Will Infighting Hand Morrison's Coucil Seat to Brand X?

Thanks to a handful of party hacks, the County Council seat vacated recently by Jeff Morrison may end up going into the hands of democrat Cheryl Hibbeler. Hibbeler, a former alderman in O'Fallon, is the nominee selected by the members of the Democrat Central Committee.

The republican nominee, Darrel Lackey, was the victor in a split vote selection process. Two others had sought the nomination, but Lackey, it turned out, got the nod by having the majority of votes. Harry Bogart and St. Paul Alderman Joe Cronin, disappointed in the fact that they weren't selected, huddled with Brandy Pederson, Vice-Chairman of the Republican Central Committee, who encouraged that they file suit to create a new selection process. (Apparently, Lackey wasn't her choice, either.) At issue was the use of a proxy vote, which was approved by Republican Central Committee Chairman Tom Kuypers.

Once it was over and the names turned in to Director of Elections Rich Chrismer, Cronin and Bogart chose to file as independent candidates for the office. This alone would split the republican vote, or it could be viewed as a fly in the ointment and not split the vote at all. Now, Bogart has dropped out of the race altogether, and is suggesting that republicans support Cronin in the race. Their reason? They don't like Lackey because the city of Wentzville, of which Lackey serves on the board of aldermen, is growing.

Wow!

What a concept! In what has been the fastest growing county in Missouri for twenty some years, the novel idea that the northwestern part of the county is growing is cause for alarm!

I can certainly understand those that live in less populated areas of the county wanting to keep it that way. But they need to realize that change is inevitable. Whether it's now or ten years from now, the folks in St. Paul must realize that growth is headed their way, just like the folks in Augusta and Portage Des Sioux.

The reality of this maneuver is this. Although Cronin is likely known in his little part of the world, more than likely the mass of voters in the district have never heard of him. Lackey, an alderman and former mayor of Wentzville, is far better known in that part of the county than Cronin is, which can be a double-edged sword. Lackey should hold a fundraising edge by far, thus allowing him to have a better financed campaign than Cronin, but the problem I see is in the big picture.

Suppose Cronin manages to get a message out to republican voters that he should now be the candidate and some vote for him. It could very well happen that enough voters will cross over to him and split the overall republican vote, thus handing the election to Hibbeler and the democrats.

I wonder if Pederson understands the problems and divisions she's creating within the party by trying to control all that happens. Is her lust for power within the party worth losing seats over?

The Abuse of Power Continues

Just when you thought Council President Rory Riddler was going to change his mind on a couple of things in order to save his own political hide, he votes with the rest of the so-called "Fab 5" on the St. Charles City Council against placing the recall election for fellow councilman Mark Brown on the April ballot, along with Dotty Greer, whose name has already been placed there.

Riddler voted against his four co-horts a couple of weeks ago to pass the city budget, paving the way for him to redeem himself in the eyes of many voters of St. Charles. Mind you, Riddler is a crafty politician, always mindful of the fallout of the actions of himself and his colleagues. This is why many pundits believed that Riddler may change his position on other issues and separate himself from Brown and Greer, who are very likely to be recalled.

But, in a surprise move, even after placing the Greer recall on the April ballot, the city council voted 5-5 against placing Brown's recall on the same ballot. Given the fact that the county Director of Elections has already certified the signatures on the recall petitions, Riddler and his "railroad" have chosen to use the city police department as their own thugs to intimidate voters.

Word has it that detectives are taking depositions and knocking on doors of residents in the area whose signatures appear on the petition, as well as Brown himself contacting them, either by mail, phone or in person.

I don't know if this is the worst case of voter intimidation in the country, but it is certainly the worst case of it in our little neck of the woods.

The committee seeking the recall has once again petitioned the St. Charles County Circuit Court to force the City Council to set the April election date.

More to come ...

Out Of The Woodwork For Schnur's Council Seat

Now that Bob Schur has announced he is vacating his county council seat to run for collector, the names are dropping on the republican side.

So far, two St. Peters aldermen and a Francis Howell school board dictator have made rumblings that they have interests in holding the seat. Aldermen David "so-what-if-my-wife-is-a-criminal-who-embarrassed- the-governor- and-the-party" Hayes and Patrick Barclay have begun making phone calls and lining up their support base. To be fair, Hayes is a fairly intelligent guy -- I just think he happens to lack common sense. He's part of the whole Tom Brown regime, which seems to be falling apart, especially with the recent departure of Jeff Morrison.

Barclay is fairly new to the board of aldermen and has managed to keep his nose pretty clean. I expect that he may be the favored candidate, especially considering the company he may have on the ballot.

The third person that has expressed interest in the county council seat is Francis Howell School Board President Mark Lafata. Lafata has made his political career out of villifying good people in the Francis Howell district. Many people have either left or been relieved of their duties since he took over as president of the board.

Lafata started beating up on the district when he served on the strategic planning committee as a parent. He pretty much proved to everyone that he doesn't "get" school finance. He's a loan officer at a bank, a highly regulated industry, but he doesn't seem to understand that public schools are even more highly regulated, and that you can't screw around with those regs.

Lafata started running for the board, trying to serve with former members Sally Breck and Lisa Naeger -- two others that never "got" it. Thank goodness he wasn't elected back then, because with Silly Sally at the head of the school board, the district would have folded!

Lafata and Naeger ended up serving together for one year, and Naeger chose not to seek re-election. Just as well, she was so loony that it is not likely she could have been elected dog catcher.

Anyway, all of them ganged up when the could against the district and anybody that supported it. Tax increases? We don't need tax increases, we just need to thumb our nose at the state and stop doing what they tell us we're supposed to do! When the state was continually decreasing the amount of state aid coming to public schools across Missouri, they celebrated. When over $20 million had been cut from the budget of the district, they claimed it was not enough.

The district finally managed to convince voters that it needed a local infusion of dollars to offset the dollars that were no longer coming from the state. Voters increased the local property tax rate by 89 cents, based upon a projected shortfall in funding. This shortfall was projected, based upon past receipts from the state, and calculations from the school funding bill that had been filed in January in Jefferson City by then-budget chairman, Rep. Carl Bearden.

Once the election took place in April, then-Governor Bob Holden released funds that had previously been withheld by his office, and then Bearden and former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway held a press conference announcing more revenues would be placed into the school funding formula than were originally expected. Lafata immediately called all district officials, including school board members, liars, and demanded that the entire 89 cent increase be rolled back.

In all actuality, the increase provided by the governor's and legislature's actions wasn't enough to warrant a complete rollback, but the board appropriately rolled back 25 cents, leaving enough to adequately fund the district as well as leaving reserves to cash flow the district through the end of the calendar year. This sent Lafata into a tizzy, and he and his bankrolling buddies funded campaigns that allowed him to take the majority on the board, thus placing him as president.

Recently, the board passed a budget for the current school year, but interestingly, Lafata didn't roll back any more of the tax increase that he had so eagerly assaulted. Had he done so, he would have had to trim an ADDITIONAL $9 million from the budget. Of course, he's not about to tell voters this, though ... then they would know he has been lying all along!

Well, all three of these potential candidates have their histories ... Hayes and Lafata being the most flambouyantly arrogant. Ought to make for an interesting election. If Barclay is successful in communicating with voters about the misdeeds and shortcomings of Hayes and Lafata, he might just pull this off. Interestingly, though ... if you put Lafata on the county council, he can do far less damage than what he's done to Francis Howell.

Stay tuned!

Many Drool Over Seat Vacated By Walker

Recently, Bob Schnur, republican county councilman, announced that he was going to run next year for County Collector, foregoing a formal re-election bid for his council district. Long-time collector Barb Walker, democrat incumbent, had chosen to step down due to health problems that appear to be life threatening, which created the vacancy.

Now Walker, to be fair, has done quite an admirable job in her role for many years. She rarely mounted much, if any, competition from republicans -- mostly because she was well liked. Probably the most difficult challenge she had was in her last election from former assessor Gene Zimmerman, who ran for collector instead of running for the assured re-election because, "the office needs me!" Needless to say, bad political move for Zimmerman, because Walker pretty much trounced him, and he faded away into retirement. Rumor had it that Walker was going to retire in 2004, but because Zimmerman was insistent upon running for that office, she chose to run one last time. Walker's health has been failing as of late, due to cancer, but I have to hand it to her. As an elected county official, who likely would not be running again, she could have chosen to stay in office, collect a salary and health benefits, while essentially answering to nobody. But she chose to retire, which places her even higher in my book than before, when it comes to standards and morals in office. Walker always stayed out of the political pandering that often takes place among officeholders, which is why she was placed high in the first place. I do wish her well in her efforts to recover and live a normal retirement. She has earned it.

Meanwhile, the democrat central committee recommended two names of potential democrat replacements (they have to be democrats, the county charter requires it) to county executive Joe Ortwerth. Those names are Mindy Primm and Tom Green.

Primm would actually probably make a good candidate, although she took a beating in '04 when she chose to run against state Sen. Chuck Gross as her first run for public office. She is the daughter of the late Jim Primm, former long-term county clerk, who died of a heart attack a few years ago. She's a likeable person, and has done a lot for the community through her various affiliations. One affiliation that is likely to keep Ortwerth from chosing her, though, is the recent politicking she's done on behalf of trying to grow the democrat party in St. Charles County. My guess is that Ortwerth will overlook her, and look for a candidate that would not likely hold on to the position after the next election.

Green is also not likely to be the choice, mostly because of the background of his and his family's. Green, a former two-term state representative (until Sally Faith came in and saved us all), holds a record. He did absolutely nothing for the community prior to being elected in 2000, did nothing for the community during his four year stint, and has done nothing for the community since, yet he still considers himself electable and a political powerhouse. He's neither, mind you -- he's just too stupid to know it. Perhaps he can run for the City Council after Mark Brown is recalled? He'd be the perfect replacement. They're two peas in a pod, and he can coddle up to Rory Riddler once again.

What Green has going for him, in his mind, is his family background. His brother Tim Green served in the Missouri House for many years, and is now the state senator in north county. The Greens eat, breathe and sleep labor. If it's not on the agenda of organized labor, it stands very little chance of recognition by these thugs. Their win-at-all-costs mentality makes them very little else. But hey, at least Tim is a thug with a brain. In the majority party for two years in the house, Tom was absolutely worthless, while Tim was the chairman of the house budget committee, a powerful position. In fact, the only thing Tom can point to in the area of legislative accomplishments is how he tried to politicize the naming of the Page Avenue Bridge -- which Tom tried to have moved after he realized he bought a home that practically backs up to the extension. When it came time to file the bill to name the bridge (Veterans Memorial Bridge), Tom chose to file the bill by himself, rather than allowing others in the delegation to sign on as co-sponsors, which had always been the way of doing business. Amidst pressure, Tom eventually scuttled the first bill and filed a new one with the appropriate co-sponsors.

Tom is also not likely to be chosen by Ortwerth, partially because of Ortwerth's time spent in the state house serving with Tim, and partially because Ortwerth knows that if Tom ends up in the collector's seat, the AFL-CIO will be pouring tons of cash into local elections to retain him, since Tim is also a big shot with the Missouri Building and Construction Trades Council. He directed tons (another record, I think) of cash into his brother's campaigns for state representative in 98 and 2000 to try to defeat republican Jon Bennett. Green's first attempt cost somewhere in the vacinity of $60,000 (compared with Bennett's $16,000 his first go-round in 94). Another $60,000 in 2000 defeated Bennett by 54 votes, and Green elevated his own status to chief democrat operative in St. Charles County (in his own mind, of course).

Ortwerth will likely appoint a democrat who will do the job until January, but not make for a very good candidate, so that Schnur has an opportunity to win the seat. Remember Francis Dickherber? Rich Chrismer does!