Digging up More Dirt, Corruption, & History

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.