Well, here we are folks. Tuesday April 4th, election Day is upon us.
In the City of St. Charles, a recall election made its way onto the ballot. This paper has spent a great deal of time discussing this recall effort, the collection of signatures and the chaos that was brought upon us by a wealthy, greedy and power-hungry group of individuals. Mayor York wants to reclaim control of the City Council, so she “solicited” the help of some of her backers to do in Councilwoman Dottie Greer and Councilman Mark Brown. Since Darling Dottie is the only one on this ballot, I’ll concentrate on her recall effort. The public face of this effort is Linda Meyer, a strange and inexplicably angry woman who has personally profited from this venture. Ms. Meyer and her cohorts paid bounty hunters/signature gatherers from everywhere except St. Charles to collect the necessary signatures. At least one of these bounty hunters had been criminally charged for forgery as of my deadline. Who knows how many more will follow. FRAUD. That’s a really unfortunate word in the world of electoral politics and I think that really sums up the state of things with this recall effort. Regardless of how you might feel about certain decisions made by Darling Dottie, a recall effort fraught with FRAUD is not the answer. The voters will be able to grade Darling Dottie, along with the rest of the council, next April. This is a power-hungry move by Mayor York, backed by her merry band of idiots. Unfortunately, they are rich idiots so it is entirely likely that they might prevail. I hope that by the time this issue is tossed on your driveway, the courts will stop this FRAUD, but again the odds are against Darling Dottie. Please remember that this is a recall election. VOTE NO on Tuesday. VOTE NO to demonstrate that St. Charles City is not for sale to the highest bidder. VOTE NO to show Mayor York that the people decide who serves on the City Council, not her and her dark nights. VOTE NO to save Darling Dottie. VOTE NO.
On the County Council, voters in District 1 have been treated to another unfortunate circus with spoiler candidate using the courts to generate headlines and increase his name I.D. He’s a bumbling idiot running as the smart growth, aka no growth, guy. Who knows how that will all shake out. As I have said before, while I respect Ms. Hibbeler and her service to the people of O’Fallon, I’m a Republican, so it’s no big secret that I support Darrel Lackey. Notwithstanding the attacks he has suffered from within our own ranks, he is the best candidate to represent the interests of this fast-growing area of the County. Show the green wing that you understand growth can be beneficial, VOTE LACKEY.
In O’Fallon, there are three vacancies (and counting) on the Board of Aldermen with a total of four vacancies in the last couple months. Just in case you don’t have your scorecard handy, four seats are up for election on April 4th but not all the vacancies will be filled by the election. Donna Morrow says she’s embarrassed and she should be. I’m not even really sure what to recommend or suggest on this one since it’s impossible to know how many more resignations will come before the election and how many will withdraw from consideration. I guess people in O’Fallon should go to the polls. Maybe if more people took part in the process, this fracas would stop. Just VOTE.
And the race getting the most statewide attention is easily the election to fill the vacancy in State Senate District 2. Some of us are still adjusting to the fact that Jon Dolan resigned. He was so very entertaining after all. The rest of us are watching our own Republican party implode. Malcontent Chuck MacNab, press secretary for Joe Brazil (RINO), is urging voters to vote for Henke, the Democrat, to teach the Republican Party a lesson about selecting nominees. He is such an idiot that he thinks this will somehow help Brazil in the long run? This is a fairly simple analysis for any reasonable conservative. VOTE RUPP. This is a make it or break it election for Republicans. A Democratic victory does not bode well for the elections in November. Scott Rupp is an excellent candidate with a proven record of accomplishment. Brazil, like his fellow Democrat Henke, has accomplished nothing. In fact, that should be his motto – I do nothing. People in District 1 should turn out and vote to counter Henke’s popularity in Lincoln County and run off the green wing of our party. VOTE RUPP.
Last but not least, it’s always worth mentioning the Mayoral race in St. Peters. Granted, the election won’t take place until April 2008, but we can always count on Alderman Len Pagano’s perennial campaign. It seems that Pagano has staffed his campaign, and I think that’s probably worthy of note. Apparently, he has tapped St. Peters craziest and most long-winded resident, Sandy Waters, as his campaign manager. He’s also using county malcontent MacNab as his press secretary and he appears to be nutty enough to use the services of St. Charles County’s Democrat in sheep’s/Republican clothing, Brandy Pedersen. He apparently needs this completely wacko group to defend him from the criticism of his colleagues. There have also been rumors that he has secured untold promises from our favorite Great White Duck Hunters. Maybe his compatriots on the Board are just tired of the way he bumbles into the headlines and breaks his word.
I mean really – anyone with half a brain can see through his game. He throws discussion items on the agenda for each meeting just to see what will stick. His goal is simple. He wants a headline before the meeting and then he stumbles/mumbles through discussion on television usually remembering, but sometimes forgetting, some prior vote or position and then somehow manages to waste so much time that he earns a second headline. The latest example is rather amusing. He places an item on the agenda suggesting that the City of St. Peters should withdraw from the Chamber of Commerce because of the Chamber’s position on a piece of legislation in Jefferson City. He gets a banner headline before the meeting. During the meeting, he’s reminded by Alderman Jerry Hollingsworth, a fairly transparent Mayoral candidate himself, that Pagano criticized former Mayor Brown for withdrawing from the Chamber over a single issue. Hollingsworth also reminded Pagano of the Chamber’s support of the City. Lo and behold – Pagano, using his doddering old fool routine, remembers that this is true and decides that maybe that was an overreaction and he likes being a member of the Chamber. Goal accomplished – another headline. Anyway, I think we’ll be dealing with Pagano press performances for the next couple years so we might as well enjoy the show.
Go VOTE on Tuesday especially if you live in St. Charles City. VOTE NO to save Darling Dottie.
