulaski County Clerk |
By: Darrell Todd Maurina
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County Clerk Diana Linnebringer says she won't run for re-election.
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PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (Dec. 31, 2009) — Despite having one of the county’s highest margins of victory in her 2004 re-election campaign, Pulaski County Clerk Diana Linnenbringer announced at the last county commission meeting of the year that she won’t be running for re-election.
Linnenbringer, a suburban St. Louis native, has served two terms and a total of eight years as the Pulaski County Clerk and said she’ll be returning to her home community after her term ends in December. Her elderly mother still lives in the St. Louis area and Linnenbringer said it’s important to be close to her family in that city.
However, Linnenbringer acknowledged that despite her high re-election margin, her duties as county clerk have been difficult.
“I told the girls here I like my job but it doesn’t outweigh some of the other things I have to go through around here,” Linnenbringer said. “I’m not sure I’m ready to totally hang it up, but I’m going to look for a stress-free job and hopefully one that is flexible.”
Future plans for Linnenbringer could also include travel.
“I want to do some things and this job is very demanding,” Linnenbringer said. “I will be eternally grateful to the citizens of Pulaski County who put trust in me to do a good job for them.”
After Linnenbringer confirmed that her retirement is “a firm decision,” County Commissioner Ricky Zweerink said he’s sorry Linnenbringer won’t run for re-election, and although he’s a Republican, he said many Democrats also supported her work.
“You could have won again quite easily again,” Zweerink said. “You had support on both sides of the aisle.”
Zweerink said the unpleasantness Linnenbringer experienced wasn’t representative of the entire county.
“You’d be surprised how different it is on the northern end of the county. People are friendly around there,” Zweerink said.
Zweerink said the worst problem he’s seen so far was when former Pulaski County Treasurer Barbara Thomas resigned before her term ended and the county had to decide how to process bills until the commissioners either appointed an interim treasurer or waited for Gov. Jay Nixon to appoint a replacement.
“I’ll tell you, the biggest confusion was when she walked in here and dropped those keys on the table. That was mass confusion,” Zweerink said.
Linnenbringer said her decision to resign had no connection to the former treasurer’s actions, and noted that she’d recently learned that a county official elsewhere in the state had a heart attack despite being in his mid-50s.
Linnenbringer isn’t a native of Pulaski County but said she’s been familiar with the area long before she moved to Pulaski County herself, noting that her former husband’s family had a cottage on the Lake of the Ozarks so she spent considerable time traveling through Pulaski County years ago.
Prior to being elected as county clerk, Linnenbringer was a child support enforcement staff member for former Pulaski County Prosecutor Michael Headrick. She’s also worked in human resources, consumer affairs and marketing in St. Louis for two different airline companies, TWA and Ozark Airlines. She’ll retire with a Pulaski County pension as well an airline pension.
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