Monarch Fire Protection District Union Members Say Campaign Information was Inaccurate and Misleading

A direct mail piece that firefighters allege was distributed Friday by Monarch Fire Protection board candidate Richard Gans as a "voter alert" initiated a flurry of response by the firefighters' union this weekend.

A sample of the piece, provided by a union representative, accompanies this article. The card indicates that Gans' election opponent, Steven Swyers, of Wildwood, hid a $15,000 campaign contribution from the firefighters' union. The card also states it was paid for "by the committee to elect Rick Gans campaign, Mark Rothstein treasurer."

Chris Gelven, shop steward of Professional Firefighters of Eastern Missouri IAFF Local 2665 Monarch Shop, said the union had to respond to what they called misleading and inaccurate details circulated by Monarch board candidate Gans.

The way the piece was created makes it nearly impossible to see the real donor because a red line was drawn over it and the city address was eliminated, said Gelven.

Gans, of Chesterfield, is the incumbent Monarch board president. He is challenged by Swyers in a contest for a six-year term and key spot on a three-member board of directors.

The local Monarch shop's report on file with the Missouri Ethics Commission in Jefferson City, which can be viewed online, does not list a campaign contribution of the nature described in the direct mail piece.

Swyers, who is experiencing his first exposure to a publicly elected position, said he is "very disappointed someone would make such serious allegations that were baseless."

He said the majority of the district's taxpayers do not appear to be fooled by the erroneous piece. But nevertheless, he issued a recorded message over the weekend to voters to let them know that the direct mailer was out in the public domain. "In the message, I told voters the claims in this piece were not supported, not related to this race and that they weren't even related to this city," Swyers said.

"I explained that my opponent apparently wasn't running on his own merit," he said.

Swyers said this has been a bad attack on his personal reputation. "I have a few scars and am a lot wiser now."

"The campaign piece now circulating is ruining our reputation, and we believe the direct mailer was designed to deliberately deceive voters," said Gelven. "To date, we haven't put a dime into either candidate's run at the election."

Gelven said shop members were determined to stay out of this year's race, citing that controversy in past campaigns made them want to try staying neutral this cycle. Gans was criticized and opposed in the past by Local 2665 and its Monarch shop.

The Monarch shop directed campaign funds four years ago to Kim Evans, who was voted onto the board, and last donated to Marlyn Flauter, who was not voted onto the board two years ago.

Gelven said the St. Louis-based Monarch shop "absolutely put no money" into the election campaigns this year.  However, the confusion appears to stem from a $15,000 contribution made Feb. 16 by the Kansas City, MO-based International Association of Fire Fighters to a "Voters for Good Government" political action committee. The address of that firefighters' union is on Manchester Avenue in Kansas City, an address that obviously sounds familiar to St. Louis residents.

Treasurer of the recipient committee, William Harden, of St. Charles, said he incurred a $15,000 expense on Feb. 15, which was provided to a print company to oppose a Kansas City mayoral candidate, Deb Hermann. He said this exchange of finances had nothing to do with a St. Louis group or activity. A PDF of the report documents also accompanies this article.

"We stayed out of this current board race so that we would be left alone and unblemished," said Gelven. "But in doing so, and with this direct mail development, the negative effect on our union is over the edge and worse than ever."

Gelven said shop members are considering taking legal action as a result of the piece.

The Monarch fire district serves more than 55,000 residents located within 55 square miles in West St. Louis County, including all or portions of Wildwood, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Clarkson Valley, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights and unincorporated St. Louis County.

Editor's Note:  Many attempts to reach Monarch board candidate Rick Gans and his treasurer, Mark Rothstein, were unsuccessful at the time this article was published.