(The Associated Press circulated the following story by David A. Lieb on August 24.)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — An Amtrak conductor said Tuesday that he will resign rather than face a company investigation for suggesting to train passengers that they should vote against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Conductor Leslie Farr had been suspended without pay following an Aug. 5 incident in which he used the public address system to tell passengers on a Kansas City-to-St. Louis train that they would be delayed while waiting for Kerry’s locomotive to head west from St. Louis. Farr said he then quipped that passengers should vote accordingly in November.
He was scheduled to have a company hearing Thursday, but Farr said in an interview Tuesday that he instead was resigning.
“It’s a very stressful job to begin with, then with all of these circumstances that have come up, it’s best right now for us to split ways,” Farr said while adding that he intended to focus on politics.
Farr is the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District and also is a delegate to the Republican National Convention next week in New York.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Tuesday that Farr’s resignation had not yet been received.
In its investigation letter to Farr, Amtrak accused him of violating company policies by making “inappropriate and denigrating announcements” to customers that “caused embarrassment to the corporation and the loss of good will of our passengers.”
According to Amtrak records, the eastbound Aug. 5 train left Kansas City about 25 minutes late and was running more than an hour-and-a-half behind – due largely to freight train traffic – when it left Washington, Mo., headed toward St. Louis. The train, carrying 135 passengers, was delayed an additional 84 minutes just outside the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood to allow Kerry’s special westbound train to pass.
Kerry’s train later made a brief stop in Washington while on its way to a rally at the Capitol in Jefferson City.