Those who don’t agree with our style and content have occasionally maligned the First Capitol News. Those who voice their distaste the loudest generally have something to hide.
A few weeks ago Councilman Mike Weller made some statements at a City Council meeting that made us pause for reflection.
From his first days on the St. Charles City Council Weller has been a negative force in this City. His campaign manager helped set the tone with scathing reviews of the swearing in ceremony. Some on the council followed the law and had the City Clerk or a Circuit Judge swear them in. Weller had Mayor York swear him in.
That was the start of Weller’s reign of terror and abuse. It was obvious from the beginning Weller was going to give others a hard time. Weller ran on a platform that he would be the leader of the Council and create a boardroom atmosphere. Evidently Weller thought he could get elected and say whatever he wanted and people wouldn’t remember. Well it is the job of the First Capitol News to report his actions and words.
Just this past month Weller told the Council members at a Council meeting that those who know him, know he wants all the facts before he votes on anything. Was that why he voted not to subpoena witnesses that could have testified about the Mayor’s signing of a contract with Express Scripts and would have brought forward all the facts?* An action by the Mayor that is against the Charter and City ordinances and done without Council approval? A contract by the way that the City has received a $200,000 demand on?* Weller voted against allowing the City to find the truth behind the fraud ridden re-call efforts and provide funds for the attorney?
Weller’s role in the recall attempt against Councilwoman Dottie Greer was very active and suspicious. Maybe that is why he wanted the police investigation into fraud stopped. Weller actively campaigned against Greer and on Election Day worked the polls in an attempt to remove her from office. We have confirmed that a fellow Councilman confronted Weller and they had words.
Councilman John Gieseke approached Weller and told him he thought he was slime and that Weller was bought and paid for. Keep in mind Weller earlier asked if someone had something to say to him, come and say it. I guess Gieseke really hit a nerve so Weller immediately went to the police and tried to create a voter scandal involving Councilman Gieseke. He complained Gieseke voted illegally during the recent elections. Gieseke still owns his house on Indian Hills and he voted using that address. He was still registered to vote from that address. Weller apparently wanting to do whatever he could to embarrass Gieseke, filed a complaint with the police. This was surprising since at earlier meetings Weller had ranted and raved against Council President Rory Riddler filing a complaint regarding voter fraud against those conducting the petition drive to recall Dottie Greer. At a recent Council meeting Weller made accusations against the Police Chief and police department regarding the investigation they conducted in the recall fraud petition drive. He was yelling at the Chief for sending out a letter to people who had signed the petitions asking if they had really signed them. He demanded to know if the City Administrator had approved the letter before it went out.
At the request of St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope, the St. Charles County Sheriff’s department conducted an investigation regarding Weller’s complaint against Councilman Gieseke. Rich Chrismer, County Director of Elections, who Weller praised for his professionalism in the handling of the re-call signatures, told the Sheriff this was not a violation. In fact he told the Sheriffs office you can own multiple pieces of property in the County as long as you vote from just one, it could be from any of them. Chrismer’s opinion can be found on the web blog. Certainly Weller wouldn’t now say Chrismer’s opinions and professionalism are in question because he did his job and spoke the truth. By the way Mike, you might want to check out “Home is where the heart is”, case decision and others like it across the country. In the USA the government has made it clear the person voting decides where home is, not Big Brother.
Weller also told the people of the City if there was fraud found in the re-calls he wouldn’t support the re-calls. I guess that was just more words without meaning. He has a lot of those flowing from his mouth. Maybe we should ask the Corp of Engineers to put in a dam so the residents of St. Charles can be protected from the floodwaters of distortion and misstatements. After all Weller told the people of the City the quotes we attribute to him are lies, lies, lies, when in fact what we do is take his statements from the Council meetings and print them. So if there are lies being told they aren’t coming from us they are coming from the person we are quoting.
The FCN asked Councilman Gieseke for any comments regarding the complaint Weller filed against Gieseke. Gieseke told the FCN, “It is very difficult to understand why someone would work so hard using politics of personal destruction. I have one job as a Councilman and that is to try to work for the betterment of my ward and the City. It is obvious that some would rather continue the backbiting and infighting instead of working together. Politics is something some people are not well suited for, you win some and lose some. The key is to move forward and not dwell on the past.”
Mike Weller told the people of Ward 5 he would bring professionalism to the Council. He has failed miserably on that promise and the voters in his ward need to remember that when he comes up for reelection in April of 2007.
* See the First Capitol News archives on our web log,
firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com
Illegal Contract 2/5/05, Mayor attempts to mislead residents 4/19/06, Council Votes Investigation of Mayor 2/26/05, Express Scripts Demands $200,000 from City 5/13/06, Unauthorized signing of contract by Mayor could lead to her Impeachment 3/19/05
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY
OUR NEXT EDITION JUNE 3, 2006
