The Minions of Goocher

 

Tuesday's election wasn't as big a surprise to me as you might think. I know the depravity and lack of ethics of Mayor Nickolas Guccione and those who kiss his ring; Cheryl Kross, Michael Hays, Sonya Shryock, ex-Judge Michael Carter, and the surprise conspirator, State Representative Bryan Spencer. In fact, I don't blame them for being underhanded in their actions, their candidates have no accomplishments, therefore they needed to pull every sleazy, unethical trick in their bag or they would have failed against two aldermen who's job approval was off the charts compared to the others they served with (excluding Chris Gard).

 

Mark Twain said; "History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes." Ten years ago, Mayor Vickie Boedeker did the same thing by chaining Wentzville progress to a huge anchor when she got Bill Schuette, John Luby, and Nickolas Guccione, the Lurchettes, elected to the board of aldermen. She would have taken full control of the board if she only hadn't made one mistake; not being re-elected herself.

The current board of aldermen made a lot of mistakes in the past four years. Allowing the appointment of Michael Hays was huge, but one of the most damaging was to put four-year terms for the Mayor on the ballot—incredibly stupid! When Wentzville elected a mayor who was totally unqualified or incompetent to lead, they simply voted him/her out of office after two years and tried it again. Wentzville history is filled with one-term mayors, and if we ever had a candidate for a two-year term, King Nickolas is one of them. With the cast of sock-puppets he's assembled, it will take a decades for the USS Wentzville to right itself.

 

Yesterday, I caught a post by the highly revered Alderman of Ward 2, Chris Gard. I think he sums up what happened Tuesday, April 8th very well:

 

"On my website is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt that says 'We are the government-you and I." He was absolutely right. We choose the people who represent us in government, and we need to hold them accountable. Yesterday, only 8% of registered voters showed up to vote in municipal elections. That means 92% of voters never bothered to participate. Wow. 92%. Wow. As a result, City government was completely changed. I'm always so confused when people say their vote doesn't matter. If you don't even show up to the ballot box, you're absolutely right. It doesn't. C'mon gang, we can do better. Surely we can care more about our City leadership than 8%?"

 

I'm confident that most of my readers are registered voters, and that they did their civic duty by voting. If you did not; you, and the apathetic masses, are responsible for the politically-unhealthy environment that will be sworn-in on April 23rd to govern our once proud city. I'm truly ashamed of our Wentzville registered voters who did not vote. Guccione has made the mayor's office the laughing stock of the county—everyone knows it, and now he's added two more reasons to believe that Wentzville is in serious trouble; Linda 'Wrong' Wright and Robert 'Back-Door' Hussey. Because Wentzville has no regular newspaper, or other effective news coverage, King Nickolas is still in office. Had there been regular media-coverage of what he's done in his first two years to disgrace his office and the people of Wentzville, Mayor Guccione would be back to being plain old Schnucks butcher Guccione.

 

I'll take great pleasure in covering this new board of aldermen and following their every public blunder. I'm confident that my readers will not be disappointed. Something may happen soon to remedy the lack of news coverage in Wentzville, it may cause grief for Guccione and his minions, I'll let you know when it's about to happen.

 

* * * * *

 

The Board of Aldermen meeting Wednesday, April 9th was relatively consistent with most Guccione meetings. He mumbled, stumbled, and fumbled through two "Certificates of Recognition" and a "Proclamation." He managed to embarrass everyone in attendance by mumbling, getting tripped up on two and three syllable words, and his total lack of being able to read people's names. You need to watch the video (that doesn't appear to be posted yet, or I'd have given you a link), it's incredible!

 

During last night's meeting the thing that seemed to be weighing heavily on Alderman Cheryl Kross' mind was trees. She must have talked about trees on at least a half-dozen occasions. The first was a single tree on the property of Chick-fil-A. It seems that the new owner had inherited a tree that was a smaller caliper than specified in the code, and come hell or high water, Kross was going to get it fixed. I wonder if she goes around town checking every tree looking for code violations. What I find puzzling about this whole matter is; it's not even in her ward, but with sword drawn, Kross plunged forward.

 

Kross is a meticulous micro-managing meddler in the staff's jobs. She could not seem to understand that the situation had been addressed by the Public Works, and she kept bringing it up at every opportunity throughout the meeting. Kross was on a mission. The next trees she was concerned with are owned by Dairy Queen, two large pines of some variety. The owner had bought the property next to Dairy Queen and is wanting to build a pizza place by the name of Tommy D's. Well, the trees would end up right smack in the middle of his parking lot. "Isn't there some way you can save them," she begged? She brought up this same concern at the meeting last month and got the same answer, but the engineer on the project gleefully explained it to her again. The only thing different about these trees, and the Chick-fil-A tree is; at least this time they are in her ward. I wonder if she knows that?

The City of Wentzville has an eighty million dollar budget, and the most important thing on Cheryl Kross' agenda is three trees, which are the problem of Planning and Zoning and the Public Works department. Why does she continually probe issues that are insignificant compared to the developments and major problems in the city? She needs to focus on her job and quit trying to micro-manage the entire city and its employees.

* * * * *

 

Beginning April 23rd, the new board will be sworn-in and I believe there will be a lot more to talk about. I'm looking forward to thickening up the skin of the new minions; 'Linda Wrong' and 'Back Door' Hussey, the newest members of; The Unholy Alliance (click here). See you soon!

 

The "Unholy Alliance" Exposed!

 

Wentzville residents need to know why there are so many messed up things going on in our City Government. It's time to tell the whole story, that would have gone unheard had it not been brought to my readers here. So I'm ready to come clean about the reasons behind why Alderman Cheryl Kross abandoned the rational side of the Board of Aldermen to snug up to the most governmentally maladroit mayor of Wentzville in it's history — Nickolas Guccione.

A most unlikely confederation, since Kross is a Tea Party ultra-conservative, and Guccione a radical Obama Socialist-liberal, you'd kinda hope they'd cancel each other out, but they don't. I'm also braced to make another political adversary; Alderman Sonya Shryock, because of her incessant, and petty accusations that Chief of Police, Lisa Harrison, is engaged in unethical behavior and thereby needs to change her "no fraternizing with elected officials" policy, or be removed from her office. Guccione wants to promote his police friend to be Chief and Shryock may want hers ennobled, both of which are currently employed by the Wentzville Police Department.

 

In order to tell this story we need to go back in time to before the election of 2012 when Alderman Nickolas Guccione used unethical, and illegal means to beat Alderman Leon Tow to become mayor. Guccione was pardoned for his crimes against the City by the outgoing mayor, Paul Lambi, and later apologized to the board for being a sneaky, underhanded rat.

 

The conservative members of the board, at that time; Leon Tow, Chris Gard, Rick Stokes, and Cheryl Kross had several meetings with a prominent supporter (who will remain unnamed) to choose the candidate who would oppose Guccione. The choices were between Tow and Kross, with Tow being the final selection due to his time and experience in Wentzville Government. I  remember meeting with Kross when she asked my opinion whether or not she should run for Mayor. I told her that since the term changed to four years, if she didn't do it now, she may never get another chance. She never told me what she decided to do but I understand that the group met the next day and selected Tow. Kross came away bitter but supported the group's choice and assisted by campaigning for Tow.

 

After the election of 2012, Stokes was sworn-in to his second term as Alderman of Ward 3, and also elected to his second consecutive term as President of the Board of Aldermen. This is when Kross snapped, she wanted to run for mayor but when she didn't, she figured she'd be the next board president. When that didn't happen her deportment changed, she began voting irrationally, and her hatred of Stokes grew, she did anything she could to get back at him. It was three months prior to the 2012 election that she flipped on her vote to allow Guccione's appointment of Michael Hays to take a seat next to Stokes in Ward 3. The Guccione/Kross connection had been made, oil and water mixed and crazy things began happening again in Wentzville government as it did during the days of the Lurchettes (Bill [Lurch] Schuette, John Luby, and Nickolas Guccione). Kross must take great pride in destroying a board that had worked so hard to finally bring sanity back to Wentzville government, even with a dysfunctional Executive Branch. It's all about her pride and revenge today, she has sold out her core values and turned her back on good-government in the name of petty vanity. Unity of the board was the watchword, they made a difference in the way Wentzville government operated in a fair and orderly manner. All of our aldermen should be applauded for what they accomplished before the 2013 election; Tow, Kross, Gard, Stokes, Sample, Shryock, and Gossett.

 

It was this same 2012 election that brought Sonya Shryock to the Board of Aldermen for Ward 2. Shryock has struggled to assimilate in her first term and was drawn to her new mentor, the now very bitter Cheryl Kross. They began voting in a block and with Hays being there to vote anyway Guccione wanted him to vote, the shift from sanity to chaos was in full swing.

 

Shryock didn't like Guccione and displayed it frequently in her first year, but when Chief Harrison made a departmental policy to disallow her officers to socially fraternize with elected officials, Shryock went on a witch-hunt that included the Chief of Police and our City Attorney. Shryock had made friends with a few of our police officers, one of which a lieutenant, and was not going to allow Harrison to stop her from seeing her friends in social settings. Now Shryock had a common thread with Guccione, they both didn't want Harrison to be Chief of Police in Wentzville and they both had it in for Paul Rost. All of a sudden, oil and water mixed again and the Unholy Alliance of Guccione, Kross, Hays, and Shryock was assembled, they were determined to take over and in a big way. The best interest of the City is not on their agenda, it has all gotten very personal.

 

So this is how it started, and that brings us to the past few months. I'm going to start with Shryock because the incidents surrounding her drive to make Chief Harrison change her "No Fraternization" policy or be replaced, has had a butterfly effect that led to Attorney Rost and Wentzville's legal service company, Cunningham, Vogel, and Rost, P.C., to refuse a six-month contract and subsequently go hourly until the City can get a new City Attorney, tick-tock, tick-tock, cha-ching.

 

In a memorandum released by the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney titled: "Subject: Special Investigation — Misuse of Official Information by Police Officer Julie Jackson," some very interesting interviews took place between Shryock and President of the Board, Rick Stokes, with St. Charles investigators. This may get confusing but I will try to sort it out as I go along.

In the interview of Alderman Rick Stokes by the St. Charles investigators, dated September 5, 2013 in part reads: "... Stokes said that on August 20, 2013, Shryock called him on the telephone and stated that she had a 'couple of citizens' that had complained to her that they thought it was 'unethical' for the police chief (Harrison) to be dating a member of the 'Police Chief's Association.' She (Shryock) further said that these 'citizens' saw an unmarked SUV parked overnight at Harrison's residence and that 'they' knew who the SUV belonged to. ... Stokes then asked Shryock if the 'citizens' were law enforcement officers and she responded that she didn't want to give names. Stokes further advised that he had told Shryock that she should contact the City Attorney and should not conduct her own investigation into this matter. Shryock responded that she had already talked to the City Attorney and he advised her to stay away from this matter and the Chief's private affairs, unless she had evidence that the Chief's private associations resulted in personal or financial gains or some kind of criminal activity. Stokes informed her that she should follow this advice and that failure to do so could result in some type of civil lawsuit."

Now I want to jump to the interview of Alderman Sonya Shryock conducted by the St. Charles investigators dated September 11, 2013: "... Shryock said that in response to this citizens complaint, she did some checking and determined that the described vehicle was not a Wentzville Police vehicle and the male subject, who drove it, did not fit the description of any Wentzville officers. What!, How on earth could she have possibly known that?...Hmmm! However, Shryock said that she later learned from 'someone' (name unrecalled) that Chief Harrison was dating someone from the Missouri Chief's Association. She told Stokes in his statement that she "didn't want to give names" and to the investigator, "she couldn't remember names." She also told Stokes that the citizen knew who the vehicle belonged to, and to the investigator she learned the name later. ...Hmmm! When asked if either the 'citizen' that made the original complaint or the person that said Chief Harrison was dating someone from the Police Chief's Assn., was a police officer, Shryock said, 'No.' She further added that no one from the police department has talked to her about this matter." Shryock admitted that she has friends on the Wentzville Police Department and that she did her own 'checking,' but no one in the police department talked to her about this...Hmmm!

Again from Shryock's statement to the investigator: "...Shryock stated that after learning that Chief Harrison may be dating someone from the Missouri Police Chief's Assn., she became concerned that this may be a 'conflict of interest' and raise some ethical issues. ... As a result, she reported this matter to Mayor Nick(olas) Guccione, who instructed her to discuss it with Paul Rost, the City Attorney. Shryock said that the city attorney advised her that this was a personal matter, concerning Chief Harrison and she should not pursue it any further." Good advice!

"Shryock indicated that she became frustrated after her discussion with the city attorney, as she felt this issue, as to a potential conflict of interest, should be addressed. Could it be that she was more interested in seeing her police friends socially, than solicitude regarding what an alleged conflict of interest charge could do to one's career? As a result, she informed Alderman Kross, Alderman Gard, and Alderman Stokes of this information." All of this after she was advised by the City Attorney to stay away from it, and don't talk about it.

"Shryock said she was later contacted by Alderman Gard and informed that Chief Harrison was concerned that a number of officers were going 'behind her back' and contacting certain city aldermen. He (Gard) further indicated that a lieutenant within the department could lose his job because Chief Harrison suspects him of going behind her back and reporting things to her (Shryock). She (Shryock) said this is not true and she is concerned that someone could lose his job based on false rumors." She's worried about a friend losing his job based on false rumors? What about Chief Harrison who could lose her job because of the false rumors Shryock started? What about the damage created by Shryock's allegations to Chief Harrison's reputation? And, what about Shryock's invasion of Harrison's privacy? This paragraph answers the question of why Alderman Chris Gard went off on Shryock during his "Alderman Report" at the meeting of the 9th of October which I posted on October 14th, We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This! (click here)

"Prior to the conclusion of the interview, Shryock again stated that this matter and the rumors have been blown way out of proportion, but reiterated that she still feels there are ethical issues, involving the Chief, that are apparently being ignored." The rumors were blown out of proportion because Shryock would not listen to the City Attorney who told her to let it go, and don't talk to anyone about it. There is much more in this 12 page investigative report and if anyone is interested to know the entire story, I suggest you hunt it down. This entire matter was created by Alderman Shryock and she has put a liability on the city if someone decides to sue Wentzville. Shryock should be investigated by the City and made to reveal her sources and/or censured for what she's done here. Shryock is a loose cannon on the board and is creating more problems than solutions but she does fit nicely into the Unholy Alliance of Guccione, Kross, and Hays.

So here we go; Shryock is now very angry with Rick Stokes for telling the investigators what she told him (Stokes), and angry with Attorney Paul Rost because he told her to let go of her alleged ethics violation charge against Chief Harrison. In my mind, I cannot reconcile why Shryock thinks she knows more about ethics than the City Attorney. Let's see, Guccione hates Stokes and is still seething at Rost for not helping him with his unethical campaign during the 2012 election. Kross hates Stokes for not supporting her 2012 desire to run for mayor, and beating her out of the Board President position. From what I've heard, Kross has no ax to grind (other than the "Nay" vote to hire Harrison) but if the rubber meets the road and the bus is aimed at Chief Harrison, Kross may very well go along just because the enemy of her enemy (Stokes) is her friend; Shryock and Guccione. Only one character left; Alderman Hays; he doesn't care what's going on, he is going to vote any way Guccione tells him to vote. There you have it, the reason, our legal services team quit the City, the reason Michael Hays was appointed to the Board of Aldermen, and why Cheryl Kross and Sonya Shryock jumped over to the dark side. This group is now legislating on; hate, anger, vanity, and ego, any questions?

Now for a note to Mayor Nickolas: Beware, Alderman Kross is only sucking up to you until after she secures her seat in the 2015 election. She wants to be in your good graces just until she can run against you for Mayor in 2016. Get the picture? And you thought Rick Stokes was going to be your main opponent. Why do you think Kross is attending organizational meetings all over town and every HOA she can make (even though most of them are not in her Ward 1), and joining any City committee you'll appoint her to. Is it possible she's doing the same thing you do, did, and are doing? Could it be that she's sneakier than you are?

 

Vengence Is Mine

 

The Wentzvillian has supported Alderman Cheryl Kross in every election she's ever run in Wentzville, but of late I've had serious questions about what's been going on with her. Some may think I've been overly critical recently, but after the meeting of September 25th, I am convinced, she has lost touch with why she ran for office in the first place.

 

I published a blog entitled "TTC" (click here) (Third Term Crazies,) where I explained my theory about why some Aldermen who've served more than two terms seem to lose their focus. Today, I'm convinced, without a doubt, Kross has stepped way over the line and is leading Wentzville down a path to serious problems. She doesn't see it, but I guarantee that anyone watching the board meetings for the last six months will agree, she is driven by a new inspiration;  EGO, and revenge.

 

In Kross' first term, she was subjected to Mayor Paul Lambi's chauvinistic treatment (click here), to the embarrassment of all, then Rick Stokes was elected. Things changed, Kross had a voice for the first time, and with Stokes' support things got better for her and Wentzville. The Lurchettes were banished, and a new sanity came to the board of aldermen. What has happened to this once unified board of only six months ago has all become clear to me today. Unfortunately, she has turned on the one person who had her back against the tyranny raining down on her from Lambi — Rick Stokes.

 

Since I was just a tyke I was taught, "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord." Well in this case, Alderman Kross  feels herself wronged, and is now hell bent for leather to show the leaders of the board: Rick Stoles, Chris Gard, and Forrest Gosset, that she has the horsepower to run the board — Vengence is mine sayeth Kross. She was angered when the board elected Stokes to his second year as President of the Board, and she was thinking; I have more time on the board, I deserve to be president. Ego can destroy a person and today, it's about to destroy a city. Alderman Kross has let her ego displace her rational conservative thinking.

 

This is really tough to write because I really care for Cheryl Kross, but Alderman Kross has reduced herself to being a slave to the same thinking that was the driving force behind The Lurchettes: (Schutte, Luby, and Nickolas Guccione) — EGO. She's recruited Alderman Sonya Shryock, and with Michael Hays being in debt to King Nickolas, she's plotted and successfully orchestrated a coup d'état (click here) on Wentzville's Board of Aldermen. This awesome responsibility will soon lead to disaster for Wentville. Very soon, Wentzville will be without legal counsel, and with a ton of lawsuits against the city, this means only one thing; Guccione will have a very big problem ... all created because of the ego of Alderman Kross.

When trouble befalls Guccione, he's going to remember the aldermen who led him into problems and he's going to roll-over on Kross — Vengeance is mine sayeth King Nickolas. She will feel his full wrath, and he's meaner than a junkyard dog with 14 sucking pups. Guccione only knows one thing and that's politics, he knows no more about government than a frog knows about bed sheets He's always followed a leader, it used to be Bull Schuette, and now it's Kross, it won't be long before he realizes that he's made another terrible mistake (as usual). Of course, Michael Hays will be spared simply because he's Guccione's zombie, but Kross and Shryock had better start watching their backs. I'm sure Guccione has slash-and-burn information ready to send to the press.

Throwing out the legal services recommendation of the Professional Services Committee, and going back to tweak the selection process are going to haunt Kross and Shryock. I'm thinking that Kross thought she knew what she was doing, but Shryock has been taking bad advice from too many individuals who may have some axes to grind. Their political troubles have just begun, in their rear view mirrors they will see Guccione's sardonic smiling face with his pet monkey on his shoulder.

Kross and Shryock have split from the pack and have sought shelter with Guccione. If you have a hard time believing this, watch the meetings, count the split votes with Guccione breaking the tie, then you'll know it's personalities, not issues that have them siding with the undead. There were no split votes in Guccione's first year in office and since Stokes was elected president of the board for the second time, there have been three, they will come more frequently. It may be time to make some changes if the citizens aren't represented by objective Aldermen.

The Wentzvillian does not seek out the opinions of elected officials, everyone of them tells a different story and very seldom, if ever, is it the whole truth. The Wentzvillian  views city meetings as any citizen would, and as the public is told many times over and over: "You don't have all the facts." What some aldermen don't seem to understand is; the view is different from here than it is in their eyes. What we see and hear from our governors is reality, what is perceived in the public eye is truth. Until these aldermen, and mayor, want to give their side of the "real" truth, what we see is what they get. Perception is everything, perception wins or loses elections, and perception is truth until the absolute truth is unveiled, and even then it may be too late. Vengence is mine sayeth the public.

The mess and scrambling in city hall today was all created by Kross, Shryock, Hays, and Guccione. It is all because, in their short-sightedness and arrogance, they had no thought of the consequences of their actions. I would have loved to see the look on their faces when Wentzville's legal team turned down their insulting offer. I wouldn't be surprised if when they ask the other aldermen to help them get out of this mess, they don't tell them, "Hey, you wouldn't listen to reason, you wanted the power, you took it, so now you can clean it up," — but they won't.

The Wentzvillian readers are for the most part conservative, and Alderman Kross claims to be ultra-conservative. Perhaps she should look at the polls here where she and Shryock are leading the pack in asking the most irrelevant questions and are at the bottom of the poll when rated on their job performance. These polls are not manipulated and are the thoughts of conservative voters who are dissatisfied with the actions of Kross and Shryock. Perhaps they could tell us the truth about who they really are?

 

I'm sorry I had to post this, but I care too much for this city and the great Board of Aldermen that I knew. Things are about to blow in Wentzville, and with  the aid of Aldermam Kross' ego, Mayor Guccione's La-La land will fall to his own misguided followings. Remember Mr. Mayor, you cast the tie breaker, so if you want to point your finger at someone, stick it in your nose and scratch your brain, who knows, maybe you'll find a reset button up there.

 

Awk! Polly Wants A Cracker!

The Meeting:

The Board of Alderman held a special meeting scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM for Mayor Guccione's appointment to the vacant Ward 3 Alderman seat.  Due to an absence and a late arrival, there were not enough Aldermen present for a quorum, consequently the start time was pushed closer to 6:00 PM. The regular meeting started near 6:30 PM and presented the real possibility of another midnight session. On two agenda items (to paraphrase President of the Board; Rick Stokes), "In the interest of getting out of here before midnight, I move to table or postpone." If he hadn't, this meeting wouldn't have ended at 11:00 PM. Thank you Alderman Stokes.

Mayor Guccione's appointment wasn't much of a surprise and the Board approved his very good friend John Luby. Luby served two terms on the Board of Aldermen during the controversial "Lurchette" period, when Bill Schuette, Guccione, and Luby controlled the board. It was they who were instrumental in changing the Wentzville Parkway overlay district to include LED signs and live music. Resultant problems presented by these changes has residents complaining about them since they were implemented. It was a time of "feel good" legislation, if it felt good, or they had a friend who wanted it, it was passed.

John Luby is probably one of the nicest people in Wentzville and I always liked him but to be honest, I didn't agree with him much and was summarily disappointed with the way he represented my residential ward. If he is true to form, his alliance with Guccione will manifest itself in many 5-1 votes on issues. John won his first term but unopposed in his second and stayed in place. In Luby's bid for a third term, he was upset by the newcomer, Rick Stokes, who has become a leader on the board. It will be an interesting six months watching what Luby does leading up to the election in April 2013.

As expected the interim City Administrator was introduced: Mr. George R. Kolb. With the city only six days, I was surprised at the handle he has on city issues. Mr Kolb, by all outward appearances, looks like he is capable of handling the job he was hired to do. I wish him success in dealing with the many problems facing the city in his new smaller office.

The Peeve:

This highly intelligent Board of Aldermen use words or phrases that emphasise points they are trying to make. One of Alderman Stokes' pet phrases is; "Tee it up" or, "Who's going to tee this up?" I assume it is from his passion of playing golf and he uses it very well in many of his statements. I've heard Alderman Gossett use the word "rancor" on numerous occasions during the appointment process. A fairly common word that sometimes gives pause to those who may not know what it means. Then last night I heard our interim CA Mr. Kolb, use three tenses of the word; "vet," another word that I'm sure our Mayor is going to start using.

Now: Mayor (Polly wants a cracker) Guccione in an effort to sound either clever or intelligent (pick one), likes to parrot words and phrases stated by the aldermen. If he understands it, he'll repeat it that night—and usually more than once. He has now added; "tee up" to his "Polly wants a cracker important persons words and phrases that intelligent people use list" to his meeting vocabulary and is using it on a regular basis. (Polly) Guccione used the word "rancor" at least three times before the end of the meeting after Alderman Gossett used it in reference to him a few weeks ago. Last night Mr. Kolb used the words "vet, vetted," and "vetting," on several occasions and watching Guccione's face told me—"Awk" he was inpressed—he doesn't know what it means, but he was impressed. Mark my words, he will be adding this word to his "Polly wants a cracker important persons terms and words that intelligent people use list"—as soon as someone looks it up for him.

They say imitation is the kindest form of flattery, but in this instance it appears to be a disappointing indictment of our education system. However, I do encourage our aldermen to keep feeding Polly, it's fun to watch from the cheap seats.

A Great American

It's only four days before we all go to the polls to vote for the candidates of our choice. I want to remind everyone about the importance of this election. We have a four-year term for Mayor for the first time—that's a long time if you realize in the first year, you've made a mistake, so as the Knight Templar said; "Choose wisely."

"Choose wisely," no truer words were spoken regarding this election. We have men running for Mayor who have a wide range of government experience, some great, some not so great. I've had the privilege to know and watch each of them while they were serving our city and want to point out some of the things two of these candidates have done while in public office:

Bill Schuette: Schuette was a recruit of Vickie Boedeker when trying to regain her seat as Mayor for the second time after losing to Paul Lambi. At that time Boedecker had lost Board support and needed to get a new board elected to regain control of Wentzville should she be elected. She lost, but her disciple, Schuette won a place as Alderman of Ward 2. Had the voters known of her plot, Schuette, Luby, and Guccione would never been elected.

Schuette was uneducated about government and I believe had no interest in learning. Some of the ordinances he brought forward and supported were found in violation of state statutes and shot down. Others were destructive and led to changes to the overlay districts regarding sinage and allowing live music in the bars and restaurants on the Wentzville Parkway. Schuette was prone to give advantages and favors to his business friends and did so frequently, The tow contract was changed to give the advantage to a less qualified tow company simply because one of his best friends was the owner. Schuette brought chaos to our Board, he was loud, arrogant, and an embarrassment to the City in other public venues. A year after losing his bid for mayor and his seat on the Board, Schuette tried to regain it but was denied by the voters who were looking for a real represenative.

Nick Guccione: Guccione was also one of those recruited by Boedecker to run and he was elected to Ward 3. He was a butcher at Schnucks grocery stores and had no knowledge of government or procedures. The bad part about his situation is that he never had to learn because Bill Schuette led the recruits with his strong over-confident personality for four years on how and when to vote. Unfortunately for Wentzville, it was the blind leading the blind for four years until Schuette lost his bid for Mayor and consequently lost his seat on the Board. When the other recruits lost their seats, Guccione was all alone with a new group of aggressive well versed people (Aldermen) who believed in Wentzville and proper procedures.

When he ran for a third term and without the Boedecker machine he was lucky that he was unopposed. If someone had run against him he would most assuredly been joining the other recruits fate of losing his re-election. His good-fortune was Wentzville's misfortune, in his first year of his third term he was placed in a position of being behind the 8-ball to perform the duties of an Alderman. Knowing nothing of procedures, forming ordinances, gaining support from other board members, he quietly stumbled along. He followed everyone on the board, not speaking, not bringing forth legislation, and not representing his constituents of Ward 3.

Being a concerned voter in Ward 3, I have watched my Aldermen very closely for over 10 years and I believe that Mr. Guccione doesn't read the Alderman packets, is unprepared at meetings, doesn't have any knowledge of parliamentary procedure, and his record on the Board of Aldermen supports my statement. He watches other Aldermen and listens too much to small groups of citizens who speak in "Open Forum" at City meetings. Mr. Guccione makes decisions based on flimsy and un-researched information by small special interest groups and when he makes the wrong decisions he flips on his vote. His record is riddled with flipping on votes, he even campaigns on it, admitting he was wrong. Mr. Guccione is wrong on almost everything he votes on when he makes his own decisions regarding any subject before the Board.

Guccione is an opportunist and when he sees anything that may give him a political advantage he jumps on it. Siding with Mayor Lambi for the first time in five years is a perfect example. They were on the opposite side of almost everything. Guccione even tried leading a charge to have Lambi pay back the $15,000 (the mysterious check turned over to the attorney) out of his own personal checking account and now he's acting like they were buddies forever. He voted with the other Aldremen to turn the alleged influence peddling complaint against Lambi to the State Board of Ethics Commission, as a matter of fact he made the motion to do so.  Now he's with Lambi calling the entire ordeal "a witch hunt" trumped up by one of his opponents and at the same time discredit not only his opponent but the opponents running against his recruits. He thinks by siding with Lambi, Lambi's supporters will support and vote for him. He is a panderer and seeks any group who might support him, no matter how small or ridiculous, if it means votes, he's there.

He has pulled out all of the stops, he knows that if he is not elected Mayor this year, he will serve out his last year as Alderman trying to live with the things he's said and done. He knows that he will never be re-elected as an Alderman in Ward 3.  Guccione is the only Mayor candidate to resort to mud-slinging and trickery. I completely understand why he does it—it's the only thing he has besides small interests groups to campaign on, his record is completely void of any achievements, it's the only thing he can do. He relies on old newspaper articles and takes things out of context to bash his opponents rather than campaign on his merit. You can't talk about something if you have nothing to talk about.

A great American once said: "Small people talk about other people" "Average people talk about material things, and Great people talk about ideas." In five years of Guccione being an Alderman, I've never heard him come up with a "great idea," but I have heard him "talk about other people," on numerous occasions and spreading slanderous lies and rumors is well within his realm of ethics. I have to appeal to the good voting citizens to think about these words and think about where Nick Guccione stands. After looking at his record and campaign strategies, after looking at those closest to him and his conspiracy to control the Board of Aldermen, and after listening to his words and seeing his lack of accomplishments, any thinking person will come to agree that Mayor candidate Nick Guccione is not a good choice to run our Wentzville!

Let There Be Music

I spent the last two days in a remote little town in Southern Missouri taking in some possibly undeserved rest and relaxation, this town is so far back in the woods that I had no cell phone reception. While I was gone, rumors of my demise were running rampant and a half-dozen messages appeared on my phone as soon as I hit the interstate. These friends were concerned about my health and welfare because no one had seen or heard from me since the city meeting of last Wednesday, March 13th. The problem as I see it is; there was so much press over the happenings of that meeting for the last few days that when I didn't immediately post about it, people thought that I might have been dropped in the river. In the words of my favorite author, Mark Twain: "Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," but it's nice to know that people care, I thank all of you. I looked online when getting back and noticed the local news services had all kinds of stuff about Wednesday's meeting except the following:

The fun started when a gentleman citizen (and voter, I hope) came before the board to complain about the noise generated by the live music coming from Caddy Shack, a lounge on the Wentzville Parkway. This music can be heard throughout his subdivision keeping people awake until after one o'clock in the morning. He went on to say that they had gone before the Board of Aldermen before about the same matter but nothing was done so the residents took the owner of Caddy Shack to court and won. After the case was decided, the owner appealed in a St. Louis County court and he solicited a Wentzville Alderman to write a letter on his behalf, consequently, the ruling was overturned. The man alleged that the unnamed Alderman was using Caddy Shack as a campaign headquarters and claimed he had a conflict of interest—my ears perked up with this news.

I was curious who the Alderman was that wrote this letter in favor of the bar and against the residents of the subdivision behind it, I didn't have to wait long,  During the "Aldermen Reports," Nick Guccione, being the paranoid, double-dealing politico that he is; confessed it all, how he'd been wagging his tongue at both ends. I have to wonder about him, he constantly says he's the "people's candidate," but the first chance he gets, he throws those same "people" under the bus.

To the residents who live behind "Caddy Shack," remember this on election day, April 3rd, when you go to the polls to elect a new mayor— Nick Guccione is responsible for your late nights and the reason you're unable to sleep. Actually you are probably lucky, at least he didn't arrange for you to have to pay a cover charge. Tell your friends, family, and  other voting residents who it is that lies about being the "people's candidate." Mr. Guccione listens and reacts to the last person, or in this case business owner who talks to him, regardless of the consequences to the City or his campaign.

Another interesting fact behind this subject: Originally, there was an overlay district that banned live entertainment on the Wentzville Parkway. It was to keep residents from hearing all the late-night noise coming from those types of establishments. You need to know that Nick Guccione and his buddies; Bill Schuette and John Luby got all that changed to allow it to happen. I couldn't expect them to understand that this problem was thought out long before these geniuses were elected. So now, the people living behind establishments on the Wentzville Parkway with loud music late into the night will just need to get used to it, thanks to Guccione and Schuette, who by the way are both running for mayor. Their slogans should be: "A vote for me is a vote for a band in every back yard, with no cover charge" I have much more to say about this meeting last Wednesday but I'll save it for my next blog.

(On the campaign trail): I do have one thing to report on the candidates of Ward 2. As you know, I have scratched through Donna Sherwood and today I received several emails containing new information regarding her campaign but I'll save that for another time also. I have been on the fence about her opponents for quite awhile and it's time to announce my choice: Sonia Shryock for Alderman of Ward 2. I've made this decision after months of watching and listening to them and their motives, Ms. Shyrock has convinced me that she is a free-thinking independent candidate and deserves your vote. I believe she will represent the citizens of Ward 2 with honesty and integrity.