A state senator filmed in two separate videos getting in the face of Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Friday night says that he was provoked after Ashcroft “barked off” in the face of his fellow Republican’s wife.
Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg) tells the RFT that at Friday night’s Perry County Lincoln Day event, Ashcroft “came up to my wife Michelle who was seated at a table, pointed his finger in her face and barked off to her.”
“I was there and confronted Ashcroft in the back of the room and called him a few choice words,” says Hoskins, who is also running for Ashcroft’s current job of Secretary of State (Ashcroft is running for governor). “I will always honor and defend my wife, and I won’t tolerate another man putting his finger in my wife’s face and bark off to her because ‘she looked at him.’”
Ashcroft denies barking, telling KSDK’s Mark Maxwell in a statement: “I neither insulted his wife nor pointed at her. Senator Hoskins’ outburst is concerning but I understand how stressful a campaign can be and I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.”
The first of the two videos taken that night, posted to YouTube by former state Senator Jeff Smith, show Hoskins in a red jacket squared off at Ashcroft, repeatedly calling him “a chickenshit.” “You got something to say to me?” Hoskins asks.
Ashcroft replies, “I just said, The truth hurts.”
Hoskins then accuses Ashcroft of saying something to his wife and over the course of the next 30 seconds or so hurls the same fowl-feces epithet at him a half dozen times.
“You’re a chickenshit. You are a chickenshit,” he says, adding a few moments later: “You’re a chickenshit.”
In the clip, Hoskins does say things other than the “chickenshit” line to Ashcroft, as the source of the argument seems to also have had something to do with Missouri libraries. We assume Hoskins feels they have too many Gore Vidal-type books on their shelves and not enough copies of pocket Constitutions. For whatever reason he blames this on chickenshit Jay Ashcroft.
“You’re a chickenshit,” Hoskins goes on. “A chickenshit. You’re a chickenshit. If I went up to your wife and cussed her out…you’d probably just fall onto your knees and fucking be a coward.”
Ashcroft keeps his composure throughout. Things seem to end there, as Hoskins walks away.
However, if a second video is any indication, Hoskins and Ashcroft appear to have taken the contretemps outside.
In this video, viewed by the RFT, it’s clear that Hoskins is again referencing his wife and whatever interaction Ashcroft had with her. “That’s uncalled for,” Hoskins says. “And when I asked you why, ‘Was she looking?’ Yes, she walked right by, she looked at you. I would have looked at you, too.”
Hoskins falls back on a couple of his go-to lines. “Don’t be a coward,” he says. “Don’t be a chickenshit.”
Things seem to escalate very briefly, with others stepping in to break up whatever is going on. Someone says something about “statewides talking to each other” and some person or another being “a civilian.” Hoskins adds before walking away, “If you want to talk, you can apologize to my wife.”
Hoskins again walks away and the video ends.
According to Hoskins, the heated exchange was filmed by Adam Schwadron, who is also running for Secretary of State. Hoskins says that his opponent released the video in an effort to embarrass him.
Though Ashcroft comes off as the cooler head of the two in the portions of the quarrel caught on camera, at least one GOP insider tells the RFT this dust-up isn’t doing his campaign for governor any favors.
“His campaign desperately needs momentum and instead he’s in the middle of a dispute about whether he insulted a state senator’s wife,” he says. “Not good to ever be in the news for someone calling you chickenshit and a coward.”
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