Tag: Howard Paperner

“It’s not the blood sport it is in other places,” Maryland Heights City Attorney Howard Paperner says of local politics in this northwest St. Louis County municipality. The mayor of 16 years, Mike Moeller, is facing his first-ever challenge for the job from opponents Mary Nichols, a state representative, and Sudhir Rathod. And the city’s voters who live in the Parkway School District will help decide a school board race with a candidate who has identified herself as a Confederate. A campaign flyer from Nichols, a former City Council member and Democratic state representative since 2011 who will be term-limited out of office at the end of this legislative session, ticks off a list of dollar amounts she accuses Moeller of spending at eight out-of-town conferences, which Nichols dubs as city-paid vacations. Her tally includes $5,549.08 in Seattle, where Moeller and City Council members attended a National League of Cities conference in 2013. One is from a Cheesecake Factory in Seattle for $249.63, including tip, that includes four gin and tonics and four “ultimate margaritas.” Moeller said Nichols is twisting the facts, and that dollar amounts listed on her mailing include expenses of other city officials who attended conferences with him and whose expenses are to be covered by the city. Moeller disagrees. He said he did so to reveal her personality. Where are your values? The mayor has a part-time position and is paid $1,200 a month.