By Pauline Masson – After serving eleven months as Pacific police chief, Scott Melies is asking voters to re-elect him for a full four-year term. He faces the same two challengers who were on the ballot in April 2021, former police officer Andrew “Drew” Whitman and Pacific reserve officer Greg Hurst.
What appeared to be a straightforward race with three candidates for police chief took an unexpected turn last week when the City of Pacific published a promotion in the form of a news story of two of the candidates: Chief Scott Melies and acting mayor Herb Adams.
In its March 22, issue of the city newsletter “Pacific Update” – with a red starburst at the top of the page that tied the publication to Tuesday’s election – the City provided a full page promotion of Melies accomplishments during his first year tenure as police chief.
The newsletter is printed at taxpayer expense and mailed to every home in Pacific. To say this complicates the race for police chief is an understatement.
This city promotion of a candidate, using taxpayer funds, appears to violate – at the very least – the city personnel manual that says city employees cannot provide literature or in any way assist candidates in a municipal election. It also flies in the face of state law that prohibits government employees from using their official authority to influence election results.
No author is listed on the article and no editor is listed on the publication so it is unclear who at city hall made the decision to use taxpayer funds to publish such an undisguised paean to a candidate a few days prior to the election.
What is clear is that this is a flagrant promotion of Chief Scott Melies first term as an elected official. The article does not use the words campaign, vote, or elect, but it lists a litany of initiatives, policies and procedures that the author says were “implemented under the leadership of Chief Scott Melies,” a candidate in Tuesday’s election.
It is unclear whether Chief Melies participated in putting this promotional material together, but the article contained considerable similarity to comments Chief Melies made at the March 24 candidates forum sponsored by the Chamber of commerce and held at the Tri County Senior Center.
The question that comes to mind is why any city employee or official would choose to entangle a political candidate with Scott Melies’ extensive credentials in a published mailer that appears to disregard the law. The second, and perhaps more pressing, question is, how can citizens be assured a free and fair election when the city breaks the rules?
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It should be noted that in the same newsletter the author/editor also included an article under a banner titled “Spotlight,” that outlined campaign promises of Herb Adams, ward two alderman who is a candidate for mayor.
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Voters are left to draw their own conclusions about the city’s involvement in the election. But we – Hometown Matters and author Pauline Masson – campaigned hard for the citizens to elect the chief, so please vote.
The other two candidates on the ballot for police chief are:
Sergeant Drew Whitman a 24-year veteran with the Pacific Police Department is asking voters to elect him police chief.
Whitman, who was the second vote getter a year ago, said if elected chief he would work to return a second school resource officer to the city schools and he would step up community policing, placing more officer and the chief in all public events and.
“I believe we are a small town and need an police chief who reflects the community,” Whitman said.
During his two and a half decades with the Pacific Police Department, Whitman saw the inclusion of police dogs, cameras in police cars, and body cameras on officers. He served on a joint task force for weapons of mass destruction and the Suburban Emergency Response Team (SERT) a task force that included the communities of Ellisville, Eureka and Pacific.
As one of the officers who introduced police dogs to the department, Whitman is credited with a number of drug busts that took massive amounts of drugs off city streets.
Sgt. Whitman completed one years with the University of Missouri at St. Louis and is a graduate of the St. Lous Law Enforcement Academy, St. Louis. He also competed two SWAT courses, one provided by the military and held at Fr. Leonard Wood, and the second provided by the Los Angeles Police Department. He holds a Class A license.
Greg Hurst, has served as a reserve officer in the Pacific Police Department for eleven years after 20 years with the Chesterfield Police Department. He is currently employed as a security manager with Allied Universal, Creve Coeur.
Hurst said he decided to make a second run for chief’s position because he believes changes under Melies leadership have taken the department away from citizens. He said he has a strong community policing ethic that will benefit his hometown department.
“What I’ve seen in the past year convinces me that I am the most qualified candidate to lead the department,” Hurst said.
Hurst said he was alarmed when he saw all the female officers leave the department, including patrol officers and dispatchers. There are no officers of color in the department.
“I don’t think the community is truly represented by an all male, all white police department,” Hurst said. “If I’m elected I would recruit a diversified panel of police officers. And, like officer Whitman, I would push to place the second resource officer back in the schools.”
Hurst said he was so concerned about the direction of the department that he considered withdrawing from the race and supporting Drew Whitman because he realized that splitting the vote would be a benefit to the incumbent.
“I believe that Drew is ethical and is not mean spirited in any way,” Hurst said. “He means well in the community and the department.”
After talking with supporters about withdrawing from the race, Hurst said supporters convinced him to stay in the race.
“I believe I can win and I will be the best chief,” he said.
This has to be an April Fools joke, right? 🙏🏼
This should prompt a lawsuit against the city.
It will be an issue with 2 people running against Melies. We are seeing just what the current politicians think what they can just do whether their actions are legal or not, they will do whatever they have to in order to keep the control they want. NOT what the people of Pacific should accept as it has a negative affect on our lives.
Hurst is correct in not splitting the vote as that will allow Melies to slip in. Whitman has worked for the Pacific department for 24 years so for that reason I will vote for him.
As far as The City promoting a candidate, in the same issue was a continuance of a series of meet your City staff. The story on Herb Adams ended with” hoping to serve you in the future” type statement. sounds like campaigning on the tax payers dime to me.
The article about progress? in the police department did not have to mention names to be informative. the Chief should make a public and written statement disavowing any knowledge of it’s distribution, unless it was meant to be election material. ,which is unethical and a violation of several laws . Since, by ordnance , he is considered a ‘city employee’ he violated sections of the employee manual.
I contacted The Missouri Ethics Commission and was directed to their web page. http://www.mec.mo.gov. click on ‘how to file a complaint’.
They take only written , notarized , complaints on their form (on the web page) that arrive by regular mail or are hand delivered. no fax or e-mail.
They take complaints after the election and will forward the complaints to the City for a written answer, before reviewing.
Let’s not let this abuse of our sacred voting system lightly.
PLEASE, every one file a complaint, don’t assume some one else did. THE MORE THE BETTER, thank you
A department’s veterans are it’s core. They instill trust in a community and stability in the agency. But, police administration is a complex thing, and it’s only getting more difficult to keep a police department pointed in the right direction. A chief with the right background and credentials, plus good, honest officers, is a win-win combination for all. Vote smart, and keep the police department on the right track.
And who would your choice be? certainly not some one who is a puppet of corrupt individuals that ignore their sworn duty to follow the law. Violate sacred voting laws, that keep us honest, by using tax money, and City employee on the clock time, to produce and distribute campaign literature for their two favorite sons. I hope the current chief has not soiled his office by knowingly condoning such abuses.
Ethics Commission update, NOTE: though politics or what ever, the current MO Ethics Commission is down to only 2 members, not 6 members as is standard. Since 4 members are required for action, they are not currently able to respond to complaints. They will take any and all complaints after 2 appointments are made, possibly by the end of April.
Remember, the core complaints are: the city used tax payer dollars in the form of employee time in writing, including city computers, publishing and seeking printing of one sided campaign materials for only 2 of their favored candidates. Then there is the cost of printing and postage to distribute this ‘news letter” by on duty salaried employees , all on the tax payers dime. Next is the matter of a City elected official taking pictures of himself on City property with a large campaign sign implying that these were his projects.
A suggested remedy to them would be requiring each City official involved repay the tax payer out of their own private accounts.
Also, of course any additional punitive fines.
I will watch and notify all when the Commission is again ready to protect our sacred right to a fair election.