By Phyllis Schaltenbrand
According to City Council President Rory Riddler, there appears to be significant problems with petitions turned in by a recall committee against Councilwoman Dottie Greer, including identical handwriting on different signatures and petitions that appear to have been circulated by persons other than those attesting that they did so.
These problems were brought to the attention of the City Clerk by City Council President Rory Riddler. So far, the Citizen Empowerment Committee has spent $36,000 on the effort to try to recall Councilmembers, more than was spent in any Council race during the regular election.
Council President Riddler says he was visiting with City Clerk Marilyn McCoy on other City issues, when he noticed and asked to look at a copy of the petitions on her desk. “I was struck right away by how many signatures appear to be identical. I asked for a copy to study and within an hour had identified dozens of what appear to be falsified signatures,” explained Riddler.
“I brought my concerns to the attention of
the City Clerk and asked that she contact the County Clerk to ask that each signature be verified against the signature on that individual voter’s registration card. I heard back from her today that the County Clerk’s Office would be doing that as they had already noticed some of the same discrepancies.”
The Citizen Empowerment Committee, headed by Linda Meyer, turned in petitions this week purporting to bear the signatures of 951 registered voters in the 7th Ward. 740 valid signatures are required to put the issue of recall before the voters. Meyer is also leading efforts to recall Councilman Mark Brown in the 3rd Ward, even though she doesn’t live in that ward.
Riddler also found an even more troubling problem with the petitions turned in. “I noticed that several of the packets that were stapled together had incomplete sheets. At the top of these sheets were different names. On some packets, the names on top matched the name of the person swearing they had circulated the petitions and witnessed each signature themselves. But on others there were several different names bundled together and Linda Meyer attesting and swearing that she personally had collected those signatures,” explained Riddler.
“It appears that she did not and that she filed a false affidavit with the City and Election Authority to have done so. I believe any potential fraud should be investigated thoroughly and those signatures thrown out.”
Riddler speculates that many of the problems with the petitions are the result of the Citizen Empowerment Committee paying $5 per signature to workers from outside of the area. On some of the petitions turned in the amount of money paid for them is written right on the bottom of the sheets.
Records show that the majority of signatures collected were by workers who don’t even live in the city of St. Charles. The list of workers includes addresses in Cahokia and Belleville Illinois, Wright City, the City of St. Louis, Ferguson, Florissant, Kirkwood, St. Peters and Rolla. Almost no one from Ward 7 other than Linda Meyer collected signatures or circulated petitions. “When you have to pay workers and can’t even hire citizens from your own City, it shows how little popular support there is for this group and their efforts,” observed Riddler.
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