At tonight’s Ellisville City Council meeting, a charter amendment is being introduced to amend the rules for recalling elected officials in Ellisville. Then, because of the looming deadline to get things on the November ballot, they have scheduled a special meeting for the next night (Thursday) to pass the charter amendment because they likely will not have unanimous support to pass it in one night.
“They,” of course, are the “Walmart 5,” the members of the city council who supported the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Walmart despite substantial community opposition. There is a recall effort underway in Ellisville against some of the “Walmart 5” (not all are eligible for recall for technical reasons). The TIF was a terrible idea, but this recall charter change idea is so awful that it makes the TIF idea look like the invention of the wheel.
The attempt to alter the rules of the charter after citizens have instituted a recall effort is one of the most atrocious abuses of power I have seen in Missouri in the 20 years I have been following politics and government. Thankfully, even the Walmart 5 cannot find a way around the rule that voters must approve charter changes. Hopefully, this naked attempt to silence widespread opposition to the TIF will fail, either at the polls or through a successful blocking of it in the next few nights.
Tom Pendergast is not dead. He just moved to West County.
