Election of April 2014

 

It's been a month since I posted here and in that time the goofy things going on with the city of Wentzville has continued. I won't get to those things today, but I promise some juicy stuff will be posted here soon. Right now, since the deadline for candidate registration has passed I want to talk about the coming election and some surprising developments that have arisen. We now know who is running, the question remaining is why some of them are seeking office; I will try to answer some of those questions today.

Unfortunately for our fair city; a few years ago a short-sighted group of aldermen pushed through an election to extend the term of mayor, we could have been throwing out the trash in April, instead we are condemned to endure our current situation for two more years, ugggg! The intent was to extend the alderman's term but that initiative backfired, consequently giving us the privilege of suffering through an appalling two more years of Nickolas Guccione. God, I don't want to think about that development anymore!

Ward 1 Candidates are; incumbent Forrest Gossett, Robert "Rob" Hussey, and Jay Webber. Gossett, who is seeking a second term is well versed in processes and procedures, he continuously tries to bring order to a mayor who just learned to bang a gavel (in all fairness, it only took Guccione one year to master that task). Gossett was difficult to read at first, but I believe he has evolved, and is a legitimate asset to the Board of Aldermen, he has earned a second term.

Robert Hussey failed in his bid for the Ward 1 seat last year against Cheryl Kross, and has come back this year to take another shot at it. A fair-haired apostle of Guccione who tried to slip him into the Wentzville City Administrator job, when that failed Guccione supported him heavily to take down Kross. During that race, Hussey held fund-raisers in St. Louis County and brought a large $6,000 war chest to the campaign. One of his biggest hurdles during the campaign was in trying to overcome his job history which included being fired by a nearby city from his City Manager Job. Guccione, will once again be plunging a lot of effort into Hussey's campaign to unseat Gossett, Guccione needs allies on the board to take complete control.

Jay Webber ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2012 in a two-candidate race against Gossett, he was one of Guccione's hand-picked hopefuls. Jay Webber is a nice guy, I like him, but I'd like him better if he would drop out of the race, because I don't think he can win in this three-way election. I believe Guccione has him running to split the vote, but that could also backfire by taking away anti-Gossett votes from Hussey, but I'm not sure either of them can beat Gossett, alone or in tandem.

Ward 2 Candidates are; Patrick Vining and Michael Rhodes who were initially going to take a run at the incumbent Sonya Shryock. Shockingly, Shryock withdrew from the race leaving her new found political advocate and benefactor, Nickolas Guccione, twisting in the wind. This was a pivotal key-seat for Guccione, Shryock had become his sock puppet right along with Michael Hays and Kross, they had tipped the balance of power. That seat is now lost to Guccione because the rumor mill is saying that both Vining and Rhodes have a very strong dislike for Nickolas Guccione, imagine that.

At the moment I'm not sure who I'd like to see win this race simply because of their feelings about our mayor. Both men have strong points and could be good for Wentzville. Vining filed for the election of 2011 but didn't campaign because he didn't want to run against Chris Gard, who he respected. Rhodes is a well-known and highly-respected businessman in Wentzville, and he could have a large following of voters. I'm very pleased to see a Wentzville business owner run for office here, its been since the 1980s that one has had enough guts to do it, thank you Mr. Rhodes for your courage!

Ward 3 Candidates are; Rick Stokes and Linda Wright. The selection between these two candidates should be a no-brainer, Stokes has two strong terms behind him,  and been elected President of the Board of Aldermen for the last two years. According to The Wentzvillian poll, Stokes is the strongest alderman on the board. His job approval is second to none, although Gard is a very close second. He was instrumental in helping Wentzville get back on the fiscal track.

Stokes record speaks for its self so I'll move on to his opponent, Linda Wright. Wright was a pawn for Guccione in the election of 2013, she was inserted to draw votes away from Darrel Lackey and give Hays an advantage. It worked, Wright gathered 142 votes and Lackey lost to Hays by 6 measly votes, Guccione's "appointment" took the election with a paltry 39 percent of the vote.

There is talk that Linda Wright will become the Donna Sherwood of Ward 3, Sherwood ran in every election for three consecutive years prior to this one. She finally gave up when she drew the lowest amount of votes in the election and being crushed by no-name Sonya Shryock.

In Conclusion: Guccione has stated in public that he's going to throw every bit of dirt he can find (even if he has to make it up) at his arch-enemy, Rick Stokes. It won't work, Stokes is a great alderman and Guccione has a reputation as the 'trash man,' he has an uphill battle carrying Wright up a very large hill. Guccione's only hope to maintain status-qua is to beat Gossett with either Hussey or Webber. He still has his sock puppets Hays and Kross, but he can't be sure with Kross, because she wants to take his office in 2016. I think anytime Kross gets a chance to let Guccione hang himself, she just might do it.

If Guccione cannot beat Gossett next April, he's going to have a miserable year, just like before Kross and Shryock flipped to run with his screwed-up agenda. If I were Kross, I'd mend some fences with Stokes, Gossett, and Gard, and prepare for trying to be re-elected in 2015 before she messes that up. Let Guccione go crazy with frustration, he'll screw up his chances of ever being re-elected—all by himself.

I'll be keeping up with developments of the election of April 2014 and keep you informed.

P.S.S.: Kross is going to be really upset after the election when Stokes is elected President of the Board for the third consecutive year, and Guccione will be going crazy sitting right next to him for two more years. LMFAO!