“Charleytown calls me ‘Sweet Cynthia.’ What can you say about somebody who runs a Christian bookstore?”
R-19th District Missouri State Representative.
Often a quote starts things off and I couldn’t resist a very recent line from a local character who gave this quote after the Missouri Ethics Commission fined her $1,000. What I have gathered from following this story is that Mrs. Cynthia Davis finds it difficult to know whether or not you can buy yourself a truck and pay property taxes with campaign money or not.
Not only the fact that you should have an inherent feeling that using campaign money for your own personal use is wrong, but the fact that the usually lenient Missouri Ethics Commission felt strongly enough about the matter to actually fine a candidate was a shocker! What remained unclear was whether Mrs. Davis actually came out ahead in the matter. The information available states that property taxes in the amount of $1,084 were paid and that campaign money was used to buy a personal vehicle. Furthermore, the legal fees of $740 were taken from her campaign funds which is apparently allowed. Without knowing the details off hand about the pickup truck, the other two dollar amounts equal $1,824 with a fine of $1,000. Was the $824 repaid? For now, only “Sweet Cynthia” knows.
Where this really gets interesting for us here in Saint Charles is in wondering if the Missouri Ethics Commission will take action regarding campaign reports filed by, “St. Charles Citizens For Responsible Government and Citizens Empowerment Committee.” You remember these groups — the ones that may have chosen their names because, “Committee for Government Directed by PR Firms and Owned by Developers” wouldn’t rest well with the locals.
If the Ethics Commission would look into the campaign to ouster those on council that this group does not agree with, they would find that each time the City Council questioned certain matters in meetings, or whenever the First Capitol News published stories raising questions of the same group, it seems that sudden amendments were filed with the state in response. Do not forget that those running the SCCFRG and CEC Committees have been involved in many elections and certainly know how to file the necessary paperwork. The Ethics Commission might also ask about the funding of an airplane towing a “recall Mark Brown” banner that flew for hours over Brown’s house during a block party. Who paid for this portion of the developer’s recall efforts has never been disclosed. Add to the developer-driven recall campaign “paid political inserts” in a local advertisement/newspaper and the dollar amount of undisclosed campaign funds reaches huge amounts!
It looks like Saint Charles can keep the Ethics Commission busy for years to come! The only question remaining is, “What can you say about someone who runs a PR firm; or a local developer; or a local sports team; or ...”
