While MACO’s Northcreek housing project on Jones Street is
using state subsidies to remove up to 20 feet of dirt at a documented state
archaeological site marked with National Park Service National Historic Trails
signs, the City Council approved a state government lobbying contract with
former Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley. Mr. Tilley was able to cash in from his former
position as one of the state's most powerful elected officials. His lobbying
efforts and Political Action Committee (PAC) is associated with MACO, Gardner
Capital, Environmental Operations and organizations led by convicted felons. This “Cartel” was described by the St. Louis
Post Dispatch as “big players in buying and selling tax credits” and “who’s who
of campaign donors involved in public subsidies.” Tilley’s PAC returns loyalty by padding the
campaigns of local politicians including our Mayor and City Council. So when the City Council votes in favor of
MACO’s state subsidized housing projects, public land giveaways, the
money-losing solar farms, or the high-bid demolition of IPL’s Missouri City
Power Plant, the “Circus of Corruption” forms a “Circus Ring” where the cash
comes full circle into the pockets of politicians. Local politicians should be
dressed as “Circus Clowns” with painted smiles while they overcharge citizens
and public utility customers who attend the 3-Ring Circus and cheer as the
circus animals trample over our civic sense of fairness and fiscal responsibility. So now we are paying twice the price for
lobbying access. No, it’s not for access to Jeff City. It’s access for the greedy Cartel to citizen’s
wallets and the public resources of our historic community. Their influence even extended into the
national leadership of OCTA, a trails and green space preservation
not-for-profit, persuading OCTA to publicly support, in writing, MACO’s
rezoning for the Northcreek subsidized housing project changing our historic
landscape for generations to come.
