RiteOn Blog

LET'S START A TAX REVOLT!

We recommend that you read the informed observations made by Rick Fischer concerning Missouri Auditor Susan Montee's audit of the City of St Peters. Rick has completed Part 2 of his comments and you can read these at the following link:

http://rfischer-outsider.blogspot.com/
.... and be sure to scroll down the page to the article entitled "St Peters is a dirty city - Part 2"

In our opinion there are some serious concerns citizens should have about many things connected with the St Peters Audit.

To mention just one issue, Lakeside 370 (Now Premier?) is developing into one of those ill conceived, poorly planned, poorly executed, financially dangerous and environmentally harmful projects promoted by politicians with an over-eagerness to please their developer clients. (Those "clients" are obviously not the taxpaying citizens of St Peters) If some of the multitudes of problems connected with this project are not solved, it could turn into a gigantic financial fiasco. The audit states that failure to get a LOMR from FEMA could generate a loss in excess of 15 million dollars and there are other "problems" too.

In spite of this and several other important and unresolved issues, the city gets a "clean" rating. We recommend that readers read the Audit and review the comments on Wake Up Call Missouri to decide whether or not a "clean rating" was justified. It's really too bad the City decided not to televise the public meeting where the report was given but that goes along with their "mindset." The "excuse" as to why they didn't televise it seems contrived!

Regarding the media handling of the Audit press release, questions come to mind. Why did the media, particularly the Post Dispatch and the Suburban Journal rush to publish articles that showed the city "clean" when any reasonably bright first year journalism student would have had serious questions about it? Could they have been protecting their revenue stream? Serious publications recognize their obligations to the communities they serve and in their Audit reporting, questions arise about how these media organizations addressed those obligations.

Their reporting leaves one wondering whether they care if taxpayers will be seriously injured by policies conjured up by politicians who have a solemn obligation to protect the public interest. Questions can be legitimately raised (See wake up call Missouri, link above) about this Audit and the circumstances surrounding it. This was supposed to be a "Performance" Audit but the Auditor simply glossed over or ignored some very basic questions.

We are coming to the conclusion that nothing short of a good old citizen's tax revolt, like California's successful Proposition13, will sufficiently inhibit elected officials from throwing tax money at every project their "clients" suggest. If anyone is interested in pursuing such an initiative for St Charles County, let us know. ....... chuck@riteon.org

BACK TO THE SAME OLD GAME IN ST PETERS

Note to nationwide subscribers: As you know by now, we occasionally comment on local matters and the following commentary is primarily intended to be read by residents of St Charles County, MO and particularly by those who live in St Peters, Missouri.
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The candidates for Alderman and the method that will be used to select one of them to fill the vacancy created by Bruce Holt's departure appeared in a press release issued by the City of St Peters on Aug. 27. At the end of the press release it stated, "The next step in the process will be candidate interviews with the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen during an EXECUTIVE SESSION..."

We object to the use of EXECUTIVE SESSION to select a candidate to hold a political position, elected or appointed! We are not suggesting the need for active public involvement in the session but we certainly see a need for those who want to observe the questions and answers to be able to do so. The individual selected will make decisions that could likely impose lasting consequences on the residents of St Peters. Questions and answers should be open to the public and the process should not be conducted in a closed session. In our opinion, this is simply another violation in a long line of violations where politicians in St Peters have decided to disregard the interests of their citizens. Mr Pagano was supported by many who thought he would lean toward open government but, now that he is in office, except for lip service, that appears to be a promise without substance.

In conversation with Mayor Pagano, he indicated ...

BAD LEGISLATION!

This commentary focuses is on legislation that vastly increases the truck axle weights for St Charles County. There is much that can be said about how legislators OK such lawmaking and the huge bridge failure in Minneapolis should serve as a warning. Legislation hustled through at the last minute and "strategies" crafted by lobbyists that are likely the result of big campaign donations does not, in this case, consider the condition of the roads and bridges in St Charles County and, therefore, is unworthy of support.

We should thank Councilman Joe Brazil who first raised the red flag on this issue and point the finger of shame at those legislators who inflicted these large increases in truck axle weights on the roads and bridges of the county.

LEADERSHIP IN ST PETERS

A few days ago, an article appeared in a local newspaper dealing with the power-mongering antics of the majority of the St Peters Board of Alderman. If these gentlemen paid as much attention to city problems, such as the traffic "mess" they have allowed to be created in various locations instead of conjuring up ways to keep people from engaging in free speech, they might have more confidence among their citizens and they wouldn't be risking lawsuits from some who feel their constitutional rights have been trampled.

The exercise of power and teaching citizens who is boss have been a near obsession with them (...read more)

DEMOCRACY IN ST CHARLES COUNTY, MISSOURI

It has become obvious to many who attend public meetings that some elected officials have an over reactive need to “feel in control.” Of course, public participation that might be a vehicle for criticism is greatly feared by some politicians and they predictably over react to suggestions that they aren’t “in control.” People sometimes leave meetings angered and dissatisfied with political leadership that engages in restricting lawful freedom of expression. St Peters public meetings are as good an illustration of what we have described as any in the County, but other political bodies are also guilty of dramatically restricting freedom of expression.

Free expression is killed by the enactment of elaborate rules accompanied by phony assertions such as, "restrictions are necessary to maintain order," or dumb actions like roping off sections of seating (as in St Peters), drastically limiting or changing speaking times and having members of the public “escorted” from the room for exercising the right of free speech. FOX News investigative reporter Elliott Davis recently... (read more)

SMART GROWTH IS STILL VITAL

Monday night's meeting of the St Charles County Council seemed to substantiate the view that the Smart Growth movement still has vitality. We make this observation because some politicians and the Suburban Journal apparently looked at the results of the recent Primary and General elections and decided that Smart Growth was dead.

Undoubtedly it must have been a giant surprise when Joe Brazil convinced 3 other members of the County Council to pass the tabled water protection Bill (2973) after poorly reasoned pleas against it by...(read more)

SOME COMMENTS ABOUT TUESDAY'S ELECTION

Nationally, the major media has informed us all, at least a zillion times now, that Republicans were beaten to a pulp and Democrats are back in power...in a big way! National Democrat leaders are going out of their way to smile and say "unifying things" about their legislative intentions. This is certainly the smart thing to do and we will watch carefully to see how their "intentions" pan out.

Locally, the election was interesting. Here in St. Charles County, the voters sent several "messages." First, the Republican "get-out-the-vote" campaign and its constant telephone calls were annoying. In talking with people, both before and after Tuesday, many Republicans said they were so irritated by this tactic that they actually voted for Democrats just to "send a message."