I never thought I'd see another meeting like February 8th but this one may even be more entertaining. Last nights meeting of February 22nd promised to be another evening of dog owners stuffing the room to hear the discussion of the pit bull ordinance, then out of the blue—it blew! I'm going to have to view the video several times to make sure I have all the facts in the proper order but it all started with the "Mayor's Report" when Mayor Lambi announced that his report would be a little longer than usual. I also have to report on Alderman Nick Guccione and his sincere attempt to assimilate, Nick when you already have your foot in your mouth up to your ankle and you want people to respect you, stop trying to shove it in up to your knee.
Lambi went on the attack regarding the investigation of the $15,000 check given to City Attorney, Paul Rost. His target was Alderman Chris Gard of Ward 2 and opened up with both barrels. Lambi is angry about the allegations being made in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the St. Charles County Journal, and The Wentzvillian, quoting from each. He asked (barked) questions of Gard from what appeared to be a script. I suspect he was trying to get the aldermen to commit to some kind of "witch hunt" and may have been coached by his defense attorney, Chet Pleban. Gard responded by saying "under advice of Wentzville's city attorney, I refuse to answer." At the February 8th meeting Rost instructed the board that they should not respond to newspapers and blogs. The only alderman to respond to Lambi's questions and fold like a cheap suit was Guccione, but that's axiomatic. He was told not to respond to newspapers or blogs at least three times (that I know of) last week what part of that didn't he understand? (scratching head)
I will go into more detail about Lambi's behavior last night on a later blog but for now, I want to concentrate onGuccione's performance during the meeting. Twice last night he campaigned from the Dias saying: "I made a mistake voting for the Rankin contract, I'm sorry," Guccione flips again, what's new? First he votes against Sam's Club coming to town and now flips on Rankin. The Suburban Journal of February 13 reported: "(Ed) Watkins (Winning Endeavors) confirmed that Pleban was examining whether Wentzville should have requested bids before approving its $360,000 agreement with Ranken. Watkins said at least two aldermen and the city's economic development director were aware that another school, Linn State Technical College, expressed interested in opening a satellite campus in Wentzville two months before the Ranken agreement was finalized."
I will go into more detail about Lambi's behavior last night on a later blog but for now, I want to concentrate on
Lambi tried unsuccessfully to get the aldermen to admit that they knew about Linn State Technical College wanting to open a satellite school here. None of the aldermen said a word except Guccione; "I didn't know," agreeing with Lambi he made a motion to have the aldermen reveal who knew. Silence again, as the board of crickets starred expressionless into their computer screens, the motion died for lack of a second. Three times that night Guccione made a motion for various topics and they failed for lack of a second. When the subject of not posting public meetings in private homes was voted on, Guccione was the only "no" vote. Four times over the course of the meeting Guccione opposed the entire board, can the board always be wrong? This is exactly what I posted about him on my February 20th blog;"Why" Guccione is incapable of working with the other aldermen, there is no way he could be a successful Mayor.
As a footnote:Donna Sherwooid is up to her usual underhanded crap by filing another "ethics violation," this time on her opponent, Jeremy Pritchett. Bill Schuette finally made an appearance (after an eleven month absence) to speak in the "Open Forum" and to have a city-paid campaign photo-op saying; "We should not be spending tax-dollars on Rankin." It amazes me how Guccione fell right back in lock-step with Schuette, old habits are hard to break. Schuette slithered back into the night shortly after his photo-op and Sherwood rolled out two hours before the meeting ended. This was a regular circus night for reporters and viewers alike, make sure to go to: http://www.wentzvillemo.org/ to see all three rings. Look for more to come, I'll be baaack!
As a footnote:
i saw that meeting last night, it was incredible. i don't know much about what was going on but i think it's a good thing mayor lambi has decided not to try to be elected again. alderman guccione seems to be with him politically.
ReplyDeleteThe Wentzville website is actually wentzvillemo.org
ReplyDeleteGot it, thanks!
DeleteYes, donna is up to old tricks again. I could not believe that she went down the road of ethics charges again with second person in this election. With that being said, someone defaced her home last week. We all know the stunts that she does is low, but destruction of personal property is to far. I ask everyone even if you personally hate someone please do not destroy their home.
ReplyDeleteWentzvillian: You have lost much credibility after hearing your displeasure with the $15,000 toward LINC. I find it to be a travesty that they did not help out this organization. Do you have any idea what a terrific service LINC provides the citizens of Wentzville? Of course you do not. You need to do your investigation instead of just making random statements. LINC is a very honorable organization that does an honorable job and it DIRECTLY benefits the Wentzville community. $15,000 to help this struggling organization is a MUST for the city. By not funding it we are hurting the community and neglecting the valuable service they do provide!! LINC saves the city money and helps serve the children of our community. LINC operates at 5% of the cost that it should. If this non-profit organization fails, it will only do harm to the Wentzville community and it will go back on the taxpayers ten-fold!! Since you appear as the conservative of Wentzville, you should see the wisdom of helping out this organization that benefits your community and is fiscally responsible. Please use your platform in a purposeful way and not try to create a divide amongst the community. You create these names and have all this fun, but only divide the community. We all have differences, embrace them and let's use them together. I believe that all these candidates have different views on what and how things should be done, but I also believe they are doing this for the betterment of the community. As long as that is the case, leave them alone and quit with these weird conspiracy theories that no one knows what you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you sentiments toward LINC but if ythe City gives money to one 501c3, where do you draw the line?
DeleteMy "displeasure" as you call it, was not toward LINC, but with the city going into business financing such an organization.
For your information: I was a board member of a benevolent organization in Wentzville and instrumental in procuring the funds to keep LINC viable. I believe in joining togethjer in helping ourselves, as such, our organization did what all benevolent organizations do: Help people and organizations so they can help others.
The City should stay out of all benevolent organization funding, it's up to us to do what we can for others. I hope you can see my distinction and that my credibility hasn't been damaged too badly in your eyes.
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Deletehas anyone visited lambi's website? google him. he cofounded westplex loc. is it legal for an elected official to accept a check for his own company while in office? why is no one questioning this? where is the public outcry?
ReplyDelete