Alissa Zhu

DZHU@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Some of the accusations Springfield residents hurled at City Council hopeful Curtis Montgomery Wednesday night included "misogynist," "radical" and "bully."

What was supposed to be a small meet-and-greet with voters at a downtown sushi restaurant turned into a bitter clash of moral and political values.

About nine critics crashed the campaign event and questioned Montgomery about his views of how women should behave and dress. They also criticized Montgomery's goals to privatize social services and most city services, like public transit, public schools and the fire department.

They were motivated to challenge Montgomery after seeing some recent comments of his on Facebook, including one post in which Montgomery implied Women's March protesters were in favor of "sodomy and baby murder."

Montgomery, who describes himself as a "conservative libertarian," calmly defended his statements and beliefs throughout the confrontation.

"They're progressive and I'm regressive," Montgomery told the News-Leader after most people left. "I'm a Christian and I'm going to promote modesty, which means dresses to their knees and they cover their cleavage."

In defense of his political views, Montgomery said, "I just think Democrats always do favors for the poor and Republicans always do favors for the rich. Those favors have gotten us $20 trillion in debt. The Libertarians come in and say, 'Why don't we cut favors on both sides?'"

Montgomery said he voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson during the presidential election.

Montgomery is running for City Council's General B seat, against incumbent Craig Hosmer. The election will be held April 4.

Laura Umphenour helped organize the people who questioned Montgomery on Wednesday. They were members of Springfield Indivisible, a new political activism group that aims to "resist the Trump agenda," according to Umphenour.

Umphenour said after seeing some of Montgomery's posts online, she wanted to find out more about him.

"My goal is to expose these people that are running for office — either way left or way right — (and) to bring their ideas into the open," Umphenour said.

Umphenour said she wants to educate the public about politicians' views.

"It begins at the City Council level, and once they're in, they move to Jefferson City," Umphenour said.

Not everyone who showed up at the meet-and-greet was there to oppose Montgomery. Three Springfield residents said they were either undecided or sympathetic to Montgomery.

One of them was Chuck Baldee, who told the News-Leader he wanted to have a conversation with the City Council candidate.

"What's going on in there is a whole bunch of people who decided they don't like him and ganged up on him," Baldee said.

Baldee said he was looking forward to getting to know Montgomery as a person.

"I'm not going to find those answers tonight. What I found was a screaming match," Baldee said.

When Montgomery and his wife, Jennifer, arrived at Kai on Wednesday, they didn't expect many people to show up to the meet-and-greet.

"Most of my constituents are at church Wednesday nights," Montgomery said. He explained they chose that day because it's one of the only nights his wife has off from her job at Walmart.

About 10 minutes in, a group of mostly women approached Montgomery. They introduced themselves as voters who wanted to become more involved with city government.

Everyone filed into a dimly lit booth enclosed by three walls and a beaded curtain.

Umphenour pulled out her phone, leveled the camera on Montgomery and announced that she was "going live."

They began by asking Montgomery to tell them about himself.

Montgomery described growing up as a "4th generation Springfieldian" and his family life. Montgomery went to Ozarks Technical Community College and Evangel University. Montgomery said he has raised money for the National Rifle Association and was the vice president of a local group working to reform marijuana laws. Montgomery has also been involved with volunteering at The Fairbanks, a former elementary school building that has been turned into a community center in the Grant Beach neighborhood.

Then people began confronting Montgomery about past statements he has made about women, including some direct quotes from Facebook.

Montgomery mocked Women's March protesters in January: "What do we want? SODOMY AND BABY MURDER. When do we want it? NOW."

In a different post, Montgomery commented: "If a women got raped for wearing yoga pants and running through a park by herself, I wouldn't be surprised but that doesn't mean I wouldn't convict the sick bastard that did it."

The voters also brought up an incident when Montgomery posted a picture of a woman in a bikini top and referred to her as a "whore." He also made a degrading comment about her breasts.

A woman asked Montgomery, "Do you think that's appropriate stuff for a guy running for City Council?"

Montgomery apologized for the "whore" comment: "I should have done it in a different way. I should have went to her in a personal message rather than trying to embarrass her."

Montgomery said he has three daughters and has been married 13 years and he "is definitely not a misogynist."

Montgomery explained that he believes people should be able to do what they want, without being hindered by the government, as long as no one is being harmed. Montgomery said he believes immodesty harms kids.

For the most part, Montgomery stood by the comments he made.

"(Women who wear yoga pants while running alone) shouldn't be surprised if they get raped. I did not say they deserve to get raped," Montgomery said.

About his "sodomy and baby murder" comment, Montgomery explained: "Abortion and gay sex — I just assume that's what all the marches are about in the most part."

It appears that Montgomery has since deleted at least one of the original Facebook comments referenced.

Kathleen Kennedy said she was "gob stopped" by some of the comments Montgomery made about women, particularly protesters in the Women's March.

"We were calm to begin with and it got heated. Sometimes things are so outrageous you just can't. It is time to keep the pressure on," Kennedy said.

Kennedy and others asked Montgomery to explain his views on social services.

"I came from 'the hood' of Springfield," Montgomery said. "I had to pull myself up by my own bootstraps and go."

Montgomery said he believes in giving to others "out of free will, not coercion."

"The alternative is putting a gun to a rich person's head and redistributing (the money) as you like," Montgomery said about taxes.

Montgomery said he is in favor of eliminating grants, replacing public schools with charter schools and privatizing the fire department.

Montgomery said he believes private companies, nonprofits and churches should provide social services, not the government.

When pressed, Montgomery said he received academic grants from the federal government and one of his daughters attends public school.

Montgomery said if he got his taxes back then he would consider sending his children to private school.

Nancy Creager Tofflemire, an undecided voter, said she liked some of the things Montgomery said.

Creager Tofflemire said she agreed the church should help more with social services and liked a screen-printing business idea Montgomery proposed for helping disadvantaged people.

However, Tofflemire said she disagreed with his views on women and women's responsibilities.

During the hours-long ordeal, Montgomery never raised his voice throughout the exchanges, and he said he believed his opponents treated him cordially.

"I've been battling for weeks, so I'm used to it," Montgomery said with a shrug. "(This is) not what I would call my constituency."

Umphenour replied: "But we're your community, hon."

Montgomery said if people like his platform, then they will vote for him.

"When I go to City Council meetings, I am going to make decisions off facts and numbers. They say you have to listen to your constituents. I have a bachelor's degree in business administration. Would you trust me to make a decision, or the constituency?" Montgomery said.

No one ate except for Montgomery and his wife, who both ordered fish tacos.

"There's nothing I could have said to change your minds anyways," Montgomery said about his critics. "If you don't like what I stand for, then go vote for Craig."