Alderman Admits "the Blog" is Correct!

One of my readers commented on the report I put up here on February 8th and he or she gave me pause. The statement was made: "You may be exaggerating,..." and it made me think. I've been trying very hard to be a lot more objective about the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the upcoming election including those candidates competing, then I read on;  "...but not much!" Thank God, I must be making progress, or not. I'll admit my lack of objectivity is in direct proportion to the anti-good-government actions of those elected officials and candidates who are trying to screw-up Wentzville, but I'm trying to stick to the facts. There are some who can bring out the worst of me with the simplest things, and as much as I hate to affirm it (as if you didn't already know), Nick Guccione, Donna Sherwood, and Bill Schuette are such easy targets with the things they say and do, I just can't help myself—I'm weak, please bear with me.

I had intended to say more about the meeting of February 8th and I was afraid that the person commenting was going to steal my thunder but there was so much more said that night I could probably continue writing on it until well after the election. One point brought up in the comment was: "Nick appeared to complain about the unfairness of securing sign locations. Was Nick claiming he needs to flaunt the sign regulations to level the playing field?" He is right on the bead. Guccione is the whiner and has the advantage of being able to do it in front of literally thousands of citizen witnesses in an effort to get "underdog" support, but Donna Sherwood is the biggest violator so far this election. She placed her signs up almost a full month prior to the date allowed by ordinance, probably on the advice of Guccione. She knew that the city would give her notice to remove her signs "within 30 days" which would coincide with the beginning of "political sign season." At least Guccione waited to put his signs out until 60 days prior to the election which adhered to the ordinance. I don't think it was as noble as it looks, he knew the ration of crap Sherwood took and just didn't want it for himself, then again, she may have been his test case, hmmm.

Regarding Nick Guccione and his campaign strategy...he has no strategy (especially with Sherwood managing his campaign), unless of course you want to call underhanded-backroom tactics a strategy. Recruiting candidates to stack the board with his stooges will always be called enethical here. He really wants to win but what he doesn't realize is that everyone can see right through him, he can't win a fair election. At the meeting, he whined (it's not an exaggeration, anyone watching the video will see that he was actually whining) about his opponents ability to secure prime locations for their signs, "it's just not fair," they're all after me he cried. I was thinking that Mayor Lambi, who sits next to him, should have loaned him his handkerchief. Guccione has no debating skills, he relies on blaming others for his short-comings.

I do have to report about the most important section of the meeting; when they discussed the press release prepared by the City Attorney, Paul Rost. The press release was designed to tell the public why the information from the "Executive Session" is not available because the investigation is ongoing by "other agencies." The St. Louis Post Dispatch article really brought some serious doubt that Guccione didn't reveal privileged information. He protested so much about not "saying anything" to the reporter that he actually admitted: "It's all out there on the blog, I didn't say anything, (that wasn't already known). I'll take a lie detector test." The Wentzvillian couldn't have had a better endorsement than an alderman admitting that it's all true, about Lambi and influence peddling. Until Guccione's admission, it was simply a concerned citizen's observations and pure speculation. I can see trouble on the horizon for Alderman Guccione but I do want to say: Thank you again! Because of his blabbing to the press, seeing the minutes of those secret meetings is probably not necessary except to dot a few "I"s and cross a couple "T"s.

After last weeks meeting I am wondering if Guccione will still continue contributing to the meetings or clam up again. If he were to take some good advice (which he never has), he'd just try and be an alderman for another year and be quiet about it, let Sherwood (his campaign manager) start her photo-ops again. That should be more than enough bad press for the both of them.

BTW, I wish the person who said I was exaggerating would please tell me where? I am really trying to get better. I know that as Forrest Gossett, candidate for Alderman of Ward 1 told me: "You can be a bit bombastic at times," but I'm really, really trying. Maybe there's some 12-step program for "Citizen Journalists?"