Is Kuhn Being Honest With Her Constituents?

OK...........follow closely. On 10/26/11 her husband filed for divorce and she filed an entry of appearance the following day.


Now when the divorce gets finalized, what happens to the house? Does he get it? Does she get it? Or does it get sold and they both leave the residence? Now if the latter happens, where does she move to? To another residence within Ward 3? I doubt it.

I smell another "Cheryl Scott Debacle" coming up. I think Kuhn thinks she can win in Ward 3. Then relocate from her residence and resign her seat. Counting on enough of the incumbents to be reelected to push for an appointed replacement rather than an elected one. As a matter of fact during that debacle I said on this blog that Jim Neighbor was going to be appointed to fill Scott's seat. The night that he was appointed Kuhn said that comments the selection was predetermined were wrong. Yeah, right. I'm not related to Sister Cleo but sure did call that one.

Anyway, I don't think she is prepared to commit to the three years to remain in Ward 3 if she was reelected. And I don't think the citizens of Ward 3 should have to put up with that. That is a good reason to vote for Jim Ferris in Ward 3. And also to contribute to his campaign.

Oh, and if you feel that Jim Ferris would be the one to represent Ward 3 but you don't live there, you can still contribute to his campaign. Just like I will. That's because Kuhn is a COW (councilmember from other ward, see the earlier post about COWs below dated 1/19/12).

This would also be a good time to remind folks about voting for Charles Macheers over Jim Neighbor in Ward 1.

Sister Cleo sidebar: Crystal ball says that when Kuhn leaves Ward 3 she moves to Ward 4.  Maybe even has a place already picked out?  ;-)  ;-)  ;-)

Eric Jenkins For Mayor

Here is a link to his web site:  http://jenkinsformayor.net/

In the past I had supported Jeff Meyers when he ran for reelection.

Why the change?

Jeff Meyers stand on the Franchise Fee, the CID for Ten Quivira Plaza and his actions or lack of in the Cheryl Scott debacle.

That last item was a severe insult to members of the community to select their elected officials.  When the city manager admitted that she had a copy of Scott's resignation on a Friday prior to a Monday meeting and did nothing to notify the mayor and council. When asked at the meeting she basically lied by omission.  Don't believe me..........ask a lawyer.  The mayor needed to be firm about this.  See the blog post immediately preceding this one.

Eric Jenkins' biography would indicate a person of a strong background in having to deal with many aspects of governmental operations.  His retired status would indicate that he could also devote more time to being mayor.

I urge you to vote in the primary, 2/28/12 for Eric Jenkins.

Do you need to register to vote?  Go here  http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/VoterRegistration.htm

Want information on advance voting if you can't get to your polling place on the day of the election?  Go here 
http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/AdvanceVoting.htm

The "Cheryl Scott" Debacle and Its Relevance Today

The Cheryl Scott debacle is and will have an effect on this year's city elections. For a review of what happened please read the posts listed below. They are listed in chronological order, oldest first, and may take awhile to read but many might find these posts informative. Keep in mind, when you read these posts that a council member's resignation should go to the mayor, not to the city manager. Council members do not work for the city manager, even though some apparently think they do.


http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/03/scott-is-going-bye-bye-gee-what-non.html

http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/03/scotts-resignation-additional-comments.html

http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/03/scott-insults-voters-of-ward-1.html

http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/03/who-is-playing-games-now_29.html

http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/03/scotts-letter-of-resignation-still.html

http://shawneeray.blogspot.com/2010/04/scotts-resignation-it-gets-deeper.html


More info as to why I feel Jim Neighbor was not the best qualified to fill the position, and why he got it, to be posted in the near future

This also has a bearing on why it is felt he needs to be replaced on the council, and his challenger, Charles Macheers elected (ward 1).

Also, one of the reasons (there are others) why other incumbents running need to be replaced for their actions in this debacle. Why Sandifer, Kuhn, Meyers and Sawyer need to be replaced.

Why, Jenkins (mayor), Ferris (ward 3) McAfee (ward 4) Kemmling (ward 2) need to be elected.

Mayoral Primary 2/28/12

OK, we already know that there will be a primary election on 2/28/12 for mayor of Shawnee.  Three individuals have filed to run.  The top two in the primary will move on to the general election on 4/3/12.  Because of this, it is very important for folks to get out and vote in the primary.

My choice and the individual that I will be voting for is Eric Jenkins.  I believe that Eric will bring a fresh face to the office of mayor here in Shawnee.  More on why I like him for this position in a future post.

If you are not registered to vote, please do so. Information on registering is available at http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/VoterRegistration.htm


Also, you can participate in advance voting without going to your polling place on election day. Info is available at
http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/AdvanceVoting.htm#2

Issues For This Election

Again, I wonder what issues will be brought up during this city election.  Will any of them mirror what has been posted in this blog?

Example:  There have been rants and raves on this blog about council member travel.  In less than two months there will be another one of those annual National League of Cities events in Washington DC (3/10-3/14). 

Maybe the rants and raves have been productive?  Not sure how many members of the city council will attend this year but we will be monitoring the participant list.  As of this past Monday one councilmember has signed up to go.  Guess who?  Shawnee's own "King of Travel at the Taxpayer's Expense" Mickey Sandifer.

One more reason not to reelect him.  As a matter of fact if Mickey is your COW (councilmember from other ward - see post below Thur Jan 19, "Dealing with COWs") and you are getting tired of paying for his travel, contribute to his opponent, Dylan McAfee.  And if you live in ward IV and are also tired of his travel, definitely vote for Dylan (and contribute if you can).

Sandifer's Personal Voting Precinct

Must be nice to have your own "precinct" of voters in your district..............  :-)  :-)

Looking at the voter list for Ward IV it appears that there are 6 voters registered at the Sandifer home address.  Wow, and all this time I thought Mickey and his wife were empty nesters.  Guess I thought wrong.  Looks like they might be adult children and their spouses........possibly?  Isn't one of these a KCMO cop who resides in KCMO?

Oh well, gotta help daddy anyway ya can.

Challenger Files in Ward III

James Ferris has filed to challenge Dawn Kuhn for city council in Ward III.

All incumbents now have challengers.

Primary 2/28/12 for Mayor

With the filing yesterday of a third candidate for mayor, Shawnee will have a primary for that office on Feb 28, 2012, with the top two moving on to the general election April 3, 2012.

The candidates are:

Eric Jenkins
Jeff Meyers
John Segale

It is very important for all of Shawnee to get out and vote in this primary as it is for the mayor's position.

If you are not registered to vote, please do so.  Information on registering is available at http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/VoterRegistration.htm

Also, you can participate in advance voting without going to your polling place on election day. Info is available at http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/AdvanceVoting.htm#2

Dealing with COWs

As the city elections approach I again get asked one question from folks that I meet. And that is: “What can I do about a council member who has voted for items that I don’t agree with or have hurt me but they are from another ward?”


OK, the answer is really very easy. Council members are elected by the voters in specific wards. When they sit on the council at meetings they are actually acting for the entire city and as such can be held accountable by ANY citizen. Let’s call these folks COWs (councilmembers from other wards).

Now if a COW votes for something that you don’t approve of or a variety of such items, what you can do is make contributions to their opponents the next time they run for office. You don’t have to live in that ward to contribute to the opponent of a councilmember. You can even live in Los Angeles. The only thing you need to do is to keep the contribution amounts within the limits set by law.

So if you are unhappy with how a COW voted, just look up who their opponent is and contribute to that person’s campaign.

Thingies

Sitting here, reviewing some of the blog posts and seeing what is happening for the upcoming city election it feels like folks may be getting a tad bit upset with what some of the current council members and mayor have been doing.


Maybe they’re fed up with the CID thingy……………the franchise fee thingy………………the way the resignation of Cheryl Scott was handled thingy……………..which included lying by omission…………..the excessive trip taking by some council members thingy.

Lots of other “thingies”

Maybe, just maybe, this blog has awakened some folks as to what is going on. Got a funny feeling it may have.

Mayoral Challenger Files

Eric Jenkins has filed to run for mayor.

Three Challengers Filed

Three individuals have filed to challenge incumbents in the upcoming city election:

Charles Macheers................Ward I
Mike Kemmling...................Ward II
Dylan McAfee.....................Ward IV

Info at http://www.cityofshawnee.org/WEB/ShawneeCMS.nsf/b62f116aa62dde94862575680053ac82/010c2571510ba7998625767f006761c9?OpenDocument

Good Ideas? Bad Ideas?

Last Tuesday 1/3/12 at the Council Committee meeting it was brought out that the city sometimes finds it difficult to fill openings/vacancies on various city boards and commissions.  Part of this is probably because of citizen apathy and part probably because folks may not know of the vacancies.

So, I sent an email on 1/4 to the entire city council with copies to the mayor and city manager.  Would you believe, only two councilmembers even responded?  They were Pflumm and Distler.  Oh well.  The contents of the email are listed below.
Listening to last night’s discussion I was tempted to ask to speak but decided against it for two reasons:

a. Was not feeling the greatest
b. Meeting was running late
Various comments were made about trouble filling vacancies on various boards and commissions. Let’s try these suggestions:
1. I do not ever remember seeing these vacancies posted on the FRONT page of the city’s website, along with other announcements
2. I do not ever remember receiving an email from the listserv system announcing these vacancies
3. I do not remember ever seeing a press release/news item in the Dispatch announcing these vacancies:
a. “Mayor Meyers has announced an opening for xxxxx board. For information on how to submit an application to serve on this board please contact “abc” or go to the city’s web site at yada yada yada
b. “Councilmember Neighbor has announced a vacancy on the yyyy board that has an opening allocated to his ward, Ward 1. For information on how to apply to serve (same as above)
Anyway, maybe these alternate avenues other than word of mouth have been used………………..but I do not remember seeing them.
Side note: There was a comment made that Ward 3 was under represented on the planning commission. That would actually be expected since Ward 3 has traditionally had the worst turn out for city elections of all the four wards. So why does it surprise anyone that they have the lowest representation (read that as lack of interest in serving the city on a volunteer basis) on the planning commission?