Oct

28

Jim Rowland, new goatee and new ballot proposal

October 28, 2005 |

4th District Councilman Jim Rowland is working on a higher profile as the 2007 mayoral race approaches. Not only is he sporting a jaunty new goatee, but he’s also proposing a referendum seeking voter endorsement of his plan to transfer the police department from state control to local control. One little problem… the referendum would be non-binding and more like an expensive opinion poll to get the attention of Jeff City.

KC and St. Louis are the only cities in the US with state-controlled police departments. The KC situation dates back to the Pendergast era when city government corruption prompted a state take over. Since then, the state-appointed board has served as a buffer between police and local politics. While there are some good arguments for greater local control, we can’t help but think about the problems at the fire department and it’s power-hungry union. For now, we’ll vote a tentative yes on local police control and a solid no on the goatee.

The Star’s Dave Helling has a video report on Rowland’s plan (Windows Media).


Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. bridget white on November 3, 2005 4:50 am

    Rowland for Mayor has the smell of failure. This person is so self serving and believes Narcissus had it right. To goatee or not to goatee.. well the guy is a goat so why not?

  2. josephine roesch on November 10, 2005 6:16 pm

    Have you heard anything about Janice Ellis running for mayor?

  3. trmadol on January 25, 2007 9:48 am

    I always have terrible trouble with comment-related plugins that require me to put some line in the comment loop; I can never seem to find the right spot. Can anyone tell me where I should put the php line in my comments loop? I haven not modified anything much, and I would be very grateful. Thanks!

  4. haha on May 26, 2007 12:41 am

    this guy is hot.
    or so my mom says…
    (from high school)

    ….yea.

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