Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness—-It works for me and should be available to all. The big stall and the big cover-up by a few often defeats the basic human rights of the majority Wednesday, May 4, 2005, will go down as an important date in the history of St. Charles
On this date a public hearing was to be conducted by the City Council to question the legality of a contract signed by Mayor York. It involves an insurance company and York’s alleged accomplice, Carrie Casky. The only evidence of wrong-doing is a contract signed by York. Casky sought other employment as Director of Human Services after the new Council delved into switching insurance carriers in order to save the City money.
There was no copy of the contract with Express Scripts at City Hall and it did not go through the legal department nor had it gained approval from the City Council who had no knowledge of the contract. It was a blatant, arrogant disregard of procedure and violated a City ordinance. This is against the law. This was not a “witch-hunt” but a quest for truth. The contract with Express Scripts had not expired when the Mayor entered into a new contract. When the City attempted to change carriers, Express Scripts provided a copy of the infamous contract and demanded payment of $200,000 to release the City.
Casky and York went to great lengths to create a convoluted hiring process comprised of persons outside our area to select Officer Corley to be our new police chief. It was suspected Officer Corley was chosen by York’s close friend, Sergeant Tommy Mayer, and the two women were attempting to satisfy Mayer, not the public. When the Council refused to allow that decision to be made by persons outside our general area, the travesty continued for at least 18 months and our City had no police chief. With the help of “Patti’s Patsies,” Councilmen Kneemiller, Weller, and Reese, they helped stall the process and attempted to smear the rest of the City Council. This little game was possible because of a flaw in the City Charter which stated the Mayor and the City Council must agree on the selection of a police chief.
The Council attempted to correct this so the City could have the proper police protection. It was brought before the voters. Patti and her new friends (acquired after assuming the office of Mayor) went into high gear and spent a huge amount of money to smear the City Council and put fear into the voters that “Riddler could not be given such power.” The mailings delivered to our doors were numerous, slick, and very costly. It also worked and the voters were once again duped, but not by a large majority.
After the defeat of the proposed change to end the stalemate, we continued on with no police chief and Sergeant Mayer apparently in control of the Police Department and the Mayor—with the assistance of Kneemiller, Weller, and Reese—the patsies wearing pants. The arrogance reached an all time high right after Sheriff Swope was appointed Chief of our police department. Our City Administrator wound up terrorized and face down on the lot of the City Justice Center with Tommy Mayer holding a gun on him. It took that kind of terror for the city to take proper action and the new chief to fire Mayer.
York fought the firing tooth and nail. One of her friends even boasted she got Senator Kit Bond to call Swope and intervene. If true, it is to Swope’s credit he did his job, rather than bend to pressure from a powerful U.S. Senator. Either Bond did not have the facts and acted upon lies or he knowingly did a cheap favor for a fellow republican at the cost of his own dignity. If this is true, then Bond should quit being a senator and fighting terror on a national level, move to St. Charles, run for Mayor, (should be a slam-dunk), and rehire Tommy Mayer so terror on the local level can flourish
Prior to Wednesday’s “public hearing,” York sent countless e-mails to persons she considered important, not the average voter, requesting they show up to “support the mayor.” About 55 people whom the mayor considered powerful did indeed show up wearing “Support Our Mayor” buttons. It was a dazzling array of stars. I expected an academy award to be presented at any time to somebody. Jamboretz, the St. Louis advertising guru who received the “Tsunami Award” for last year, (the big wind blowing in from the east that is being paid mega bucks by somebody to save the mayor,) was there in all his pompous glory.
Developer Tom Hughes, dutifully wearing his “support our mayor” button, was seen pow-wowing with his boy, Reese. Hughes was a money backer of Reese’s and is given credit for getting him to run for the City Council. Hughes is also the money and force behind the new bi-monthly propaganda piece printed and delivered all over the county by that St. Peter’s ad paper. Thus far, his publication has spent the majority of its space attacking The First Capitol News and painting Riddler as something more sinister than a fairy tale Ogre. The paper also provides space for York to write her tripe about how she can not be impeached. The major difference between President Nixon and Mayor York (aside from the size of their brains) is that Nixon had the sense to know he could be impeached and saved the country the ordeal by resigning.
Leading republicans from Congress explained this to Nixon. Kneemiller, Weller, and Reese could learn a lot from those republican leaders. They have a choice of going down with a cover-up or fulfilling their pledge to the public. That is the wisdom which separates the true statesmen from the cheap politicians.
Also present and basking in his glory was Henry Elmendorf. Henry is the guy that persuaded most Catholics to vote for his friend Patti because she was a Christian, inferring not so subtly her opponent was not. Nobody has ever accused Mr. Elmendorf of being a statesman, and I think he’s getting a bit stale showing up everywhere saying, “Me Too. Me too.”
It goes without saying Maas, and Hayden were there wearing their cute little buttons for the Christian mayor. These are the guys who spend a lot of time trying to save ducks so the healthy ducks can be shot by bored rich people camping at their duck clubs. They also appear to be against major development unless the developer is a friend. When they are not “saving Patti,” they are fighting the 370 development by St. Peters. They don’t live there either.
Last but least to be noted was Lionel, the husband not the train, wearing his cute little button and grateful to be Mrs. Mayor.
With Patti’s “Patsy Patrol” firmly entrenched, the public hearing commenced. Several lights went on and Riddler as council president, chose who could speak first. He chose Weller. Weller made the motion not to subpoena witnesses after Patti’s cohort, Carrie Caskey, refused to show up for questioning. Instead, he believes they should just procure documents to answer all their questions. With seven votes needed to override his motion, he saved Patti with the help of Kneemiller, Muench, and Reese. The elected “Patsy Patrol” managed to stall and delay the proceedings for at least another month.
One could not help but notice the smug grins on the faces of Patti’s Patsy Patrol, sitting in the audience wearing those cute buttons, as they left the public hearing which was not a hearing at all. They thought they won some sort of victory. They don’t care if she broke the law as long as she keeps them appointed as special and important.
They gained a delay, but the truth will surface. Before they put on those buttons after being summoned, they should have checked the sinking ship to see if there were any life boats on board. These “community leaders” didn’t just go out on a limb, they turned around and sawed it off behind them. That is really smart.
For those of you who missed the meeting, it will be replayed on our local cable station. Since the hearing has been delayed, we can all tune in and see for ourselves how we are being represented. The million dollar question is; if there is no wrongdoing, why doesn’t the Mayor welcome questions and explain herself? She’s not acting like an innocent person. Her actions more closely resemble that of a cat in a sandbox.
