To the editor:

I recently was going through some newspapers dated back to 1996 and got caught up in some St. Louis history.

I was amazed to read some of the comments from politicians and their supporters who had gotten themselves in trouble over their comments. Some of their excuses were so lame I doubt even they believed them.

I was amazed at a lady in office who will not speak to me, who we helped. She cried on my wife’s and my shoulder before her first election.

Another man hugged me before he was sworn into office and two years later walked by me without saying a word be-cause some of the more powerful people in the party were there.

How about when you step down from public office in the middle of a term to take a higher paying job?

South county politics are pretty brutal. Several of the lone wolves write about representing the people instead of working for special interests. They are quickly criticized and laughed at. But they had the guts to do what they thought was right.

No matter what flag you fall under, your leaders are always right and never to be questioned. Some of the folks who are most easily offended are sometimes the most offensive. If you make one mistake, you go to the back of the line.

One thing I will say about this paper. You may not agree with them, but nowhere else in St. Louis can you go face to face with the person who may have written something negative about you.

There are no answers and no solutions. Today, tomorrow, 10 years from now, it will be the same. New faces will appear and old faces will fade away, but the storyline will be the same.

You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution. My money will be on the independent letter writer who will step on toes, but tell it the way it is.

Ron Wagganer

Lemay