Text from the Sheriff's Website

Before it was deleted, here is what it said:

Reasons why charter reform is bad for the City of St. Louis

Certain special interest groups, calling themselves "Advance St. Louis", have
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy signatures to place on the ballot
in the City four amendments to the City Charter. They now want City voters to
vote in favor of these amendments. The end result of these four proposals is
that by controlling one person - the Mayor - the business elite can control the
City of St. Louis. This package is more aptly termed "the one guy to buy"
package.

Discussed below are reasons why the "Advance St. Louis" proposal is bad for the City of St. Louis.

1. The "reforms" will result in an incredibly powerful Mayor with virtually no
checks and balances.

The proposed reforms will give the Mayor:
- control of a greatly weakened civil service,
- complete fiscal control of the City,
- unilateral control over all City contracts, and
- control over selection of bank depositories.

This is power that former Mayors only dreamed of having. This power will
completely stifle legitimate debate over City issues and lead to total decision-
making logjams. In the hands of a bad Mayor, this level of power will spell
complete disaster for the City. The power should be kept in the hands of the
citizens.

2. The "reform" will lead to a loss of control by neighborhoods over local land
use decisions.

One reason St. Louis has endured as a very livable city is that citizens and
neighborhood groups are close to their Alderperson. This closeness has resulted
in the Alderpersons and neighborhood groups working together to stop harmful
land uses (i.e. unwanted bars, 3:00 a.m. liquor licenses, pawn shops, big box
stores, drive throughs, homeless shelters, drug rehab centers, halfway houses
for inmates, check cashing agencies, etc.)

A cornerstone of the so-called reforms is increasing the number of citizens
that an alderman will represent. Currently each Alderperson represents
approximately 12, 435 citizens. If the proposed Charter amendments are
approved, this will rise to 23,212 citizens per Alderperson. The result will be
distant elected officials making critical decisions. The people and the
neighborhood groups will not be as important.

For purposes of comparison, in Clayton each council person represents only
2,656 residents; in Richmond Heights 1,200 residents; in Creve Coeur 2,063
residents; in Maplewood 1,538 residents; in Olivette 1,860 residents.

3. The "reforms" will gut protections currently in the City Charter which
protect City employees from politically driven chicanery.

Since its inception in the early 1940s, the St. Louis Civil Service system has
protected City employees from politically motivated abuses. As a result, the
City has avoided major scandals among its civil servants. These civil servants
protect the citizens from having tax records, including earning tax records,
disclosed to the prying eyes of politicians; from having building inspectors
close their eyes to code violations of politically protected building owners;
from pressuring health inspectors to close their eyes to unsanitary conditions;
from pressuring tax assessor's to go easy on their friends; and from pressuring
City attorneys to go easy on politically connected defendants.

The "reforms" will remove most of the provisions protecting City employees from the City Charter, allowing the now-shrunken Board of Aldermen, the Mayor, and his handpicked civil service commission, to totally change the system with no way for the citizens to stop them.

4. The "reforms" will reduce diversity in elected officials.

Besides eliminating 13 Alderpersons, the "reforms" mean the people would no
longer elect eight citywide elected officials (President of the Board of
Aldermen, Collector of Revenue, License Collector, Treasurer, Circuit Clerk,
Sheriff, Public Administrator, and Recorder of Deeds). One of only two citywide
elected African-American officials, the City Treasurer, will be removed from
office as of January 1, 2005, and the only other African-American elected
official will have her powers greatly diminished.

5. The "reforms" will result in runaway spending.

Although under financial stress for years, the City of St. Louis has managed to
avoid the fiscal bankruptcy which has hit New York City, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, and East St. Louis. A reason for this is the existence of checks and
balances which provided an independent Board of Estimate and Apportionment, an independent Comptroller, and the City Charter prohibition on the Board of
Aldermen to increase the amount of money proposed to be spent on a particular budget item.

The "reforms" will remove all checks and balances - concentrating all power
into the hands of the Mayor and unleashing the Alderperson to pursue whatever
spending whims they wish.

In a city with a delicate fiscal position, these so-called reforms could easily
spell financial disaster.

6. The "reforms" will magnify the role of money in the City of St. Louis'
political campaigns.

In the current structure, it is possible for a neighborhood leader with limited
access and money to run a successful campaign for Alderperson. The Advance St. Louis proposals will end that.

In the greatly enlarged districts, a great deal of money will be needed by a
candidate to get their information in front of the voters.

Where will that money come from? From the business elite and developers who are supportive of these changes.

Conclusion

The entire package of Advance St. Louis proposals must be defeated. They are
bad for City residents, bad for City employees, and bad for the City. They do
nothing but dilute the power of the average citizen and increase the power of
the business elite and their handpicked politicians. Do not let them have
only "one guy to buy". Protect your rights. Vote NO on all four charter reform
proposals.