Pierce Conley and Jim Frain snub O'Fallon voters

If you were looking for leadership or a break from the same ole political gamesmanship in your next O'Fallon mayor it looks like you'll have to look to someone other than Pierce Conley or Jim Frain. Here's the story;

A couple of weeks ago The O'Fallon Observer emailed each of the candidates for city council and O'Fallon Mayor. The email read as follows;

• The O’Fallon Observer requests that you send a picture (jpeg) of yourself along with a brief (300 word) bio/editorial as to why you are seeking elected office. Please include the office you are running for, and if you are running for a council position please include the correct ward.
  
  In addition we are asking all candidates to answer these three questions. Please be brief but specific.
  1) What do you see as the biggest problem the City of O’Fallon faces and how will you specifically deal with it?
  2) What is your definition of open and transparent government?
  3) What specifically will you do to reduce spending/expenses within city government?
  The O’Fallon Observer requests that this bio/questionnaire be returned to ofallonobserver@gmail.com no later than Wednesday, March 18th in order to get them formatted into the paper and out by March 23rd.

The Observer was offering the candidates a free platform to communicate their message to O'Fallon residents, something we viewed as a service to the residents. However, it seems Pierce Conley was insulted by this offer. The Observer has learned from several sources that Conley has been approaching the candidates asking them to join in his boycott of our request because he doesn't want to "legitimize" The Observer.

If Conley's juvenile "I'm going to take my ball home and play without you" attitude is any indication of what kind of a mayor he will be we are in for another embarrassing 4 years. Conley's reaction also suggests a continuation of the politics of favoritism which has run rampant in O'Fallon for years. Conley had no trouble responding to a similar request from a local paper that will only print positive stories about Conley and his buddy Bob Lowery. We can only assume Conley is upset with The Observer because of our criticism of Lowery although Conley has never contacted us to report one factual error or inaccuracy.

As for Frain, it appears he is willing to play Curly to Conley's Moe. After initially indicating he would respond Frain changed his tune after he was approached by Conley and sent an email stating "I have decided to provide you with my campaign website in lieu of responding to your questions." Way to show your leadership ability and independence Jim.

The sad part is that rather than viewing our email as a service to O'Fallon residents, Conley and Frain see it based on their own personal interest. Why should we expect them to act any differently if elected?