Out Of Town Goon Squad Coming To St. Charles
By Tony Brockmeyer
Reminiscent of something out of the Soprano’s, the City of St. Charles has been infiltrated by hired hit men. The difference is these hit men won’t be using automatic weapons and trying to kill their marks. They are hired to destroy lives and the credibility of those who dare challenge the established power in St. Charles.
The First Capitol News has learned that millionaire developers have brought political assassins into St. Charles to conduct a negative campaign against Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke and some of the incumbent City Council members who are running for re-election and who have stood up against the special interests in favor of the residents of St. Charles.
Sources have told the First Capitol News that two of the companies involved in this effort are Aximon Strategies of Kansas City headed by well known Political Assassin, Jeff Roe and John Hancock & Associates of Chesterfield.
Roe has quite the reputation within the political arena. He has been compared to Darth Vadar by the Kansas City Star daily newspaper because of negative campaigns he has spearheaded. Roe has offices in Kansas City and has been hired across the state to create the illusion that candidates who are running for office against his clients are unfit.
Roe likes to distort voting records and goes as far as to go through the trash of his opponents looking for personal information that he can twist and turn. His specialty showed up in the last Mayoral debate when York made the statement, “Just six months ago Councilman Gieseke voted for a tax increase.” Gieseke did no such thing.
Roe doesn’t deny his use of negative campaigns for one reason, they have worked. If the voters continue to vote for those who run negative campaigns Roe will always have a job.
At a time when the public has voiced their concerns and have said they are fed up with negative campaigning the residents of St. Charles City are due to receive more than they have ever seen.
When told about the hit men, Mayoral Candidate John Gieseke said, “I can’t comment to what someone is doing or not doing. I am running a race that has the best interest of the residents in mind. I am not going to use character assassination or misleading statements about Mayor York. This race is about the future and vision of St. Charles, I am going to let the people know my record and my vision of the future. I signed a clean campaign pledge at City hall and I intend to live up to that.”
Councilman Mark Brown told us in last weeks edition, “He had been threatened and warned that if he filed for re-election that the vicious lies and rumors they put out the last time would be insignificant compared to what they have in store for him in this election.” First Capitol News contacted Brown and asked if he was aware of the information brought out in this story. Brown replied, “A Candidate who ties themselves to people like Ken Kielty and Jeff Roe must be held accountable first and foremost for their campaign tactics. If a candidate approves sleazy ads and campaign tactics what does it say about how they will conduct the affairs of the citizens paying taxes? It says anything goes, which isn’t good.”
Roe has been the subject of a number of articles in the Kansas City Star newspaper. In the articles Roe does not deny his use of negative campaigning. Roe went as far as to say an opponent of one of his candidates was a “smut peddler” because a magazine she was selling ads for 20 years ago, Omni a science magazine, was owned by the same company that published Penthouse Magazine.
In another campaign Roe blasted a candidate for supporting the radical gay-rights agenda. He said the candidate had been rewarded with gratuities by pro-gay lobbyists.” He made this charge because the candidate had accepted a $3.18 beverage from a lobbyist who two years later went to work for a gay-rights organization.
John Hancock and Associates is a political consulting firm located in Chesterfield. According to their web site, it is headed by John Hancock. His political experience spans three decades in Missouri politics. He is a former state legislator, was a nominee for Secretary of State in 1992 and 1996. Hancock has worked in the public relations-media industry since 1993 for a number of corporate clients. In addition, he served as the official spokesman for the Blunt for Governor campaign in 2004.
John Prouty, employed by John Hancock and Associates as a research assistant, has collected data from St. Charles City Hall.
Prouty, is a former member of the embattled Bush White House and was part of the speech writing and spin master team.
Freedom of Information requests from City Hall revealed Prouty asked for and received DVD’s from the council meetings dated March 2, 2007, all meetings in June of 2004, June 7 of 2005, December 20, 2005, January 3, 2006, and all council expenditures and council expense reports from April 2001 to present.
The Hancock firm’s website disclosed that one of their clients is AT&T.
Councilmen John Gieseke and Mark Brown both held up the AT&T ordinance trying to ensure all of St. Charles would be served. Their position was the same as the Missouri Municipal League. Like Gieseke and Brown, the MML voiced concerns over “cherry picking of certain areas by AT&T and not providing full service to all residents.” AT&T’s proposed contract with St. Charles was lacking in protection for the residents.
St. Charles is not new territory for Roe. He was brought in by big money interests in the August 2006 primary when St. Charles Councilman Joe Brazil faced off against Scott Rupp in the Republican primary for a state senate seat.
Brazil told the First Capitol News he believed Roe to be the worst type of political operative. “He told lies, misrepresented facts and brought up an incident that happened when I was 18 years old and then lied about it,” Brazil said.
A story in the Kansas City Star newspaper says that Roe specializes in distortions. He likes ads that distort the faces of his clients opponents. But mostly he distorts voting records.
According to another article in the Kansas City Star by Steve Kraske and Mike Rice, Lots of political consultants run hard-hitting TV ads. What makes Roe different is just how far he goes. Not unlike President Bush’s strategist, Karl Rove, Roe’s approach has been compared to blunt-force trauma. The message: You want to run against my guy? Fine, but this is the type of unrelenting misery you’re going to have to put up with. Roe’s mentor at Northwest Missouri State University expresses doubt about Roe; “I’ve never been clear on whether there’s any ethical or moral substance behind him,” said professor David McLaughlin.
Another person commented, “Candidates who use Roe should be very careful. If you sleep with the devil you will get burned.”
Some political insiders believe that Roe’s time has come and gone along with his type of slash and burn politics.
The First Capitol News contacted Roe and he denied any involvement with St. Charles politics. An individual like Roe usually does not want anyone to know he is involved until the campaign is over.
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