Better Together - NOT

Good Evening, I have been an Alderman for the City of St Ann for the last 5.5 years. Today I come before you because I am running for the St Louis County Council District 2 seat. . The job of the St Louis County Councilman is no different than the job of

an Alderman, just a larger population to serve.

You see the County is merely a Municipality, it is equal in authority to that of the Municipalities under the State of Missouri and its likely one of the reasons when we hear Better Together quote Municipal numbers which keep changing i.e. 9190-92. Better Together and a few others seem to not be able to keep any of their numbers straight. Certainly in the case of my City, they get very little right!

Take for example Better Together has stated that in 2013 the City of St Ann collected 37.47% of its revenue in Court Fine revenue. The inference is made and repeated by some local politicians who have taken millions in contributions from Better Together Mega Backer Rex Sinqfield is that it all came from petty “minor” traffic violations and somehow violated state law. The Missouri State Auditor disagrees with Better Together’s calculations and concluded that 27.8% was the number and was below the amount authorized by state law. The state auditors also gave the St. Ann Court a GOOD ranking on our accounting/court practices which is the second highest ranking given. Additionally, conveniently left out of Better Together’s “narrative” was the context in which the tickets that resulted in this revenue were written. In 2013 the City was in middle of a partnership with the Missouri Department of Transportation to lower the number of accidents on

I-70 that were a result of speeding. This effort started in 2010 and by 2013 serious accidents on St. Ann’s portion of I-70 went from 143 in 2009 to 11 by the end of 2013. Revenue generated by these tickets was used to pay for the overtime for police officers enforcement efforts. It was and still is used for paying for School Resource\DARE Officers in Ritenour and Pattonville schools… including 2 at Ritenour High.

Better Together fails to note that in Oct. of 2011 our Board of Alderman took steps to reduce its own government by voting to eliminate and entire Ward, reducing St Ann’s Alderman from 10 to 8 and using the extra dollars to reestablish the St Ann Newsletter, so we could better communicate with our residents. And prior to that in April of 2010 the Board of Alderman voted to reduce its income from $475 to $375 per month. Presumably, according to Better Together, I make $9000.00/year. Sure wish someone would find that extra $4500.00 for me, it would have come in handy on this campaign. Better Together’s claim that creation of a uni gov brought growth to Indianapolis is very questionable. Just this past July we learned that Indiana did not see business growth till 2013 when they elected a new Governor, who cut taxes. So Better Together’s inability to put out correct information reflects irresponsibility on their part and the part of their sponsors.

My first experience with Better Together was a couple of years ago at my Airport Township meeting.

The more I learned about it, the less I liked. I informed my City Administrator but not sure he really believed at the time it would get this far.

I believe that the best Governing is done closest to the people. The idea of getting rid of 90 x let’s say 8 immediate voices of the people and reducing that number to 7-9 is scary enough but to then know through personal experience that listening will be the last thing on our County Councils mind…I fathom the possibilities.

Remember neither I nor quite a few of my residents received a reply from our Councilman on the Stengers Police Bill issue. For me to get a response I had to let him know that I would let 13,000 constituents know that he was not responding to their Alderman through a direct mail newsletter.

I have been attending County meetings since October, one time the Council actually told a guy that the Public Speaking portion of their meeting was not to answer questions but just to allow the public to speak.

So with this in mind let’s get back to Better Together. My 1st eye opener to their agenda was through the Police Study. My City Administrator and I attended the Des Peres meeting where I watched the speaker consistently try to lead the facts of the publics responses to his questions to ensure the answers fit his agenda. I knew he didn’t care to listen, when I approached him after the meeting to stop in and have a chat with my Chief, in St Ann we prefer to elect our Chief, this way he is beholding to the people versus the Mayor. He never did stop by.

Later they held a meeting at Bridgeton’s Community Center here the same type of leading the answers took place but he met with great opposition to his cause here by both St Ann and Bridgeton residents. Still their study persists on showing that people would benefit from a combined City/County Merger.

My City Admin, now a bit wearier worked with a group called My Town-Our Country.

We now know them as Cities Strong. Cities Strong had an UMSL Professor do a separate study which showed $589 million dollars had been left out of Better Together’s Indianapolis versus St Louis study proving it is actually cheaper to maintain our current system of governing. This study can be found on my website as well. In July we learned that Indiana did not see business growth till 2013 when they elected a new Governor, who cut taxes. So Better Together’s claim that creation of a uni gov brought growth to Indianapolis is again questionable.

I also attended reporter Craig Cheatum’s Special Meeting, most certainly the agenda became clear here and began to identify those who were involved.

It is politics folks…just check your candidate’s contribution lists.

Should you choose to visit my website I have a page dedicated to - Against Better Together with links to a few studies, my personal views, resident comments and some answers I have placed on comments or questions posed to me to date in my campaign.

I put together a Facebook Poll which reflected overall that 84% of those that took it were against Better Together.

As I knock on doors it is a topic I bring up, the people barely know what this is, and it is very important that we ensure they truly understand the ultimate goals of this group.

In my conversations I have not spoken to a resident of a Municipality yet that would prefer to lose their present form of government.

Most praise the various programs the munis present, love their Police Forces and those with Fire Departments love them as well.

None however are aware that the School Districts are also at risk as the ultimate goal of combining the city and county does include the schools as well. The goal is similar to that of the Chicago School District…you know the one that is 70 million dollars in debt.

Personally I see no benefit for anyone in Better Together except maybe for Rex Sinquefield whose reasoning for pushing this upon us is to rid the City of its 1% Earnings Tax which the people of the city just voted again to keep in place.

Rex has gained ground through the media he owns and we see the frequent pushes of misleading data to brainwash the general public into believing his rhetoric.

I fear Rex is winning the game on this topic, as those that govern seem to fear informing the public on this topic and of course that is tripled by Better Together’s call out that governments would indeed do just that to keep our little fiefdoms. An informed public can make better decisions. It’s one of the reasons I get the message out while knocking on doors.

Though I am not saying that every municipality will survive, I am saying its survival should be decided by its residents and not someone who projects they know better for us.

Jobs are the answer, people need to feel independent to have hope, a reason to go to school, Jobs in North County have been neglected for 3 decades.

Running our County should be about “WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE, to make St. Louis County a strong and business friendly environment, thus providing JOBS for the people of St Louis County -North, South, East and West while assisting in keeping our County Schools Strong, our citizens Safe, our infrastructure strong, and providing necessary services to the People.”

A VOTE FOR AMY IS A VOTE TO PREVENT “BETTER TOGETHER”, if you prefer “Better Together” vote for my opponent, he will vote that through for you.

Tell Sam you did not like his Vote for Better Together….

See pics next page…

Elect Amy on Nov 8

Tell Sam you did not like his Vote for Better Together‌.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Amy Poelker, Linda Ragsdale Treasurer.

Elect Amy on Nov 8