This guy was a piece of work; he campaigned on the basis he was against a \’Wal-Mart\’ development and eeked out a win. Ironically, Wal-Mart moved a couple communities over and is now benefitting that town with their tax dollars from sales, while Rock Hill continued to decline. A small city that was once in the black began to show losses, and then barely half way into his term, Salamone bailed and said he had to move to Quincy Illinois because his wife received a teaching job there. Not many men relocated and give up their primary occupation, and a mayorship, so their wife can obtain a teaching job. Lot\’s more teaching opps in the St. Louis area than Quincy. Then it became obvious why he was running away. Taking the pension fund and placing it into a new fund, one that received him a large commission, without obtaining board approval…and then maintaining he did nothing wrong, he evidently assumed this would all go away if he simply relocated. He did a good job trashing Rock Hill, MO, in 2 short years. He\’s getting off light with restitution, as he also drove tons of investment away from this community. The big irony is the same area that he wanted to \’protect\’ is now being redeveloped, but nothing as grand as the original Wal-Mart, which would have been a huge sales tax windfall for Rock Hill. So, we still lost the approximate same number of houses for the new retail development, however, we do not expect to net the same gain for Rock Hill. Hope Salamone doesn\’t do anybody any favors and run for mayor in Illinois or anywhere else. Would love to see how he is going to do his 200 hours of community service from Quincy (2 hours to the north). Maybe he could help by boarding up houses that have been sold but not yet torn down in the affected area for development. He campaigned as a \’man of the people\’, going from door to door, then tried to exit stage right with the money he took illegally. Hope he can sleep at night.
One of the great things about our country is that anyone can broadcast his/her opinion on TV, local radio, newspapers, or the internet with little or no knowledge of the facts to support anything they may say. Such is your case. So, here\’s a little education:
1. Yes. I was against a Walmart at the northwest corner of Manchester/McKnight roads due in large part to its overwhelming size at that location and the destruction of an even bigger residential area than the current Novus project.
2. The Walmart project was dead before I took office. Ask former Alderman Conran, Mayor Julie Morgan, or current Alderman McCann who were instrumental in killing the Walmart project and who worked extremely hard to get me into the Office of Mayor.
3. Rock Hill was in the red 4 years before I took office. Once again, ask the individuals mentioned earlier. Approximately $450,000.00 in the red to be exact. My first year in office we were $250,000.00 to the black. Check the 2002-03 audit if they can find it.
4. Damn right on supporting my wife\’s new teaching position. I\’d support her in anything she decided to do. Obviously you haven\’t met her…your loss. Oh, I obtained a new job, too.
5. By the way, I didn\’t bail on the City of Rock Hill, the Board of Aldermen bailed on me by never accepting responsibility for any decision \”they made\” on any subject related to running the city, especially issues where they would take some heat from citizens for doing their duties of office. Did you know that the City of Rock Hill is a 4th Class City? Check the ordinance or Missouri statutes on the Powers Of The Board Of Alderman-4th Class City.
6. You must not be a teacher. A year after our move to Quincy, the Archdiocese Of St. Louis closed several schools laying off hundreds of teachers, some of them our close friends.
7. I can\’t provide details regarding the pension situation with Rock Hill as litigation is pending. However, stay tuned for my side of the story in 2007.
8. Trashing Rock Hill? You must be talking to the City\’s new PR firm. I bet if you would ask Mayor Morgan or Alderman McCann, or any other member of the Board from 2002 to present what specific tasks they did to bring about the relocation of Walgreens, establishment of the groundwork for the Novus Development, or as simple as replacing the old computer operating system from DOS to Windows, their responses should be interesting. Oh, and while you have them, ask them why they didn\’t include over $450,000.00 in predevelopment costs in their sale price to Mills for the McKnight property or why they gave up $167,000.00 in annual revenue generated by the proposed
Quiktrip at the Berry/Manchester property.
9. What \”investments\” did I drive away from the city? Give these readers specifics.
10. Once again, your information is faulty. Although the sales tax revenue would have been significant with a Walmart complex, the damage to the surrounding community properties over the years would be devastating with increased traffic and noise (24/7), pollution, and crime. The number of houses taken would have been two to three times the current number of homes impacted by the combined NW/SW project by Novus (See 25-Year Comprehensive Plan).
11. No. I will not run for any office ever. In fact, I encourage people not to run. With regard to my 200 hours of community service, I am currently a member of several historic preservation groups and downtown redevelopment organizations. I keep very busy with volunteer work, thanks for asking.
12. You spoke of boarded up houses. When I left office, there were no boarded homes. This is the work of your current Board and Mayor. Talk to them. I\’ve been gone since August 3, 2004.
Ray, I can\’t begin to adequately describe or detail how my life has been since this whole situation began. For two and half years, I have been forced to endure the inaccurate and misleading information distributed by Mayor Morgan and her Board, having no recourse but to remain silent as demanded by my attorneys, I have endured, and continue to endure emails and opinions of individuals such as you, who cowardly use a false name to protect themselves while they seek to destroy another person with lies and false information to the general public. Most painful to me has been the damage it has done to my wife and my children. They are the real victims in this situation and the media and cowards like you are the real criminals. Ray, or whoever you are, if you believe I am dumb enough to actually plan for this to happen, then, you\’re grossly misinformed.
nice job; other people are cowards, yet we didn\’t hear squat from you…then you run away from the problem. Yes, investment dried up in the area under your \’leadership\’; yes, you took a commission to place the city pension in the hands of others…perhaps you just forgot to leave your commission behind…sorry, you can blast away, but the fact is you plead guilty, and your 200 hrs of \’service\’ won\’t do Rock Hill any good. It\’s a shame your family had to suffer for your wrongdoing; you still got off easy. And Rock Hill still suffers.
Bob, you did get off easy. I witnessed the \’man of the people\’ type campaign, but I don\’t agree with your take on the events that followed. Regardless, this article is about an improper action that resulted in a criminal charge and guilty plea. It\’s hard to justify calling a blogger a coward when you relocated and didn\’t face the music from your constituents. Hopefully, you and Rock Hill will move past this, but I don\’t think you\’d get many votes in Rock Hlll today, and it\’s hard to blame that on the \’pr machine\’ which you claim is to blame. Having grown up in Rock Hill, it\’s a sad shell of it\’s former self. While this cannot be blamed on you, there is no doubt you made errors, and then only served approx half your term by relocating and leaving a dysfunctional govt behind. Good Luck in the future and good luck to Rock Hill as well. But please understand, you did hurt many people who believed in you.
I\’ll make no friends with the following statements. however, I call it as I see it.
I was told that some city employees were upset that the then Mayor was changing and selling the new retirement plan. I looked into the Missouri codes, and read the plain english there, and agreed. So I brought it up in open session. I will spare the full chronology and simply say that the entire administration, the city Attorney, the city prosecuting attorney, the county prosecuting attorney, the missouri state attorney general\’s office, the missouri ethics commission, the Missouri state police, even others were contacted. I provided copies of the law and was asked by only one of these, if the Board of Aldermen objected. I said, no, they rubber stamp everything. At that point I was told, then we won\’t even look into it. Later, Bob was charged and of course convicted.
I will long remember him yelling at me in open session that he didn\’t want to hear me making any more accusations about things being illegal.
Let\’s be clear, I don\’t think Bob should get to keep the money. But the Board was well aware of this action and several other community members and employees of the city were seriously concerned about.
In this whole affair, I have never gotten the impression from the then majority of the board, that they understood their legal responsibility to exercise oversight and independent judgement, in short, to take responsibility for the power and effect of their votes, and inactions.
Having said this will obviously win me no respect from Bob, nor any from the two subsequent mayors (prior irresponsible alder-persons) etc. None-the-less, it gauls me that the constitutional balance of powers was ignored, the city attorney defended the action to the county, and that defense was provided to me by the county, and the failure of judgement and responsibility at every step possibly PRIOR TO THE ACTUAL PAYMENT COMMISSION/ OF A CRIME, AND ALSO THEREAFTER.
And just to be clear, I was far from the only one bringing even this issue to the attention of the City, County and State.
The bottom line for me is this: Voting COUNTS.
Individuals, aldermen, etc. have personal responsibility. To date, only Bob has been called on the carpet, when this specific action was defended, EVEN IF THE MAYOR PROFITED, CLEARLY IN VIOLATION OF WRITTEN LAW, based on precedent from 30 years prior, before it occurred, to the best of my recollection.
Does it concern me that Bob might use this as a defense to \”get off?\” Yes. But the truth, in my opinion, is worth more than one man getting away with what 6 aldermen, 3 prosecutors\’ offices, attorneys, and citizens and a hand full of agencies were prepared to let him get away with \”before\” the fact.
I blew the whistle. So did others, and the Aldermen, who are responsible for paying the bills of the city, allowed this and other bad ideas to go by.
Now at least that final bit has been aired.
I was Chief Petitioner for the State Audit of Rock Hill that documented this and other serious problems, including a deliberate failure to keep comprehensive minutes of meetings.
The State auditor said that our recourse was the ballot box. Vote carefully. \”Your\” vote matters!
What a disappointment the elected folks in Rock Hill have been; this doesn\’t remove Salamone\’s guilt nor diminish the interesting timing of his decision to move for his wife\’s \’teaching\’ job…most people do not take local elections too serious; here is a good example of a case where elected officials with responsibility refused to watch what the other was doing. Thanks for the comments from David Arnold; he was obviously involved and should be commended. The comments from the Balaamaba\’s resonate with many of the citizens who feel taken by the former mayor. It still remains to be seen what good Salamone\’s \’community service\’ is going to do the community he wronged: Rock Hill. What kind of arrogance he showed; it\’s one thing to switch the assets around, it\’s another to pretend it being perfectly legal to accept a commission for doing same. And what about ethics? This was the guy who campaigned door to door promising he would be different. Maybe Quincy, Illinois will at least get some trash picked up in a local park. Maybe they\’ll dump Salamone with the rest of the trash.
With each individual, official and citizen, in my opinion.
I cannot know why Bob left when he did, but know that in open session he offered to stay throughout the remainder of his term, even in the face of those who would have preferred to recall him from his elected service.
I must object to him being vilified individually and alone when the responsibility really rested with a chorus of others in positions of trust and responsibility. Some who will remain nameless here were trapped by position into very narrow channels of opportunity and little as they did publicly, did everything within their power to serve right and justice.
But it is always the business of the people, and their appointed and elected servants to remain vigilant, and courageous–willing to engage and confront uncomfortable issues BEFORE they result in criminal prosecutions and neighborhood disasters…
Even with everyone doing their best, mistakes happen. With a lack of ownership of responsibility, in my opinion, both the guilty and the innocent get hurt, and more so than either require.
The list of people who\’s official job it was literally to say \”no\” is longer than one name.
Where did Salamone get his attorney; Tom Brown could use his/her help…bribery, yeah, not good, but Salamone walked away with more money, and he gets to clean rest rooms???
Shawn Brown\’s 18-month prison sentence, handed down Monday in federal court, came with a stinging rebuke from the judge, who said the former St. Peters mayor abused his position and destroyed the public\’s faith in good government.
U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey rejected the request by Brown\’s attorneys to sentence him to home confinement. Autrey instead gave Brown the minimum prison time guidelines called for in the felony bribery case. The former mayor could have gotten up to two years.
Brown, 35, resigned Oct. 23 after pleading guilty of soliciting and accepting a $2,750 bribe from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., the company that is installing red-light traffic cameras in St. Peters.
Dressed in a dark, pin-striped suit, Brown stood as Autrey quizzed him about his mayoral campaign in 2004.
\”Part of your promise to the citizens of St. Peters was honest government,\” the judge said.
Brown agreed.
Autrey replied: \”You flat-out lied. You didn\’t complete your campaign promise.\”
He added that Brown failed to give St. Peters \”a representative people could count on.\”
\”You abused your position of trust … to steal, to fatten your own pocket,\” Autrey added.
By taking a bribe, Brown wrecked public faith in good government, Autrey said.
\”When you took the money, Mr. Brown, when you stole it, you destroyed that faith,\” the judge said.
Autrey ordered Brown to repay the bribe money. His attorneys said he did that on Monday.
The judge allowed Brown to remain free until he is ordered to report to prison in a few weeks. At the request of Brown\’s attorneys, Autrey will recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that the former mayor serve his time at the minimum-security lockup in Yankton, S.D.
Brown said little during the sentencing in U.S. District Court in St. Louis and declined to comment afterward.
Scott Rosenblum, the lead defense attorney, said that with an 18-month sentence, Brown could hope to get out of prison in nine to 12 months and complete his term at a halfway house.
Brown\’s other attorney, Adam Fein, had asked Autrey to go easy on the former mayor in light of his otherwise clean record and good work through various civic organizations.
\”His daily actions over the last few years show he is dedicated to his community,\” said Fein, adding that the Browns have two children who \”need someone there to care for them.\”
Brown\’s situation drew little sympathy from the judge or St. Peters residents interviewed Monday afternoon at the Rec-Plex.
\”I never thought he was a good enough candidate to warrant the position of mayor,\” Liz Wohldmann, 46, said as her daughter practiced figure skating. \”There was nothing in his background that would merit him leading the city.\”
Mary Lou Joseph, a church secretary, said Brown\’s case is \”really unfortunate.\”
\”When people do something wrong, they have to suffer the consequences,\” Joseph said. \”I\’m sure when he was doing it, he knew he was doing wrong.\”
After he was indicted in August, Brown claimed the payment from Redflex was a campaign contribution. When he pleaded guilty in October, Brown admitted that in June he solicited and accepted the bribe.
As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Brown acknowledged he had told a Redflex employee he would veto legislation approving the camera system\’s installation unless the employee paid the mayor as much money as the company representative could manage.
Redflex told the FBI of Brown\’s request and cooperated with investigators in giving him a check for $2,750. Authorities said Brown had the Redflex employee deliver the check to his home.
Brown, who had never held office before being elected mayor, beat 20-year incumbent Tom Brown in a bitterly fought contest.
State of Missouri
Office of Secretary of State
Case No. AP-06-12 IN THE MATTER OF:
ROBERT M. SALAMONE CRD # 4060335
Respondent.
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
Now on the 20th day of April 2006, the Commissioner, having reviewed this matter, issues the following order:
On February 9, 2006, the Commissioner of Securities issued a Withdrawal of Temporary Registration, and Summary Suspension of Agent Application, on Respondent Robert M. Salamone.
On March 20, 2006, the office of the Commissioner, through the Central Registration Depository (“CRD”), received a request for termination of Respondent’s application.
On March 20, 2006, the office of the Commissioner, through the Central Registration Depository (“CRD”), received a request for termination of Respondent’s application.
On April 17, 2006, Mary S. Hosmer, Assistant Commissioner of Securities spoke with Respondent. Respondent stated that he is not contesting this matter and does not want a hearing.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT THE CONTESTED CASE IN THIS MATTER, AND THE HEARING SCHEDULED THEREON, IS DISMISSED. Further, nothing in this Order shall work or be constituted as a reinstitution of the Respondent’s temporary registration or as a reinstatement of Respondent’s agent application. Respondent’s temporary registration shall remain withdrawn and his agent application suspended. Respondent is not registered as an agent in the State of Missouri.
SO ORDERED:
ROBIN CARNAHAN
SECRETARY OF STATE
(Signed/Sealed)
MATTHEW D. KITZI
COMMISSIONER OF SECURITIES
Bob relocated from what should have been a decent paying profession to Quincy, Illinois because his wife got a teaching job in the local district up there-
Not sure how much teachers are paid these days, but people don’t usually relocate for a teaching job unless they are straight out of college…
Reading between the lines, it looks to most like Bob wanted to get the heck out of Dodge (Rock Hill); he relocated on his wife getting another teaching job, giving up his local position as well as the mayorship. Hope the commission he received for swapping Rock Hill pension funds was worth it.
Maybe he’ll run for mayor in Quincy, Illinois now?
Bob’s wife got a job in Illinois. That is why she moved. That is where he moved.
Why do you care what his wife knew? I was being told stuff by citizens left and right! People knew!
You would have to check with the city of Rock Hill to see if all the money was paid back yet. It would be a nice thing for you to do john, so why don’t you find out and let us all know?
Bob did wrong, but many many people stood by for it. It is happening on a national scale too, right now. As you’ll notice, I don’t absolve the doer, but the knowing crowd shares guilt in my humble opinion.
David,
Chief Petitioner, Missouri State Auditors Office Audit of Rock Hill
Salomone layed the groundwork for Novus’ bulldozing of a stable neighborhood on the SouthWest corner of Manchester and McKnight. He made promises to homeowners that he knew were irresponsible and inaccurate. My wife’s family built our home 60 years ago, and Novus took it under threat of condemnation. We didn’t get a fraction of what Salomone promised us when he was selling the deal five or six years ago. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, and its safe to say his replacements have been equally inept.
Yes. I regret that you were taken advantage of, that a stable neighborhood was destroyed. It remains true that those with the VOTES are responsible, and in these cases, the Board of Aldermen have the votes that are supposed to (that are legally given power to) control the actual behavior of a Mayor.
The People must understand their own responsibility in electing whom they do, and of the Board of Aldermen in exercising the Board’s oversight. In this way excesses of energy or point of view may be moderated, if the system is properly used.
This guy was a piece of work; he campaigned on the basis he was against a \’Wal-Mart\’ development and eeked out a win. Ironically, Wal-Mart moved a couple communities over and is now benefitting that town with their tax dollars from sales, while Rock Hill continued to decline. A small city that was once in the black began to show losses, and then barely half way into his term, Salamone bailed and said he had to move to Quincy Illinois because his wife received a teaching job there. Not many men relocated and give up their primary occupation, and a mayorship, so their wife can obtain a teaching job. Lot\’s more teaching opps in the St. Louis area than Quincy. Then it became obvious why he was running away. Taking the pension fund and placing it into a new fund, one that received him a large commission, without obtaining board approval…and then maintaining he did nothing wrong, he evidently assumed this would all go away if he simply relocated. He did a good job trashing Rock Hill, MO, in 2 short years. He\’s getting off light with restitution, as he also drove tons of investment away from this community. The big irony is the same area that he wanted to \’protect\’ is now being redeveloped, but nothing as grand as the original Wal-Mart, which would have been a huge sales tax windfall for Rock Hill. So, we still lost the approximate same number of houses for the new retail development, however, we do not expect to net the same gain for Rock Hill. Hope Salamone doesn\’t do anybody any favors and run for mayor in Illinois or anywhere else. Would love to see how he is going to do his 200 hours of community service from Quincy (2 hours to the north). Maybe he could help by boarding up houses that have been sold but not yet torn down in the affected area for development. He campaigned as a \’man of the people\’, going from door to door, then tried to exit stage right with the money he took illegally. Hope he can sleep at night.
Dear Ray,
One of the great things about our country is that anyone can broadcast his/her opinion on TV, local radio, newspapers, or the internet with little or no knowledge of the facts to support anything they may say. Such is your case. So, here\’s a little education:
1. Yes. I was against a Walmart at the northwest corner of Manchester/McKnight roads due in large part to its overwhelming size at that location and the destruction of an even bigger residential area than the current Novus project.
2. The Walmart project was dead before I took office. Ask former Alderman Conran, Mayor Julie Morgan, or current Alderman McCann who were instrumental in killing the Walmart project and who worked extremely hard to get me into the Office of Mayor.
3. Rock Hill was in the red 4 years before I took office. Once again, ask the individuals mentioned earlier. Approximately $450,000.00 in the red to be exact. My first year in office we were $250,000.00 to the black. Check the 2002-03 audit if they can find it.
4. Damn right on supporting my wife\’s new teaching position. I\’d support her in anything she decided to do. Obviously you haven\’t met her…your loss. Oh, I obtained a new job, too.
5. By the way, I didn\’t bail on the City of Rock Hill, the Board of Aldermen bailed on me by never accepting responsibility for any decision \”they made\” on any subject related to running the city, especially issues where they would take some heat from citizens for doing their duties of office. Did you know that the City of Rock Hill is a 4th Class City? Check the ordinance or Missouri statutes on the Powers Of The Board Of Alderman-4th Class City.
6. You must not be a teacher. A year after our move to Quincy, the Archdiocese Of St. Louis closed several schools laying off hundreds of teachers, some of them our close friends.
7. I can\’t provide details regarding the pension situation with Rock Hill as litigation is pending. However, stay tuned for my side of the story in 2007.
8. Trashing Rock Hill? You must be talking to the City\’s new PR firm. I bet if you would ask Mayor Morgan or Alderman McCann, or any other member of the Board from 2002 to present what specific tasks they did to bring about the relocation of Walgreens, establishment of the groundwork for the Novus Development, or as simple as replacing the old computer operating system from DOS to Windows, their responses should be interesting. Oh, and while you have them, ask them why they didn\’t include over $450,000.00 in predevelopment costs in their sale price to Mills for the McKnight property or why they gave up $167,000.00 in annual revenue generated by the proposed
Quiktrip at the Berry/Manchester property.
9. What \”investments\” did I drive away from the city? Give these readers specifics.
10. Once again, your information is faulty. Although the sales tax revenue would have been significant with a Walmart complex, the damage to the surrounding community properties over the years would be devastating with increased traffic and noise (24/7), pollution, and crime. The number of houses taken would have been two to three times the current number of homes impacted by the combined NW/SW project by Novus (See 25-Year Comprehensive Plan).
11. No. I will not run for any office ever. In fact, I encourage people not to run. With regard to my 200 hours of community service, I am currently a member of several historic preservation groups and downtown redevelopment organizations. I keep very busy with volunteer work, thanks for asking.
12. You spoke of boarded up houses. When I left office, there were no boarded homes. This is the work of your current Board and Mayor. Talk to them. I\’ve been gone since August 3, 2004.
Ray, I can\’t begin to adequately describe or detail how my life has been since this whole situation began. For two and half years, I have been forced to endure the inaccurate and misleading information distributed by Mayor Morgan and her Board, having no recourse but to remain silent as demanded by my attorneys, I have endured, and continue to endure emails and opinions of individuals such as you, who cowardly use a false name to protect themselves while they seek to destroy another person with lies and false information to the general public. Most painful to me has been the damage it has done to my wife and my children. They are the real victims in this situation and the media and cowards like you are the real criminals. Ray, or whoever you are, if you believe I am dumb enough to actually plan for this to happen, then, you\’re grossly misinformed.
I use my real name at all times.
Robert M. Salamone
nice job; other people are cowards, yet we didn\’t hear squat from you…then you run away from the problem. Yes, investment dried up in the area under your \’leadership\’; yes, you took a commission to place the city pension in the hands of others…perhaps you just forgot to leave your commission behind…sorry, you can blast away, but the fact is you plead guilty, and your 200 hrs of \’service\’ won\’t do Rock Hill any good. It\’s a shame your family had to suffer for your wrongdoing; you still got off easy. And Rock Hill still suffers.
Bob, you did get off easy. I witnessed the \’man of the people\’ type campaign, but I don\’t agree with your take on the events that followed. Regardless, this article is about an improper action that resulted in a criminal charge and guilty plea. It\’s hard to justify calling a blogger a coward when you relocated and didn\’t face the music from your constituents. Hopefully, you and Rock Hill will move past this, but I don\’t think you\’d get many votes in Rock Hlll today, and it\’s hard to blame that on the \’pr machine\’ which you claim is to blame. Having grown up in Rock Hill, it\’s a sad shell of it\’s former self. While this cannot be blamed on you, there is no doubt you made errors, and then only served approx half your term by relocating and leaving a dysfunctional govt behind. Good Luck in the future and good luck to Rock Hill as well. But please understand, you did hurt many people who believed in you.
I\’ll make no friends with the following statements. however, I call it as I see it.
I was told that some city employees were upset that the then Mayor was changing and selling the new retirement plan. I looked into the Missouri codes, and read the plain english there, and agreed. So I brought it up in open session. I will spare the full chronology and simply say that the entire administration, the city Attorney, the city prosecuting attorney, the county prosecuting attorney, the missouri state attorney general\’s office, the missouri ethics commission, the Missouri state police, even others were contacted. I provided copies of the law and was asked by only one of these, if the Board of Aldermen objected. I said, no, they rubber stamp everything. At that point I was told, then we won\’t even look into it. Later, Bob was charged and of course convicted.
I will long remember him yelling at me in open session that he didn\’t want to hear me making any more accusations about things being illegal.
Let\’s be clear, I don\’t think Bob should get to keep the money. But the Board was well aware of this action and several other community members and employees of the city were seriously concerned about.
In this whole affair, I have never gotten the impression from the then majority of the board, that they understood their legal responsibility to exercise oversight and independent judgement, in short, to take responsibility for the power and effect of their votes, and inactions.
Having said this will obviously win me no respect from Bob, nor any from the two subsequent mayors (prior irresponsible alder-persons) etc. None-the-less, it gauls me that the constitutional balance of powers was ignored, the city attorney defended the action to the county, and that defense was provided to me by the county, and the failure of judgement and responsibility at every step possibly PRIOR TO THE ACTUAL PAYMENT COMMISSION/ OF A CRIME, AND ALSO THEREAFTER.
And just to be clear, I was far from the only one bringing even this issue to the attention of the City, County and State.
The bottom line for me is this: Voting COUNTS.
Individuals, aldermen, etc. have personal responsibility. To date, only Bob has been called on the carpet, when this specific action was defended, EVEN IF THE MAYOR PROFITED, CLEARLY IN VIOLATION OF WRITTEN LAW, based on precedent from 30 years prior, before it occurred, to the best of my recollection.
Does it concern me that Bob might use this as a defense to \”get off?\” Yes. But the truth, in my opinion, is worth more than one man getting away with what 6 aldermen, 3 prosecutors\’ offices, attorneys, and citizens and a hand full of agencies were prepared to let him get away with \”before\” the fact.
I blew the whistle. So did others, and the Aldermen, who are responsible for paying the bills of the city, allowed this and other bad ideas to go by.
Now at least that final bit has been aired.
I was Chief Petitioner for the State Audit of Rock Hill that documented this and other serious problems, including a deliberate failure to keep comprehensive minutes of meetings.
The State auditor said that our recourse was the ballot box. Vote carefully. \”Your\” vote matters!
What a disappointment the elected folks in Rock Hill have been; this doesn\’t remove Salamone\’s guilt nor diminish the interesting timing of his decision to move for his wife\’s \’teaching\’ job…most people do not take local elections too serious; here is a good example of a case where elected officials with responsibility refused to watch what the other was doing. Thanks for the comments from David Arnold; he was obviously involved and should be commended. The comments from the Balaamaba\’s resonate with many of the citizens who feel taken by the former mayor. It still remains to be seen what good Salamone\’s \’community service\’ is going to do the community he wronged: Rock Hill. What kind of arrogance he showed; it\’s one thing to switch the assets around, it\’s another to pretend it being perfectly legal to accept a commission for doing same. And what about ethics? This was the guy who campaigned door to door promising he would be different. Maybe Quincy, Illinois will at least get some trash picked up in a local park. Maybe they\’ll dump Salamone with the rest of the trash.
With each individual, official and citizen, in my opinion.
I cannot know why Bob left when he did, but know that in open session he offered to stay throughout the remainder of his term, even in the face of those who would have preferred to recall him from his elected service.
I must object to him being vilified individually and alone when the responsibility really rested with a chorus of others in positions of trust and responsibility. Some who will remain nameless here were trapped by position into very narrow channels of opportunity and little as they did publicly, did everything within their power to serve right and justice.
But it is always the business of the people, and their appointed and elected servants to remain vigilant, and courageous–willing to engage and confront uncomfortable issues BEFORE they result in criminal prosecutions and neighborhood disasters…
Even with everyone doing their best, mistakes happen. With a lack of ownership of responsibility, in my opinion, both the guilty and the innocent get hurt, and more so than either require.
The list of people who\’s official job it was literally to say \”no\” is longer than one name.
David
Where did Salamone get his attorney; Tom Brown could use his/her help…bribery, yeah, not good, but Salamone walked away with more money, and he gets to clean rest rooms???
Shawn Brown\’s 18-month prison sentence, handed down Monday in federal court, came with a stinging rebuke from the judge, who said the former St. Peters mayor abused his position and destroyed the public\’s faith in good government.
U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey rejected the request by Brown\’s attorneys to sentence him to home confinement. Autrey instead gave Brown the minimum prison time guidelines called for in the felony bribery case. The former mayor could have gotten up to two years.
Brown, 35, resigned Oct. 23 after pleading guilty of soliciting and accepting a $2,750 bribe from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., the company that is installing red-light traffic cameras in St. Peters.
Dressed in a dark, pin-striped suit, Brown stood as Autrey quizzed him about his mayoral campaign in 2004.
\”Part of your promise to the citizens of St. Peters was honest government,\” the judge said.
Brown agreed.
Autrey replied: \”You flat-out lied. You didn\’t complete your campaign promise.\”
He added that Brown failed to give St. Peters \”a representative people could count on.\”
\”You abused your position of trust … to steal, to fatten your own pocket,\” Autrey added.
By taking a bribe, Brown wrecked public faith in good government, Autrey said.
\”When you took the money, Mr. Brown, when you stole it, you destroyed that faith,\” the judge said.
Autrey ordered Brown to repay the bribe money. His attorneys said he did that on Monday.
The judge allowed Brown to remain free until he is ordered to report to prison in a few weeks. At the request of Brown\’s attorneys, Autrey will recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that the former mayor serve his time at the minimum-security lockup in Yankton, S.D.
Brown said little during the sentencing in U.S. District Court in St. Louis and declined to comment afterward.
Scott Rosenblum, the lead defense attorney, said that with an 18-month sentence, Brown could hope to get out of prison in nine to 12 months and complete his term at a halfway house.
Brown\’s other attorney, Adam Fein, had asked Autrey to go easy on the former mayor in light of his otherwise clean record and good work through various civic organizations.
\”His daily actions over the last few years show he is dedicated to his community,\” said Fein, adding that the Browns have two children who \”need someone there to care for them.\”
Brown\’s situation drew little sympathy from the judge or St. Peters residents interviewed Monday afternoon at the Rec-Plex.
\”I never thought he was a good enough candidate to warrant the position of mayor,\” Liz Wohldmann, 46, said as her daughter practiced figure skating. \”There was nothing in his background that would merit him leading the city.\”
Mary Lou Joseph, a church secretary, said Brown\’s case is \”really unfortunate.\”
\”When people do something wrong, they have to suffer the consequences,\” Joseph said. \”I\’m sure when he was doing it, he knew he was doing wrong.\”
After he was indicted in August, Brown claimed the payment from Redflex was a campaign contribution. When he pleaded guilty in October, Brown admitted that in June he solicited and accepted the bribe.
As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Brown acknowledged he had told a Redflex employee he would veto legislation approving the camera system\’s installation unless the employee paid the mayor as much money as the company representative could manage.
Redflex told the FBI of Brown\’s request and cooperated with investigators in giving him a check for $2,750. Authorities said Brown had the Redflex employee deliver the check to his home.
Brown, who had never held office before being elected mayor, beat 20-year incumbent Tom Brown in a bitterly fought contest.
State of Missouri
Office of Secretary of State
Case No. AP-06-12 IN THE MATTER OF:
ROBERT M. SALAMONE CRD # 4060335
Respondent.
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
Now on the 20th day of April 2006, the Commissioner, having reviewed this matter, issues the following order:
On February 9, 2006, the Commissioner of Securities issued a Withdrawal of Temporary Registration, and Summary Suspension of Agent Application, on Respondent Robert M. Salamone.
On March 20, 2006, the office of the Commissioner, through the Central Registration Depository (“CRD”), received a request for termination of Respondent’s application.
On March 20, 2006, the office of the Commissioner, through the Central Registration Depository (“CRD”), received a request for termination of Respondent’s application.
On April 17, 2006, Mary S. Hosmer, Assistant Commissioner of Securities spoke with Respondent. Respondent stated that he is not contesting this matter and does not want a hearing.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT THE CONTESTED CASE IN THIS MATTER, AND THE HEARING SCHEDULED THEREON, IS DISMISSED. Further, nothing in this Order shall work or be constituted as a reinstitution of the Respondent’s temporary registration or as a reinstatement of Respondent’s agent application. Respondent’s temporary registration shall remain withdrawn and his agent application suspended. Respondent is not registered as an agent in the State of Missouri.
SO ORDERED:
ROBIN CARNAHAN
SECRETARY OF STATE
(Signed/Sealed)
MATTHEW D. KITZI
COMMISSIONER OF SECURITIES
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
Whatever happened to him after all this?
Bob relocated from what should have been a decent paying profession to Quincy, Illinois because his wife got a teaching job in the local district up there-
Not sure how much teachers are paid these days, but people don’t usually relocate for a teaching job unless they are straight out of college…
Reading between the lines, it looks to most like Bob wanted to get the heck out of Dodge (Rock Hill); he relocated on his wife getting another teaching job, giving up his local position as well as the mayorship. Hope the commission he received for swapping Rock Hill pension funds was worth it.
Maybe he’ll run for mayor in Quincy, Illinois now?
Bob’s wife got a job in Illinois. That is why she moved. That is where he moved.
Why do you care what his wife knew? I was being told stuff by citizens left and right! People knew!
You would have to check with the city of Rock Hill to see if all the money was paid back yet. It would be a nice thing for you to do john, so why don’t you find out and let us all know?
Bob did wrong, but many many people stood by for it. It is happening on a national scale too, right now. As you’ll notice, I don’t absolve the doer, but the knowing crowd shares guilt in my humble opinion.
David,
Chief Petitioner, Missouri State Auditors Office Audit of Rock Hill
Salomone layed the groundwork for Novus’ bulldozing of a stable neighborhood on the SouthWest corner of Manchester and McKnight. He made promises to homeowners that he knew were irresponsible and inaccurate. My wife’s family built our home 60 years ago, and Novus took it under threat of condemnation. We didn’t get a fraction of what Salomone promised us when he was selling the deal five or six years ago. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, and its safe to say his replacements have been equally inept.
Yes. I regret that you were taken advantage of, that a stable neighborhood was destroyed. It remains true that those with the VOTES are responsible, and in these cases, the Board of Aldermen have the votes that are supposed to (that are legally given power to) control the actual behavior of a Mayor.
The People must understand their own responsibility in electing whom they do, and of the Board of Aldermen in exercising the Board’s oversight. In this way excesses of energy or point of view may be moderated, if the system is properly used.
I had heard he had moved again, due to bankruptcy.