“Transparent. Equitable. Accountable.” Her words. Her record.

Her campaign's three promises are transparency, equity, and accountability. This page puts her own dated statements, her filings, and her coalition next to those words.

The missed financial-disclosure deadline

Missouri requires candidates for county office to file a Personal Financial Disclosure statement. In 2026, seven Platte County candidates — Mary McKenna, Dale Brouk, Kevin Robinson, Chris Kendall, Holly Cayer, Gena Ross, and Russell Wojtkiewicz — failed to file the statement with the Platte County Clerk by the April 21 deadline, although each had filed with the state Ethics Commission. On May 4, 2026, the County Commission voted 2–1 to retain all seven on the ballot rather than disqualify them.

The lapse was shared by seven candidates of both parties. It is listed here because it is the candidate's first filing obligation of the campaign, and because of what followed: four disclosure reports later amended at once (Ethics Complaints).

Platform and public positions

• Children's-services sales tax. On the commission's decision not to impose the quarter-cent children's mental-health sales tax approved by voters in November 2024: "I will respect the voters and work with others on the commission to implement that." (Platte County Landmark, March 15, 2026.)
• Amendment 5 (state income tax). In June 2026 her campaign Facebook page reposted an attack on the statewide measure that read in part: "These people hate you… scum of the earth just for being poor, disabled, retired, a student, or even an active-duty member of our military," describing the amendment's supporters as people who think voters are "a plague on society," and telling readers to send them "back to the holes they crawled out of." A county commissioner has no authority over state income tax.
• General platform (campaign website): "transparent, equitable, and accountable leadership"; road and park maintenance; "robust" law-enforcement funding; fiscal responsibility; managing growth while "preserving quality of life."
• On the sitting Presiding Commissioner, during the May 2026 candidate-retention vote: Scott Fricker "needs to go."
• April 16, 2026 letter to the editor: "Things in Platte County government need to change and I intend to change them when you elect me... in November." Recounts being asked to leave a Parkville news conference after the venue owner learned she was a Democratic candidate.

Dated public statements

• June 2026, commenting on an opponent's campaign Facebook page: "The insiders are the ones currently in office making decisions without public comment, it happens all the time." On June 11, 2026, the candidate had met privately at Stone Canyon Pizza with Dale Brouk (Independent, Presiding Commissioner), Kevin Robinson (Independent, Auditor), Melissa Moran, party chair Peter Coyne, and State Rep. Ashley Aune (D-14, House Minority Floor Leader) — see below.
• Same thread: "progress is being made on the Homestead property tax credit implementation they tell us behind the scenes… there is no transparency." The Homestead credit was adopted by public commission order in January 2026 and placed on the ballot; the SB 190 senior credit was enacted publicly with posted FAQs and applications.
• June 19, 2026 (Platte County Landmark): Republicans "prefer to create conspiracies that don't exist"; "my opponent seeks to continue to play political games"; she is "a new voice… results, not headlines."

Endorsements and coalition

• Platte County Democratic Party — formal endorsement by Chair Peter Coyne, Landmark letter of May 7, 2026, which also reports that county Democrats mobilized "50+ individuals" to attend commission meetings during the candidate-retention fight. Coyne personally contributed $10 to the campaign on April 1, 2026; the county party committee contributed $100 on May 12.
• June 11, 2026 — Stone Canyon Pizza. Photographed with State Rep. Ashley Aune, Kevin Robinson, Dale Brouk, and Melissa Moran. The Landmark reported the meeting on June 19. The candidate described it as shared pushback against one-party control of the county. Brouk and Robinson are running as Independents; Aune has led the legislative push to force implementation of the children's-services tax.
• Organized labor — Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 2 Legislative Action Committee contributed $200 on July 13, 2026. No formal union endorsement located.

Background

• Co-hosted "The Morning Country Club with Dale Carter and Mary McKenna" on KFKF 94.1 FM for roughly twenty-five years, until Wilks Broadcasting ended the show in March 2011.
• Self-described in a 2026 op-ed as "a former news reporter"; the campaign website cites "a lifetime of experience in the communications industry."
• Claims "over 40 years" of residence in Platte County.
• No employer or occupation is documented in any public source between the 2011 radio termination and the 2026 campaign.
• No education record located; the campaign's "About" page does not state one.
• No prior elected office. Only documented political role: At-Large Committee Member, Platte County Democratic Central Committee.

Gaps — what is not known

• No occupation or employer since 2011.
• No education record.
• Why the City of Kansas City dismissed its 2017 earnings-tax petition, and whether the tax was paid; the docket does not say.
• Whether the ASHPAC contribution was received February 23 (per the sworn 24-Hour Notice) or July 23 (per the amended 8-Day report).
• The source of the $3,304.35 difference between the amended July Quarterly's closing balance and the amended 8-Day report's opening balance.
• The status of Ethics Commission Case #26-0079-I and of the disclosure-report complaint, which are confidential until final action.
• No specific statements located on TIF, the county levy, or the jail.