The View from the Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
A few weeks ago I wrote that I would mention campaign finance monkey business after the candidates filed for the mayoral position. Here is something of interest to a few of you.
In the last campaign for mayor, a campaign committee whose address happened to be the same as Mayor York’s residence donated $2,300 to the Citizens For a Responsible Community. This committee then did a mailing supporting Mayor York. It wouldn’t look good if the mailings were from her promoting herself. This made it look like she had some outside the home support. One would think that this would, for all intents and purposes, qualify the CFRC as a campaign committee. “So what”, you ask?
The revised Missouri statutes forbid a campaign committee to give or receive contributions under a fictitious name. Both the CFRC (receiver) and the Citizens to Elect Patti York (giver) would be considered fictitious entities. The CFRC is registered with the State, but I couldn’t find a registration for Citizens to Elect Patti York.
So, when the elections get here, vote for the status quo. Our mayor has brought many “firsts” to our city. The first mayor to have a recall petition circulated against her. The first mayor known to sign contracts without council approval as required. The first mayor to actively campaign to remove a council member who wouldn’t bow to her whims. The first mayor to need a “legal defense fund”. The first mayor to thumb her nose at ordinances the rest of us would be fined for, like boarded up windows on her property on Main. The first mayor to support fraud in the recall process. (You remember her comment: It doesn’t matter how they got the signatures…they have them) What a class act!
Vote to continue the status quo. You know I will. Yeah, right!
It seems the mayor of O’Fallon knows how to keep troublemakers at bay. The City of O’Fallon has just given Carl Maus, head stirrer of the pot at CFRC, a nice paying job as a “liaison” between the mayor and the council. Around $50 grand a year for what? O’Fallon needs a “liaison”? Donna dear, please keep him there. CFRC has caused enough trouble in St. Charles and St. Peters. But look out Wentzville. It looks like they’re headed west.
Has anyone seen charges filed by our local prosecutor concerning the person who handed over to election officials petitions that were known (according to sworn depositions) to be fraudulent? I didn’t think so. Don’t expect one either. It’s not like they were trying to steal your car. It was only your government they were interested in stealing. If he can just get me to stop mentioning it, you will forget and it will all just go away. He was the only unopposed candidate that I didn’t vote for. It was a matter of principles. Some of us still have them. As you can see in the paragraphs above, some don’t.
I’m confident that you will be showing yours when it comes time to vote for a new mayor.
That’s today’s view from the cheap seats.
