Messerli: Never endorsed Wheeler and won't

  When is an endorsement not an endorsement? 

  Lee's Summit Mayor Karen Messerli now tells The Buzz Blog that she has never endorsed state Sen. Charles Wheeler.  And never will.

   That will surprise anyone who heard the Wheeler campaign both before and after a press conference last Wednesday.  In fact, it surprised us.

    She says the county executive candidate was incorrect in repeatedly claiming she would do the deed. Now, she's even pulling back on her initial support of Wheeler.

   "I am very uncomfortable about how this has been handled," Messerli says. "I voluntarily chose to personally support him, but, in retrospect, I wish I had not agreed to participate in the press conference."

  Messerli says she distinguishes between personally supporting someone and formally endorsing a candidate as the Lee's Summit mayor. She said she did the former -- and even wrote a check to Wheeler's campaign -- but definitely not the latter. Why not? She has to work with the winner, she says.

   Asked about this development this morning, Wheeler got red-faced, wagged his finger and said it was all much ado about nothing.

    He recalled that she was at his "endorsement party," that is, his campaign headquarters kick off on June 1. That was tantamount to an endorsement, he said. "That's when we told her to stand up and say nice things about me," Wheeler said.

   Actually, it seemed that way to us, too, and we blogged it on June 6.   

   But if that was an endorsement, why did Wheeler feel the need to get it all over again last Wednesday, you might ask?

  On July 17, Wheeler told folks at a Lee's Summit forum that he expected Messerli would formally endorse him. The next day, he told The Star's Editorial Board that, "I am expecting Karen Messerli, the mayor of Lee's Summit, to come out and endorse me on Wednesday."

    Then the afternoon before the press conference, the Wheeler campaign issued a news release that among other things indicated Messerli would take a shot at Mike Sanders, the prosecutor who also wants the top county job.

   The script went like this: "You want a new county executive who voters can trust to see that contracts are bid on time and without political patronage."

  A Wheeler operative assured us that the news conference would be news worthy because of Messerli's comments about Sanders.

  Messerli said she was told more officials would be at the event. It was just Wheeler and her. When the time came, Messerli said the former mayor and state senator has the "leadership, experience and integrity" to be county executive.

   But she pointedly and repeatedly refused to say anything critical about Sanders, in response to my questioning or that of KMBC's Micheal Mahoney.

   She abruptly drove away from the news conference as Wheeler was still taking questions.

   My tape shows Messerli never used the word "patronage." But the Wheeler campaign issued a news release quoting Messerli as saying at the news conference, "Even if you didn't vote for the renovation of the Truman Sports Complex back in April, I know ALL Jackson County residents want the next county executive to be a person they can trust to see the contracts are bid on time and without political patronage."

    Messerli's hotter than the tar on a county road. Not only was the news release issued without her prior approval, and claimed her endorsement, but the quote was manufactured.

   Wheeler's campaign manager, Maureen Galey, admits she may never have gotten Messerli's approval for the releases to the media but assumed she had endorsed the ex-mayor. "The whole thing may be a misunderstanding," Galey said. "I don't think it's a big deal."

    It wasn't 10 minutes before we were hearing that Messerli had been dragged into all this. This, she denies.

   For the record: Messerli's boss at St. Luke's is Nancy Seelen, a friend and appointee of incumbent Katheryn Shields. Seelen's boss, Rich Hastings, is one of Wheeler's staunchest backers.

   Wheeler thinks Seelen had told him that Messerli would be endorsing him.

   So what does Sanders have to add to the Messerli mess? "I don't want to make her position any more difficult," he said.

  Posted by DeAnn Smith

 

 

Comments

Ouch.

Wow!

[George]

Kudos to Mayor Messerli for knowing what REAL integrity is. Not the manufactured fake stuff the Wheeler machine just can't seem to stop creating. Karen really does need to be congratulated for only doing what she knows is right, no matter how much pressure anyone put on her. And Wheeler -- along with all his motley crew -- should be ashamed!!!

The job of County Executive is for real, not fake. The people of Jackson County deserve a leader who has demonstrated real integrity. That leader in this race is clearly Mike Sanders. He's proven it time and time again. If you start to doubt he's the best choice, just continue to watch the Wheeler campaign and their antics! They really can't stop themselves.

Whoa!!

[Roy M]

I worked for Charlie when he was at the city 3 decades ago...this whole espisode doesn't surprise me one bit. He was a mean-spirited, smoke-filled back room politician then and, he is apparently only familiar with the same strong-arm tactics today. Back in the 70's this type of chest-beating, threatening and belittling of people actually worked some of the time. But, I dont think this kind of political manipulation will work now in the 21st century. Sadly, Mr. Wheeler's time has come and gone...he just hasn't figured that out yet.

I was at KCUR today and witnessed the episode between DeAnn and Charlie. It was quite a sight to see. DeAnn was doing her usual heads-on questioning when you could see Charlie getting redder and redder in the face. He started wagging his finger at her and for a moment looked like he was about to actually strike her -- which he didn't, thank God. His frustration over being confronted about his misstatements and those of his supporters related to the Messerli "non-endorsement" was so intense that people across the hall could hear his raised voice and came to witness what was going on. To her credit DeAnn never lost her composure or raised her voice and just stayed on task asking the tough questions.

Although I am not a Wheeler supporter in this current campaign, I must acknowledge that I felt great sympathy for him and wished he had just walked away. He did himself a great disservice by treating another human being the way he did today. It was truly sad. As for DeAnn, she was tough, accurate and extremely well prepared and never let go. Mike Wallace would be proud of her.

[countyshmounty]

If this article were a bomb, the explosion would leave a crater in this race the size of Katheryn Shields' ego.

What we have here is much more than a political gotcha. The headline alone is enough of a shocker. But then you keep reading, and reading, and it just keeps getting worse. What we are left with is crystal clear, absolutely abhorrent, and utterly un-spinnable.

Hats off to Ms. Smith and Mike Mahoney for simply asking enough questions to get to the real truth, outside the spin zone. Excellent reporting. This little peek inside Camp Wheeler is truly enlightening and I hope every voter gets to see it.

To paraphrase "Joker" Jack Nicholson... "This campaign needs an enema!"

[Walter H.]

"The whole thing may be a misunderstanding," Galey said. "I don't think it's a big deal."

Huh?

[Gene Ostermeier]

Firstly, the citizens of this county are very lucky to have a journalist of DeAnn Smith's integrity and courage working for the KC Star. Secondly, the Wheeler campaign must be infested with scum. This Messerli mess is about as sleazy and slimy as it gets. I have have been an observer of the political scene in this area for 35 years and I have never seen anything like this. Its about as low as politics gets. Katherine Shields is a slime ball. Charlie Wheeler is a slime ball. He should show some integrity and withdraw from the race.

[George]

BTW, if you check the disclosures here
http://www.moethics.mo.gov/
You will see that Nancy Seelan, and Richard Hastings, and many other St. Luke's people have donated lots of money to Wheeler. I wonder why?

Mostly though, I hope that they are not stupid enough to harass Messerli at the workplace or threaten her job. That would be wrong. And make a horrible situation even worse.

[Freedom Member]

I hope this episode points out what many of us have been trying to communicate for a while. Whoever posted that blog on Sunday about Messerli being threatened obviously knew more than we assumed. But, I have tried to tell people that these folks will lie, threaten and do whatever they can get away with. I hope what happened at Freedom makes more sense to some of you now. Shields, Carderella, Glorioso, Bryant they are all the same. No lie is too big for them to tell and no threat is beyond their bounds. They are shameless. As for Dr. Wheeler, who knows what is happening in that man's brain but he needs to just go home and rest for a while. Shaking his finger at a reporter and losing control of his emotions is not who this man used to be. Maybe when he is rested he will be able to see all the fools around him for what they are. Or maybe he has been around them so long that he has become one of them.

[countyshmounty]

Oh, by the way. Richard Hastings is also an appointee on the Jackson County Sports Authority. You know, the public body watching over the almost $1 Billion of taxpayer funded improvements about to start at the sports complex?

Charlie Wheeler might be content to sleep through meetings, and dream about the strong-arm back room political deals of yesteryear, but the public needs to wake up before it's too late! Your money is on the line!

good job mike sanders i think the truth is like grease it floats to the top . kudos to deanne.

[Karl Wilson]

The more we learn about Charlie Wheeler the less we like him. I guess that's what political campaigns are all about. Wheeler is toast. He might as well check into a Westport bar and chill out. This race is over.

[countyshmounty]

And one more thing...

I hope I am starting to see some of the gutsy reporting this town so desperately needs out of its newspaper. When there is a big mess to be cleaned up, it takes a fair and free press to shine a bright light on what's going on.

Here's hoping the Star has the guts to print this on its pages for its readers, as well as on the Buzz Blog for all us bleary-eyed typers. I'm starting to think they do.

[DeAnn]

Dear Countyshmounty,

I was just coming to the blog to post to look for more coverage on the county executive race in Wednesday's Star.

[Adam Stewart]

Question for Charlie Wheeler:

Were your actions following the KCUR radio program part of that "calm hand" technique you've been bragging about bringing to Jackson County?

What kind of management style did Wheeler display today? He can't control his temper and keep his cool for the length of time it takes a journalist to ask a few questions?

[CarrieB]

We shouldn't be surprised. He has tragically become an empty suit and is being horribly manipulated by Team Shields/Cardarella. I have tremendous respect for his legacy and really wish he had not fallen prey to the serpentine Shields team. That being said, the only thing he can do now to recover his dignity and protect his legacy is bow as gracefully as possible out of this race.

[David Novak]

Adam Steward makes a very good point. On Steve Kraske's program today (KCUR 89.3 FM), in response to a question about whether this race was about issues or personalities, Wheeler said he had a "very calm personality, and that is much needed in Jackson County Court House at this particular time." If today's Wheeler meltdown at KCUR is any indication of his very calm personality, then one thing is very clear. It would be a big mistake for the voters to elect Wheeler to this job.

So Messerli tells Wheeler for months that she strongly supports him, attends his endorsement press conference in early June and even donates to his campaign, then backs out when the cameras are rolling. She put herself in this position, not Wheeler. I don't call that courage & integrity. I call it a spineless act that shows her total lack of decisiveness. Just what kind of pressure did Sanders handlers put on her to make this flip-flop. I assume some of those union hoods supporting Sanders paid some visits to her. Yes, that is still going on in Jackson County. The people of Lee's Summit deserved better from their Mayor.

[Adam Stewart]

Charles Wheeler is NOT a victim.

Here’s why: In his last election, he only had 1 Democratic endorsement (Wheeler’s own supporters readily admit this). Wheeler had NO reason to expect the outlook for support in this election was going to be any different. He made a calculated POLITICAL decision to align himself with Shields/Cardarella/Glorioso/Werner. Wheeler is not new to the political scene. He KNEW going in his “handlers” had a reputation for dirty politics, and he CHOSE to align himself with them anyway. I think this SPEAKS VOLUMES about Charles Wheeler the man, but I will leave it up to the readers to fill in the blanks. It was a political risk/gamble he was willing to take. Now, it seems clear the risk is not paying off for him. But make no mistake, this was Charles Wheeler’s CHOICE; he is not a victim. He rolled the dice and the roll is coming up snake eyes.

Oh, you Wheeler-Dealers are really something else. Are you really going to try and blame this on Mike Sanders? You need to confess and make amends. It is far too late, and too many people know about this, to cover it up now. Too, too late to snake out of this one.

[CarrieB]

Duly noted, Adam. You make an excellent point. This is not Wheeler's first rodeo - he knew (or at least should have) what snakes he was crawling in bed with. Or, as my grandmother used to say, "if you lie down with dogs, don't be surprised when you get fleas".

8:28 pm has just introduced the first “red herring” into this thread.

Mayor Messerli was being blackmailed/coerced/intimidated into giving Charlie Wheeler her endorsement by her employer, Nancy Seelan a top-level administrator with the Saint Luke’s Health System, and Wheeler’s handlers AND the Wheelies come on this blog and try to spin blame onto Sanders. You’ve got to be kidding!