BE CAUTIOUS OF FRIENDS
I was going to start this column writing about Bob Hoepfner, Councilman Ward 10, But then I decided the editorial cartoon said it all. Suffice it to say yes, we would not allow Bob Hoepfner to trash other members of the City Council in the column he wrote for this paper. What Bob fails to mention is we also would not allow other members of the Council to trash Bob Hoepfner in this paper. Bob went to Germany with the Mayor and Councilman Reese. When he returned he was never the same. It seemed to us he lost interest in being the watchdog for the resident taxpayers and was more concerned in wheeling and dealing and the resident taxpayer be dammed. We resisted a lot of pressure to remove Bob from our paper and believe life would have been easier for us if we had. But, we considered him our friend and he would often tell us he was our friend. But Bob showed he was not our friend and had found people other than the resident taxpayers he was interested in.
BASS PRO WANTS $30 million to stay
The First Capitol News has been told Bass Pro has told some City officials for them to remain in St. Charles they would have to receive at least $30million in taxpayer subsidies. Hmmmmmm
David vs Goliath
Some in the City blame the Council, some blame the Mayor others blame the press. and many can’t figure out what is going on in the City. It is really pretty simple, David vs. Goliath. David is the average City resident who goes to work everyday just trying to make ends meet. Goliath is the special interest money that have had a strangle hold on the City of St. Charles for as long as most can remember. In the days of old, Goliath used to be able to stroll in City Hall schmooze the City Staff and get anything they wanted. This was business as usual. David used to walk in City Hall and get the run around, sent from place to place, never feeling important. Keep in mind, that Davids pay the salaries of those in City Hall.
A new council was elected, some of the old stayed, some of the old got beat. Some of the old decided to go on to greener pastures. They might be the smartest of all. Why anyone runs for office any more I do not understand.
The newly elected council got down to business to change the City and create an environment where the many Davids are treated with the respect of the moneyed Goliaths. They knew the fight would be hard. They knew that Goliath is a formidable foe. They have made some changes but now it appears the City Administrator has other plans and wants the Goliaths back in the City Hall and wants staff to be the point persons for special treatment and deals.
While it might sound good to say, let professional staff do their jobs and have the council just approve what ever they say, it is a recipe for corruption and abuse. The normal David can’t touch a staff member, but they can vote an elected official out of office for abuse and corruption.
This David and Goliath story goes on in cities across the country. There are many areas where Councils are rubber stamps. This Council is far from being a rubber stamp. They hold feet to the fire on a daily basis.
Case in point was a recent letter in another publication about someone not getting appointed to a board or commission. The Council approved over 90 percent of the names the Mayor presented but they decided to hold the Mayor to her word.
At an open meeting the Mayor told us all she does not appoint people to more than one board. Some on the Council took her to task on one of her proposed appointees, Gene Carrol. Gene, in a letter, blamed the Council for not getting appointed but places none of the blame on the Mayor. This Mayor has a tremendous amount of Teflon, she never seems to be held responsible for her statements. Well, the Council picked one of the many to make an example of. This City has over 60,000 Davids that can serve yet the Mayor keeps a closed circle. York has refused numerous resident’s requests to be appointed, yet Gene decided that only he was qualified. It appears York has once again been held to a different standard and she has no accountability for her statements or actions.
ttt
