Readers Not Interested In The Recorder Of Deeds Office
Few people were interested in the poll last week, boring policy stuff, I suppose. Still we must be engaged in mundane policy issues, not everything is a hot-button issue. A bill before the Board of Aldermen would ask voters if the Recorder of Deeds office should be appointed, rather than elected. Here are the poll results:
The Recorder of Deeds office should…
- …change to an appointed position 30 [54.55%]
- …continue as citywide elected position 14 [25.45%]
- Unsure/no opinion 11 [20%]
I think this is reactionary given the scandals uncovered this summer in the office of Sharon Carpenter, herself originally appointed decades ago. It does appear throughout the country the Register/Recorder is an elected position. Changing the position to be appointed ny the mayor also potentially invites corruption. I like the legal recording of property deeds being removed from the mayor’s office — not this mayor, any mayor.
Limiting service to 3-4 terms is another way to deal with corruption that comes from 3 decades in office.
— Steve Patterson
I agree with you in principle, Steve, but the lack of voter interest in the position — as shown in the long tenancy of Sharon Carpenter and now in your own poll results — makes me thinks that informed decisions about who should hold the office aren’t being made at the polls. The duties of the recorder also don’t strike me as such that an independent elected official is needed. Anyway, that was my rationale for voting for it to be changed to an elected position.
The whole city government is a mess, look at the results of the past 6 decades, the problem is larger than the recorder of deeds. The life long grip on all city hall positions is well known, whether appointed or not. At least in the 15th ward the anonited democratic candidate did not win, although someone heavily involved in the ward machine still managed to prevail. America is a pretend country, we pretend bribes and corruption do not occur at the highest levels, even the Supreme Court weighs in with something along the lines of as long as nothing directly resembles corruption, everything is okay. In other words you need a signed document agreeing to corruption for the Supreme’s to acknowledge the disaster corruption brings upon the nation and St. Louis.
Walk around and look at the results embodied in St. Louis today. Look at the laughable way the Paul McKee Northside project is being handled. I can go on endlessly, the whole of city government needs to be fixed, not just the recorders office.