Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

This is in response to recent letters opposing a city/county merger and the misguided view that Amendment 1, Clean Missouri, is the Legislature’s disguised attempt to implement a merger.

First, Amendment 1 was not placed on the ballot by the Legislature. It is a petition initiative. Voters across the state of Missouri signed petitions because they are fed up that the Legislature hasn’t addressed these issues.

The redistricting issue eliminates gerrymandering. Currently, elected officials are selecting their voters by gerrymandering, and this initiative eliminates their ability to rig the vote.

It has absolutely nothing to do with a city/county merger.

Secondly, and just as important, there is no proposed merger.

If — and that’s a big if — if there was a proposal to merge St. Louis County and city into one large city, there would be over-whelming bipartisan opposition from voters in St. Louis County.

I’d oppose it and believe most Democrats would too.

Could there be some consolidation of some government entities to save tax dollars and make government work better for voters? Maybe.

However, without specific proposals, there is nothing to support or oppose.

All the anti-merger talk is just a scare tactic to confuse voters.

Joe Zelle
Oakville

Editor’s note: Mr. Zelle is the president of the Oakville Democratic Organization