Why?

I had a conversation with a resident yesterday who had a great point about Alderman Nick Guccione and his lack of interaction with the other board members. He relayed that Guccione was complaining about how the other alderman will not listen to him. I had heard this before but the question remains: If he is elected Mayor, how will he ever get support for any of his initiatives? I don't know any of his initiatives and it seems that no one else I know does either, but I am concerned what they might be. He thinks he'll be in charge of the city and every aspect of it. He should probably set up a meeting with Mayor Lambi to ascertain how that's working out for him.

I don't think Guccione understands that his total authority would be over the staff and presiding at board meetings to keep decorum which could prove interesting at best. The rest of his representation of Wentzville would be with other cities and governmental agencies outside of Wentzville. Quite frankly, the thought of that given his observed lack of communication skills is frightening. Guccione will find out just like Lambi did, the ultimate authority is with the Board of Aldermen. He should know about ultimate authority having been a member of arguably one of the most contrary and counter-productive boards in the history of Wentzville; Bill Schuette, Nick Guccione, John Luby, and Peggy Meyer; the Lurchettes, they were as stubborn as a set-down jackass. They reigned terror on the sanity of our city and only gained power because three effective long-term aldermen retired; Dave Hoekel, Dave Billings, and Darrel Lackey.

I've heard that he believes himself to be the best man for the job, my question is; based on what? Following Bill Schuette's lead for four years and sitting on the board for another two is not being a qualified candidate for Mayor. I've begged him to illustrate in any manner what he's accomplished for his Ward 3 and got nothing. His campaign slogan is: "It's time someone stood up for the people." Wow, that's fresh, I don't think I've ever heard that from a candidate before. The people don't believe rhetoric like that after the way politicians and government has lied to them. The people believe in actions, not slogans and Guccione has not accomplished a single thing for the people of Wentzville during his entire time in office. My readers don't have to believe me, ask him, or any other Alderman exactly how he has positively impacted our city, he'll not have an answer. He did vote on several issues that relieved taxpayers from having the burden of excess money in their pockets and several others that were shot down by his peers but he has really accomplished nothing of substance. Guccione has introduced nothing to favor the citizens and less of the city.

I know Nick Guccione and have known him since he was first elected, he represents my ward 3 and I'm very in tune with what my representatives do. I am truly disappointed in his representation of my ward. I have numerous complaints but the thing that turned me against him the most was his unethical recruitment of candidates to run in every other ward (including his own)  in an effort to gain support that none of the five other aldermen give him. I have to ask: Why? Why don't they support him? Why is Nick Guccione correct and all of the other aldermen wrong? Why does he need to make an attempt to influence our board of aldermen with his hand-picked candidates if his ideas are so great? Why does he need to change the direction of our city to his way of thinking when it has been proven ineffective and unacceptable? You have to question any candidate for Mayor who made such a fool of himself in a board meeting, in point February 8, 2012.

The Chamber of Commerce "Candidates Night," is scheduled for 6:00pm, March 27th at the Holt High School Auditorium. I urge every voter to attend and judge for yourself not only his qualifications but communication skills. He has no track record and I will be curious to hear what he has to say. Lambi has made a mess of our city and I'm afraid Guccione will make it worse, we need a strong Mayor, one who can lead and know when to follow, but more importantly, he needs to be able to work with the Board of Aldermen.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

The new year holds great promise for Wentzville, not only economically but politically. With General Motors adding a new assembly line and the possibility of Ranken Technical College bringing a satellite school to town, things are looking up. With the growth of Wentzville, our citizens have brought a new sense and logic to our city hall and slowly uprooting the "good ole boy" political party. I have held vigil, watching and reporting on city hall for the better part of 15 years and can say that the ball is over the crest of the hill and beginning to roll.

It all began about eight years ago with the election of Mayor Paul Lambi. I had hopes for a better life for Wentzville after Vickie Boedecker was dethroned, but the political rubble of our city was firmly implanted. Lambi worked with the support of several good aldermen to clean up city hall but the cancer was deep and it would take two more years for Boedecker to get over the fact that her second defeat was not just "voter apathy," her style of "good ole boy" politics was no longer wanted by our growing population. A huge blow to Wentzville was the retirement of three outstanding aldermen: David Hoekel, Dave Billing, and Darrel Lackey who all left the same year leaving an opening for Boedeker's flying monkeys to take over.

During attempts over the next two years to regain the throne she brought in three successful candidates to run for aldermen, John Luby, Ward 1; Nick Guccione, Ward 3; the ultimate Vickie-clone, Bill "Lurch" Schuette in Ward 2. Even though Boedeker lost the election, her flying monkeys continued the reign of terror in Wentzville. Lambi became frustrated in his second term toward restoring sanity as it entered its blackest days. "Lurch" became the "man behind the screen" who led the fledgling "Lurchettes." They met frequently in private (the Boedeker system) to determine their strategy of taking over Wentville's political system, a clear violation of election law.

In 2009, a glimmer of sunshine appeared on the political scene; Mrs. Cheryl Kross, new alderman in Ward 1 was elected, but even she, Lambi, and Alderman Tow couldn't break Boedeker's grip on the city. Then "Lurch" made the ultimate mistake and opened the door for sanity to come to the city, he decided to run for Mayor. Unfortunately for him and the Lurchettes, Guccione decided it was also his time to make a move. What happened was Lambi beat them both by a small margin sending "Lurch" back into the spectator's seat and left Guccione all alone on the board as Luby lost to Cheryl Kross. In 2011, things started to change and when Guccione's attempt to plant a candidate in Ward 1 to replace Kross failed, and Lurch's unsuccessful bid to regain his Ward 2 alderman seat, he watched as a new order came to Wentzville; Kross, Stokes, Sample, and Gard. These four aldermen have the opportunity to close the book on the 155 year "good ole boy" brand of politics in Wentzville.

It is my belief that in the election of 2012 voters can take back the city with two clear choices LEON TOW for mayor, and the re-election of RICK "Bulldog" STOKES in ward 3. There is more to the equation and I will give that on a later blog but I think I can predict a date of the overthrow of the old order (Boedeker system), April 2nd, 2013 when Nick Guccione is not re-elected alderman in Ward 3. Guccione should have paid more attention to what was going on in Ward 3 and a little less on his upward political aspirations.

Things look very good for Wentzville but we must always keep guard, people like; Lurch, Nick Guccione, Donna Sherwood, and a host of flying monkeys will always be looking for the chink in our Wentzville good-government armor.

The Legacy of Lunacy.

As much as I follow Wentzville city politics and government, I'm not usually taken unaware at board of alderman meetings but every once in a while an issue will pop up that makes watching the process a complete joy. Lately, for about the last two months, I've been surprised more than not. The last time was when our Mayor (Lambi) asked the "Board of Crickets" for money to be donated to the 501c LINC organization. Watching him seething over the board's indifference to his pet project was a complete delight. At the meeting of August 24th, another surprise developed in the form of new business; the "David Hoekel Expressway" project.

Like his predecessor who lays claim to being solely responsible for the overpass at the Wentzville Parkway, Lambi has put his eggs in making the future David Hoekel Expressway overpass his legacy. The expressway has been in the planning stage for over a decade and will serve as an outer belt connecting Highway 61 with Highway 70. In the design, an overpass will connect the North Outer Road to the South Outer Road and eventually connect to the Page Avenue extension. The first phase of the project is the section from West Meyer Road to the South Outer Road of Highway 70. Lambi has made a fool of himself trying to drum up support for his pet projects and this one is just the latest in his long legacy of lunacy.

A three and a half hour meeting that could easily have been done in two hours had it not been for one relatively small agenda item under New Business: "Item 2, (ID #3411) David Hoekel Parkway - Grant Opportunity." Thinking that the board would look favorably on his plan and hoping to put his legacy in motion, Lambi had at least a half-dozen employees from the HNTB company (grant writers) in attendance. Unfortunately for them, they were not asked to present their grant plan so they left after discussion was had denying the request. Once again, just like the LINC proposal, he wasted HNBT employees time to come to the meeting for another of his pet projects. Sooner or later his counting chickens is going to come to roost on his political career.

For the particulars: HNBT would require $49,000 to write a grant for a "Tiger III" Federal grant that could fund $24 million to the project. The kicker: best estimate, there is a 3% chance of winning the grant. Lambi is so desperate to engage his dream that he is willing to roll the taxpayers dice for $49 large for a 3% chance at $24 million. I'm starting to get a feeling why he isn't a financial advisor anymore, but what the hell, it isn't his money. After a prolonged discussion by the Aldermen, they decided they aren't going to shoot craps and agreed not to entertain Lambi's proposal. Lambi who was not too happy disgustingly exclaimed, "Wow no investment in the future of Wentzville tonight!" and banged the gavel. In any one's belief, a $49,000 bet for a 3% chance is not what would be called an "investment."

The splinters from the gavel settled and they got into the second reading of 16 bills presented. After the readings, Lambi said: I want to revisit this grant proposal. He went on to ask; "what if we could get HNTB to write the grant on a contingency basis? About this time, I'm thinking—what company would accept a contingency contract for an estimated $49,000 on a 3% chance of getting paid. The answer was obvious to everyone except Lambi. An offer of this kind was just another waste of time. After another half-hour or so of discussion, the aldermen did accept his proposal with the "contingency" clause written in the contract. This idea is almost crazier that the first.

After the balance of bills were completed they entered the discussion section of the agenda; three different items, the second of which was : "(ID #3414) Vehicle Towing and Storage Services." This discussion was another long-winded debate when Lambi finally broke in to say; it's almost ten o'clock and he thought it a waste of valuable staff and board time so he closed the subject. Once again as I've stated on numerous occasions, if Lambi likes or wants something it's balls to the wall, regardless of time and expense.

Despite Staff crying budget woes—Aldermen cutting expenditures, and the city sporting the highest sales tax in the County, Lambi was quoted in a recent article featured on Patch.com: "The city is flush with cash," who do we believe? For my money it's probably somewhere in the middle—but that's another subject entirely. I know that the city is short $5 million in road repair and infrastructure. At any rate, I sincerely hope that Wentzville voters tune-in and turn-off Lambi's lunacy at election time.