In Two Weeks It Officially Begins

Filing for municipal offices begins December 13, 2011 and ends on January 17, 2012. In just two weeks candidates for mayor and all three wards will start lining up on the city hall steps to make their candidacy official. More than likely there will be some surprises in store during the coming weeks. The following is a list of candidates that were announced to The Wentzvillian:

Mayor:
Nick Guccione, Alderman Ward 3 has made his candidacy public.
Leon Tow, Alderman Ward 1 has made his candidacy public.

Ward 1: (Vacated by Leon Tow)
Forrest Gossett, Gossett's name was brought in by Alderman Cheryl Kross.
Jay Weber, Weber's name was brought in by Alderman Nick Guccione.

Ward 2: Vann Sample, incumbent is running for a second term.
Donna Sherwood, this will be Sherwood's third try at an aldermanic seat.

Ward 3: Incumbent Rick Stokes is running for a second term.

This is the latest list of highly-suspected or known candidates who have stated their intention of filing. There could be others come forward before filing is closed January 17, 2012. Some names that appeared previously were removed either because they decided not to run or we are unsure if they will register.

For Mayor; Guccione and Tow are going full-bore with fund-raisers and meetings with residents on a regular basis. It needs to be reported that Guccione has the union support and Tow is being backed by the HBA (Home Builders Association). If Paul Lambi is going to run, there is no noise on the streets and he has lost the support of the HBA which carried him through his first four terms. In addition, as reported before, there is an excellent chance that another candidate may announce for the top spot which will shake things up quite a bit and make for an interesting run for Mayor.

As stated above, The Wentzvillian picks for alderman are; Forrest Gossett, Ward 1, and Rick Stokes for ward 3. Should Stokes be opposed, he has our support because he spearheaded the half-million dollar real estate tax cut. The first time Wentzville citizen's taxes have actually been reduced in recent years—maybe ever. On the record, Paul Lambi, Vann Sample, and Nick Guccione minimized the tax cut realization to individual homeowners and therefore opposed it.

Ward 2 is another subject all together. Incumbent Vann Sample, has made some disappointing decisions in recent months by wanting to raise the rent for the Green Lantern Senior Center and vocalizing his disapproval of having Wentzville employees share in their health care. His voting record has been erratic and hard to figure out. The other candidate is Donna Sherwood, this will be her third time trying to capture this seat. In the past, she has campaigned for Vickie Boedeker's unsucessful mayoral bids and Bill Schuette's aldermanic campaigns. Now she is campaign manager for Nick Guccione plus running her own campaign. In all good conscience, The Wentzvillian can't support her effort to become alderman of Ward 2. If push comes to shove and another more viable candidate doesn't materialize, The Wentzvillian would support Sample in this race.

For Ward 3, Matt Garvey has elected not to run and at this time Rick Stokes is unopposed.

This is a very pivotal election please make sure you are registered and get out to Vote on April 3, 2012.