THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Jerry Haferkamp
Has anyone noticed that although our Charter has been changed to make the mayor responsible for running the everyday business of the city, the requirements to run for the position haven’t changed? We no longer will have a trained professional at the helm of operations. It seems that the only requirements are that you have drawn a certain number of breaths and that you drew a certain number of them in St. Charles. Since there is no requirement that you know what you are doing, it is no wonder Patti wants the job.
When her campaign starts, I wonder if we will all receive some of those glossy mailings filled with mis-information from that group of interloping outsiders that mailed them in her last election. You see, here’s how it works. The candidate “donates” a little over $2000 to a political action group. They then do a mailing that costs a little over $2000 supporting the candidate, but bears their name as the supporter. It would read, in small print at the bottom, Paid for by Non Citizen Responsible for Stirring up Trouble and Keeping Low Income People Out of My Neighborhood. This last part is known as “smart growth” development.
While this activity of “donating” and being repaid with a like amount spent in mailings is known in most states as money laundering, it is apparently O.K. in our area. In Texas, activities like this cost Tom DeLay his congressional seat and maybe more. If the candidate here has a permanent smiley face and a soft voice, no one seems to care.
There is a void of knowledge about the proposed embryonic stem cell initiative. One faction says it opens the door to human cloning. The other side says it prohibits human cloning. What it actually does is allow research in Missouri so long as that research complies with Federal law. It then adds additional restrictions in Missouri, so our Amendment is even stricter than what is allowed in other states. It does NOT allow human cloning. It expressly forbids it with penalties of up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for anyone who attempts human cloning. It also expressly prohibits the selling of eggs for stem cell research. There is a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and up to $100,000 fine for selling eggs. For those of you with computers, Google search “Missouri Amendment 2” to read the amendment.
I wouldn’t begin to tell you how to vote. That’s your decision, but read the amendment before you vote. You aren’t getting the truth from the ads.
And as always, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
