There is an interesting thread of discussion on my last post of Thursday, December 12, 2013: The Push Is On! (click here), that I believe needs to be addressed. It revolves around the possibility of Vann Sample coming out of retirement to reclaim his Ward 2 seat which is currently occupied by Sonya Shryock.
Sample left his service to Wentzville government due to circumstances with his day job and consequently served only one term. The seat was up for grabs and candidates came out of the woodwork to run against Donna Sherwood who had unsuccessfully run in every election for Ward 2 since 2010, she was Guccione's first choice. At the same time, Sherwood was Nickolas Guccione's campaign manager in 2012 and they ran what many believe to be the dirtiest-mud-slinging event in the history of Wentzville Politics. Her opponents were newcomers, Jeremy Pritchett and Sonya Shryock. Late in the campaign it was found that Pritchett was actually campaigning with Sherwood and Guccione in an effort to split the vote against Shryock to allow Sherwood to win and serve Guccione's wishes on the Board. Voters got wise to Guccione's plan and Sherwood lost the election, gathering fewer votes than either of the political rookies, Pritchett and Shryock. Guccione had underestimated Sherwood's level of public unpopularity.
Shryock won the election and was nurtured by a very strong board. There for a while, even though it became evident that Shryock was in way over her head she followed the conservative members of the board; Rick Stokes, Chris Gard, Forrest Gossett, and Cheryl Kross. Progress for the city continued without a hitch in spite of newly elected Mayor Nickolas Guccione's governmental incompetence, and the city sustained a fair level of accountability. Once Kross joined forces with Guccione and schmoozed Shryock to do the same, everything changed. Before long, Shryock began feeling empowered and led the charge (with Kross and Guccione) to remove Wentzville's legal services team. What's worse, she meddled in Chief of Police, Lisa Harrison's private affairs, it's uncertain what level of involvement Kross and Guccione played in this scandal, but I'm sure it will come to the surface. The events of that time were exposed on my post of November 4, 2013, The "Unholy Alliance" Exposed (click here).
The Wentzvillian polls say that Shryock's job performance is the absolute worst on the Board of Aldermen. But I contend it's marginally better than that of the non-existent accomplishments of Ward 3 Alderman Michael Hays (both of whom suffer from delusions of adequacy) if you exclude the removal of our legal services and the scandal she started within the police department. I'm not exaggerating about their records, I defy either of them (or anyone) to publicly announce what they have accomplished since being elected. Guccione is excellent at exploiting a lack of government and political savvy and as a result he gravitated toward Hays and Shryock to do his bidding. The wild card in his goal of Board control is Kross, I had hoped she would have been smarter than him, but obviously she's not lived up to those expectations.
Should Sample throw into the mix next April, there's more than a good chance that he could regain his office and help turn back Guccione's folly. Rick Stokes should have no problem with his re-election even though Guccione will throw everything, and everyone he can find at him. The other question is if Forrest Gossett has earned enough points with his constituents to maintain his seat on the board. It will be interesting to see if Cheryl Kross, one time close confidant of Gossett will assist him with his campaign. Since she had her falling out with Stokes and snuggled up to Guccione she has turned her back on her old friend, leaving some doubt regarding her allegiance to Gossett, we will soon know.
Gossett is very well versed in policies and procedures, and government, calling for a "point of order" more than any other alderman. So much so that at one meeting Guccione sarcastically said to him, "So you're going to play lawyer again?" Guccione hates Gossett, but then again he hates Stokes too, so Gossett is in good company anyway. Guccione will put candidates up against Gossett but probably leave them pretty much to their own devices to beat Gossett by simply splitting the vote. Guccione's main focus next April will be trying to get Shryock re-elected and sling as much mud at Stokes as he can dream up. If Sample runs, Guccione will more than likely bring in a third candidate to split that vote too which could put Shryock in a precarious position. She's trusting the dirtiest campaign designer in recent history, a man who even threw his own campaign manager under the bus. I absolutely know that Shryock will get the short end of the stick because Guccione doesn't care who gets elected, as long as it's one of his recruits and not Vann Sample.
It's unfortunate that Guccione has started politicking during the board meetings already, he's making it so obvious that it shouldn't be a surprise if he's called for campaign policy violations before it's all over, but he'll find someone to blame. I'll be watching closely to see how many times he has Shryock bring up subjects for which Guccione will pick up the sword against Stokes and Gossett. If Shryock thinks Guccione will defend her, she's delusional. I sincerely hope she doesn't get into any more trouble than she's already in, but time will tell. I think the best thing she can do is bow gracefully out of the race before her inevitable legal problems begin and she's right in the middle of attention while in office, the news media is relentless and keen on scandals. Mayor Lambi did it and paid the price, it's good advice to be far from the media while in office, but taking good advice is not her strong suit. When her problems hit (and they will), her good buddies; Kross, Guccione, and Michael Hays will put as much distance between her and them as they possibly can. It's hard to find a political friend when you're under fire.
I had hoped not to get so deeply involved in reporting on the election already, but Guccione has started campaigning from the dais and the truth needs to be told — I'm ready!
Should Sample throw into the mix next April, there's more than a good chance that he could regain his office and help turn back Guccione's folly. Rick Stokes should have no problem with his re-election even though Guccione will throw everything, and everyone he can find at him. The other question is if Forrest Gossett has earned enough points with his constituents to maintain his seat on the board. It will be interesting to see if Cheryl Kross, one time close confidant of Gossett will assist him with his campaign. Since she had her falling out with Stokes and snuggled up to Guccione she has turned her back on her old friend, leaving some doubt regarding her allegiance to Gossett, we will soon know.
Gossett is very well versed in policies and procedures, and government, calling for a "point of order" more than any other alderman. So much so that at one meeting Guccione sarcastically said to him, "So you're going to play lawyer again?" Guccione hates Gossett, but then again he hates Stokes too, so Gossett is in good company anyway. Guccione will put candidates up against Gossett but probably leave them pretty much to their own devices to beat Gossett by simply splitting the vote. Guccione's main focus next April will be trying to get Shryock re-elected and sling as much mud at Stokes as he can dream up. If Sample runs, Guccione will more than likely bring in a third candidate to split that vote too which could put Shryock in a precarious position. She's trusting the dirtiest campaign designer in recent history, a man who even threw his own campaign manager under the bus. I absolutely know that Shryock will get the short end of the stick because Guccione doesn't care who gets elected, as long as it's one of his recruits and not Vann Sample.
It's unfortunate that Guccione has started politicking during the board meetings already, he's making it so obvious that it shouldn't be a surprise if he's called for campaign policy violations before it's all over, but he'll find someone to blame. I'll be watching closely to see how many times he has Shryock bring up subjects for which Guccione will pick up the sword against Stokes and Gossett. If Shryock thinks Guccione will defend her, she's delusional. I sincerely hope she doesn't get into any more trouble than she's already in, but time will tell. I think the best thing she can do is bow gracefully out of the race before her inevitable legal problems begin and she's right in the middle of attention while in office, the news media is relentless and keen on scandals. Mayor Lambi did it and paid the price, it's good advice to be far from the media while in office, but taking good advice is not her strong suit. When her problems hit (and they will), her good buddies; Kross, Guccione, and Michael Hays will put as much distance between her and them as they possibly can. It's hard to find a political friend when you're under fire.
I had hoped not to get so deeply involved in reporting on the election already, but Guccione has started campaigning from the dais and the truth needs to be told — I'm ready!
It's a shame that Mr. Guccione is spending more of his time and efforts to manage a personal agenda and GET HIS OWN POLITICAL WAY than caring about the City of Wentzville and make it the shining star of Missouri. He is nothing but a vain, self-loving, despicable, and arrogant fraud that this city has to put up with. The ETHICS program should start dealing with his own personal standards of fraud and deception. He is a shame !!
ReplyDeleteim so sick and tired of this mayor living from election to election and doing nothing in between
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the 12/18 Alderman meeting and listening intently to Alderman Shryock several times - I had to in order to really understand what she was trying innocuously to get to without burying herself. She definitely has special interests in her back pocket especially when it comes to city contracts. She has a relationship with several companies including one tied to her family member. It sure sounded like she kept on trying to make it OK for gifts etc. to come from businesses in some form. She may be trying to be the next "queen of payola" . Mr. Mayor better watch out as she will get you in her trap.
ReplyDelete