It's time to clean up Missouri politics. Being a good citizen and living in a civil society requires all of us to look at the behavior of others and call a foul play when one occurs. For too long people have been looking the other way and tolerating bad behavior, nearly expecting it to be the norm.  We must fight back against those who seek to pervert the political process.  It is incumbent on all of us to hold all of our elected officials accountable to an expectation of honor.

I recently filed a 425 page ethics complaint detailing 68 serious ethics violations.  This involved an extensive amount of research, but there is no other way to protect ourselves except to expose their misdeeds.  We have done the homework for the Missouri Ethics Commission and now they only have to apply the law to those who are laundering money and defying the purpose of having any laws. 

The first red flag emerged when we noticed that people over 200 miles away were sending out mailers to influence the outcomes of small local races.  Then we realized that the money was being laundered so that the true sources were hidden.  Missouri allows people to spend and donate any amount to a campaign, but they must disclose the source of the money.  For example, this allows the citizens to know if the porn, gambling or loan shark industries are buying campaigns for corrupt candidates and helps people identify the reasons why a candidate would promote specific issues.  When a "consulting firm" takes the money from private sources and uses it to send out false or vicious mailers, it hurts all of us and our civility.  When presented with the obvious facts, I had no choice but to call to justice those who are guilty.

Partisan corruption in both of big two parties is a cancer eating away at not only the traditional values of personalresponsibility and decency for the individual politician, but now it has escalated to the level of coordinated team efforts on both sides of the isle to win at any cost, disregarding the law, defiling the institution of government, and destroying innocent people who are owed the protection of government.

Hopefully, the guilty will learn a lesson about the importance of showing honor to our system and this will spare many other innocent citizens from being victimized by those who maliciously seek to abuse others.  We should never tolerate bullying, name calling and lies, especially when it is designed to ruin people's lives.

I believe in doing what I can to stand up for what it right and hope others will join me.  I write to you with the good news that we don't have to take this.  Good candidates should not have to hide in fear that their lives will be destroyed by merely offering themselves on the ballot.  As more citizens come forward and demand accountability and honesty, we will see our government cleaned up, efficient and more honorable.

Now it is time for the press to move forward.  The full extent can only be speculated, but it appears to be hundreds of thousands of dollars laundered for multiple candidates and multiple campaigns.  There is no other way to protect ourselves and our civility except to expose their misdeeds.  Now that this complaint in on record, it is now up to the press to let the people know about these abuses.  For the ethics laws to work we need the news media to help keep people honest.    

Your thoughts are important to me, so please let me know what you think we can cultivate a culture of civility. You can send me your opinion by replying to: Cynthia4missouri@gmail.com