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| O'Fallon Watchdog |
Exposing Corruption, Injustices and the Truth.
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Watchdog Response:
NO MA(u)S
On November 17, 2006 Mayor Donna Morrow appointed Carl Maus to be her assistant. Before I give you my thoughts on his
appointment and what it means let me give you some background on Maus.
CASH FOR RAY & CARL (CFRC)
Maus, along with Ray Stone, started a group know as Citizens For Responsible Community (CFRC) several years ago. CFRC
was allegedly formed to promote 'smart growth' issues. Maus was also president of the Heritage Resident Association (HRA).
Maus was investigated by HRA for diverting money from a donation that HRA received from Steve Groeper, a local developer,
to CFRC.
The attorney who conducted this investigation concluded that Maus' actions were 'improper and illegal', CFRC and Maus have
been very involved in St. Charles County politics. In St. Charles city Maus, Adolphus Busch, Tom Hughes, Glenn Jamboretz
and others supported Mayor Patti York in her battles with the St. Charles City Council. Hughes allegedly was angered by the
Council's actions in regard to one of his developments and this eventually led to recall efforts against two Council members.
The fight between York and the Council continued over the nomination of Bob Lowery as Police Chief. While the faction led by
Rory Riddler wanted Lowery, York refused to appoint him and Tim Swope eventually got the job as a compromise choice. York
refused to explain her refusal to appoint Lowery, but Lowery has told people that Hughes led the opposition to Lowery as
political payback for the Council's action in blocking his development. Lowery claims Hughes told him this at a meeting
between the two men after Lowery was appointed City Administrator in O'Fallon.
CFRC and Maus also played a prominent role in former St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown's successful campaign against then
incumbent Mayor Tom Brown. Maus again teamed with Busch in the St. Peter's election and at that point Busch and his allies
were the main contributors to CFRC. 'SMART GROWTH' MAUS In O'Fallon, CFRC and Maus backed Donna Morrow in her
campaign for Mayor against Dave Hinman. CFRC also backed Randy Hudson, Terry Busken and other 'smart growth'
candidates in O'Fallon. Despite being outspent by a wide margin Morrow, and most of the smart growth candidates, swept into
office. Hinman's campaign was largely funded by builders/developers and CFRC ran campaign ads which attacked Hinman as
a pawn of the developers and questioning whose interest he would be protecting.
LOWERY NEEDS A FRIEND
Several months after the election the Mayor and new board appointed Bob Lowery as City Administrator. Within months of
being appointed members of the board and staff began to question whether Lowery shared their views as to going after past
corruption in O'Fallon and favoritism to the builders. Some say they noticed the change shortly after Lowery and his father,
who is Mayor of Florissant, met with Paul McKee of Mc Eagle and Tom Dunn from Fred Weber. It was somewhere around this
time Lowery had the meeting with Tom Hughes mentioned above. At that time Hughes wanted the Council to ignore an
ordinance which would have made Hughes responsible for upgrades to a road fronting one of his developments. Hughes did
not request a variance or a change to the existing ordinance but instead requested the City not to enforce the ordinance on
this development. Lowery backed Hughes on his request.
Lowery fell into disfavor with some members of the board because of Lowery's change in position which was contrary to their
fight to expose corruption and stop favoritism. Privately Lowery had been highly critical of the Mayor, however, sensing unrest
with the board, Lowery formed a new alliance with the Mayor in order to protect his job. Alderman Bob Patek, who had been
one of the most vocal critics of the favoritism and corruption under the regime of former Mayor Paul Renaud, aligned himself
with Lowery and almost instantaneously changed his views relating to dealings with the builders. New lines were drawn as
Lowery, Morrow and Patek teamed with their former political foes, Peter Cantwell and Bill Hennessy. Of course, Lowery
couldn't pull this off by himself but as luck would have it Maus had undergone the same conversion as Lowery and Maus was
more than willing to use his influence to lobby on behalf of his new friend.
WHO SAID TAKING BUILDERS' MONEY WAS BAD? NOT ME!
So if the fight between Lowery and some members of the board was about the belief Lowery was showing favoritism to builders
why would Lowery turn to Maus and Stone for help? Carl and Ray not only supported the campaigns of these alderman but
they openly questioned whether a candidate who took money from the builders would represent the taxpayers as opposed to
their campaign contributors. As luck would have it about the same time Lowery was making his new friends in the HBA, CFRC
received a $25,000.00 contribution from Ted Dettmer, then President of McBride & Sons, and $10,000.00 from a company
controlled by Tom Hughes. Deals involving both Dettmer and Hughes were part of the matters being investigated at the
direction of Morrow and the board. After Morrow and Patek split from their previous allies they withdrew their support from the
investigation and tried to diminish their roles. CFRC's bank account is not the only thing that saw a dramatic change.
Maus and Stone, who used CFRC to attack Hinman for taking money from the builders, were now lobbying O'Fallon alderman
on behalf of the builders. When Maus and Stone's lobbying efforts were unsuccessful they made it very clear they would
support, politically and monetarily, candidates opposed to Schipper and Mitchell who were up for election. The Mayor's and
Patek's change in position was no more dramatic then when the Mayor reappointed Mark Piontek to be City Attorney. Piontek
represented the city while Renaud was Mayor but resigned within months of the election in 2005. He either turned a blind eye
or actively participated in many of the corrupt actions during Renaud's tenure. Hudson, Busken and Jimmy Mitchell walked out
of the board meeting after Piontek's reappointment. Shortly after that Hudson and Busken resigned and Mitchell lost the
election to a candidate supported by Maus, CFRC, the builders and Cantwell.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
After the election in April of 2006 things changed quickly for the Mayor. Cantwell was elected to lead the Council and any
alliance between the Mayor, Cantwell and Hennessy quickly ended as the Council censured the Mayor for allegedly lying.
The fight with Cantwell caused the Mayor to seek help from some of her old allies and she returned, at least in part, to her
campaign promises to stop favoritism towards the builders. While rumors persist that Cantwell is trying to force the Mayor out
so that he can become Mayor, the fighting continues.
The dispute now centers on the police department. The Mayor and Lowery were both against the Councils' decision to bring
back former Officer Tom Otten, who was fired by Lowery. Otten is alleged to have sent an email to the former members of the
board attacking some of Otten's fellow officers and Lowery's long time friend Tom Wilkerson who owns a business in O'Fallon.
Otten sent the email in support of fired Police Chief Steve Talbot and the email contained information on closed criminal
records regarding Wilkerson. Otten is also alleged to have threatened officers who came to his home to execute a search
warrant.
WE DON'T HAVE A JOB AVAILABLE WHEN CAN YOU START?..
The Mayor and Lowery or also said to be at odds over Cantwell and the Council's recent decision to create a new position
which is expected to go to Talbot. Lowery, who was still employed as a police officer in Florissant at the time Talbot was fired,
advised the Mayor during the investigation of Talbot and made known his desire for the Chief's position. While everyone is
playing nice in public the fight continues with the help of the media. A local paper, The Scoop, which is aligned with Lowery
and the Mayor, had a recent article critical of the Council's decision to bring back Otten and promised a follow up story ( which
did not appear) arguing against bringing back Talbot.
The Scoop, which at one time was the only media outlet that provided its readers the documentation evidencing the corruption
in O'Fallon, was once a vocal critic of Cantwell. However, after Lowery and the Mayor fell out of favor with the old board, The
Scoop quit writing about the corruption and wrote favorable articles about Cantwell and the new Council. As a side note, The
Scoop receives money from the City for printing legal notices and Lowery controls which papers receive this money. So how
does all this related to Carl Maus?
There is no question a power struggle is going on at City Hall, however, the main battle is not between the Mayor and Cantwell
but instead is a struggle between Lowery and Cantwell for control of the board. When The Scoop printed an article attacking
the Council in general, and Cantwell in particular, it was clear Lowery was taking the gloves off, albeit he has others doing the
dirty work. Who better to win control of the Council then the person who financed their last campaign? Maus also has ties to
two of the biggest players in O'Fallon politics, Busch and the builders/developers. So Lowery has a new front man to fight his
battle with Cantwell but don't count Cantwell out yet. Cantwell raised more money, by a large margin, than any other candidate
for alderman in 2005 and most of his money came from the builders/developers. While Lowery used The Scoop to go after
Cantwell, Cantwell rebounded with a nice puff piece written by the corrupt builders/developers/politicians best friend and PR
man John Sonderegger of The St. Louis Post Dispatch.
The interesting part of this fight is that unlike Cantwell's fight with the old board, which mostly centered on his support for
anything the HBA and his campaign contributors wanted, this fight is between two guys that are both yes men for builders. The
builders could care less about the fight over Otten and Talbot but they do care about their control over local politics. The
builders also know that whoever wins the fight will still be their yes man so they can sit back for now and watch the fight. Just
make sure you play nice in public boys. The end result? Both Cantwell and Lowery will be bloodied and only one will be left
standing but the biggest losers will be the residents of O'Fallon. Not only do we get to pay for Cantwell's gift job to Talbot but
we now get to pay for Maus's version of dirty politics with taxpayer money. Just be careful Bob, just like you Maus is known to
switch teams every once in a while.
NO MA(u)S
On November 17, 2006 Mayor Donna Morrow appointed Carl Maus to be her assistant. Before I give you my thoughts on his
appointment and what it means let me give you some background on Maus.
CASH FOR RAY & CARL (CFRC)
Maus, along with Ray Stone, started a group know as Citizens For Responsible Community (CFRC) several years ago. CFRC
was allegedly formed to promote 'smart growth' issues. Maus was also president of the Heritage Resident Association (HRA).
Maus was investigated by HRA for diverting money from a donation that HRA received from Steve Groeper, a local developer,
to CFRC.
The attorney who conducted this investigation concluded that Maus' actions were 'improper and illegal', CFRC and Maus have
been very involved in St. Charles County politics. In St. Charles city Maus, Adolphus Busch, Tom Hughes, Glenn Jamboretz
and others supported Mayor Patti York in her battles with the St. Charles City Council. Hughes allegedly was angered by the
Council's actions in regard to one of his developments and this eventually led to recall efforts against two Council members.
The fight between York and the Council continued over the nomination of Bob Lowery as Police Chief. While the faction led by
Rory Riddler wanted Lowery, York refused to appoint him and Tim Swope eventually got the job as a compromise choice. York
refused to explain her refusal to appoint Lowery, but Lowery has told people that Hughes led the opposition to Lowery as
political payback for the Council's action in blocking his development. Lowery claims Hughes told him this at a meeting
between the two men after Lowery was appointed City Administrator in O'Fallon.
CFRC and Maus also played a prominent role in former St. Peters Mayor Shawn Brown's successful campaign against then
incumbent Mayor Tom Brown. Maus again teamed with Busch in the St. Peter's election and at that point Busch and his allies
were the main contributors to CFRC. 'SMART GROWTH' MAUS In O'Fallon, CFRC and Maus backed Donna Morrow in her
campaign for Mayor against Dave Hinman. CFRC also backed Randy Hudson, Terry Busken and other 'smart growth'
candidates in O'Fallon. Despite being outspent by a wide margin Morrow, and most of the smart growth candidates, swept into
office. Hinman's campaign was largely funded by builders/developers and CFRC ran campaign ads which attacked Hinman as
a pawn of the developers and questioning whose interest he would be protecting.
LOWERY NEEDS A FRIEND
Several months after the election the Mayor and new board appointed Bob Lowery as City Administrator. Within months of
being appointed members of the board and staff began to question whether Lowery shared their views as to going after past
corruption in O'Fallon and favoritism to the builders. Some say they noticed the change shortly after Lowery and his father,
who is Mayor of Florissant, met with Paul McKee of Mc Eagle and Tom Dunn from Fred Weber. It was somewhere around this
time Lowery had the meeting with Tom Hughes mentioned above. At that time Hughes wanted the Council to ignore an
ordinance which would have made Hughes responsible for upgrades to a road fronting one of his developments. Hughes did
not request a variance or a change to the existing ordinance but instead requested the City not to enforce the ordinance on
this development. Lowery backed Hughes on his request.
Lowery fell into disfavor with some members of the board because of Lowery's change in position which was contrary to their
fight to expose corruption and stop favoritism. Privately Lowery had been highly critical of the Mayor, however, sensing unrest
with the board, Lowery formed a new alliance with the Mayor in order to protect his job. Alderman Bob Patek, who had been
one of the most vocal critics of the favoritism and corruption under the regime of former Mayor Paul Renaud, aligned himself
with Lowery and almost instantaneously changed his views relating to dealings with the builders. New lines were drawn as
Lowery, Morrow and Patek teamed with their former political foes, Peter Cantwell and Bill Hennessy. Of course, Lowery
couldn't pull this off by himself but as luck would have it Maus had undergone the same conversion as Lowery and Maus was
more than willing to use his influence to lobby on behalf of his new friend.
WHO SAID TAKING BUILDERS' MONEY WAS BAD? NOT ME!
So if the fight between Lowery and some members of the board was about the belief Lowery was showing favoritism to builders
why would Lowery turn to Maus and Stone for help? Carl and Ray not only supported the campaigns of these alderman but
they openly questioned whether a candidate who took money from the builders would represent the taxpayers as opposed to
their campaign contributors. As luck would have it about the same time Lowery was making his new friends in the HBA, CFRC
received a $25,000.00 contribution from Ted Dettmer, then President of McBride & Sons, and $10,000.00 from a company
controlled by Tom Hughes. Deals involving both Dettmer and Hughes were part of the matters being investigated at the
direction of Morrow and the board. After Morrow and Patek split from their previous allies they withdrew their support from the
investigation and tried to diminish their roles. CFRC's bank account is not the only thing that saw a dramatic change.
Maus and Stone, who used CFRC to attack Hinman for taking money from the builders, were now lobbying O'Fallon alderman
on behalf of the builders. When Maus and Stone's lobbying efforts were unsuccessful they made it very clear they would
support, politically and monetarily, candidates opposed to Schipper and Mitchell who were up for election. The Mayor's and
Patek's change in position was no more dramatic then when the Mayor reappointed Mark Piontek to be City Attorney. Piontek
represented the city while Renaud was Mayor but resigned within months of the election in 2005. He either turned a blind eye
or actively participated in many of the corrupt actions during Renaud's tenure. Hudson, Busken and Jimmy Mitchell walked out
of the board meeting after Piontek's reappointment. Shortly after that Hudson and Busken resigned and Mitchell lost the
election to a candidate supported by Maus, CFRC, the builders and Cantwell.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
After the election in April of 2006 things changed quickly for the Mayor. Cantwell was elected to lead the Council and any
alliance between the Mayor, Cantwell and Hennessy quickly ended as the Council censured the Mayor for allegedly lying.
The fight with Cantwell caused the Mayor to seek help from some of her old allies and she returned, at least in part, to her
campaign promises to stop favoritism towards the builders. While rumors persist that Cantwell is trying to force the Mayor out
so that he can become Mayor, the fighting continues.
The dispute now centers on the police department. The Mayor and Lowery were both against the Councils' decision to bring
back former Officer Tom Otten, who was fired by Lowery. Otten is alleged to have sent an email to the former members of the
board attacking some of Otten's fellow officers and Lowery's long time friend Tom Wilkerson who owns a business in O'Fallon.
Otten sent the email in support of fired Police Chief Steve Talbot and the email contained information on closed criminal
records regarding Wilkerson. Otten is also alleged to have threatened officers who came to his home to execute a search
warrant.
WE DON'T HAVE A JOB AVAILABLE WHEN CAN YOU START?..
The Mayor and Lowery or also said to be at odds over Cantwell and the Council's recent decision to create a new position
which is expected to go to Talbot. Lowery, who was still employed as a police officer in Florissant at the time Talbot was fired,
advised the Mayor during the investigation of Talbot and made known his desire for the Chief's position. While everyone is
playing nice in public the fight continues with the help of the media. A local paper, The Scoop, which is aligned with Lowery
and the Mayor, had a recent article critical of the Council's decision to bring back Otten and promised a follow up story ( which
did not appear) arguing against bringing back Talbot.
The Scoop, which at one time was the only media outlet that provided its readers the documentation evidencing the corruption
in O'Fallon, was once a vocal critic of Cantwell. However, after Lowery and the Mayor fell out of favor with the old board, The
Scoop quit writing about the corruption and wrote favorable articles about Cantwell and the new Council. As a side note, The
Scoop receives money from the City for printing legal notices and Lowery controls which papers receive this money. So how
does all this related to Carl Maus?
There is no question a power struggle is going on at City Hall, however, the main battle is not between the Mayor and Cantwell
but instead is a struggle between Lowery and Cantwell for control of the board. When The Scoop printed an article attacking
the Council in general, and Cantwell in particular, it was clear Lowery was taking the gloves off, albeit he has others doing the
dirty work. Who better to win control of the Council then the person who financed their last campaign? Maus also has ties to
two of the biggest players in O'Fallon politics, Busch and the builders/developers. So Lowery has a new front man to fight his
battle with Cantwell but don't count Cantwell out yet. Cantwell raised more money, by a large margin, than any other candidate
for alderman in 2005 and most of his money came from the builders/developers. While Lowery used The Scoop to go after
Cantwell, Cantwell rebounded with a nice puff piece written by the corrupt builders/developers/politicians best friend and PR
man John Sonderegger of The St. Louis Post Dispatch.
The interesting part of this fight is that unlike Cantwell's fight with the old board, which mostly centered on his support for
anything the HBA and his campaign contributors wanted, this fight is between two guys that are both yes men for builders. The
builders could care less about the fight over Otten and Talbot but they do care about their control over local politics. The
builders also know that whoever wins the fight will still be their yes man so they can sit back for now and watch the fight. Just
make sure you play nice in public boys. The end result? Both Cantwell and Lowery will be bloodied and only one will be left
standing but the biggest losers will be the residents of O'Fallon. Not only do we get to pay for Cantwell's gift job to Talbot but
we now get to pay for Maus's version of dirty politics with taxpayer money. Just be careful Bob, just like you Maus is known to
switch teams every once in a while.
O'Fallon mayor's aide has tangled history with council
By Nancy Cambria
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/18/2006
O'FALLON, MO. — O'Fallon's political landscape has taken another unexpected spin.
On Friday, Mayor Donna Morrow hired Carl Maus, a St. Charles County political activist, as her assistant. His salary is
$57,471, the same as Pat Sobelman, who quit earlier this month in a dispute with Council President Peter Cantwell.
Maus, a founder of Citizens for Responsible Community, will begin his new job Monday, Morrow said. His group campaigned
hard for Morrow's successful mayoral bid last year, donating more than $18,000 to her campaign and funding fliers and ads in
her support. The group has been active in several key O'Fallon elections.
Morrow said Maus' considerable county contacts will be a great asset. In his new job Maus will be the mayor's liaison to the
council and staff in her absence.
"The citizens expect me to take on more responsibility regionally and statewide that will help keep O'Fallon ahead of the
curve," she said.
Maus, 51, said he expects to use his extensive political and county contacts in his new job.
Maus will continue to work selling insurance and securities but said he won't take on any new clients. He will also continue to
participate in Citizens for Responsible Community but would abstain from any political action the group may take in O'Fallon,
he said. The group has not yet considered backing any potential council candidates for next April's election, he said.
Maus and his political partner Ray Stone, who champion responsible growth and government, gained notoriety in 2004 after
backing Shawn Brown's victory over longtime St. Peters Mayor Tom Brown. In 2005, they successfully backed several
O'Fallon newcomers who flipped the balance of power on the city's Board of Aldermen.
But those victories had some unexpected outcomes. Last month Shawn Brown resigned after admitting he solicited and
accepted a $2,750 bribe from a red light camera company. He is awaiting sentencing in federal court.
Last spring, upset with the behavior of the O'Fallon council members they helped push into office, Maus and Stone accepted
more than $35,000 in political donations from builders. They chastised builders and developers in their 2005 campaign
literature. Their group then spent more than $25,000 on individual candidates and successfully unseated the majority they
backed in earlier elections.
Maus' group financially supported three members of the current eight-member council. He said the group did not work to oust
any current members and claimed to have no adversarial relationships with them.
Cantwell said Friday he was unaware of Maus' hiring and took issue with the salary.
"He's a great guy, and I look forward to working with him, but the compensation has not been determined by council yet," he
said.
By Nancy Cambria
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/18/2006
O'FALLON, MO. — O'Fallon's political landscape has taken another unexpected spin.
On Friday, Mayor Donna Morrow hired Carl Maus, a St. Charles County political activist, as her assistant. His salary is
$57,471, the same as Pat Sobelman, who quit earlier this month in a dispute with Council President Peter Cantwell.
Maus, a founder of Citizens for Responsible Community, will begin his new job Monday, Morrow said. His group campaigned
hard for Morrow's successful mayoral bid last year, donating more than $18,000 to her campaign and funding fliers and ads in
her support. The group has been active in several key O'Fallon elections.
Morrow said Maus' considerable county contacts will be a great asset. In his new job Maus will be the mayor's liaison to the
council and staff in her absence.
"The citizens expect me to take on more responsibility regionally and statewide that will help keep O'Fallon ahead of the
curve," she said.
Maus, 51, said he expects to use his extensive political and county contacts in his new job.
Maus will continue to work selling insurance and securities but said he won't take on any new clients. He will also continue to
participate in Citizens for Responsible Community but would abstain from any political action the group may take in O'Fallon,
he said. The group has not yet considered backing any potential council candidates for next April's election, he said.
Maus and his political partner Ray Stone, who champion responsible growth and government, gained notoriety in 2004 after
backing Shawn Brown's victory over longtime St. Peters Mayor Tom Brown. In 2005, they successfully backed several
O'Fallon newcomers who flipped the balance of power on the city's Board of Aldermen.
But those victories had some unexpected outcomes. Last month Shawn Brown resigned after admitting he solicited and
accepted a $2,750 bribe from a red light camera company. He is awaiting sentencing in federal court.
Last spring, upset with the behavior of the O'Fallon council members they helped push into office, Maus and Stone accepted
more than $35,000 in political donations from builders. They chastised builders and developers in their 2005 campaign
literature. Their group then spent more than $25,000 on individual candidates and successfully unseated the majority they
backed in earlier elections.
Maus' group financially supported three members of the current eight-member council. He said the group did not work to oust
any current members and claimed to have no adversarial relationships with them.
Cantwell said Friday he was unaware of Maus' hiring and took issue with the salary.
"He's a great guy, and I look forward to working with him, but the compensation has not been determined by council yet," he
said.
To learn more even more about Carl Maus & C.F.R.C Click on the links below.