CONDOLENCES
Our condolences to Bill Goellner of Goellner Printing and his family on the passing of his mother.
NOT A PART TIME JOB
We had a reader call the other day who said he is sending us a piece of campaign literature from Mike Weller. The literature Weller distributed said “he would not treat the job of a City Councilman as a part time job.” It appears he has kept his promise. Weller now has the worst attendance record for City Council meetings. He has made only one of the last three meetings. The residents of Ward 5 have little representation on the Council. Do you think that Weller is foregoing his monthly paycheck and expense account or do you you think he is collecting the money?
MUENCH BACKTRACKING
Brightstar development has a proposal coming before the City Council to build a 5 story building on South Main just south of Boones Lick in Ward 2. The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Landmarks Commission voted to deny the project. It now comes before the Council. Muench, who was a big supporter of the project when it was first presented has now changed his mind and is against it. He was overheard telling someone he had enough votes to kill the project. Muench has a history of waffling. A rumor on the street says Venetia McEntyre is planning on challenging him for his seat on the Council. She has the backing of the Mayor and her pal, Steve Powell, the former head of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
MONEY LAUNDERING OR SMART
POLITICS
After our investigative series that began on May 13, “Money Laundering or Smart Politics”, the subject of our stories, Thomas W. Smith Jr., has resigned as treasurer of TEN back door funding legislative committees he operated out of his home at 320 Monroe Street in St. Charles. Smith, as treasurer of the committees formed to circumvent political contribution limits, dolled out millions of dollars he had received from those who were trying to hide their political contributions. The money he collected was then funneled through backdoors making it almost impossible for the public to know who is giving and who is receiving.
According to records received from the office of Missouri Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, Smith is a state employee and legislative aide to State Representative Tom Dempsey (R) St. Charles and is paid $53,530 a year in taxpayer dollars by the State of Missouri. It would seem to me that as a state employee it is unethical and perhaps illegal for Smith to be the treasurer of the money laundering committees. Perhaps there should be an investigation into whether he is breaking any laws. Wasn’t Attorney General Bill Webster sentenced to prison for less?
