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!

Candidates Night 2012

There were probably between 150 ant 200 people attended the Chamber of Commerce Candidates Night, last night at the Holt High School auditorium. I was disappointed to see that the radio station wasn't there but life is full of little trade offs. Only two of the candidates didn't make an appearance; Ward 1 candidate Forrest Gossett, who had a confirmed medical emergency and; Rodney Stratman candidate for Ward 3, who insiders said; got cold feet, everyone else was there. I was also disappointed in the quality of the questions asked, many were just lame, as a matter of fact I didn't hear one question that was hard-hitting—you know, it was all generic, "oh, by the way" kind of stuff. Questions could not be addressed to individual candidates and I think that was a big mistake. The Chamber of Commerce could have done a much greater service to the City without this touchy-feely event, but that's another story all in itself.

Each Candidate had an opportunity to give an opening statement and some were revealing while others were just downright laughable. I'm going to start with Ward 1 and run through all the Wards before I get to the Mayor Candidates. I have to warn you, Nick Guccione was running true to form, blaming everybody else for his problems, claiming everything that was good was because of him, and flipping on subjects, he needs a new script writer. Here was some of the questions asked and responses of Aldermen candidates.

Ward 1:

Forrest Gossett, absent. I wish Mr. Gossett had been able to attend because I've heard him speak on the subjects regarding Wentzville and believe he could have given his opponent a lesson in government and the problems facing Wentzville's future.

Jay Webber: Mr. Webber was asked two questions, the first was: "What specifically would you do for the downtown area?" Answer: "There are things that can be done." Second question: "How would you cut taxes?" Answer: "Repeal the sales taxes on the Parkway." Since the Wentzville Parkway and infrastructure was built using TIFFs, CID's, TIDDs, and other tax incentive vehicles on the various developments in securing the coming of  businesses like; Wall Mart, Home Depot, Target, and Lowes, anyone with a third grade education in government financing should know that it can't be done. Mr Webber was a well spoken gentleman who was recruited by Nick Guccione so it's easy to see why he didn't know this, he simply had no intention or self initiative to become an Alderman.

Ward 2:

This ward has three candidates running ; Donna Sherwood, two time loser of this seat; Sonya Shryock, and Jeremy Pritchett, Guccione recruit. They asked these candidates questions and I'm just going to give the highlights. It was interesting to note that in their opening statements, Jeremy Pritchett declared his political affiliation; "I'm Republican." Obviously Mr. Pritchett either didn't know, or didn't care that candidates at the City level do not declare political affiliations.

The first question was: "How would you cut spending?" Sherwood said: "Get rid of unnecessary equipment and stop buying it." Ms. Shyrock said: "locate and reduce waste spending throughout the City." The moderator asked: "What's the most important problem facing Wentzville today?" I was disappointed in all of the candidates answers but one stuck out in my notes: Jeremy Pritchett said: "Parks." I'm no real fan of newspapers and don't read them but I do know that it's been all over the news that a half-cent sales tax was approved by the voters to the tune of 20 million dollars and they are breaking ground on three new parks in the City this year. I guess that "important problem" was solved.

Ward 3:

Three candidates are vying for this seat: Rick Stokes (incumbent), Rodney Stratman (absent), and Curtis Davis. It was noted that Nick Guccione was on the phone with Mr. Stratman asking him to come to the event. He was heard to say: "There's still time, they won't get to Ward 3 for awhile." Sounds like his recruit broke ranks and ran, good for you Rodney. The other Guccione recruit was Curtis Davis a seemingly very nice old black gentleman who introduced himself as the local president of the NAACP and husband of his lovely wife of 57 years. He stated: "I see none of my peoples' here and I want to see more blacks involved." Unfortunately for Mr. Davis, he knew little about City issues and gave the impression he's a throw-back to another generation in time. I truly felt empathy for him as he addressed the assembly trying to answer the questions.

The first question set the tone of the rest of the night for Ward 3 candidates: "Name the one goal you'd like to attain if you are elected." Rick Stokes answered: "Enhance transportation and maintain our current roads." Mr Davis: "The school system. And to make the neighbors in my subdivision cut their grass" He does not know that the school system is a separate entity and Wentzville has absolutely no control over its activities. The other questions were answered with the accuracy of a learned Alderman by Mr. Stokes but Mr Davis when asked about tax incentives such as TIFFs, CIDs, and others he admitted that he didn't know what they were.

Mayor:

Bill Schuette didn't show but that was expected, Leon Tow, Darrel Lackey, and Nick Guccione were there and all but Guccione answered all of the questions. Guccione instead, campaigned on the strangest thing: "I made a mistake voting for Ranken Technical School," he  voted for it three times, attended all of the talks over several months and participated in the writing of the resolution to have Ranken come to Wentzville. Obviously he was either asleep or just following the group (his specialty) rather than listen to these non-existent protesters. "I voted for it but I made a mistake, people don't want to give them an incentive to come to Wentzville." Guccione made this speech twice in answer to two unrelated questions. He went on to say that he'd only made two mistakes but didn't elaborate on the second. He said he voted against Sam's Club because citizens didn't want it. If the truth be known, the unions that are financing his campaign told him that if he voted for Sam's Club, they'd pull their support. Talk about a special interest group having an Alderman in their pocket, Nick, your it!

If I had to pick a winner of the evening, it would have to be Darrel Lackey. He seemed to have a better command of the audience than Leon Tow and (the campaigning instead of answering questions); Nick Guccione. Both Lackey and Tow answered all of the questions and did a very good job of it but Guccione got a "D" on the questions. In my opinion, the only thing Guccione did right last night was find his way to the school. All of the candidates running for office missed a biggie: the unified new city hall and the economic engine it would start if it were in the downtown area.

One other point of interest, Nick Guccione reiterated in public that he was solely responsible for bringing the GM expansion to Wentzville, He said: "They called me, not the city, they called me." He truly believes that GM would not have expanded if it weren't for him. He claims to be responsible for bringing about a whole shift of employees to GM. I think that talking with the UAW and asking for a campaign donation is a stretch and a far cry from convincing decision makers in Detroit to expand their Wentzville facility—and using the GM logo on his literature is still illegal.

The Alderman candidate winners of the night were: Forrest Gosset (Who was in the hospital), Sonya Shryock (who answered all of the questions with sound conservative answers) and Rick Stokes by a landslide.

This has been a dirty campaign season and Nick Guccione and Donna Sherwood led the pack slinging mud rather than campaigning on their merits or qualifications. Should they be elected, it will be a gray day in Wentzville but I'll still be here reporting on their lack of leadership and crazy antics. It should be fun, at least for me.

Wentzville Hall of Shame

Looking at the candidates, I noticed that I hadn't said nearly enough about one of our candidates for Mayor; Bill Schuette. When he was Alderman of Ward 2, he was loud, arrogant, and absolutely uneducated in governmental procedures. In his first term he stumbled his way onto the Wentzville Hall of Shame and dragged Nick Guccione and John Luby down with him. He continuously embarrassed himself, other Aldermen, and the City both in public and on record.

With Schuette leading Guccione and Luby it was like watching the Three Stooges, none of them had any knowledge of the City or city government but here they were, large and in charge. This group was elected because they were recruited by Vickie Boedeker in a conspiracy to control the Board of Aldermen (doesn't that sound familiar?) and three Aldermen retired. It almost worked, they were elected to the Board but Boedeker lost her bid for Mayor. With no one to tell them how to vote or act, Schuette took charge, what a disaster. If any Board in Wentzville was ever called dysfunctional, they set the bar. They drove the sane Aldermen and Mayor Lambi insane with ridiculous studies, ordinances, and over-spending. I think it's funny how Guccione makes a point of taking exception to studies today; he, Schuette, and Luby passed more studies in their term than I've ever seen. Only after a barrage of news articles questioning the need for these studies did Guccione change his tune today. It's like a new toy, he brings it up every time the staff proposes one, thinking it will be a feather in his proverbial cap.

It's difficult to talk about Schuette without dragging Guccione into the conversation, they were so close it was like trying to separate coffee filters. Both of them decided to run for Mayor in 2010 and were obviously unsuccessful. Since Schuette gave up his Alderman seat to run, when he lost, he was off the scene. Luby lost his re-election bid and that left Guccione all alone on the Board floundering around like a hooked fish on the river bank flip-flopping around ever since.

After Schuette had lost the election and his seat, he may have had an epiphany himself  that he had made a mistake running for Mayor. That decision subsequently cost him his seat on the Board of Aldermen so he decided to try regaining his seat in 2011. Running against him was Chris Gard, Patrick Vining, and the ever present, bad penny Donna Sherwood. His Ward 2 constituents had been embarrassed long enough and denied his plea to be re-elected and instead elected newcomer; Chris Gard. They also knew about Sherwood and reminded her a second time that they didn't want her anywhere around city hall. I sincerely hope they remember next month to scratch Schuette and Sherwood (oh, and Guccione too) from their vote. I know that the good citizens of Ward two deserve better representation than they had from Schuette or would get from Sherwood.

It's been only one year that we've had a productive intelligent Board of Aldermen and there is only one Alderman remaining from the good-old-boy days; Nick Guccione. If the voters get this right next month we can preserve the integrity of our board by keeping incumbent Rick Stokes, Ward 3; electing Sonya Shyrock or Jeremy Pritchett in Ward 2; and elect Forrest Gossett in Ward 1; then for Mayor we need to elect either Leon Tow or Darrel Lackey. The balance of the candidates on the ballot were recruited by Nick Guccione in an effort to recreate his control of the board just like Boedecker tried. The Guccione recruits are: Jay Webber, Ward 1, Donna Sherwood, Ward 2, and Rodney Stratman and Curtis Davis in Ward 3.

Vickie Boedeker's effect on Wentzville has burdened our city for eight years and we can ill afford another conspiracy to get a foot-hold in our city. If any of Guccione's recruits are elected it will have a huge negative impact on Wentzville for years to come. The only thing left to do is find a new independent thinking candidate to replace Guccione in 2013, then Wentzville will be able to move forward without agendas or conspiracy in our government. I'd agree with Guccione that he's a good and ethical Alderman, but then we'd both be wrong.

The Epiphany

Last nights "Special Meeting" was as expected—fairly boring. There were a few moments of flimsy interest between naps and even though the aldermen discussed subjects of great significance to the city, it had been a long day. It was like listening to someone read columns of large numbers but instead all you hear is an angelic breathy-voice singing "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..." That dream goes on until the person next to you pokes you in the ribs with his elbow because the snoring was getting loud (thank you Sir Cumference). The struggle to stay awake lasted until the "Work Session" portion of the meeting.

Before I get into the meeting, I'd like to take a moment to talk a little about Mayor Lambi. He has always been an excellent orator and a  very good representative of Wentzville. I watched him conduct the meeting and admired his ability to communicate, keep decorum, and his knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order. Regardless of the outcome of his current troubles, he was good for Wentzville. I sat there thinking of our next Mayor and how they would carry out the business of the city.

Image is a very important aspect of being mayor, how we are perceived by the outside world is crucial to a progressive city such as Wentzville. The election to be held next month is unique to Wentzville, it will be the first time a Mayor is to be elected for a four-year term. Throughout the history of Wentzville, there have been numerous one-term (two-year) mayors, who were dumped for one reason or another. Today, we don't have the option of eliminating a dysfunctional mayor after his first two-year term. When you go to the polls to elect either Leon Tow or Darrel Lackey you can be sure you have chosen a mayor with the experience and knowledge to lead our city for the next four years.

There was one humorous thing happen during the "Staff Reports" when the board was addressed by Chief Harrison and purchasing manager; Jerry Hillin. The topic of discussion was city-wide uniformity of employee  uniforms. Hillin spoke of cost saving ideas such as; returning uniforms for replacement rather than allowing employees a set amount they can spend on uniforms each year. He went on to cite the example: "Some employees are required to wear steel-toed boots in the performance of their duties and are allowed $150 per year for the boots." He stated that many of those employees at higher levels don't wear out the boots at the same rate as those who are in the trenches and he suggests; "If the employees were required to turn in their old boots when requesting new ones, it could have a cost-savings for the city."

Hillin went on to talk about jeans and other apparel and a policy that was written in 2009 presented to City Administrator Dianna Wright. He said: "Some employee(s) went out and bought pink headbands and pink socks with their uniform allowance, after that, the policy was thrown out prior to getting Board approval." I never caught the connection between the policy and pink socks but there must be some for Wright to can it.

The board and staff discussed this matter for what seemed like hours when Alderman Nick Guccione had an epiphany, he asked of Hillin; "Why don't you make the employees turn in their old boots before getting new ones?" A great suggestion, so insightful, I wonder why Hillin didn't think of it. At one point in the "Work Session" Guccione wanted to make a motion, Mayor Lambi had to tell him that no decisions or votes are taken in "Work Sessions," we don't set policy or legislate, making a motion is out of order.  My question here is; why after five years on the Board of Aldermen he doesn't know governmental procedure? Remember; this alderman is the one who is running for mayor. It appears, not only is he  indecisive and a poor communicator, his focus and attention to matters at hand may be somewhat impaired.

The Ticket Is Set For April 3rd

This is going to be a hard-fought election. I can see difficult times for legitimate candidates fighting off the "anonymous" personal attacks, unfounded ethics violations, disguised campaign media photo-ops, slander, and smack coming from Boedeker's Flying Monkeys, Schuette's Lurchettes, Sherwood's Bananas, and Guccione's Stooges. Of these, none have a platform and they will strive to downgrade and discredit anyone who opposes one of "their own" rather than work toward the betterment of Wentzville. Donna Sherwood and Nick Guccione are doing their best to cloud the election by recruiting candidates that they hope will confuse the voters giving them an advantage should they be elected. It is my duty, as a believer in honesty and good government in Wentzville, to do what I can to expose their conspiracy. If one does not campaign fairly and ethically on their own merit, how could you ever expect them to govern fairly or ethically? I have identified six legitimate candidates who will work for Wentzville, the balance has been lined through. Here is the ticket as it's stands today, Wednesday January 18, 2012 following the last day of filing.

MAYOR:

Bill "Lurch" Schuette

Nickolas  Guccione

LEON TOW
DARREL LACKEY

ALDERMAN, WARD ONE:

Jay Webber

FORREST GOSSETT

ALDERMAN, WARD TWO:

Donna  "Bananas" Sherwood

SONYA SHRYOCK

Jeremy Pritchett

ALDERMAN, WARD THREE:

RICK STOKES (incumbent)

Rodney E. "Rod" Stratman

Curtis Davis

Beginning with Mayor, in the order of filing:

Bill "Lurch" Schuette: One of the original Flying Monkeys, he was alderman of ward 2 for four years planted by Mayor hopeful Vickie Boedeker in her plot to control the Board of Aldermen. In his time he helped create a board of extreme left-wing wackos; the Lurchettes. He is confrontational, loud, arrogant, an intimidator, and a regular Darth Blowhard. With no platform other than chaos and special interests he brought forth nothing of importance and supported higher-taxes along the way. His absurd actions in chambers included bringing forth an ordinance to have city snowplows clean the driveways of certain people in Wentzville. His posse was supportive until it was noted that it was statutorily illegal. Lurch tried to win his Ward 2 seat back in April 2011 but the voters wanted nothing to do with him and had enough of his embarrassing antics. I crossed his name out because he is truly bad news. I can't understand why he thinks after losing in his own ward, he believes he can smoke-screen the rest of the city into giving him the top-spot.

Nickolas Guccione: Guccione is a follower and the last of the Lurchettes. Being lost and all alone on the Board for the past year has elevated his frustration level and caused him to overload into doing desperate things. His claim to fame, other than opposing the Board on almost every important issue, is pandering to special interest groups. He brought into public meetings; dog enthusiasts to support his trivial ordinance introductions, city employees to support his flip on budget issues, and he supported the unionization of Wentzville's police department which eventually failed. In addition, at every available opportunity he voted against Sam's Club coming to Wentzville, and he opposed the real estate tax-cut introduced by Alderman Rick Stokes, that passed by a majority of the Board.  Nick believes this; the more special interest groups he greases, the better his chances are of getting elected. He is following the Boedeker Model of politics which is to control elections and dominate city hall. His "good old boy" plan is no longer wanted in Wentzville, his name has been scratched. He was unopposed in 2011 and I firmly believe that when he loses this election, he will lose his re-election attempt in April of 2013, Citizen voters in Wentzville's ward 3 are not as stupid as he seems to think. I am reminded of a comment from one of my readers which is so true: "Nick will vote the way the last person calling him wants him to vote." I want to remind voters, if he is elected he will have the authority to nominate one of his Stooges to fill his vacated Ward 3 seat and it will be the one failed Ward 3 candidate listed above. Guccione made promises to both of these men; "If one of you beat Rick Stokes and get me elected, I'll appoint the other one to my vacated seat."

Leon Tow and Darrel Lackey: I know both of these men and have seen them in action, they both have great integrity and outstanding records in City Hall. This race between Tow and Lackey should be billed as "The Clash of the Titans." I believe that either of these two would make an excellent Mayor and are the only legitimate candidates in the Mayor race. I only hope that voters realize that the other two candidates are completely incompetent and elect Leon Tow or Darrel Lackey to be the next Mayor of Wentzville. Both Candidates are 40 year residents of Wentzville and both have served in elected office for over 14 years, they know well the needs and problems of our city.

WARD 1 Candidates

Jay Webber: The only thing I know for sure about Mr. Webber is that he is one of Gucciones Stooges which is no reflection on his character because I believe (along with all the other Guccione recruits) he was duped. Guccione told me of his plants in the election for the board to gain power, whether he wins or loses his bid for Mayor he wants one, two or even three stooges to vote with him. Unfortunately for Mr. Webber, he is one of them and I cannot support the unethical conspiracy of his dark side master; Nick Guccione. Mr. Webber, if you think Guccione is an intelligent and effective alderman who represents the citizens of Ward 3, you are sorely mistaken.

Forrest Gossett: I have had several conversations with Mr. Gossett and even though he openly said that he thinks "the writings of The Wentzvillian are bombastic" (which I had to look up), in the first five minutes of the conversation, I knew I was talking with an educated and highly-intelligent candidate. His agenda is honorable and will appear here at a later date. He is my choice to fill Leon Tow's vacant Ward 1 seat on the board of Aldermen.

WARD 2 Candidates

Donna "Bananas" Sherwood: This is Sherwood's third attempt at being Alderman of Ward 2. I have no clue what she is running on, and neither does she, but I do know that she is one of Guccione's Stooges (Moe). She was originally a loudmouth vocal supporter of "Boedeker for Mayor" and when that failed (twice) she supported Lurch in his alderman races.  Due to the fact that she hated Mayor Lambi so much, for beating her beloved Vickie, she flipped to campaign for Leon Tow against him. It is a fact that every single Mayor candidate she has supported has lost the election, including her own two shots at being alderman. Flipping once again, now she is hawking for Guccione against Leon Tow and serving on his election committee as campaign manager, she is determined to ride someones coat-tails right into a seat in ward 2. She wants to be "inside" so bad, she'll use any deceitful-underhanded trick she can think of including filing documented false ethics violations against opponents. Just this past weekend she violated City Ordinance 405.580 by placing her campaign signs out more than 60 days before the election, Guccione should be proud. She has illustrated her disregard for laws and regulation numerous times and it won't stop if she should be elected. I don't think she has figured out that Wentzville really doesn't want her or her dinosaur tactics in city hall. When she loses she'll be back next year and the year after that, ad infinitum. Around town she's been called many, many unflattering things that I won't put here but one thing is for sure; if the good citizens of ward 2 elect her to represent them, they deserve her. She is a definite thumbs down loser.

Sonya Shryock and Jeremy Pritchett have placed their platform here and both seem qualified to be Alderman of Ward 2. I'm sure they should prepare themselves for attacks of all sorts from Bananas Sherwood simply because she's Gucciones Moe Stooge and Guccione hates them for running from his offer "to come over" to his dark side of the force. I like both candidates and will listen with the voters to their campaigns as they go along. At least, they have talked about issues intelligently and both seem eager and enthusiastic for the job, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about their opponent.

Ward 3 Candidates

Michael Hays, recruited by Guccione, filed early in the race but withdrew his candidacy late yesterday afternoon. Rodney Stratman and Curtis Davis: These two candidates are Nick Guccione's attempt to stack the Ward 3 deck. Split the vote so thin that one of his Stooges can sneak in to beat incumbent Rick Stokes. If indeed this is what happens and Bananas Sherwood can win in Ward 2, he'll have a banana-split board and be able to break ties. A classic "good old boy" tactic that is used by candidates for mayor who cannot win on their own merit or gain support for their own special interests. Ward 3 voters need to know that these candidates running in Ward 3 never had the inclination to become an alderman until Nick Guccione recruited them. Ask yourself the question: What will any of these men do for Wentzville if they are elected? The answer is; blindly vote with Guccione every time on every issue just as he did when he was blindly following his master; Lurch Schuette. Being a resident of Ward 3, I deplore Guccione's politics and his admitted conspiracy. The Wentzvillian will do everything it can, on this blog and others, to see to it that he is put where he belongs; with Lurch—out of city hall.

There is only one legitimate candidate for Ward 3, Incumbent Rick Stokes. His record in his first term (in only the first 18 months of office) is nothing short of incredible. He gathered support from other Alderman and demanded staff  to cut Wentzville real estate taxes by $500,000. Stokes supported Alderman Cheryl Kross to bring back the "Storm Water Utility Tax," which would have cost homeowners and businesses over $300,000 a year, to throw it in the trash. He is responsible for having city staff investigate all city contracts to find and stop waste spending. In only 18 months, of his first term with his initiatives, he accomplished more than any alderman I've seen on the board over the last ten years. He is truly a representative of citizens and taxpayers, I am proud to call him my Alderman in Ward 3. Anyone in Wentzville who owns a home, business or pays taxes should realize his potential and vote him in for another two year term. He has served with honor, integrity, and always on the side of Wentzville, I am excited for the future of Wentzville with his energy and leadership in city hall.

Bill Schuette, Nick Guccione, and Bananas Sherwood's brand of political contrivances are why Americans don't trust politicians. It is hoped that my readers will agree that we are fed up with it. If you want fairness and ethics back in Wentzville, spread the word about Guccione's conspiracy and his Stooges, together we can really make Wentzville great.

For those on the dark side of the force who are concerned with The Wentzvillian's influence upon potential voters have no fear, we only received a mere 5,500 page views in the last 30 days, we're still a small-town blog. Read that statistic as you will but I'm sure that one or two of my readers vote. Our goal is to have between 7,500 to 10,000 readers by April 3, 2012.

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.