Two Stooges Minus One

Another very good friend of mine, Ms. PSS was complaining to me last night that I need to start writing two times a day. She said that yesterday's A Poke In The Eye was great but she wanted more, so this half is dedicated to her. After watching the meeting of April 25th, I can say to her; have no qualms or trepidations, the vicissitudes you'll encounter will elevate you to a lofty understanding that the frivolities have just begun to actualize.

To continue: Nervous as expected, Mayor Guccione took the throne. It's a hard job speaking to a large group of people and he made his share of mistakes. In time he'll get the routine of chairing a governmental body, at least for the sake of the City, I can hope. His first order of business was to hold an election for the Board President, Alderman of Ward 3, Rick "Bulldog" Stokes won the honor, this is going to be an interesting challenge for Guccione to work closely with the Bulldog. Guccione's campaign committee filed an ethics violation against Stokes that cost him some heavy cabbage, I'm not suggesting that Stokes is not going to forgive Guccione but reaching into someones wallet is hard to forget, I wish them well on their liaison.

Mayor Guccione read his "Vision for the City speech," and the audience listened intently. He talked about wanting growth and keeping up with it. He wants a larger police department and more employees in his bureaucracy. As he stumbled through his oration, I tried desperately to figure out what his vision was. The things he said have been said by every mayor of Wentzville for the last 157 years—"where's the beef?" Our Mayor has no ideas for the future of Wentzville, everything he said was merely status quo and maintaining.

After really fumbling through the process of approving the "Consent Agenda," it came to appointments. I'm going to cut to the chase here and skipping the committee appointments to slip right into the Ward 3 vacant seat appointment. I'm puzzled here, Guccione said he's not going to announce the name of his choice until May the 9th, after he gets approval of each Board member. It is my understanding that he wants the Alderman to approve his appointment without knowing who his candidate is, what the cornbread-hell is that all about. How can they possibly give a blind nod to someone without knowing who it is? That doesn't seem like good government stewardship to me.

The discussion went on for quite a while and Guccione called on City Attorney Paul Rost on numerous occassions about "my appointment," he used that term at least a dozen times. I've never heard Rost talk that much in a meeting, it was as if Guccione was using him as his Assistant Mayor. Rost was busy that night, but when you have a Mayor who knows nothing about procedures, I guess he has no other recourse than to use the City's mouthpiece to carry him through the meeting. This isn't the end of Guccione's ignorance of governmental procedures, Assistant Mayor Rost will be in power until his contract expires and if last night is a preview of things to come, Guccione should sit on his lap and let Rost work his mouth. God knows somebody needs to.

I've heard Guccione talk about his candidate to fill his vacated seat and have picked up on a few things. He mentioned that there are at least three Aldermen who know him and that they like him. At the meeting he said something that gave it away for me; he said it is someone with experience. I can think of three names right of the top of my head; Darrel Lackey, Bob Smith and John Luby. After looking at this short list, Lackey is a big NO, Smith was on Leon Tow's campaign committee and that's more than likely another NO, and that leaves Luby. He was one of the original Lurchettes, served with Guccione, and is one of his close friends. This may be a no-brainer! I know Luby, he's one of the kindest people I know but he's not a representative of anyone. He was a follower on the Board of Aldermen and voted with the Lurchettes on some of the lousiest legislation ever to become law in Wentzville. Have I missed anything? I do not want him representing me in Ward 3 again and urge the Board to tell Gooch to appoint a legislator, not an indecisive sock-puppet.

Guccione stated that he will look at a list of names suggested by the Board but will not under any circumstances appoint one of them. It's his appointment and if the Board doesn't approve his choice, "We are dead-locked and the seat will remain empty until next years election." He is not going to compromise and will punish the citizens of Ward 3 in his personal vendetta. So much for being "the candidate of the people." This is pure Guccione the narcissist, hateful, unthinking, not caring, and totally unreasonable!

The meeting started promptly at 6:00pm and lasted until after 11:00pm, I left when they went into executive session, I'd had enough fun for one night. Lambi presided over 26 agenda items and seven or eight people speaking in open forum. The total time was less than two hours. Guccione, on the other hand, presided over 14 agenda items and the elapsed time was over three hours. I can see some late night meetings in the future when the agenda is full. Guccione will become flustered, use the staff attorney more than necessary, and need to be constantly reminded how to chair the meeting. Guccione lost control of the meeting and it resembled a round-table discussion at the United Nations, total anarchy. This will not change, Guccione has a control problem and he really believes he has the power to do anything he wants in City Hall, his power trip is going to get him in some deep problems. He'd better start working with the Aldermen, representing all the citizens (even those in Ward 3) and not just the little over 1000 voters who put him in office!

I see something coming to the Board of Aldermen meetings, I think they will become very Jerry Springeresque. This is bad for our City and reporters around the county and City of St. Louis will have a field day at every meeting. Mayor, don't make us ashamed to admit that our hometown is Wentzville! The things you say and do now are heard and seen by multitudes of people in the state, so please close your hole and try to act like you got some smarts!

A Poke In The Eye

A great friend of mine (Mr. TD) and I went to the movies last weekend to see The Three Stooges. If you liked The Three Stooges you'll love this treatment. As a Stooge fan myself I think they did a great job, but enough for the movie review for now. The reason I mentioned the movie was because I saw some of that same slap-stick last night in City Hall but with only two stooges.

As I predicted, the first confrontation came when they were discussing Alderman Nick Guccione's unethical and illegal use of the City Logo. Alderman Cheryl Kross questioned why the item was on the agenda and stated that the city attorney's recommendations should be turned over for administrative action. This spurred a round of discussion where Mayor Lambi did his best by throwing an executive monkey-wrench into their plans. Lambi is well aware of administrative action and how it can effect one's sleep and wallet so he was determined to stop it, if it meant thwarting the Board's actions. Not for the noble reason of helping Guccione but to hinder justice and the Board of Aldermen's efforts of enforcement. He asked the City Attorney, Paul Rost, if he had the power to pardon or commute Guccione's sentence. Once it was confirmed, Lambi gave the Aldermen and eye-poke and said "I'm ordering a pardon," and with a crack of the gavel, "This matter is closed." Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

The introduction and discussion was brought forward about the ordinance creating the new HR and Purchasing / IT departments was interesting. This bill was opposed by Alderman Guccione when first brought forward and last night he elaborated on his disagreement. "I want to be able to shape my administration to fit my vision of the City." What's really going on here is that Guccione does not like Wentzville's Purchasing Manager and does not want him promoted to Director where he could be protected by the Board. He has made promises to employees and one of them was to get rid of the current purchasing policy and procedures, the best way to accomplish this is to cut the head off of the purchasing department. He doesn't like the Aldermen currently serving, or those recently elected, and is determined to change not only the staff, but the Board of Aldermen.

Guccione made a motion to postpone this bill until he is Mayor so he can make changes in it. Unfortunately for him, he met the Board of Crickets that Lambi has been dealing with for quite a while. The motion failed for lack of a second. The Alderman moved, seconded, and voted it's passage with Guccione being the only "No" vote, just as predicted. I think our new Mayor just found out that the job may not be as easy or fun as he'd hoped. He needs to learn compromise or he'll be knocking his knothead against a brick wall for the next four years.

Mayor Lambi jumped in again to ask Rost if he still has the power of veto, and after understanding that he needed to submit his reason in writing, Lambi thought about it. He was determined to give this Board one last konk on the sconce or eye-poke before he left. Wo-wo-wo-wo. I have never once in the last eight years ever said or thought that Lambi was stupid, I have said he's arrogant, vindictive, deceptive, calculating, condescending, and chauvinistic, but never stupid. He knew the Aldermen could block his eye-poke with one hand and simply override his veto, thereby poking him in the eye one last time. He decided against aligning with Guccione with a symbolic veto and left him twisting. During the discussion, Alderman Vann Sample offered his opinions and Lambi in his condescending style offered the following slap to the puss, "This is the hardest I've seen Alderman Sample work in two years."  He couldn't help throwing one last pie in the face of an Aldermen.

It must be noted that Mayor Lambi presided over some of the most dysfunctional Boards in the History of Wentzville. Those Aldermen on occasion brought forth terrible legislation and not once as Mayor of Wentzville did he use his power of veto. Last night he considered it but not in the name of justice or the betterment of Wentzville government. His pardon of Guccione was not an eloquent gesture for some undeserving crime committed, but to get back at a Board who bucked his alleged lack of ethics. He wants desperately to punish them for their accusations of his wrong doings. In my opinion, he showed very little class with his decision to pardon Guccione and thoughts of vetoing the HR, Purchasing / IT legislation, for a man who is claimed to be so selfless. I wish Lambi well in his future but he was truly a disappointment to Wentzville on his final day in office.

With the conclusion of these proceedings they swore-in the new Alderman and crowned Mayor Nick Guccione. He looked nervous wearing his Cheshire Cat grin but it was short-lived. After a short break, they resumed with the meeting with Guccione at the hammer. I'm going to stop here and pick it back up in the morning. There was lots more fun to report on so we'll have a short intermission while I research a few items. Check back tomorrow for the continuation of the Two Stooges, minus one.

It's A Party Invitation! Part II

I'm going to continue with the agenda of April 25th, it's T minus 59:02:34 and counting to probably the most interesting meeting of the year. I noted this morning that the "Conclusion of the investigation of Payment to Westplex Sports & Entertainment" is still on the City website—maybe it wasn't a mistake, but it sure looks like pretty damning information to me. We'll see how things shake-out come Wednesday evening at the party.

Item XVI will swear-in the elected officials and afterward, break for a reception, if it's like previous Mayor receptions it'll be in a back room with coffee and cake. After Mayor Guccione changes his pants, it's back to the meeting where they will go through the "Call To Order," "Roll Call," and "Elect President of the Board." There are several trains of thought about who will become the new Board President; either Aldermen Cheryl Kross (Ward 1) or Rick "Bulldog" Stokes (Ward 3). Kross has just completed her third year as a strong minded Alderman and has the most time on the Board, whereas "Bulldog" was just re-elected to his second term and in his short time has established himself as a leader. I'll tell you what, it would be difficult to make a mistake with any of the Alderman in this selection, I've not had the pleasure of saying that in previous years.

Now we come to some fun; "XXI. Mayor's Report, (ID # 3845) Appointment to Various Boards and Commissions." Here Mayor Nick Guccione will be able to select members of various committees such as Planning and Zoning among others and the all-important replacement of his vacated Ward 3 seat. With these appointments, a new Mayor gets his first opportunity to shape his administration and put Wentzville on the path of his direction. Watching Guccione for the last five years still has me wondering what path that might be? I seriously don't have a clue and I don't even think he knows. At any rate, It will be his opportunity to get a group of his left-wing radical appointments in the City.

I will be most interested to see who he puts on these committees and especially the Ward 3 seat. Knowing that these Aldermen are not going to approve certain appointments, I believe he is not going to appoint any of the candidates from this past election and instead will be making a selection to slide in one of his lesser known supporters, if I had to guess, it would be one of his friends on Planning and Zoning. I know he's made promises to lots of supporters and he can't keep them all, but if the Aldermen fall for his appointment of a Ward 3 Alderman and accept his selection, they will be inviting chaos on the Board. I hope the Alderman throw out his selection for Ward 3 Alderman and put someone there who will represent me and other voting residents of Ward 3, not another back-sliding do-nothing dim-wit.

Item "XXVI Bills and Resolutions," paragraph "1. (ID # 3823) Resolution No. 12-429, a Resolution of the City of Wentzville, Missouri, Repealing Resolution 00-054, Encouraging Professional Election Campaigns, Enacting New Legislation and Matters Relating Thereto." I may be wrong but I don't believe there has ever been a Mayor in Wentzville history who presided over legislation that is being brought forward solely because that Mayor ran an unprofessional campaign. I can't think of any Mayor who would be proud that history will remember this to be part of his legacy, but he probably will! Well, he worked hard for it, had the people around him who's ethics were more than questionable, and he earned it, congratulations!.

There's a discussion about a "Compensation Study" later that will be interesting only because Guccione made such a point of letting the world know that he is "against all studies." This could be his first flip as our Mayor, but certainly not his last. Of course, he won't be able to vote on it but he will be able to give his random thoughts.

This is it, the line-up for potentially the greatest  meeting of the decade, after this meeting Mayor Guccione may very well need to have his suit cleaned. I'm probably premature with this forecast because knowing our new Mayor and his lack of leadership qualities we're probably in for many, many more. It may not sound like I'm giving our new Mayor a chance to prove himself but he has four years to change my perception (and I hope he can) of a man who stole this election and is the least deserving of any Mayor of record. I love Wentzville and will be watching closely.

It's A Party Invitation! Part I

On February 9, 2012 The Wentzvillian featured: "Grab Your Popcorn, Gather the Family, and Enjoy," this post has become the most read post since The Wentzvillian appeared four years ago. It reported on a Board of Aldermen meeting that was a classic. That one meeting inspired at least three subsequent posts and was one of the most enjoyable meetings I've ever attended. Unfortunately for Mayor-elect Guccione, it revolved mainly around his campaign ethics, or lack thereof. I have been waiting for another party for journalists in City Hall and although some meetings have been fun, none have contained the sparkle and notoriety of February 9th.

It's T minus 78:22:54 and counting until a new Mayor is sworn-in and the agenda for the April 25th Board of Aldermen meeting was released yesterday. There are items on the agenda for next Wednesday's meeting that could make February 9th look like a little league watermelon seed-spitting competition by comparison. I've identified six items on the agenda that will cause grief for Mayor Lambi and/or Mayor-elect Guccione.

First, and most important, right out of the chute under "Unfinished Business" is: "Item 2. (ID # 3840) Use of the City Logo," this is what I spoke about—the public spanking of Nick Guccione. He was the recipient of a letter from the City Attorney, Paul Rost, who laid out some of Guccione's violations and stated: "The City would ask that, in the future, you please refrain from the unauthorized use of the City's logo..." This friendly warning letter is just a formality, I look to see the Aldermen bend him over just to make sure he remembers that City copyright and trademark infringements are a no-no.

The next; "Item 3. (ID # 3839) Conclusion of the investigation of Payment to Westplex Sports & Entertainment L.O.C., LLC." Here we go, the famous $15,000 check. Again under "Unfinished Business," paragraph: "Memorandum," packet page 105 is the "Conclusions and Recommendations." Lambi ordered Rost to investigate this matter in an effort to clear his name of any wrong-doing. Unfortunately for him, I believe he was only concerned about the money and almost sure he didn't figure on what the City Attorney did find. Rost found no proof that Lambi pocketed any money from this check but he did conclude that there was a conflict of interests or at least the perception of wrong-doing. Something tells me that the information within this investigation was not supposed to be made public and I really believe that someone made a huge mistake putting it in the full agenda packet. This should have probably been brought to the Board for them to decide whether or not to make it public.  If my estimation is true, I'd hate to be the dude (probably our Acting City Administrator) who pulled this boner, at any rate, it appears that Lambi's legal woes and fees will continue to escalate.

Now we go to "Bills and Resolutions," Item 5. This Item deals with the creation of the new HR and Purchasing Departments. I've talked about this twice on recent blogs and Guccione is opposing it because it would put the managers of these respective departments out of reach to the conventional employee hiring and firing policies. It's alleged that Guccione has riled up certain employees to discredit Purchasing Manager Jerry Hillin and now they want his head for doing his job. Guccione will get to vote on this issue again Wednesday night but he will not be able to stop it. He was the only "Nay" vote at the last meeting and he will be the only "Nay" vote next Wednesday night.

There are three other items on the agenda that will be very interesting but I'm going to hold those until Monday when I'll post them, there's just not enough time or room to include it here today. All in all, I look for another fun-filled, action-packed meeting and I hope you all get to watch. History will be made next Wednesday, one mayor will exit in scandal and a new Mayor will be sworn-in under a shroud of shame. It's gonna be a party!

Twisting In The Wind

I've been thinking about the appointment for an Alderman to take the vacated seat of Nick Guccione. Who could he possible appoint that would be approved by this conservative Board of Aldermen? They know Guccione and they know about his associations and their agenda, after this past mud-sling election it's going to be difficult for him to get one of them through.

Guccione put three candidates against "Bulldog" Stokes: Michael Hays, Rodney Stratmann, and Curtis Davis in his effort to achieve a power block. Hays dropped out of the race early for some unknown reason but I don't necessarily think that elininates him from Guccione's list, of Stratman and Davis, we'll see. Stratman got the most votes against the "Bulldog" with 258 and Davis took only 67, combined they didn't come close to the winner who had 419 votes. So Stratman is the most likely to receive Guccione's appointment. The problem is, I've polled the Aldermen and in my unofficial poll, they will not approve Stratman because the voters didn't want him representing them in Ward 3.

Mayor Guccione needs to come up with a name that this Board will approve if he wants one of his appointments accepted. I've heard a number of names thrown around by the Aldermen but it's Guccione's appointment and if he can't find one there's the distinct possibility that we may have a vacant seat on the Board until the election of 2013. In my opinion, that is unacceptable, we need a second Alderman representing us.

Being a voting resident of Ward 3, I'm uncomfortable with only having one representative in my Ward. I think "Bulldog" Stokes is a great Alderman and I believe he represents Ward 3 with integrity but, I also believe Ward 3 would be at a great disadvantage on the Board if Guccione can't find an acceptable compromise. I urge Guccione to do the right thing for the residents and listen to the Aldermen when making appointments. He's reached his goal, he will be Mayor, it's time to put away his politics and work for the city. Appoint an acceptable candidate to the vacated seat.

The Problem (as I see it) for "Mayor" Guccione is that he will need to pull a rabbit out of his hat if he wants this Board to approve any one of his own personal and politcal choices. It will be interesting to watch Guccione during this process, will he meet in the middle or will he leave his Ward 3 constituents twisting in the wind? The first question of order when he becomes Mayor is; will he do the right thing—will (Mayor) Guccione serve the people or will he serve his political agenda?

Will Our New Mayor Be Decisive?



A subject which has been hotly contested for the past six months has been Ranken Technical College. Among other things, the resolution for the City offer of $120,000 a year for three years for Ranken to bring a satellite school to Wentzville was discussed and approved unanimously by the Board of Aldermen.

It must first be known that I agree with this resolution and believe that Ranken will greatly enhance the economic engine of Wentzville. I also agree with the part of the resolution that addresses bringing in partners to assist in its financing. If things go as planned, the City would have a first-rate technical school and the partners would pay the $120,000 every year, leaving the City not having to spend a dime. What is needed for all of this to work to the benefit of Wentsville is; our Ecomomic Development Director, Larry Tucker working with the St. Charles County EDC and the strong support of our Mayor to round-up (so to speak) enough sponsors to carry the freight.

Everything was going along fine with this plan until the allegations that Mayor Lambi was influence peddling and lastly, the switch of Alderman Guccione to say he no longer supported the resolution. Other than the remarkably poor timing of these events which could have killed the whole deal, I believe it could have survived. The problem that comes to play now is that in one week, that Alderman who flipped on his decision will become the Mayor of Wentzville and it casts a longer shadow upon the success of the plan.

At the Board of Aldermen meeting of April 11th, during the report of Alderman Guccione, he asked for two other Aldermen, Larry Tucker, and Greg Presteman of the St. Charles County EDC to attend a meeting on Wednesday morning with Ranken with him. Why? I don't know, but it happened this morning and I'm sure it will be a topic of discussion next Wednesday at the next Board meeting.

I talked with insiders last week about the reason for the meeting and was surprised by their lack of an answer. One of them offered: It's one of two things; either he wants to put an end to it all together; or he's changed his mind again, and given his record on flipping on subjects, that is probably the answer. When I spoke with a citizen who was pretty close to Guccione, he said: "How will he ever gain credibility changing his mind all of the time."

Only time will tell how this will turn out but I have to agree, Guccione needs to be more decisive and stick with his decisions. For the last five years as Alderman, he has not had a good record for being decisive, now that he's Mayor, he will be seen countywide and consistency is key to the success of our city.

City Logo, Public Domain?

Something that I've addressed in the past is the illegal use of the GM and City of Wentzville logos by Alderman Nick Guccione on his campaign literature. It was pointed out numerous times that they are proprietary and off limits without written authorization from the City. The logo was designed by Leon Tow and copyrighted by the City. I saw a campaign flier designed by Tow's committee for Mayor which illustrated the flag he had designed. Tow approached the city attorney asking his opinion and he suggested that it should not be used, even though it was taken prior to the copyright. Regatding the GM logo, I heard that Guccione got a nasty letter from GM but I have no information of any litigation or fine.

Wednesday evening, April 11th, during Guccione's Alderman's report, He apologized to the Board saying "it was used inadvertently" on some of his campaign fliers. I don't believe that it was an accident. I believe his use of the city logo was strategic. Even though none of the other candidates turned him over to the Ethics Board, where there would have been fines levied, the unauthorized use of copyrights is a serious offense. The Library of Congress has a team of attorneys waiting to be called in to deal with violators, which includes severe fines and even jail time. He said: "I didn't use it for promotion" which begs the question; why did he use it?

Guccione said to the Board that he takes responsibility for his committee and went on to tell them that he is ready to take any punishment or fine they deem appropriate. Guccione filed at least three ethics violations against candidates in this past election which resulted in fines for those candidates. He knew what he was doing then and realizes that at least one of those candidates won their election, that Alderman might not feel so forgiving. Guccione ran a terribly intrusive campaign with slander and ethics violations at it's core. He knew that those candidates would be fined by his actions and it will be interesting to see how his apology is received by this board, half of which were at the butt of his slam campaign and none of them returned his volleys.

Copyright fines at the Library of Congress are stiff and based on a per instance basis. Guccione used the city logo at least six times that I saw, there could be more. Copyright fines could start at $500 for the first instance and increased with each subsequent violation. Even at a flat rate fine of $500 per instance, Guccione could be in for a  lot more than he was looking for when he made his apology.

I don't know the city procedure for levying fines for copyright infringements but I'm sure something needs to be done. If nothing happens and the fine is minimal, I can see companies around town using it on their letterhead. Hell if it's cheap enough, I might even consider using it here on The Wentzvillian. It's in the hands of the Aldermen and city attorney. I wonder, since it's not a personnel issue, or land acquisition, would it be litigation and be held in closed session? I hope not, if it were a public hearing, the citizens would know that it's not OK to use the city logo and that healthy fines would insure it stay out of the public domain.

Purchasing Policy

The following anonymous comment is suspected to have been sent by an employee of the City of Wentzville. The Wentzvillian is a citizen's advocate and as such, believes in the protection of tax-payers money and supports accountability of our City. Many employees are citizen residents and their opinions and comments are welcome here. I believe they have a unique perspective about what's going on in Wentzville. This comment is in response to yesterdays "A Strange evening in City Hall:"

Jerry Hillin is not what you seem to think he is. My guess is that Mayor Guiccione is opposing this ordinance because he is in fact, listening to the employees and knows that the majority of them would like to see someone knock this guy off the pedestal he has put himself on.

As far as him reporting directly to the Alderman, it may not be official right now, but anyone who pays attention to the meetings knows that Hillin is already reporting directly to them. He thinks he has them in his pocket, he brags about it, but in reality I think they've got him. Only time will tell.

You speak of his "policies" like he has done something wonderful. The reality is, he has slowed up city business, pissed off and made it nearly impossible for employees to do their jobs.

If you truly care about the welfare of the city, you will ask more questions and look further into what this guy is really doing. Policies can be good but not all people need the authority to be enforcing them.

—Anonymous

During my investigation into the purchasing department prior to the purchasing policy, I found that the job Mr. Hillin is doing was mandated by the Board of Aldermen because there was no accountability to the taxpayers how their money was spent on contracts and services.

The job the Aldermen have done in this area should have been done by our current Mayor and previous Mayors. It is the Mayor's responsibility to protect the citizens from overspending by staff in every department. Our Mayor-Elect should embrace the work done in this department as he will inherit a department that not only has a strong and sound policy but also an extremely ethical member of his staff who believes in following that policy and it's enforcement.

No one likes change and the department heads who's feet are now being held to the fire will soon learn that this is the new operating procedure and this process is the way it will be done. When they realize that, they will conform and move on with the projects and issues of their respective departments; working toward bettering the City. There are resentments and Mr. Hillin is being ostracized by fellow employees because he is following the mandate given him through the City Administrator by the Aldermen.

You mention that Alderman Guccione is "listening to the employees." He needs to focus more on the mandates put in place by the Aldermen and to direct his staff to follow their dictates.  If Mayor-Elect Guccione decides to fight the Aldermen and allow employees to do what ever they want to do, he will not only find himself frustrated, he will not be supporting those who put him in office or protecting taxpayer money.

Guccione needs to learn his role (as a Mayor) in our government and do the job he was elected to do, if he doesn't, he won't be Mayor long. I believe this will be a major problem for the next four years, Guccione will over-step his authority and be butting heads with a strong Board of Aldermen, he will get his toes smashed and lose the war. If he thinks his authority supersedes that of the Aldermen, he is heading for big trouble. Calling that "Executive Session" was his first experience in trying to exercise his perceived power to change the Alderman's authority over him, it failed, it will always fail. He is determined to destroy this City stirring up problems with false-hope and ill-advised promises to the employees and he hasn't even been sworn-in yet.

You also mention that he has "...pissed off and made it nearly impossible for employees to do their jobs." Employees in any business are told what to do and when to do it, if they disagree with this precept, they have the option of terminating their employment. If they decide to stay, they are being paid to do their job, not to fight the system or any new policy that may come along. My suggestion to them is to work with the new policy and if it is indeed interfering with the process of a department, call your Aldermen, they were elected to represent you as a citizen. Until the new policy is withdrawn, I urge you to put yourself in the Purchacing Manager's position, he can not change what he was directed to do and he needs the employees to support him in his efforts. There is a learning curve to any change and if employees really want to be an asset to Wentzville, they need to stop blaming Mr. Hillin. He is trying to implement his unsolicited and Board mandated situation, the Mayor cannot change it, if he tells you he can, he's lying to you.

Your last statement makes me wonder if a small number of employees know what "If you truly care about the welfare of the city," means. I am starting to believe that some of them think that the word "City" actually means the "employees". It encompasses much more than that. Employees make up approximately (one) 1 percent of the "City." Do they really believe that they should dictate to the other 99 percent? I believe our future Mayor does. If you are familiar with what's been going on with this issue, Mayor Lambi didn't like it either but if he had done his job, the Aldermen wouldn't have had to. Mr, Guccione will frustrate himself, create resentments among the employees and trying to fight it, but in the end he will be unable to change the ordinance because it's not his job to tell the Aldermen what to do. It's his job to preside over and keep decorum in City meetings, see that their mandates are followed by the staff, and not try dictating to the Aldermen.

Wentzville is blessed with a great staff and the nicest people (employees) I've ever had the privilege of meeting, I just hope they can assist Mr. Hillin and focus on what it is they are doing for the City. I believe Mr. Guccione will lead you down the garden path with promises that he cannot possibly keep. To Mr. Guccione think about this; "expectations are premeditated resentments," remember this when you begin your journey toward leading Wentzville, be a part of the solution, not the problem.

A Strange Evening in City Hall

I hope you watch the video last night, not because it was overly exciting but to see Mayor Lambi and Nick Guccione sitting side by side dressed almost exactly the same, wearing black or very dark suits and maroon or burgundy shirts. They were dashing but looked like the Godfather and the Godfather Jr., surely they didn't plan that. I did notice that they had different ties but except for Lambi wearing glasses and a different tie it was quite humorous. I will report things that happened without too much editorializing but forgive me if I get carried away once in a while. I am going to give Mayor-Elect Guccione every opportunity to learn his new trade without my becoming overly critical—for about two months or so.

Opening the evening, Alderman Guccione did something I've never seen him do; ask for an "Executive Session." He stated that it would involve personnel. I pondered on that for quite some time until late in the meeting during "Bills and Resolutions," item 5; (ID#3819) Bill No. 3376. This item is to transfer funds from one account to another which would set up the new purchasing and HR departments—providing for purchasing to answer directly to the City Administrator and HR to report directly to the Mayor. Along with that, the current HR Manager, Amy Holloway and Purchasing Manager, Jerry Hillin would become Directors of their respective departments.

This ordinance has been thrown around for several months and Guccione has opposed it all of that time. When the vote came down last evening for the final reading, he said: "I've opposed this from the beginning and I oppose it today. That's my stand and that's it." I've talked with several insiders regarding Guccione's opposition to this ordinance and no one has given me a reasonable explanation of his countervail. The vote was 4-1 with Gucciuone casting the only "Nay!" He has continuously claimed to be a candidate for the people (and employees) but he is against the promotion of these two individuals, why?

This is pure educated speculation, but by the people who were invited into the closed session: HR Manager Amy Holloway and Chief of Police Lisa Harrison, I can formulate some suspected conclusions: Chief Harrison has recently brought to the Board the possibility of the police department reporting directly to the Mayor and it's a requirement of the new ordinance that Holloway would also report directly to the Mayor. Those facts alone are not enough to suggest what's going on but if you look at who was not invited, a little light may be shed on the proceedings. Purchasing Manager Jerry Hillin was not invited and in accordance with the new ordinance he was also up for a promotion. I allege that Guccione does not want Hillin to be promoted and he brought Harrison and Holloway into the meeting to support theirs. This scenario explains why and who was called to the meeting but I cannot figure out why he would not want Hillin to head a new Purchasing Department. In my opinion, Hillin has done an exemplary job during the few years in his position. I'll work on that, but right off hand I'd bet it has something to do with the City's tow contract and Guccione's relationship with an owner of a towing company who wants it. If Hillin was promoted to Director of a new department, the only orders from above would be from the new City Administrator, that could pose a problem for Guccione and his agenda as Mayor. Hillin would then be in direct contact with the Aldermen because they cannot direct anyone below that level. This all may sound a little cryptic now but I will follow up a little later with more information..

I was surprised that there was no mention of the "Executive Session" minutes that Lambi and Guccione both wanted released. Now I'm wondering why the whole subject was brought up in the first place. Perhaps Lambi wanted them out before Guccione took office and he feels it's too late to pursue it. In my opinion, it's lucky for Guccione, if he had to take his stand of two weeks ago there could have been repercussions.

Then it came to "New Business, Item 5, (ID # 3815, Request for payment of legal fees." Mayor Lambi wants to be reimbursed for "...legal fees to date." He claimed that the city spent $44,000 on a special attorney to investigate the "influence peddling" allegations and if the Board pays them, he believes they should pay his also. I don't really know what to think about it, on one hand; he's spending his money to formulate a defense to charges that have yet to be made and on the other; the alleged situation was publicised county-wide due to the Guccione's interview and there has been some damage to Lambi's name prior to being charged with anything. It would seem to me that Guccione could be a target for a law suit if it's found that Lambi is innocent of the allegations. I can't see where the city released anything damaging and shouldn't be liable or need to pay his legal fees.

There was more coming out of this meeting but I'm running long so I'll close for now hoping you'll check back later. Thanks for reading my rants!

 

To Flip or Not to Flip

The agenda for tonight's Board of Alderman meeting is long, bleak, and nothing to get excited about, I'm bringing my blanky. There may be a surprise or two and if so they would probably come during the Mayor and Aldermen reports, but other than that, I don't see anything controversial.

Regarding the Mayor's Report, if the city attorney, Paul Rost finished his assessment of the executive session minutes as directed by the Mayor they could be released. These minutes reference the alleged influence peddling of Mayor Paul Lambi who is seeking to clear his name of all wrong-doing and expose what he referred to as a "witch hunt." He pressed the aldermen during their last meeting to release them for public record. Given the nature of these minutes, I can not believe the transcripts would be released in their entirety.

Lambi joined by Aldereman Guccione want the documents released without editing for sensitive information. Guccione supported the employee who filed a formal complaint against Lambi and voted with the entire Board of Aldermen after several months of secret meetings between the Board and special personnel attorneys to send the investigation to the State Ethics Committee. Some believe Guccione sided with Lambi for political reasons, not a moral conscience cleansing. Tonight could be interesting to see how Mayor-Elect Nick Guccione handles his joining at the hip with Lambi at their last Board meeting with respect to the reversal of his stand on the investigation and his support of it.

Guccione insulted all of the seated Aldermen with his reversal and newly acquired allegiance with Lambi that they were on a "witch hunt." It's odd that he went along with the investigation for months and even voted to turn it over to another authority along with all of the Aldermen but now changed his tune. Wouldn't that suggest that for several months in closed and open session he was carrying a torch in this "witch hunt" too?

Guccione is going to be Mayor in two weeks and as such will be needing to serve the best interests of the city. If he sides with Lambi tonight to release the unedited minutes, and if they are successful, he could be placing the City in a position of liability. If he joins the Aldermen to support not releasing them, he is admitting that his coming clean was political and simply pandering to Lambi voters. He is at his first crossroads and his actions tonight with this issue will speak volumes as to the type of Mayor he will be.

I'm not sure what to expect from the Aldermen reports, there could be some fireworks regarding the election and the ethics of some candidates, but this is pure speculation. If you want to spend three or four hours listening to public hearings, bills, and resolutions come on out at 6:00pm. There should be plenty of room and you could join me in a nap. If anything wakes me up, I'll report it tomorrow, hope to see you there.

Addendum A, April 11, 2012, 3:00pm:
There's a rift in the dark side of the force. Nick Guccione has turned on his campaign manager Donna Sherwood to support her opponent, Jeremy Pritchett. It started about two weeks prior to the election when Guccione began campaigning the streets with Pritchett instead of holding hands with Sherwood. Now, Guccione has promised the Ward 2 seat of Chris Gard to Pritchett in the election of 2013. Gard is a highly active and intelligent member of the Board of Aldermen and again I resent Guccione's attempt to dumb-it-down we have our hands full of that at the top. Worry about running the city, not the election coming next year, I think you have promises to fulfill, good luck with that. It's as I've always said, Guccione is not about issues, he's about politics.

Addendum B, April 11, 2012, 3:20pm:
I missed a biggie on the agenda under "New Business," I don't know how I overlooked this one: Item "5. (ID#3815) Request for payment of legal fees." Mayor Lambi is asking the taxpayers to pay the legal fees he's incurred as a result of the alleged "influence peddling" investigation. I didn't see this one coming and not sure where it's going but I don't think the Board is going to grant his request.

Playing Favorites

I have received emails from anonymous people who accuse me of "playing favorites" in this past political election. They want to warn my readers that those candidates supported by The Wentzvillian will soon come under the knife when I turn on them. To those anonymous concerned citizens; you may be correct, The Wentzvillian may turn on them.

I was friends with Nick Guccione and his lovely wife Sandy long before he placed himself in a position of displaying unethical behavior. In my defense, I never turned on Donna Sherwood, her mode of operation was known long before I ever met her. She's been on the wrong side of every issue since her days of political leg breaking for Vickie Boedeker.

At any rate, Guccione came under the scornful eye of The Wentzvillian when he admitted to me his conspiracy to get hand-picked candidates elected to replace every Alderman up for re-election regardless of their record. He wanted people who agreed with his agenda, not people who represented the constituents of their particular ward. This practice is too common in politics today and could very well be one of the reasons the general consensus of Americans today is so negative when it comes to politics and politicians. This needs to change, it has been used in Wentzville since at least the 1980s.

The problem is, no one in the news media has balls enough to tell the voters about it, the conventional media deals with breaking news, not background news which doesn't sell papers. A perfect example was the alleged conflict of interest investigation involving Mayor Lambi. That investigation was going on long before it hit the St, Louis Post Dispatch and I doubt if Mark Schlinkman would have written it if one Alderman hadn't granted him an interview, that Alderman was Nick Guccione. Going against the advice of Wentzville's City Attorney, Guccione told Schlinkman the details of the investigation and the next day the story broke all over the county. The Wentzvillian watched and gathered information for months and posted it's speculations a good three or four weeks before the news media got it. Guccione's complaint that "I didn't do it, it's because of the blog, the blog did it," tipped off the conventional media that The Wentzvillian's allegations had some viability so they went to the weakest Alderman on the Board and got the whole story.

It's no secret that The Wentzvillian is an idealist in an imperfect world but that's no reason not to tell the facts of what's going on in our City government and to dislike what some people want to do to it. If it is found out that an Alderman or Mayor is doing anything other than representing the people while in City Hall, it will be reported here. If that is considered "turning on" someone then so be it, the voters need to have as much information as they can get to make intelligent decisions in the voting booth. Personally I applaud the voters for electing what I believe to be a very capable Board of Aldermen. I question their selection for Mayor but I think my fears will come out as our new Mayor gets involved in the matters facing our City. It's unfortunate that he did such a great job of fooling the voters and I think they'll see the error of their ways sooner rather than later. Wentzville will come under a barrage of conventional news media stories as time goes by and I think Mayor Guccione will be the subject.

As for "Playing Favorites," I guess you are correct. The Wentzvillian's favorites are Aldermen who represent the better interests of their constituents and the City. It also wants to see a Mayor who can lead Wentzville through difficult situations and bring honor to our City and its citizens. I believe that Mayor Lambi did that for the most part of eight years, I didn't agree with some of his ideas but I hope Mayor Guccione can do half the job he did. I'll be watching.

Experience Counts

Three days after the election and I’ve been trying to analyze what’s happened and what’s going to happen after the swearing-in of the new Mayor and Aldermen. Today I’d like to focus on the stable of Aldermen and their impact upon the city.

Those elected for the first time are Forrest Gossett and Sonya Shryock. Gossett is an extremely intelligent man with an education in journalism; it’s been a treat speaking with him, he’ll keep me on my toes and I hope visa-versa. A man who understands and can categorically critique what I do, and has done so, calling my work (sometimes) bombastic. At first I was uncomfortable with that moniker until I looked it up and found him correct. He covered many major elections during his days as an editor and has a very good understanding of Government and its inner workings. Sonya Shryock spent 20 years in the real estate industry and comes from a family of Realtors. She understands the engine that keeps home sales going and will be an asset to Wentzville in its effort to fill our 3,500 vacant lots we have as a result of the housing bubble bursting. Re-elected was “Bulldog” Rick Stokes, the resident voters of Wentzville recognize quality and displayed it with his landslide return to the Board.

Seated Aldermen for one more year are Chris Gard and Cheryl Kross both highly capable Aldermen who are not in favor of mediocrity and have a history of challenging the status quo. Leon Tow who was the senior Alderman with 14 years on the Board of Aldermen lost his bid for the top-spot and consequently bequeathed the senior Alderman title to Cheryl Kross who is beginning her fourth year of service. Leon, with his experience served as a stabilizing force on the Board, they looked to him for leadership and questions involving procedures and history of Board actions, which leads me to the point of this writing.

Today, we have the youngest Board of Aldermen I’ve ever known. Having elected a new mayor with highly questionable leadership skills who has only five years of dysfunctionality on the Board will be of no help with policies, procedures, and history of actions to this new board.  The Wentzville City Attorney, Paul Rost; and City Clerk, Vi Skillman will be busy babysitting this Mayor and young group of energetic Aldermen. With only one person on the Board with over two years, there will be lots of questions that were mostly fielded by Mayor Lambi or Leon Tow.

Now we come to the vacated seat in Ward 3, left when Nick Guccione stole the election with lies, mud-slinging, and deviousities, he will probably appoint Rodney Stratman to that seat. As a voting citizen of Ward 3, I do not want another lame Alderman, especially one living right next door to a Mayor as sneaky as Nick Guccione. I want an Alderman I can trust, one who will represent me and the other citizens of Ward 3. It is my opinion that the Board should reject any of Guccione's appointments and put someone in that seat who knows how to represent.

So who should that be? It should be someone with experience, honor, and integrity. There is only one man or woman that I know of who lives in Ward 3 that fits all of those qualifications; Darrel Lackey. Mr. Lackey served as Alderman in both Ward 2, and Ward 3, and was Mayor for two terms. I cannot see any other candidate or more qualified person to serve as my representative in Ward 3. With no Alderman having more than three years on the Board and the possibility of losing both Gard and Stokes to the Missouri State House of Representatives, Wentzville is going to need a strong person on the Board of Aldermen, Lackey has a history of being a strong servant of the people and businesses here.

I have spoken to Mr. Lackey and when I asked him if he would accept such an appointment, he said he would be honored to serve out Guccione's vacated seat. I will be calling my Alderman; Rick Stokes and the Aldermen of the other wards to urge them to nominate Darrel Lackey to serve as Ward 3's Alderman.

I'm appealing to all of my readers to call your Aldermen and ask them to appoint Darrel Lackey to Ward 3. Not only would it provide a stronger Board, it would provide the experience lacking in our current Board. If and when we lose Alderman Gard and or Stokes, we would insure that there would be another "Gard Dog" and "Bulldog Stokes" representing the people of Wentzville who knows how to serve our City.

You've Got to Stand for Something

Mayor-Elect Nickolas Guccione would normally take the throne of Wentzville on the second week of April but due to Friday being a State holiday (State Arbor Day), and the possibility that there may be a delay in receiving the official certifications, the swearing-in ceremony will probably take place on the fourth week of April, the meeting of the 25th. This is a historical event, in the 157 years of our city's founding it's the first time any mayor of Wentzville was ever sworn-in for more than two years. It's unfortunate that voters elected a man without a program, without accomplishments, and without a clue.

The delay in the changing of the guard will accomplish two things: 1) It will give Mayor Lambi two more meetings to force the Board of Aldermen to release the unedited minutes alleging his conflict of interests. It will be interesting to see where Guccione stands on this situation now that he's taking over. 2) It gives Guccione two more weeks to master parliamentary procedure and read Mayor for Dummies a couple of times. I wonder if there's a section in there on getting elected using the assist of stolen copyrighted and trademarked corporate and City logos. I'm sure there's something in the Wentzville Policies and Procedures Manual regarding the use of the City logo and I'll bet it doesn't include using it on campaign literature and websites. It's ironic, one Mayor going out of office wearing the shroud of legal problems and another coming into office with a similar shroud of possibilities.

This is just the begining of Guccione's problems. After watching him for five years as an Alderman and in discussion with people in the know, his lack of knowledge brings a great propensity for getting the City sued early and often. Mr. Guccione knows just enough about city government to be dangerous. One of my readers posed the challenge: "I'll wager that Guccione will get the city sued within the first 100 days of his administration." That could happen, it depends entirely upon his level of grandiose delusions.

I'm struggling with his vision for the city. The only thing I've ever seen him perk up and get involved with is the pitbull ordinance, is he going to turn Wentzville into Dogville, and will he preside over the Sam's Club ribbon cutting, knowing that his unions will frown upon it? I kind of wonder if he's going to continue picketing at the Lake St. Louis pet store. He's never brought forth any legislation during his time as Alderman, what exactly does he stand for? What is he going to do besides pander to the unions, bash the home builders, and blame the blog? Someone please help me with these questions, he never came to my door campaigning so I didn't have the opportunity to hear any of his promises. His campaign flyers said nothing about his vision or platform and I'm clueless.

I've pondered long and hard for many months about the possibility of Guccione becoming Mayor of Wentzville and I've yet to figure out why he would want to be or why any right-thinking voter would elect him. He has no platform, no accomplishments, and no allies in any government, where is he taking us for the next four years? I'm totally lost, some of my readers have stated that he will be a great Mayor, my question is how and why? I asked that question to each and every comment and never once got an answer, can someone please help me understand?

Rainbows and Lollipops

Congratulations are in order for Mayor-Elect Nick Guccione so when Mayor Lambi turns over the keys to the city it's time to look to the future. What is the future of Wentzville with Guccione at the reigns? He-Haw said it best; "Gloom, despair, and agony on" Wentzville, but I digress, in order to answer that question, first we need to set the stage and the cast is a dandy!

Ward 1, Forrest Gossett wins over one of Gooch's goons. Ward 2, Sonya Shryock outlasts Jeremy Pritchett, and best of all, Donna Sherwood loses her third consecutive election bid. Not only did Sherwood lose, she came in last place, now isn't that enough to put a big shit-eatin' grin on your puss? For you hard-core Sherwood fans, do not dismay, I'm sure she'll be back to run again next year with even more signs to plaster and annoy. Ward 3, "Bulldog" Rick Stokes beat two of Gooch's goons.

This leaves only one other seat to be named; Guccione will need to appoint someone to complete the term of his vacated seat. This will be fun, he promised his seat to either Rod Stratman or Curtis Davis but since he threw Davis under the bus after his poor showing at "Candidates Night," Davis is probably out of the picture. Guccione also made one other promise; if elected he would appoint Darrel Lackey, wouldn't that be a party, especially after he trashed Lackey so bad in the past month. So that leaves Stratmen, the problem with this appointment is; in my humble opinion, the Board will not approve the appointment of Guccione's next-door neighbor, and name someone else, wouldn't it be great if the Board appointed Darrel Lackey! Just imagine for a moment, the Ward 3 Aldermen sit on either side of the Mayor, that would put a falsely accused "Bulldog" Stokes on his left hand and a trashed Lackey on his right, I get goose-bumps just thinking about it, what a treat that would be for Mayor Guccione.

Guccione doesn't realize that being Mayor requires dealing with the County, State, and worst of all a Board of Aldermen who probably haven't forgotten his mud-slinging campaign where he insulted every one of them. Things are not looking good for the Gooch. As I've stated before he has no relationships with anyone at the County or the State level and he has a Board that he's admitted he can't get along with. Normally the acclimation of a new Mayor takes awhile but with the roadblocks he's created, he may never assimilate. But that doesn't matter to him, he's the Mayor after all, the great and powerful, all-mighty potentate of Wentzville—good luck with that. I'm going to have a good time watching Tricky Nicky worm his way through the meetings and his duties of office.

Wentzville will suffer due to his lack of influence and communication skills. I don't have a clue what his purpose is but hope he has one somewhere otherwise Wentzville will stumble along struggling to maintain pace with the rest of the County. I have the feeling that he thinks being Mayor is an honorary position that requires nothing on his part, it's one big party. I think he'll change his mind about that very soon, he's on his own and I hope his butcher shop experience has prepared him to run this city.

I fear for the future of Wentzville with Guccione at the helm, I am certain there's an iceberg ahead with Wentzville's name on it, and if I know him, he will be the first rat off of the the sinking ship. He's not good under pressure and I see a ton of it coming down square on his shoulders, he has no answers, only problems. That first evening he runs the Board of Aldermen meeting is just a test, when the problems start he will melt down like a cheap Dollar Store candle. Guccione was heard saying that he despises me, he has just begun to despise, Nick, you're in good company, the last two Mayors of Wentzville share your sentiments, that's 16 years of despise before you came on the scene.

Last night was a good night for Wentzville, we kept a great Board of Aldermen despite Nick and Donna's best efforts to trash each and every one of them. The highlight for me was watching Sherwood crash and burn and be beaten to a pulp by two rookies. Wentzville will survive and continue to grow, the only difference is; it will show two black eyes to the rest of the County.

I always take two sharp pencils to the meetings but from now on I'll be bringing at least six, there will be that much more to share with my readers. I'm looking forward to reporting on Guccione's administration, it's going to be great sport  for The Wentzvillian. Congratulations Mayor-Elect Guccione, welcome to my world of rainbows and lollipops!

The Final Hour

The election is well under way and I did my civic duty first thing this morning, after which I visited several other polling places throughout the afternoon. The turnout seemed sparse and as a matter of fact I was the only one voting when I was there just after 8:00am. Spending time talking with quite a few of the campaign volunteers at various polling places they echoed my observation, it could be a slim day in the voting booths.

I'm not ashamed to say I voted for my Alderman Rick Stokes, he has accomplished miracles in his first two years on the Board and I hope he can continue working for us in Ward 3. I could not in good conscience vote for his opponent who is Nick Guccione's next door neighbor recruit and I hope the voters in Ward 3 have a similar view. For Mayor, the only thing I will tell you is; I made a non-Guccione and non-Schuette vote and trust my readers did the same, we really don't need one of those clowns running our city.

I drove down to the Wentzville Community Club Flea Market grounds to see who was there campaigning. Low and behold, right outside the front door sat at least a half-dozen Guccione supporters all holding signs. I did spot the Gooch right in the middle of them, sitting on his ass acting regal but not holding a sign, I guess sign-holding is beneath his pay-grade. I also met with Leon Tow and his lovely wife Mary who were busy helping people get to the polls, and I had a visit with the wife of Forrest Gossett.

At progress Park, I was greeted by Rick Stokes and his supporters, he told me that he feels good about his re-election. While talking with Alderman Stokes I couldn't help but notice Donna Sherwood sitting right in the middle of several handicapped parking spaces with a group of her flying monkeys. If anyone needed to park there, they'd have to run over her and her goon squad. Someone mentioned that she was handicapped, I had to agree, she is indeed.

A lot of folks say; "It doesn't matter who you vote for, just vote." Horse puckey it does matter who you vote for. That kind of thinking is why our country's government has lost touch with us. Think about who you're voting for, find out who they are and what they stand for, then and only then, vote.

It's two hours until the polls officially close at 7:00pm and then the candidates will be heading to their rally points to watch the results as they come in, I'll be there in support of Leon Tow and Darrel Lackey. If you've never been to one of these, they are real neat events where you meet new friends with similar views and all of them are concerned citizens of the community. If your candidate loses you'll be  down for awhile but if they win, it's a party. I hope the parties will be with the TOW or LACKEY, GOSSETT, SHRYOCK, and STOKES campaigns. Regardless of whether your candidate wins or loses, the party starts tomorrow for The Wentzvillian!

The Promise

To the good citizens of Wentzville,

It's Election Day here in Wentzville and I just read a mass mailed letter to a selected special interest group of voters from someone named Michael Rasher, the letter was a rant against Leon Tow, Rick Stokes, Chris Gard, and Sonya Shyrock. After looking into this person, I find he is not a registered voter in Wentzville, owns no property here, is not a resident, and there was no return address. He states things in the letter that could only have been fed him by none other than Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood because the facts are so skewed, they make no sense.

In this letter he accuses Leon Tow of a plot to; "destroy city hall staff." Guccione/Sherwood/Rasher claim; "they fired Dianna Wright because she would not do unethical works," Nick Guccione was instrumental in "firing" Dianna Wright, without his motion, it's entirely possible that she could still be working for the city today. But of course telling that factoid would blow the whole fairy tale. Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood are two of the most unethical candidates in the race today, if Wright was so ethical, why wouldn't Guccione lead the charge to fire her, as he did. This letter is just the finale to six months of unethical campaigning on their part and after reading the lie in just the second paragraph, the whole damn letter was discarded.

There's not much more I can say about Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood that I haven't already said, but if they are elected I will have plenty more to expose. They don't like me much today but I don't really give a rats-ass what they like. I promise the citizens of Wentzville to continue exposing their self-serving agendas right out of office, but it won't be with lies, it will be with the truth supported by public record.

Nick, Donna, get ready, you are both in the sights of my microscope and no matter how disgusting that thought might be to me personally, anytime you try to pull your unethical crap on the citizens of Wentzville, you will pay for it. You can't hide, once your in the public eye and you think you can do anything you want to do, you're through! That is my promise to the citizens of Wentzville, especially those you used, lied to, and conned.

Final Countdown

As I write this last chance appeal, only 24 hours remain before we go to the polls to elect competent Aldermen and a Mayor who will lead Wentzville through the coming years. We can either build upon the good work of the last two years or take a huge step backward into chaos and partisan squabbling in City Hall.

Today, with the exception of one Alderman, we have an outstanding Board who are dedicated to make Wentzville a better place. That one Alderman is Nick Guccione, he has fought this Board to side with small interest groups at every turn. As we all know, he is running for Mayor and in that effort is doing his best to replace three of our Aldermen with like-thinking drones who know nothing of the challenges facing Wentzville nor care, they are running to be Guccione's pawns in his drive to control our city.

One of my readers gave an assessment of Nick Guccione and I think he or she hit the nail square on the head: "He will identify with whatever groups he believes will help his political ambitions. He has no reason, beyond ambition (and maybe power) to be a candidate." Mark my words, if Guccione is elected, Wentzville and the future of our citizens (and their families) will feel the negative effects long after he is gone. Look at the problems of the last decade and the efforts of our current Aldermen to bring sanity and order back to the city after being saddled with a Board dominated by unthinking people who knew nothing but special interests. It wasn't until just two years ago that Wentzxville elected a majority Board that dug into the problems and began rooting them out of our City. That process and progress will stop if Nick Guccione is elected to be our Mayor. Nick Guccione has dedicated himself to rebuild that Board of unthinking zombies who's sole purpose was, and will be, to follow the lead of their master.

Nick Guccione's recruits are:

Ward 1: Jay Webber

Ward 2: Donna Sherwood and Jeremy Pritchett

Ward 3: Rodney Stratman and Curtis Davis

His plan is to:

Ward 1: To beat Forrestt Gossett and fill the vacated seat of Leon Tow who is running for Mayor with Jay Webber.

Ward 2: Beat Sonyia Shryock with Donna Sherwood (two time loser in Ward 2) and he put Jeremy Pritchett in the mix to split the vote to hedge Sherwoods chances of victory.

Ward 3: Run two opponents against incumbent Rick Stokes who is one of our most productive Aldermen. His plan here is to have Stratman beat Stokes and appoint Davis to Guccione's vacated seat.

If his plan works, he will have recruited a majority of the Board of Aldermen with people who have had no inclination to ever run for office, have no knowledge of government, and whose sole purpose is to be his sock-puppets. This plan is disaster for Wentzville and the voting citizens need to get up on all fours to fight off Guccione's conspiracy.

To avoid this convoluted deception, the voters need not do anything more than vote for:

LEON TOW or DARREL LACKEY

FOR MAYOR

FORREST GOSSETT

ALDERMAN WARD 1

SONYA SHRYOCK

ALDERMAN WARD 2

RICK STOKES, Incumbent

ALDERMAN WARD 3

This slate of candidates will insure that Wentzville will avoid the devious plot of Nick Guccione and continue to cut spending and taxes while bringing back representation to the citizens of our City. We are truly at the crossroads and this election is more important to Wentzville than any in recent history. Put Guccione, Sherwood, and their band of recruits back in their caves where they belong. The future of Wentzville is in the hands of our voters, I hope to see you at the polls tomorrow!