Scamboozle 2010 - Part I

As a new election season is upon us in Kirkwood, I wanted to return to a posting from the end of our last full City Council election period in 2008.

For a little review here is that posting about the Webster-Kirkwood Times’ own Don “Scoop” Corrigan’s attempt to “Scamboozle” our community with an editorial on a subject matter he obviously never did any research on – City Elections via a Ward system versus an At-Large system:

http://joekirkwood.blogspot.com/2008/05/scoop-bamboozle-scamboozle.html


I clearly point out how uninformed and off-base Scoop is with that editorial given what should be his own practical experience voting in his own Ward 1 in Sunset Hills. Yet, as far as I have seen Scoop still stands by his “Scamboozle” – “Wards are better than At-Large” nonsense of a premise.

Well, here is the upcoming election information for Kirkwood and Sunset Hills provided in recent editions of the Webster-Kirkwood Times and the South County Times:


Candidates
Kirkwood City Council (3 open seats)
Joseph L. Toenjes, 329 Rose Ln.
Bob Sears, 308 Altus Place
David Poger, 4 Thorncliff Ln.
Paul W. Ward* **, 224 S. Geyer
Iggy Yuan* **, 1231 Wilton Ln.


Sunset Hills
Mayor R. Michael Svoboda,* 10231 Kennerly - William J. Nolan Jr., 1470 Royal Spring Dr. - Mary Beth Wymer, 13041 Pagada Parkway - Frank Gregory, 9811 Eagle Crest Ct.

Ward 1 Franklin A. Hardy Jr.*, 421 Rayburn Ave.
Ward 2 Thomas A. Hrastich*, 9255 Birch Tree Ln.
Ward 3 Stephen M. Webb,* 11948 Lombardy Ln.
Ward 4 Claudia J. Svoboda, 10231 Kennerly

* denotes incumbent
** Petition filed, city is awaiting verification by St. Louis County Board of Election

So, here is the updated election facts regarding Scoop the journalist’s “alleged” better Ward system in his own Sunset Hills versus what is factually proven to be better At-Large system we have in Kirkwood:

Sunset Hills from April 1996 to April 2010:
Mayoral Elections – only 4 out 8 had more than one candidate – 50% of the time the voters of Sunset Hills DID NOT get a choice for Mayor
Overall City Council Elections – only 22 out of 56 had more that one candidate – 60% of the time the voters of Sunset Hills DID NOT get a choice for City Council member
Don Corrigan’s own Ward 1 City Council Election – only 5 out of 14 had more than one candidate – 64% of the time Scoop DID NOT get a choice for City Council member
Overall Candidates per City Council seat – only 82 out of 56 – 1.46 per seat

Kirkwood from April 1996 to April 2010:
Mayoral Elections – 3 out 4 had more than one candidate – only 25% of the time the voters of Kirkwood did not get a choice for Mayor
Overall City Council Elections – 9 out of 10 had more that one candidate – only 10% of the time the voters of Kirkwood did not get a choice for City Council member
Overall Candidates per City Council seat – 42 out of 26 – 1.61 per seat

The numbers have only gotten worse for voters in Sunset Hill’s Ward system on the City Council level. So, I have to wonder if the turnout will continue to be worse in Sunset Hills versus Kirkwood?

We will have to wait for the results which will be published in a future posting "Scamboozle 2010 - Part II."

Assuming Scoop Corrigan will go to the polls for this year’s City Council elections and has over the last 14 years in Sunset Hills, I have to wonder …

Just how does a journalist ignore going to the polls 9 out of 14 times to vote for only one ward candidate,

then continue to stand behind an editorial furthering the “advantages of wards”as a means to getting

more people “a seat at the table” and end it by questioning if an at-large system

is right kind of representative democracy for another community?

This question is made that much tougher given this election in Sunset Hills could easily result in the Mayor and one of the City Council members from Ward 4 residing in the same household.

Funny ... did Scoop’s “Scamboozle” editorial ever mentioned the concepts of “concentration of power” and “nepotism” that is consistently found in Ward systems?

Finally, will Scoop ever do an editorial to retract his uninformed and factually inaccurate claims in order to set the record straight on Ward systems versus At-Large systems …

OR

… will we see a “Scamboozle 2012” posting?

===================================================================

If you have a take on this issue, then hit the "Comment" link below.