St. Clair County voters, get ready to see a lot of St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, if you can stomach it. After all, he’s paid for it, to adapt a quote from KTVI reporter, Elliot Davis.
Beginning September 25 through election day on November 8, Kern has spent $96,000 on political ads to air on local and cable TV.
If that isn’t enough, you’ve probably already seen his omnipresent billboards and massive headshot along the Poplar Street Bridge into St. Louis and throughout Interstate 64 and on Illinois Route 15. He spent another $53,000 for those advertisements.
And that doesn’t even take into consideration the $125,000 donated to Kern’s campaign by himself and his mother since January 7.
It seems almost creepy when you consider that Kern is doing all of this for a job that pays a little less than $96,000 per year and given the fact that he is a millionaire, in his own right, and doesn’t need the money.
If one didn’t know better, you would think that Kern is running scared. His Republican opponent, Rodger Cook, is at a financial disadvantage and poses no financial threat.
Most of Cook’s publicity comes from appearances on Bob Romanik’s “Grim Reaper” radio show, which has an almost political cult-like listenership. Cook hopes that will translate into victory come November. We shall see.
However, what makes a rich man like Mark Kern throw his own wealth into a political contest for the St. Clair County Board chairmanship?
In one word, the answer is power. The St. Clair County Board chairman controls the “poli-tricks” of St. Clair County and all the political players within its boundaries.
In maintaining control of that seat, Kern controls myriad patronage jobs, cash flow to political workers during elections, as well as the political crumbs and appointments to those willing to do his bidding, particularly below the hill in cash-strapped East St. Louis.
For Kern’s political sycophants in East Boogie, election day is payday for precinct committeemen and election gophers whose job it is to get out or hijack the vote by any means necessary.
The County Board chairman is a political godfather of sorts, and his political minions don’t want a change in leadership because a change in leadership translates into a change in income after being locked out of political patronage opportunities or appointments.
Kern understands this dynamic all too well and will spend his considerable fortune, and that of others, to maintain his boss status and position of control, respect and power, whatever the cost.
The only ones who can upset the apple cart are the voters of St. Clair County. Let’s see who prevails on November 8.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
