COLUMBIA, 3/24/10 (Beat Byte) -- Columbia's powerful development interests are pulling out all the stops to oust 3rd Ward Columbia City Councilman Karl Skala. The latest salvo: a mass blast email sent by Con-Agg Mo honcho Larry Moore."Please forward this and go to the website below and hear the radio spot," Moore instructs, referring to the website of Skala opponent Gary Kespohl. "An absolute scandal has been revealed in Columbia city government: Ward 3 Councilman Karl Skala has spent more than $16,000 on taxpayer funded gourmet junkets to vacation destinations including Orlando, New Orleans, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Antonio, Portland, Washington, D.C., and the list goes on."Founded in 1997 through the merger of Boone Quarries and Columbia Ready Mix, Moore's employer Con-Agg Mo is a Billy Sapp-owned company that has been partly or wholly behind some of the area's largest, most ostentatious residential developments, including Old Hawthorne. Sapp was president of the Central Missouri Development Council (CMDC), and has employed its spokesperson, former Presiding Boone County Commissioner Don Stamper.Making the Sapp-driven campaign attack against Skala so ironic: the firm's own history with outsized, high-priced, big hair living."Billy Sapp of Con-Agg is said to be contemplating what would be one of the largest subdivisions in the county's history: a development of more than 900 homes, complete with a golf course," read a Missourian article about Old Hawthorne.Moore earlier led a failed attempt to oust Skala from the Chamber of Commerce government affairs committee, after which Skala quipped that "Larry, Larry, and his other brother Larry" were after him once again. The Three Larrys: Larry Moore; former City Councilman Larry Schuster; and former Ad Sheet owner Larry Grossman.Serving on the City Council for free while surrounded by six-figure salary department heads, Skala has averaged roughly $5,300 per year in travel allowances to attend conferences such as the National League of Cities, where he has received a number of awards.Oddly, when Boone County Commissioner Karen Miller frequented National Association of Counties (NACO) meetings out-of-town, she was cheered by the same people now condemning Skala.Larry Moore/ConAgg-Mo EmailFrom: Larry Moore [mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ] Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 11:25 AM
To: Larry Moore
Subject: Skala wastes your taxpayer dollars
Please forward this and go the the website below and hear the radio spot.
An absolute scandal has been revealed in Columbia city government: Ward 3 Councilman Karl Skala has spent more than $16,000 on taxpayer funded gourmet junkets to vacation destinations including Orlando, New Orleans, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Antonio, Portland, Washington, D.C., and the list goes on. Not only did Columbia taxpayers cover Skala's expensive air fare and lodging as he jetted from coast to coast, they kept him in high style at meal time. Taxpayers were billed by Karl Skala for surf and turf, filet mignon, oysters on the half shell, duck breast, lamb, exotic seafood and expensive desserts. Columbia cannot afford three more years of Karl Skala's squandering of taxpayer dollars - certainly not in the worst economy since the Great Depression, with revenues down, unemployment up and Columbia's economy at a virtual standstill. See the scandalous details for yourself - receipts and all."About Billy Sapp2 comments:
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How sad that the Columbia Chamber of Commerce has allowed itself to become the CMDC-by-proxy.
ReplySapp's businesses are among the most corrupt in the city, and for a business involved in infrastructure, that's bad news for all of us.