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Saturday, March 17, 2007
PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER ASSASSINS BROUGHT IN FOR ELECTION
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.
ttt
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.
ttt
HOEPFNER, CONFLICT OF INTEREST? - REPRINTED FROM SEPT. 24, 2005
EDITOR’S NOTE
DURING THE TIME THAT COUNCILMAN BOB HOEPFNER WAS WRITING A COLUMN FOR THIS PAPER WE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT HE HAD COMPRISED HIS INTEGRITY. OUR INVESTIGATION ULTIMATELY LEAD TO OUR PAPER REMOVING MR. HOEPFNER'S COLUMN. COUNCILMAN HOEPFNER THEN SPEARHEADED A DRIVE TO STOP THE CITY FROM ADVERTISING IN THIS PAPER. WE WANT TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR, NO MATTER WHO THE CANDIDATE IS AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY WORK OR PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WE WILL REPORT ANY WRONG DOINGS THAT WE UNCOVER. AT THIS TIME WE THINK IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE REPEAT THE STORY THAT WAS PRINTED ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005.
REPRINTED FROM OUR EDITION OF SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005.
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned that plumbing permits for Michael Sellenschuetter, a developer who has a controversial bill pending before the City Council, were issued to Master Plumber, Charles “Bob” Hoepfner, Councilman for Ward 10 and the City Council vice president. Hoepfner is also a retired Master Plumber.
City Council President Rory Riddler has abstained from any votes or discussion by the Council on Sellenschuetter’s development. Riddler filed a Conflict of Interest/Vote Abstention Form with the City Clerk on September 6, 2005. On his form he stated, “I am doing some work thru my firm for a subsidiary of this firm on a project outside of City limits - and did not want an appearance of conflict even though I am not working on this item.”
Hoepfner has not filed a Conflict of Interest form.
Sellenschuetter, through several of his companies, S & S Builders, MM Devel- opers, Inc. and C.S.M. & Associates, is developing Whispering Oaks Villas and now it’s second phase Oak Ridge Condominiums off of Arena Parkway in St. Charles County.
St. Charles City Council Bill 8680, sponsored and introduced by Hoepfner, calls for a cooperation agreement between the City and MM Developers, Inc. owned by Michael Sellenschuetter. The cooperation agreement would allow Sellenschuetter to hook up the Condos in Oak Ridge Condos to the City’s sewer and water system, even though they are not located within the City limits. Whispering Oaks Villas, his phase one development, was given permission to hook up to City sewers and water in the past while Hoepfner was serving as Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee.
A conflict has been raging before the City Council for the past several months regarding Sellenschuetter’s request to connect his development to the City sewer and water systems. Leading the cheerleading squad for Sellenschuetter has been Hoepfner. Hoepfner, also known as “Battling Bob”, claims to be the advocate for the resident taxpayers of the City, but most of his efforts over the past several months have been the lobbying of Sellenschuetter’s application for City water and sewers for his St. Charles County project.
Fighting the attachment of County residents to City water and sewers is City Councilman Mark Brown, Ward 3. Brown claims that even though Sellenschuetter agrees to annex his properties into the City at a later date, the County building codes are not as restrictive as the City's. Brown also claims the buildings in Sellenschuetter's development are built within 10 feet of the top of a creek bank and the requirement is 50 feet. Brown believes it will be a costly problem to solve for St. Charles taxpayers in the future. Councilman Riddler has estimated it would take more than $90 million to fix all the creek bank stabilization and storm water problems in the City.
Records on file at City Hall disclose that a City of St. Charles Plumber Occupation License Application was issued on June 14, 2004 to Marshall & Long Plumbing Company with an address of 5802 S. Kingshighway in St. Louis. It shows James Marshall - Melody Marshall as the owners and Charles R. Hoepfner as the Master Plumber License Holder. The license period was from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The record also reflects that plumbing inspection permits issued by the City for Master Permit #76703, Charles R. (Bob) Hoepfner’s license number,were issued for Lots 17, 18, 33 and 34 in the Whispering Oaks Subdivision where the contractor is S & S Builders of 343 N. Main Street in St. Charles and the Company owner is Michael Sellenschuetter.
The permits on file at City Hall, Permit #020050518 for 188 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050518 for 192 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050552 for 219 Woodland Place Ct. and Permit #020050553 for 215 Woodland Place Ct. were all issued in March of 2005 and all list the plumbing company as Marshall & Long Plumbing with an address of 425 Nantucket in St. Charles and a phone number of 314-457-9214. Hoepfner is the resident and property owner at 425 Nantucket. All the homes are in Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oaks development.
The phone number given for Marshall & Long Plumbing has been disconnected and we were unable to locate a current address or phone number for them.
During an August Council meeting an agreement between Sellenscheutter and the City was introduced by Councilman Hoepfner on the Consent Agenda rather than as a bill. During a Council meeting, a heated discussion was held regarding Sellenschuetter’s developments and the failure of the City Clerk to list the correct name of the development on the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda listed Oak Tree and the name is actually Oak Ridge. That evening the agreement was passed by a 9-0 vote in favor. Several Council members said they believed they were voting for a Oak Tree development and believed it was in Councilman Hoepfner’s ward because he was the sponsor as listed on the Consent Agenda Council President Riddler declared the vote invalid and said the matter should have been introduced as a bill and not placed on the Consent Agenda.
At the next meeting Hoepfner introduced the agreement as a Bill. During a reading of the Bill, Councilman Hoepfner was chairing the meeting, Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, were discussing the bill with Council Members. It was obvious that Hoepfner was trying everything in his power to get the Bill passed that evening. Several members of the Council remarked that he should just step down from the chair and turn the meeting over to Sellenschuetter and his attorney. Finally City Attorney Mike Valenti told the Council that Sellenschuetter had refused to sign the development agreement with the City and he would recommend it not be passed that evening.
During the meeting Brown told Hoepfner, “I don’t sell plumbing permits...And I may ask for an executive session to have a Council investigation regarding your actions.”
Just days after that meeting Hoepfner requested a tape of the meeting for Sellenschuetter. Shortly after that the Council was given documents threatening a lawsuit if the Council did not vote in favor of the development agreement.
At that time Brown told the FCN, “I will not succumb to these strong arm tactics and I believe that legislation against this type of threats apply. I fully intend to defend the City as well as the residents of Ward 3 against this multi-family apartment complex that will be built to lesser standards than their homes, just so this developer can make more money.”
The next day, Recall Mark Brown signs went up all over Sellenschuetter’s developments and telephone calls were being made to the residents of his ward suggesting he be recalled from office.
At the Council meeting Tuesday evening Hoepfner introduced a substitute bill. He chaired the meeting and also made the motion to approve the substitute which received a vote of 5 for and 3 against. Brown, Koester and Greer voted against the substitute. Kneemiller, Muench, Weller, Reese and Hoepfner voted in favor. Riddler abstained and Gieseke was out of town on business. Over the objections from Brown that the City Charter required a majority of the elected members of the Council to pass, Hoepfner, chairing the meeting, declared that the substitute bill had passed. Brown called for a legal opinion from the attorneys. City Attorney Mike Valenti agreed with Hoepfner and Council Attorney Eric Tolen told the Council the bill failed.
We have been told the Mayor is planning on calling a special Council Meeting for Tuesday evening so that Sellenschuetter's Bill can be considered for final passage. The First capitol News is aware that Sellenschuetter’s name appears as a contributor to the Mayor’s fund raising events. Sellenschuetter is also a contributor and works with the Citizens Empowerment Committee. That Committee is headed by Linda Meyer, wife of a St. Charles Police Officer who is a past president of the Police Association. The Citizens Empowerment Committee is supported by the Mayor and is also funded by TR Hughes another local millionaire developer and supporter of the Mayor The Citizens Empowerment Committee is funding workers soliciting signatures to recall Councilman Mark Brown and Councilwoman Dottie Greer.
We attempted to contact Councilman Hoepfner for his comments and were finally able to reach him just before press time.
When questioned about the plumbing permits in his name for the Sellenschuetter development he said, “The hall called me and said they had a new plumber that had some work at some schools in St. Charles but he was not a Master Plumber. They asked if he could work off of my license. I said sure. Later when I was talking to the plumber he talked about some other jobs he had picked up in the area and he mentioned working at some condos. I asked where the condos were and he told me at Whispering Oaks (a Sellenschuetter development). I told him he could not do that so he stopped. I received no money.”
When asked if this procedure was illegal (the use of his permit) he responded, “Yes, but it is done all them time.”
When asked why he did not abstain from voting on Sellenschuetter’s project Hoepfner replied, “I talked to a lawyer and three judges and they all told me there was no conflict and I had no problem.” He did not mention the names of those he talked to.
Hoepfner admitted he was the Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee when approval was given for Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oak Villas to be hooked up to City sewer and water.
Hoepfner told the First Capitol News during our interview he had decided to abstain from any further votes involving Sellenschuetter.
Brown said, “Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, offered to give $125,000 toward the sewer project that has troubled my home and subdivision since it was developed, in return for my vote for this project.” Brown said, “I was told if I would go along with this project Sellenschuetter’s Company had a lot of printing that needed to be done.” Brown owns a printing company. Brown said I am not interested in anything they have to offer. That development will cost the taxpayers of St. Charles literally millions of dollars.
Councilman Brown stated, “I never believed Hoepfner would sell the residents of St. Charles out. Hoepfner knows if this project is approved the taxpayers will be spending millions of dollars in creek bed stabilization. Something has happened to him lately and he has forgotten that he represents the people and he is only interested in seeking plumbing.” Brown said, “Sellenschuetter is throwing money around town like it grows on trees. There are several politicians throughout the country who are in jail for the same type of activity.” Brown is considering taking this information to the Attorney General’s office or possibly the FBI.
Brown said, “Even though DNR has cited this project for several violations, several council members continue to push for it’s approval for the St. charles taxpayers to take on the financial burden of this project. Brown asked the FCN, “Can you figure out why? Now you know why they are trying to recall me.
THIS STORY RE-PRINTED FROM OUR SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005 EDITION
DURING THE TIME THAT COUNCILMAN BOB HOEPFNER WAS WRITING A COLUMN FOR THIS PAPER WE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT HE HAD COMPRISED HIS INTEGRITY. OUR INVESTIGATION ULTIMATELY LEAD TO OUR PAPER REMOVING MR. HOEPFNER'S COLUMN. COUNCILMAN HOEPFNER THEN SPEARHEADED A DRIVE TO STOP THE CITY FROM ADVERTISING IN THIS PAPER. WE WANT TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR, NO MATTER WHO THE CANDIDATE IS AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY WORK OR PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WE WILL REPORT ANY WRONG DOINGS THAT WE UNCOVER. AT THIS TIME WE THINK IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE REPEAT THE STORY THAT WAS PRINTED ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2005.
REPRINTED FROM OUR EDITION OF SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005.
By Tony Brockmeyer
The First Capitol News has learned that plumbing permits for Michael Sellenschuetter, a developer who has a controversial bill pending before the City Council, were issued to Master Plumber, Charles “Bob” Hoepfner, Councilman for Ward 10 and the City Council vice president. Hoepfner is also a retired Master Plumber.
City Council President Rory Riddler has abstained from any votes or discussion by the Council on Sellenschuetter’s development. Riddler filed a Conflict of Interest/Vote Abstention Form with the City Clerk on September 6, 2005. On his form he stated, “I am doing some work thru my firm for a subsidiary of this firm on a project outside of City limits - and did not want an appearance of conflict even though I am not working on this item.”
Hoepfner has not filed a Conflict of Interest form.
Sellenschuetter, through several of his companies, S & S Builders, MM Devel- opers, Inc. and C.S.M. & Associates, is developing Whispering Oaks Villas and now it’s second phase Oak Ridge Condominiums off of Arena Parkway in St. Charles County.
St. Charles City Council Bill 8680, sponsored and introduced by Hoepfner, calls for a cooperation agreement between the City and MM Developers, Inc. owned by Michael Sellenschuetter. The cooperation agreement would allow Sellenschuetter to hook up the Condos in Oak Ridge Condos to the City’s sewer and water system, even though they are not located within the City limits. Whispering Oaks Villas, his phase one development, was given permission to hook up to City sewers and water in the past while Hoepfner was serving as Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee.
A conflict has been raging before the City Council for the past several months regarding Sellenschuetter’s request to connect his development to the City sewer and water systems. Leading the cheerleading squad for Sellenschuetter has been Hoepfner. Hoepfner, also known as “Battling Bob”, claims to be the advocate for the resident taxpayers of the City, but most of his efforts over the past several months have been the lobbying of Sellenschuetter’s application for City water and sewers for his St. Charles County project.
Fighting the attachment of County residents to City water and sewers is City Councilman Mark Brown, Ward 3. Brown claims that even though Sellenschuetter agrees to annex his properties into the City at a later date, the County building codes are not as restrictive as the City's. Brown also claims the buildings in Sellenschuetter's development are built within 10 feet of the top of a creek bank and the requirement is 50 feet. Brown believes it will be a costly problem to solve for St. Charles taxpayers in the future. Councilman Riddler has estimated it would take more than $90 million to fix all the creek bank stabilization and storm water problems in the City.
Records on file at City Hall disclose that a City of St. Charles Plumber Occupation License Application was issued on June 14, 2004 to Marshall & Long Plumbing Company with an address of 5802 S. Kingshighway in St. Louis. It shows James Marshall - Melody Marshall as the owners and Charles R. Hoepfner as the Master Plumber License Holder. The license period was from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The record also reflects that plumbing inspection permits issued by the City for Master Permit #76703, Charles R. (Bob) Hoepfner’s license number,were issued for Lots 17, 18, 33 and 34 in the Whispering Oaks Subdivision where the contractor is S & S Builders of 343 N. Main Street in St. Charles and the Company owner is Michael Sellenschuetter.
The permits on file at City Hall, Permit #020050518 for 188 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050518 for 192 Woodland Place Ct., Permit #020050552 for 219 Woodland Place Ct. and Permit #020050553 for 215 Woodland Place Ct. were all issued in March of 2005 and all list the plumbing company as Marshall & Long Plumbing with an address of 425 Nantucket in St. Charles and a phone number of 314-457-9214. Hoepfner is the resident and property owner at 425 Nantucket. All the homes are in Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oaks development.
The phone number given for Marshall & Long Plumbing has been disconnected and we were unable to locate a current address or phone number for them.
During an August Council meeting an agreement between Sellenscheutter and the City was introduced by Councilman Hoepfner on the Consent Agenda rather than as a bill. During a Council meeting, a heated discussion was held regarding Sellenschuetter’s developments and the failure of the City Clerk to list the correct name of the development on the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda listed Oak Tree and the name is actually Oak Ridge. That evening the agreement was passed by a 9-0 vote in favor. Several Council members said they believed they were voting for a Oak Tree development and believed it was in Councilman Hoepfner’s ward because he was the sponsor as listed on the Consent Agenda Council President Riddler declared the vote invalid and said the matter should have been introduced as a bill and not placed on the Consent Agenda.
At the next meeting Hoepfner introduced the agreement as a Bill. During a reading of the Bill, Councilman Hoepfner was chairing the meeting, Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, were discussing the bill with Council Members. It was obvious that Hoepfner was trying everything in his power to get the Bill passed that evening. Several members of the Council remarked that he should just step down from the chair and turn the meeting over to Sellenschuetter and his attorney. Finally City Attorney Mike Valenti told the Council that Sellenschuetter had refused to sign the development agreement with the City and he would recommend it not be passed that evening.
During the meeting Brown told Hoepfner, “I don’t sell plumbing permits...And I may ask for an executive session to have a Council investigation regarding your actions.”
Just days after that meeting Hoepfner requested a tape of the meeting for Sellenschuetter. Shortly after that the Council was given documents threatening a lawsuit if the Council did not vote in favor of the development agreement.
At that time Brown told the FCN, “I will not succumb to these strong arm tactics and I believe that legislation against this type of threats apply. I fully intend to defend the City as well as the residents of Ward 3 against this multi-family apartment complex that will be built to lesser standards than their homes, just so this developer can make more money.”
The next day, Recall Mark Brown signs went up all over Sellenschuetter’s developments and telephone calls were being made to the residents of his ward suggesting he be recalled from office.
At the Council meeting Tuesday evening Hoepfner introduced a substitute bill. He chaired the meeting and also made the motion to approve the substitute which received a vote of 5 for and 3 against. Brown, Koester and Greer voted against the substitute. Kneemiller, Muench, Weller, Reese and Hoepfner voted in favor. Riddler abstained and Gieseke was out of town on business. Over the objections from Brown that the City Charter required a majority of the elected members of the Council to pass, Hoepfner, chairing the meeting, declared that the substitute bill had passed. Brown called for a legal opinion from the attorneys. City Attorney Mike Valenti agreed with Hoepfner and Council Attorney Eric Tolen told the Council the bill failed.
We have been told the Mayor is planning on calling a special Council Meeting for Tuesday evening so that Sellenschuetter's Bill can be considered for final passage. The First capitol News is aware that Sellenschuetter’s name appears as a contributor to the Mayor’s fund raising events. Sellenschuetter is also a contributor and works with the Citizens Empowerment Committee. That Committee is headed by Linda Meyer, wife of a St. Charles Police Officer who is a past president of the Police Association. The Citizens Empowerment Committee is supported by the Mayor and is also funded by TR Hughes another local millionaire developer and supporter of the Mayor The Citizens Empowerment Committee is funding workers soliciting signatures to recall Councilman Mark Brown and Councilwoman Dottie Greer.
We attempted to contact Councilman Hoepfner for his comments and were finally able to reach him just before press time.
When questioned about the plumbing permits in his name for the Sellenschuetter development he said, “The hall called me and said they had a new plumber that had some work at some schools in St. Charles but he was not a Master Plumber. They asked if he could work off of my license. I said sure. Later when I was talking to the plumber he talked about some other jobs he had picked up in the area and he mentioned working at some condos. I asked where the condos were and he told me at Whispering Oaks (a Sellenschuetter development). I told him he could not do that so he stopped. I received no money.”
When asked if this procedure was illegal (the use of his permit) he responded, “Yes, but it is done all them time.”
When asked why he did not abstain from voting on Sellenschuetter’s project Hoepfner replied, “I talked to a lawyer and three judges and they all told me there was no conflict and I had no problem.” He did not mention the names of those he talked to.
Hoepfner admitted he was the Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee when approval was given for Sellenschuetter’s Whispering Oak Villas to be hooked up to City sewer and water.
Hoepfner told the First Capitol News during our interview he had decided to abstain from any further votes involving Sellenschuetter.
Brown said, “Sellenschuetter and his attorney, Keith Hazelwood, offered to give $125,000 toward the sewer project that has troubled my home and subdivision since it was developed, in return for my vote for this project.” Brown said, “I was told if I would go along with this project Sellenschuetter’s Company had a lot of printing that needed to be done.” Brown owns a printing company. Brown said I am not interested in anything they have to offer. That development will cost the taxpayers of St. Charles literally millions of dollars.
Councilman Brown stated, “I never believed Hoepfner would sell the residents of St. Charles out. Hoepfner knows if this project is approved the taxpayers will be spending millions of dollars in creek bed stabilization. Something has happened to him lately and he has forgotten that he represents the people and he is only interested in seeking plumbing.” Brown said, “Sellenschuetter is throwing money around town like it grows on trees. There are several politicians throughout the country who are in jail for the same type of activity.” Brown is considering taking this information to the Attorney General’s office or possibly the FBI.
Brown said, “Even though DNR has cited this project for several violations, several council members continue to push for it’s approval for the St. charles taxpayers to take on the financial burden of this project. Brown asked the FCN, “Can you figure out why? Now you know why they are trying to recall me.
THIS STORY RE-PRINTED FROM OUR SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2005 EDITION
AN EDITORIAL OPINION
AN EDITORIAL OPINION
MUD-SLINGING IS ON THE WAY
Sleazy attack ads filled with lies and misinformation are expected in St. Charles mail boxes soon. Although, all of the candidates for political office in St. Charles have signed clean campaign pledges, some of them will not take the high road. Instead of putting out position papers, a few candidates and their supporters will be spending their time investigating their opponents and spinning the situation of some miniscule item that they can expound upon and make things appear worse than they were. They distort the truth in many ways and have no problem lying if it serves their purpose. If they are unable to find anything, expect them to make something up to discredit others. We have learned from past experience some candidates will not resist the urge to go negative with mailed ads that tear down their opponents. They use innuendos and half-truths. Expect it; mud-slinging is on the way.
We are hoping that St. Charles residents are too smart to be fooled by this rubbish. We know that our readers are the most informed and intelligent. They will see through these types of ads and would hope our readers would place these disreputable ads in the trash.
The telephone calls have begun. Calls are being made from the Paric Corporation asking voters if they are planning on voting for Patti York for Mayor. They then want to know if the voter is a Democrat or a Republican. Then they ask if you are pro-life or pro-choice. This is in direct conflict with the way local politics are supposed to be run. The city has all elected officials run non-partisan for a reason. Those who vote didn’t want party politics to seep into our city. That is what these calls are all about; they are trying to turn our great city into Washington, D.C. where party comes before the people and what's best.
How you vote or who you vote for is no one’s business. When these live calls or pre-recorded calls start coming into your home, we suggest you hang up.
The Paric Corporation was the general contractor on the St. Charles Convention Center, the New Police Headquarters and numerous other projects in the City. During the construction and upon the completion of the St. Charles Convention Center Paric submitted several change orders amounting to hundreds of thousand of dollars in cost overruns. Mayor York was a member of the oversite committee and voted in favor of paying Paric. Paric has also indicated they want to be the general contractor on the Community Center that is in the planning for St. Charles residents. Paric has made a good living off your tax dollars and must see the writing on the wall if there is a change in City Hall. No longer will you overpay for city projects and that money can be spent on our roads and sidewalks, instead of building headquarters for McEagle and Paric in Winghaven. The City will be able to provide the basic services that are so desperately needed to increase our quality of life instead of the Paric executives in O’Fallon.
MUD-SLINGING IS ON THE WAY
Sleazy attack ads filled with lies and misinformation are expected in St. Charles mail boxes soon. Although, all of the candidates for political office in St. Charles have signed clean campaign pledges, some of them will not take the high road. Instead of putting out position papers, a few candidates and their supporters will be spending their time investigating their opponents and spinning the situation of some miniscule item that they can expound upon and make things appear worse than they were. They distort the truth in many ways and have no problem lying if it serves their purpose. If they are unable to find anything, expect them to make something up to discredit others. We have learned from past experience some candidates will not resist the urge to go negative with mailed ads that tear down their opponents. They use innuendos and half-truths. Expect it; mud-slinging is on the way.
We are hoping that St. Charles residents are too smart to be fooled by this rubbish. We know that our readers are the most informed and intelligent. They will see through these types of ads and would hope our readers would place these disreputable ads in the trash.
The telephone calls have begun. Calls are being made from the Paric Corporation asking voters if they are planning on voting for Patti York for Mayor. They then want to know if the voter is a Democrat or a Republican. Then they ask if you are pro-life or pro-choice. This is in direct conflict with the way local politics are supposed to be run. The city has all elected officials run non-partisan for a reason. Those who vote didn’t want party politics to seep into our city. That is what these calls are all about; they are trying to turn our great city into Washington, D.C. where party comes before the people and what's best.
How you vote or who you vote for is no one’s business. When these live calls or pre-recorded calls start coming into your home, we suggest you hang up.
The Paric Corporation was the general contractor on the St. Charles Convention Center, the New Police Headquarters and numerous other projects in the City. During the construction and upon the completion of the St. Charles Convention Center Paric submitted several change orders amounting to hundreds of thousand of dollars in cost overruns. Mayor York was a member of the oversite committee and voted in favor of paying Paric. Paric has also indicated they want to be the general contractor on the Community Center that is in the planning for St. Charles residents. Paric has made a good living off your tax dollars and must see the writing on the wall if there is a change in City Hall. No longer will you overpay for city projects and that money can be spent on our roads and sidewalks, instead of building headquarters for McEagle and Paric in Winghaven. The City will be able to provide the basic services that are so desperately needed to increase our quality of life instead of the Paric executives in O’Fallon.
RAMBLING WITH THE EDITOR - Tony Brockmeyer
Some of our readers have asked why we are going to provide home delivery only to subscribers beginning on April 21. The newspaper industry is making rapid advances when it comes to technology. More and more people are obtaining their news over the Internet. The owner of the New York Times has predicted that there will no print editions in five years. I am not sure it will happen that soon but it is coming.
The First Capitol News has had a presence on the Internet since November of 2004. We have taken important stories, columns and photos and have made them available at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com. We put the entire weekly edition of the First Capitol News on the Internet. Each week at firstcapitolnews.com or firstcapitolnews.net you can read the entire edition including the ads or you can download it to your desktop and read it later. That is what we have found a great number of our readers are doing. We also have a web log on the Internet that we have made available for daily news. When we have news that we feel would be interesting to our readers it is placed each day on firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com. The news is placed there when it becomes available to us.
Since we have so many visitors to our Internet sites we decided to make home delivery by subscription only. The First Capitol News will still be available free at selected merchants and at our red newspaper boxes, which will be placed at strategic locations around the city.
The only thing that does not change is change it self. Technology is changing on a daily basis and the First Capitol News plans on taking advantage of those changes to make our newspaper user friendly for our readers.
If you would like the First Capitol News delivered to your home after April 21 please subscribe. The subscription is $20 for six months and $35 for a year. Please send your check to the First Capitol News at 336 A South Main Street, St. Charles, MO 63301.
We appreciate comments from our readers on how we can make our newspaper better. Please give us your ideas. You can mail them to 336 A South Main St, St. Charles 63301 or e-mail us at
firstcapitolnews.com.
The First Capitol News has had a presence on the Internet since November of 2004. We have taken important stories, columns and photos and have made them available at firstcapitolnews.blogspot.com. We put the entire weekly edition of the First Capitol News on the Internet. Each week at firstcapitolnews.com or firstcapitolnews.net you can read the entire edition including the ads or you can download it to your desktop and read it later. That is what we have found a great number of our readers are doing. We also have a web log on the Internet that we have made available for daily news. When we have news that we feel would be interesting to our readers it is placed each day on firstcapitolnews-today.blogspot.com. The news is placed there when it becomes available to us.
Since we have so many visitors to our Internet sites we decided to make home delivery by subscription only. The First Capitol News will still be available free at selected merchants and at our red newspaper boxes, which will be placed at strategic locations around the city.
The only thing that does not change is change it self. Technology is changing on a daily basis and the First Capitol News plans on taking advantage of those changes to make our newspaper user friendly for our readers.
If you would like the First Capitol News delivered to your home after April 21 please subscribe. The subscription is $20 for six months and $35 for a year. Please send your check to the First Capitol News at 336 A South Main Street, St. Charles, MO 63301.
We appreciate comments from our readers on how we can make our newspaper better. Please give us your ideas. You can mail them to 336 A South Main St, St. Charles 63301 or e-mail us at
firstcapitolnews.com.
The PEOPLE SPEAK - Letters To The Editor
Dear Editor,
Recently had took the opportunity to learn more about both candidates using
the internet. Both have websites. When I looked at the Mayor’s website I
noticed one thing, it lacks substance. She writes about how she was a member
of this or that. Compare that to John Giesekes’ , it talks about what his
positions are about things that matter to the residents. After watching the
debate and reading the websites it’s obvious to me that Mayor York is in
politics for herself and not the people.
Marci Mills
Dear Editor,
My neighbor called last evening to tell me about an unusual phone call she had received from a political phone banker. The caller asked if my neighbor was voting for Mayor York in the upcoming election and then wanted to know the neighbor’s political party affiliation as well as if she was pro-choice or pro-life. The neighbor answered those questions and shortly thereafter received yet another phone call asking if she favored Mr. Stivison in the 9th Ward Council election and then the same two questions were asked—her political affiliation and her pro-life/pro-choice stance. She felt it odd that the telephoners were recording this information in an election which is non-partisan and which has absolutely no bearing on the pro-life/pro-choice issue.
A few minutes later, our phone rang. The caller wanted to know if I was going to vote for Mr. Stivison in the 9th Ward. I replied that I was voting for Mr. Koester. She then wanted to know my political party affiliation. I told her that since this is a non-partisan race, she had no need to know that. The caller then firmly replied that she was representing a “government agency” and they needed to know with what political party I was affiliated. When I refused to give her this information, she hung up.
When I checked the caller i.d. on my telephone, I noticed the call had been made from the Paric Corporation. I tried to call back but just got the Paric Corp. switchboard. Since when is Paric a “government agency”? Obviously, the caller lied to me and tried to intimidate me into giving her the information she wanted, which is a tactic I, for one, greatly resent. I am under no obligation to divulge my political party affiliation to anyone (even a “government agency”), nor does anyone from the upcoming election need to know whether any of us are pro-choice or pro-life. The City of St. Charles does not deal with those issues. Perhaps Paric Corp., as well as the Stivison/York campaigns, should reconsider their campaign tactics and stick to issues which are relevant.
Eleanor McCune
Recently had took the opportunity to learn more about both candidates using
the internet. Both have websites. When I looked at the Mayor’s website I
noticed one thing, it lacks substance. She writes about how she was a member
of this or that. Compare that to John Giesekes’ , it talks about what his
positions are about things that matter to the residents. After watching the
debate and reading the websites it’s obvious to me that Mayor York is in
politics for herself and not the people.
Marci Mills
Dear Editor,
My neighbor called last evening to tell me about an unusual phone call she had received from a political phone banker. The caller asked if my neighbor was voting for Mayor York in the upcoming election and then wanted to know the neighbor’s political party affiliation as well as if she was pro-choice or pro-life. The neighbor answered those questions and shortly thereafter received yet another phone call asking if she favored Mr. Stivison in the 9th Ward Council election and then the same two questions were asked—her political affiliation and her pro-life/pro-choice stance. She felt it odd that the telephoners were recording this information in an election which is non-partisan and which has absolutely no bearing on the pro-life/pro-choice issue.
A few minutes later, our phone rang. The caller wanted to know if I was going to vote for Mr. Stivison in the 9th Ward. I replied that I was voting for Mr. Koester. She then wanted to know my political party affiliation. I told her that since this is a non-partisan race, she had no need to know that. The caller then firmly replied that she was representing a “government agency” and they needed to know with what political party I was affiliated. When I refused to give her this information, she hung up.
When I checked the caller i.d. on my telephone, I noticed the call had been made from the Paric Corporation. I tried to call back but just got the Paric Corp. switchboard. Since when is Paric a “government agency”? Obviously, the caller lied to me and tried to intimidate me into giving her the information she wanted, which is a tactic I, for one, greatly resent. I am under no obligation to divulge my political party affiliation to anyone (even a “government agency”), nor does anyone from the upcoming election need to know whether any of us are pro-choice or pro-life. The City of St. Charles does not deal with those issues. Perhaps Paric Corp., as well as the Stivison/York campaigns, should reconsider their campaign tactics and stick to issues which are relevant.
Eleanor McCune
The City DESK - Rory Riddler, Councilman Ward 1
Do We Have What It Takes To
Hold Candidates Accountable?
There are few things that every candidate running for office in the City of St. Charles has in common. Yes they all have two eyes. I’m talking about something beyond the obvious. Give up?
Every single candidate voluntarily signed a clean campaign pledge.
The document’s somewhat verbose heading reads: A Promise To The Public For A Campaign With Integrity. The City Clerk keeps them all on file. I don’t know if a single person has ever looked at them, but like Social Security, I hope it’s there when I need it.
Every candidate promised to offer only “factual” information with regard to themselves and the past records of those in office. They promise that their campaign, including themselves and, perhaps more importantly, those who work in support of them, will not make untrue statements, either verbally or written, about their opponent.
It goes on to read that each candidate pledges not to engage in personal or character attacks in any manner. Seems pretty straightforward and ironclad to me. Much like the prenuptial agreement between Brittany Spears and Kevin Federline.
With such universal agreement this should be the cleanest campaign on record…if, and this is an important if…the voters demand it.
Just above the signature of each candidate for office are the words: “I made these promises to the people of St. Charles.” That’s a pretty solemn vow. It is, in fact, a contract between each of you and those who seek to represent you in local government.
Before you ask, the answer to the question of who enforces these promises is, well you. No one at City Hall will. There is no Department of Personal Responsibility. There are no fines, fees or penalties unless you exact them. There is no referee or judge beyond your own good judgment and sense of smell.
So what do you look for? Few candidates sink to the level today of what I’ll call the bold-faced lie. They prefer to employ one of several variations to the truth.
There is your basic half-truth. Provide only the information you want your audience to have. Leave out the part where you opponent perhaps saved a child from drowning or found a cure for cancer.
Another example of the half-truth tactic would be taking hundreds of hours of footage from meetings and then editing it down to a couple of minutes where an office holder yawns, roll their eyes to the ceiling or perhaps raise their voice. Add some very expensive creative editing, a few words taken completely out of context, some eye of newt and allow to simmer in a black cauldron.
Twisting the truth is a step up from telling half-truths. This takes a little more creativity. If you voted to protect taxpayer money by vigorously defending the city against what you felt was an unwarranted and abusive lawsuit then your opponents will say “Your failed leadership cost the taxpayers excessive legal fees.” Never mind if your defending the suit saved the city over $100 million that the plaintiff wanted.
There is also guilt by association. It doesn’t matter that you had no knowledge of someone else’s troubles. If anyone you ever met did anything wrong, they have a paint brush wide enough to paint you both.
Mudslinging is more like mud wrestling in St. Charles County. Or perhaps it is more like mud volleyball. You know the kind where they dig a three-foot deep hole, fill it with water and expect you to play volleyball while trying not to catch hepatitis. Most campaign literature that begins with the words, “My opponent is…” will probably turn out to be mudslinging. That phrase seldom ends with the words, “…a very nice guy.”
Last minute smear attacks are simply those attacks made in the 11th hour of any campaign. The opponent hopes you won’t have time to answer. It is like a sucker punch. Start by asking yourself simple questions. If this person is as bad as all that or did such and such, why am I only hearing about it a week before the election? Why am I reading about it in a piece of campaign literature, funded by Slovakians For Good Government?
Someone whose name escapes me in the wee hours, once said people get the type of government they deserve. I don’t believe anyone deserves bad government, but I do believe voters need to say enough is enough. I am already sick and tired of the 2008 Presidential Campaign and full-scale mudslinging hasn’t even begun. They’ve barely started kicking sand at each other.
I believe that negative campaigns threaten our democracy by alienating people from wanting to participate in the process. How many people do you know who are willing to have themselves and their families dragged through the mud of a modern campaign? How many simply decide not to vote?
The solution to this problem is simple. Don’t reward negative campaigning.
Make a clean campaign pledge to yourself. Simply resolve to not tolerate last minute political smear campaigns. Don’t reward candidates who place so little value on their own clean campaign pledge.
An old maxim of mine is that people are no better at being elected officials than they are at being candidates. What you see is usually what you get.
And if there really is a Slovakians For Good Government Committee…I was only kidding.
Case In Point By Joe Koester, Councilman Ward 9
Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.
John W. Gardner
Many years ago, in a community far, far away, Saint Charles was a small town. Sheriff Plackemeyer was retiring after, I believe, it was 25 years as sheriff. I’m not sure of all of the candidates who decided to run for the position; however, I know two of them for sure. On the Republican ticket, there was a man named Frank Dapron who lived out on Highway K in O’Fallon just south of the Service Road. One on the Democratic ticket was Bob Koester, my dad, who had been a St. Charles City police officer, the interim Police Chief, and a lieutenant, I believe, at the Sheriff’s Office.
Frank was renowned back in the 1970s among children because he was the county’s K-9 officer. His German shepherd would perform all sorts of commands and Frank would take him to schools or anywhere kids were to be found. The dog’s name, by the way, was Ho-Prince. I was the youngest in the family and only six when dad died, but I remember trips to Frank’s house in O’Fallon. He had a swimming pool, which was pretty rare for our county back then, and he would play the fiddle if you asked him too. Since both Frank and dad had a primary race, Frank would campaign and ask for people’s vote, as politicians do. The unusual part to his campaign wasn’t soliciting votes, but it was what Frank would say when he met people around the county, which was, “I would appreciate your vote, but if you don’t vote for me, I would sure appreciate it if you’d vote for Bob Koester.”
Dad took office in 1968 and asked Sheriff Plackemeyer to stay on as an advisor – which he did. Frank Dapron stayed on too and our family remained friends with him until his death. I have always considered my town and my county to be that same place. A place where I remember going to Peruque Harbor down on the Mississippi – a Harbor owned by Earl Wehrle. John’s Boat Harbor was another place we often spent time just right up the road from Earl’s, but it was at Earl’s river pecan grove where I remember running around playing and sneaking drinks of cold beer while adults enjoyed each other’s company and did their politicking. I even have a photograph of dad and mom talking to Senator Eagleton right there among the people in St. Charles County. No $1,000 a plate occasion, instead it was local politics. My oldest brother has a letter from President Nixon sent to dad for outstanding law enforcement; never mind that they were of opposite political parties – Democrat and Republican was not written so large back then. Our county was open to electing from both sides and those sides were friends, they shopped at the same stores, and they knew the same circles of people. Somewhere along the way, our county and town lost its civility. The political scene became pretty monolithic and the GOP in town began to resent the audacity of a Democrat even daring to run for office. The system is broken because it is competition that provides some of the checks and balances within the elected body and competition is being quashed by the powerful and well connected. Those who can outspend their opponents create reality.
What has changed? Well, locally, one Proverb is certainly apropos – The love of money is the root of all evil. Our City’s budget hovers around the $100 Million dollar range and this brings in lots and lots of companies who want to pocket as much of that cash as they can get their hands on. The state budget is in the billions and the same holds true there too. Some will feign wanting to shrink the budget; however, business has always benefited from a cozy symbiosis with government and politicians are always all too willing to spend more to help their contributor’s firms land contracts that feather their nests. The expenditures that you will see for the humble, little office of councilman and mayor of St. Charles will be outrages. Much ado will be made about fighting at city hall (which ended a year and a half ago) but that will be the smoke and mirrors because only one thing brings so much money into play and that’s the chance to make or control even more money. Let me exemplify just how warped the process now is, just how far from the Days of Frank Dapron we have fallen. A local businessman and political pundit told a friend that, “I’m going to kill that [expletive, expletive] Koester.” This person’s reason for spouting such venomous remarks was that I ran against Tom Dempsey. Wow! I hope you can appreciate just how remarkably sad this is. Three years ago I ran for council and my opponent was Bo Hagan. Mr. Hagan is a good guy and today I have no malice towards him. Would you expect otherwise? I think most St. Charles residents would have the same mindset. I remember two Christmases ago I stepped over to chat with Mr. Hagan and he joked with me by saying, “Thank you!” Of course, he was thanking me for keeping him out of office and a lot of turmoil. Today, my opponent is a friend who worked for my dad back in the 1970s. Campaigns are part of the process – they are the competition of thoughts and ideas and not battles between good and evil. It is discouraging to see our town the focus of so much outside money – can’t local residents debate and communicate with their peers about local matters without spending thousands upon thousands of dollars? I kind of think we can and I think the rebuffed recall effort of Dottie Greer is evidence of this.
Over the years my opinions about partisan politics has certainly changed. Both sides for pandering to moneyed lobbyists regularly discourage me. Of course, it can be tough for a congressman or senator to vote against the people who are financing his multi-million dollar campaign (we need publicly financed elections). Is it inevitable that council will make its every move in the same fashion? I hope not.
So, everyone, please take a breath, remember that the process is open to all and that no one has any inherited right to retain office indefinitely.
To end:
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
. J. O’Rourke
The View From The Cheap Seats BY Jerry Haferkamp
The View
From
The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
“To be, or not to be? That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them”. (From Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
People sometimes ask why I write this column. I don’t get paid to do it. I don’t do it to get my name in print. I only put my name in after some complaints were made about columns with anonymous writers. The answer lies in Hamlet’s soliloquy written above. Whenever government commits acts against the general good, someone has to take arms and oppose them. I chose to do that.
My current topic is the St. Charles School Board’s decision to prove to this city that their word means nothing. They broke a promise that was given to employees and adhered to for years. This was no small promise. Homes were purchased and lives were planned based on this promise. The present board has shown that their promises are but dust in the wind.
Several speakers challenged this action at the last Board meeting. I was one. All the speakers were opposed to the new policy that doesn’t allow non-resident employees to have their children attend our schools. The Board again displayed their arrogance by a gunshot quick motion to approve the evening’s agenda before Dr. Towers had the opportunity to amend the agenda to address this issue.
The best thing that can be said of this act is that it was committed after several young students left the meeting. One was a student who had been recently honored on the “Do The Right Thing” program. She alerted family and neighbors to a fire, possibly saving lives. It is disturbing that we have children that can “do the right thing” and four adults on the Board that can’t even grasp the concept. I’m glad the young girl didn’t have to witness the behavior of these four.
Board member Wayne Oetting took several minutes of the meeting trying to convince people that by removing one student from a classroom the district would save about $8,000. I’m not sure if he was trying to convince himself that we are stupid enough to believe that or just trying to show us that he is.
It is time that those of you who want to restore employee confidence in this board to call or write to the Board members who have betrayed your trust and encourage them to live up to their word. Those Board members who have betrayed our trust are Karen Perrone, Wayne Oetting, Mary Darting and Dennis Hahn.
It is time these Board members honored the promises made to our employees. They have shown that they won’t do this unless forced. It is up to you to force them. You can sit around and be part of the problem, or you can take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them.
Get involved! Don’t expect someone else to do it for you. The ball, as they say in tennis, is in your court. It is of no use for me to write these columns to alert you to the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” if you only agree with me but fail to act. I’m calling on you to help these employees of our schools, your employees. It’s time for you to act. Your employees are counting on you.
If you want to help, write “Honor Your Promises” on a sheet of paper and mail to:
Dennis Hahn, President
St. Charles Board of Education
1025 Country Club Road
St. Charles, Mo. 63303
Or if you want to be part of the problem, just sit there.
That’s the view from the cheap seats
From
The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
“To be, or not to be? That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them”. (From Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
People sometimes ask why I write this column. I don’t get paid to do it. I don’t do it to get my name in print. I only put my name in after some complaints were made about columns with anonymous writers. The answer lies in Hamlet’s soliloquy written above. Whenever government commits acts against the general good, someone has to take arms and oppose them. I chose to do that.
My current topic is the St. Charles School Board’s decision to prove to this city that their word means nothing. They broke a promise that was given to employees and adhered to for years. This was no small promise. Homes were purchased and lives were planned based on this promise. The present board has shown that their promises are but dust in the wind.
Several speakers challenged this action at the last Board meeting. I was one. All the speakers were opposed to the new policy that doesn’t allow non-resident employees to have their children attend our schools. The Board again displayed their arrogance by a gunshot quick motion to approve the evening’s agenda before Dr. Towers had the opportunity to amend the agenda to address this issue.
The best thing that can be said of this act is that it was committed after several young students left the meeting. One was a student who had been recently honored on the “Do The Right Thing” program. She alerted family and neighbors to a fire, possibly saving lives. It is disturbing that we have children that can “do the right thing” and four adults on the Board that can’t even grasp the concept. I’m glad the young girl didn’t have to witness the behavior of these four.
Board member Wayne Oetting took several minutes of the meeting trying to convince people that by removing one student from a classroom the district would save about $8,000. I’m not sure if he was trying to convince himself that we are stupid enough to believe that or just trying to show us that he is.
It is time that those of you who want to restore employee confidence in this board to call or write to the Board members who have betrayed your trust and encourage them to live up to their word. Those Board members who have betrayed our trust are Karen Perrone, Wayne Oetting, Mary Darting and Dennis Hahn.
It is time these Board members honored the promises made to our employees. They have shown that they won’t do this unless forced. It is up to you to force them. You can sit around and be part of the problem, or you can take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them.
Get involved! Don’t expect someone else to do it for you. The ball, as they say in tennis, is in your court. It is of no use for me to write these columns to alert you to the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” if you only agree with me but fail to act. I’m calling on you to help these employees of our schools, your employees. It’s time for you to act. Your employees are counting on you.
If you want to help, write “Honor Your Promises” on a sheet of paper and mail to:
Dennis Hahn, President
St. Charles Board of Education
1025 Country Club Road
St. Charles, Mo. 63303
Or if you want to be part of the problem, just sit there.
That’s the view from the cheap seats
ComMENTS & COMMENTARY by Charles Hill
COMMENTS
AND
COMMENTARY
Charles Hill
How can you tell it’s election time? Simple, anything that might look good ready or not needs to be announced. Mayor York held a press conference recently to announce the potential move of the Post Office to the proposed Lindenwood commercial area at First Capitol and West Clay and the expansion of St. Joseph’s Health Center. St. Joe would build a parking garage on the post office property. Keep in mind this would be great but the announcement went something like this. York announced the expansion and movement; the President of St. Joe’s basically said that the board hasn’t discussed the plan. The Post Office is on record saying they can’t afford to move unless it is paid for by St. Joes. Both have signed a non-binding agreement to keep talking.
Now I realize York has little to hang her hat on since the Convention Center is old news, but to call a press conference over a remote possibility of this project demonstrates just how little she has done. Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground. It appears that once again it’s not a real project unless you and I kick in. When will York have something that you and I don’t have to pay for?
I long for the good ol’ days of a city actually paying for what they are supposed to, the basics. I am hopeful that might happen if things go right in April. I wonder if John Gieseke can dream up a project and host a press conference. I remember reading once that Walt Disney had plans to create the first Disneyland in St. Louis. Maybe Gieseke can announce that Disney has come back from the grave and wants to build a Disneyland in New Town. Both Disney and the Mayor can compare notes as to the chances of their projects happening. My money is on Disney.
AND
COMMENTARY
Charles Hill
How can you tell it’s election time? Simple, anything that might look good ready or not needs to be announced. Mayor York held a press conference recently to announce the potential move of the Post Office to the proposed Lindenwood commercial area at First Capitol and West Clay and the expansion of St. Joseph’s Health Center. St. Joe would build a parking garage on the post office property. Keep in mind this would be great but the announcement went something like this. York announced the expansion and movement; the President of St. Joe’s basically said that the board hasn’t discussed the plan. The Post Office is on record saying they can’t afford to move unless it is paid for by St. Joes. Both have signed a non-binding agreement to keep talking.
Now I realize York has little to hang her hat on since the Convention Center is old news, but to call a press conference over a remote possibility of this project demonstrates just how little she has done. Once again this project does require you and I to kick in 5 acres of taxpayers ground. It appears that once again it’s not a real project unless you and I kick in. When will York have something that you and I don’t have to pay for?
I long for the good ol’ days of a city actually paying for what they are supposed to, the basics. I am hopeful that might happen if things go right in April. I wonder if John Gieseke can dream up a project and host a press conference. I remember reading once that Walt Disney had plans to create the first Disneyland in St. Louis. Maybe Gieseke can announce that Disney has come back from the grave and wants to build a Disneyland in New Town. Both Disney and the Mayor can compare notes as to the chances of their projects happening. My money is on Disney.
First Capitol News Sports - Mike McMurran Sports Editor
Have you ever wondered how and why I write about what I write about in my column? There were a few of you out there last week who suggested that the Councilman from ward one and I were conspiring last week when we both wrote about the UMSL name change – nope, pure coincidence. The fact is I never know what I am going to write about until I sit down at the keyboard. Oh sure, sometimes I have an idea, but for the most part the closer it gets to deadline the faster my brain works.
As is true in most endeavors in life, good things come to those who wait. No sooner than I received my weekly phone call from Tony telling me the deadline was drawing near, I received a phone call from Saint Charles resident Ryan Wallace. As regular readers know, Ryan is the head football coach at beautiful Jennings High School. He is a graduate of Zumwalt South, played college ball and graduated from Missouri Valley, and has a Master’s degree from Lindenwood University. He and I served as assistant coaches at Jennings for a couple of years and struck up a rather odd friendship. Ryan is some 22 years younger than I, but other than chronological age out measures me in most areas – most, I remind you.
You see Ryan has the intelligence to know when to keep his mouth shut – something I’m still learning. He has an uncanny ability to always have the politically correct response – even though what he might be thinking is as incorrect, if not vulgar, as can be. What we have in common is the love of football, in particular the love of offensive line play. It’s something one has to experience to fully understand. No matter how angry Wallace gets at me for one of the many, many stupid things I might say, he knows I know how to teach the proper technique for a three point stance. He knows I know the proper footwork for a pulling guard. He knows that I know good offensive linemen have (a) big heads (literally), (b) big butts, (c) are organized almost to a fault, (d) think in a concrete and structured manner, and (e) have a high tolerance for pain – at least think they do.
This past season at Jennings was undeniably the most successful football season in the school’s history. The team finished with a 9-2 record and won their first Suburban East title in the school’s history. They won their district rather easily, and almost pulled off what would have been the biggest upset of the year against Parkway North. I should modify the last sentence: the only one’s who wouldn’t have called it an upset would have been Wallace, his coaching staff and his players. They knew they were going to win – which is the only way to go into a game.
Anyway, as I was sitting down to write this week’s column, Wallace called and we chatted ever so briefly. I mentioned to him I would love to have a “Jennings football tee shirt” he had designed to commemorate the season. “You like those, do you?” he asked in his satirical, condescending manner. “Yes,” I replied, “they remind me of the shirts I designed the second year you and I coached together – the color scheme and all.” “Oh yeah,” he yelped, “I’ve been waiting 20 years to design a tee-shirt with the schedule on the back depicting a conference title. All through high school, college, and my first five or six years at Jennings I never was part of a conference champion to this year.” I shared with him how I understood his excitement – as I too had recently experienced something very similar.
You see this past summer my son Joe’s baseball team won their division in the Atom I league at St. Peter’s Athletic Association – and what did we do? We had tee shirts made with the schedule and results printed on the back. Not only that, we had our team e.r.a. of 4.00 (the lowest out of 25 teams) and our winning streak of 10 games (the longest out of 50 teams) printed right below the schedule just like Wallace did with his football team.
Why do I make mention of all this? The answer is in the last sentence of the second paragraph and the last sentence of the third paragraph of this narrative. You see (a) I had the honor of designing my tee shirts some 5 months prior to Wallace and (b) offensive linemen are highly, highly competitive – no matter what the competition might be.
See you next week.
As is true in most endeavors in life, good things come to those who wait. No sooner than I received my weekly phone call from Tony telling me the deadline was drawing near, I received a phone call from Saint Charles resident Ryan Wallace. As regular readers know, Ryan is the head football coach at beautiful Jennings High School. He is a graduate of Zumwalt South, played college ball and graduated from Missouri Valley, and has a Master’s degree from Lindenwood University. He and I served as assistant coaches at Jennings for a couple of years and struck up a rather odd friendship. Ryan is some 22 years younger than I, but other than chronological age out measures me in most areas – most, I remind you.
You see Ryan has the intelligence to know when to keep his mouth shut – something I’m still learning. He has an uncanny ability to always have the politically correct response – even though what he might be thinking is as incorrect, if not vulgar, as can be. What we have in common is the love of football, in particular the love of offensive line play. It’s something one has to experience to fully understand. No matter how angry Wallace gets at me for one of the many, many stupid things I might say, he knows I know how to teach the proper technique for a three point stance. He knows I know the proper footwork for a pulling guard. He knows that I know good offensive linemen have (a) big heads (literally), (b) big butts, (c) are organized almost to a fault, (d) think in a concrete and structured manner, and (e) have a high tolerance for pain – at least think they do.
This past season at Jennings was undeniably the most successful football season in the school’s history. The team finished with a 9-2 record and won their first Suburban East title in the school’s history. They won their district rather easily, and almost pulled off what would have been the biggest upset of the year against Parkway North. I should modify the last sentence: the only one’s who wouldn’t have called it an upset would have been Wallace, his coaching staff and his players. They knew they were going to win – which is the only way to go into a game.
Anyway, as I was sitting down to write this week’s column, Wallace called and we chatted ever so briefly. I mentioned to him I would love to have a “Jennings football tee shirt” he had designed to commemorate the season. “You like those, do you?” he asked in his satirical, condescending manner. “Yes,” I replied, “they remind me of the shirts I designed the second year you and I coached together – the color scheme and all.” “Oh yeah,” he yelped, “I’ve been waiting 20 years to design a tee-shirt with the schedule on the back depicting a conference title. All through high school, college, and my first five or six years at Jennings I never was part of a conference champion to this year.” I shared with him how I understood his excitement – as I too had recently experienced something very similar.
You see this past summer my son Joe’s baseball team won their division in the Atom I league at St. Peter’s Athletic Association – and what did we do? We had tee shirts made with the schedule and results printed on the back. Not only that, we had our team e.r.a. of 4.00 (the lowest out of 25 teams) and our winning streak of 10 games (the longest out of 50 teams) printed right below the schedule just like Wallace did with his football team.
Why do I make mention of all this? The answer is in the last sentence of the second paragraph and the last sentence of the third paragraph of this narrative. You see (a) I had the honor of designing my tee shirts some 5 months prior to Wallace and (b) offensive linemen are highly, highly competitive – no matter what the competition might be.
See you next week.
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