Remember that summer when the Platte County Commission wanted us to vote in the largest tax increase in county history? For a jail?
Ahh, the memories. Good times.
The summer of fun continues this weekend, when a new event will be hosted by the Downtown Platte City Association. They’re calling it Hot Summer Night and it will run from 5-10 p.m. on Main Street. There will be a 120-ft. slip and slide (for all ages, including adults) and a water bounce house for the littles, But wait, there’s more. Like live music, axe throwing, barbecue food options from a food trailer, smash burgers, and a pyro performance.
You may ask, like I did, what exactly is a pyro performance? The pyro show will be performed by Pyro Flow, a community of performing flow artists specializing in fire dancing and LED. This sounds cool and looks cool on a social media posting. The pyro action begins at 9:30 p.m.
And don’t forget the Firehouse Market is back at the Central Platte Fire Department headquarters at Second and Main in Downtown Platte City on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Many vendors will be on hand offering their goods and services. With a barbecue food trailer scheduled to be on hand.
Summer concert season has been in full swing at a variety of Northland venues, and there have been some quality bands performing in the area. Last weekend was a double banger, with One Night Stand rocking it at Linden Square in Gladstone on Friday and then Cherry Bomb rocking the area in front of the Platte County Courthouse on Saturday. Salute to the Platte City Friends of the Arts for keeping the courthouse concerts going three times a summer for many years now. It’s a great feel-good community event.
As for Linden Square, it really is a first class site for summer/fall outdoor music. If you’ve never been, grab your lawn chairs and check it out on an upcoming weekend evening. Great setup, excellent concession options on site for food and drinks, nice indoor restrooms, really a comfortable space. Looks like they have music every Friday night through Sept. 27, and then again on Saturday, Oct. 12. Linden Square is at 602 NE 70th Street in Gladstone.
Will Platte County even consider bringing up another jail tax increase proposal until angry man Scott Fricker is gone from the Platte County Commission? Maybe. Should it? No. After this summer’s campaign of deception, Fricker has a credibility problem.
Fricker has two years left on his term. Should he decide to seek reelection that vote would take place in 2026. Depending on whom he is talking to, Fricker is either running for re-election or he is not running for re-election. He has been all over the map on the topic. “He seems to say many different things to many different groups,” one local political insider told me, and let me say hearing reports that Fricker is being less than straightforward is the least surprising thing I’ve heard recently.
During the jail campaign, Fricker created a major credibility problem for himself and for the county commission. Voters clearly saw through it, pounding the commission-led jail tax proposal with more than 62% opposed. The butt-kicking was delivered throughout all areas of the county, as the jail tax lost in every single precinct (see front page story). And it failed despite the fact proponents had $100,000 available to spend ($84,000 of that was taxpayer money) to get it passed, while there was no organized opposition and opponents spent zero dollars.
Fricker got caught leading an avalanche of deception in this year’s jail tax campaign. After publicly getting called out for it at the July 15 public forum in Parkville where he handed out inmate projection information that in no way resembled what had been earlier distributed by county officials, he then said “yes, our plan has some mistakes but we’re not going to correct it.” This was after he had earlier doubled down on the county commission’s plan in an open session by saying “this is our plan and we stand behind it.” Fricker also claimed online that the plan wasn’t to house inmates from any other agency, but that was exposed as being a lie when the media reported that Platte County’s financial advisor had already secretly met with Clinton County about housing some of that county’s prisoners. Fricker called those media reports ‘misleading’ by linking to a statement from the financial guy, but oops, the financial guy not only confirmed discussions had taken place he actually went on to say “my hope is that the conversations will continue.”
What a whirlwind of word salad nonsense, lies and deception Fricker and his fellow commissioners delivered throughout the jail tax campaign. Remember their taxpayer-funded mailer that said “417 beds are needed now?” That was a lie of epic proportions. There are only 200 inmates in the county jail.
Then add in the Fricker’s middle school level meltdowns on social media, where he has placed himself and the county in legal peril of defaming a private citizen. In a Facebook post made on July 27, Fricker referred to Jason Maki as a “scammer” on multiple occasions. Fricker posted that Maki is a “scammer” who is trying to “scam” taxpayers with his Sunshine requests for public documents. “His goal in this scam is to get the county to pay him off. He scammed the city of Parkville out of $195k (in taxpayer money) and he’s hoping for another payout from the county. He’s not looking out for your interests, he’s trying to make money. This is a SCAM,” Fricker wrote about Maki in part of his post. In all, Fricker referred to Maki, a private citizen who has simply filed a Sunshine request seeking public documents from the county, using the words “scammer” or “scam” five times within that post.
Fricker’s potentially defamatory postings, which he not only made on his “Scott Fricker, Platte County Presiding Commissioner” Facebook page but also shared on the “Platte County” Facebook page and other pages, have put the county at risk for damages. Fricker eventually deleted the post several days later but the damage had been done. I would imagine the offended party is in no mood to quickly forgive and forget, nor should he be, after that ridiculousness from Fricker.
Fricker’s idea of leadership is to say something really loudly and hope that the audience believes it without questioning him. Because, you know, he said it with authority in his voice so it must be true, right? As they proved last Tuesday, Platte County voters are much smarter than Fricker gives them credit for being. When you get beyond his loud voice and constantly angry tone you find many of his comments don’t equal truth.
To say Fricker exposed his words as being less than trustworthy and torched a lot of bridges during this campaign is an understatement. It’s the kind of behavior that will not be quickly forgotten by voters.
(Ivan Foley can be found researching anger management courses for Scott Fricker. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
