Great Photo of Illegal Activity in the Post-Dispatch

Economy |
By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

This photo in the Post-Dispatch may not rank up there with Dave Drebes’ posting of a fundraising flyer that revealed a state rep was trying to blatantly, illegally raise money in his capital office … but it is still very funny. In case this suburban mayoral candidate has forgotten, it is illegal to put political yard signs in the public right-of-way.

We have written about this particular officeholder before, but I won’t say much this close to an election. Let’s just say he is the type of busybody legislator that, in general, absolutely infuriates me. You know how I feel about occupational licensing, so you can imagine what I think about this:

Just before he moved to Town and Country, he worked in Montgomery County, Maryland, as its first taxi inspector. His aggressive tactics earned him the nickname “Dirty Harry of Taxicab Inspectors,” according to a 2005 Washington Post article.

The article said Hoffmann issued more than 1,200 citations in three years and liked to pose as a hapless tourist. He investigated drug dealing, sexual assaults and even Medicaid fraud. Hoffmann resigned in protest after superiors ordered him to take a desk job.

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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