JUNE 2, 2009 ELECTION INFORMATION
Below you will find information about the June 2nd special election that was held because of problems in the
April 7th election of the Ward 1 council person in Crystal City. In the April 7th election Kim Friedmeyer
won the votes by a margin of 4 votes. It was discovered that 10 of the residents in Ward 1 actually voted
in the wrong ward and a special election was sought by the County Election Authority, Wes Wagner.
Even though Wes Wagner's County office has continuously taken the blame, the problems started with a list from the office
of the Crystal City Clerk's office that was sent to Wes Wagner's office on 11/30/2008. That communication and the
response back from Wes Wagner's office can be seen here.
This shows that there were mixups that were identified before the election of April 7. But they failed to notice that
the even numbers of 6th street were listed in two different wards.
The official election results from the June 2nd election can be found here -
here. Eric Downs won that election by 6 votes.
APRIL 7, 2009 ELECTION INFORMATION
Below you will find information about the April 7, 2009 election:
- The official election results can be found
here.
- A list of the candidates that were endorsed by the Concerned Citizens
for Crystal City.
- The current ward boundaries.
- A video recording of the public participation portion of the hearing for
the smelter conditional use permit from March 2, 2009.
- An audio recording of an interview with council candidates Eric Downs (Ward 1),
John Whiddon (Ward 2) and Joshua Ly (Ward 3). Christee Zimmermann (Ward 4) could not make the
interview.
Courtesy of KJFF - www.kjff.com, recorded March 30, 2009.
- An audio recording of an interview with council candidates Kim Friedmeyer (Ward 1),
Charlie DeBoor (Ward 2), Jason Eisenbeis (Ward 3) and David Picarella (Ward 4).
Courtesy of KJFF - www.kjff.com, recorded March 31, 2009.
- For recent background information, take a look at the Trust Issues of 2009.
- See what conditions were put on the Conditional Use Permit here.
- Listen to conflicting viewpoints between Crystal City Building Commissioner
David Kozal and
Jack Ginnever concerning recent information about the smelter, courtesy of KJFF - www.kjff.com.
WE TRUST YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION
Last year, on April 8, 2008, the people of Crystal City decided by a wide margin (18 percentage points) to elect new
city officials that stand for an
open and honest government that represents the will of the people. All four of the city council candidates that were
endorsed by the Concerned Citizens for Crystal City were elected.
A lot has happened in the last year. Our organization has been verbally attacked by the smelter developer Jim
Kennedy, claiming that we are fearful of Chinese people and that we may harrass the manufacturer of his secret furnace
technology. The Mayor of Crystal City publicly claimed that the citizens were "hood-winked" into voting for
the candidates that were elected. The labor unions turned on us, claiming that the smelter developer will provide
a large number of union jobs.
This year, on April 7, 2009, the people of Crystal City will once again have an opportunity for change.
We don't
believe for a minute that the people of Crystal City will make uninformed decisions that they will regret. We believe
that the overwhelming majority of the people of Crystal City are smart, will research the issues and
will make the right decision.
The Concerned Citizens for Crystal City organization has officially endorsed four candidates for city council this election.
We are also endorsing a candidate for City Treasurer. These candidates were not "picked" by our
organization, nor are they funded by our organization.
These candidates simply represent a position on the issues that we support - mainly, an open and transparent government
for Crystal City.
Below you will find a table of the endorsed candidates by ward along with the sample ballots. There are multiple
ballots per ward depending on which school district that you belong to. Ward boundaries have changed within the last
couple of years. If you are not aware which ward you are in please click
here for a ward boundary map.
CRYSTAL CITY VOTERS DECIDE
On April 8th, 2008, Crystal City citizens finally had a chance to make their voices heard through a city council election
and annexation issue. The results
are in. All four of the C4 (Concerned Citizens for Crystal City) endorsed candidates won their elections: Della Selmon in Ward 1,
Dan Portell in Ward 2, Debbie McKenna in Ward 3 and Terry Laburay in Ward 4. Except for Ward 1 which
was uncontested, all ward voting percentages were approximately 59% to 41%.
The annexation issue also passed 63% to 37%. Voter turnout was very high with approximately 41% of the registered
voters participating.
Our mission has always been to give you all the information that you need to make an informed decision. To that end, we have
provided a series of Trust Issues that have been inserted weekly into the local newspaper, The Leader, and are also available
online by clicking here. Each of these Trust Issues cover an important topic
relative to the April 8th election.
The annexation issue is becoming clearer. We attended a Festus city council meeting on Monday, April 7 and learned
a lot about the motives of both Festus and Crystal City regarding the annexation.
We know that this area is a prime spot for a thoroughfare providing access from highway 55 to the
proposed smelter facility and that Wings owner Jim Kennedy has been interested in purchasing the Festus Airport and
land from other private property owners around that area. See Trust Issue #4
for more information.
The Concerned Citizens for Crystal City organization has also mailed a set of postcards to all of the citizens of Crystal City.
These postcards are reproduced here.
