Maplewood city council candidate on economics, race, LGBT, education

By
Doug Miner
-
28
148

Scott Criscione has filed to run for Maplewood City Council, Ward 3. He sent his thoughts on economics, race, LGBT and education. He’ll be running against incumbent Jennifer Schmidt in the April 2019 municipal election.

From Criscione:

Economics: We spend more in taxes than in food and clothing combined in the US. We have record high taxes and even worse, record high spending. Locally we have to realize following the trend of raising more and more taxes won’t solve many of our issues. We need to do what every citizen does. Be smart, be creative, and work on saving money not spending it. We can’t tax our ways out of poverty, but we can tax our way into it. Taxing between $2,000 – 3,000 just in property taxes is hard on many families. That is sometimes over 10 percent of their income. Then add 10 percent sales tax, and personal property tax, and federal, state, and for city workers, city income tax. People just can’t sustain that.

Race: I don’t get how someone logically thinks their skin color makes them better or worse than someone else. I get we have issues with race in this city and nation. We’ve seen two presidents exploit it for political gains in a row. No amount of laws or rules can change feelings. But taking it upon oneself to look beyond things not controllable by others, i.e., Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Orientation etc. so there is no need to use them as political ploys.

LGBT: You have no control over who you love. Marry whoever you want, as long as you’re two consenting adults who love each other and help each other grow the government should not have a problem with it. Same goes for family. As long as you love your family, and help them grow. Raise your family as you wish.

Education: I’m very skeptical of not just our K-12 system nationally, but especially our college system. K-12 we spend more per child than any other nation (around 14k per child) but are not close to the standards of nations like South Korea, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan. Often our rankings show we are about 17th. That’s not acceptable. We need to focus less on testing and more on introducing financing, programming, Tech Vocational arts, and business etiquette into the class.

28 COMMENTS

  1. I agree, online presence is disturbing . Honestly he sounds like a kid . On the other hand he has a big point with taxes . Maplewood is a bit apathetic when it comes to taxes & holding the school district fiscally responsible .

    • Ross, I’m being sincere when I ask if you’ve ever been to a MRH school board meeting. How familiar are you with our school board’s specific policies and the agonizing financial decisions they make regularly to benefit the kids in our community? I am familiar enough with board members, their actions and their plans to know that they take financial accountability VERY seriously. They are transparent and willing to answer tough questions. They regularly make hard choices due to lack of funding. The last two funding increases to our school system were passed by voters, and by significant margins. A lot of us in the community know firsthand how hard our school district is working for our kids and how they use limited resources exceptionally well. If you can, go to a school board meeting and hear from them directly. (I agree with your other points. Scott’s online presence is disturbing.)

    • The city voted to increase taxes twice in the past few years, so why doesn’t Scott Criscione respect the voters who said they wanted the tax increase? We’ve had to raise more money for the school bc Republicans in Jeff City and Washington continue to cut funding for education so they can lower taxes for the idle rich. If Ciscione thinks we should spend less money on taxes then we spend on food and clothes, what kind of education does he think our kids should be getting?

  2. I am grateful for the opportunity to hear more from this candidate. His Twitter feed is filled with alarming content that suggests an archaic, rudimentary and frankly offensive views of nuanced issues like race, gender and sexuality. We happen to be a diverse community comprised of all genders, races and sexual preferences. I would hope our elected council members would be sensitive to the issues of all our residents (which are intertwined with their identities) and not so openly dismissive.

    This post only solidified my choice to vote for Jenny Schmidt in April.

  3. Everything I’ve read about and FROM this candidate is just gross: the nasty comments about women, homosexuals, and people of color make my stomach roll. He can say all he wants in this “official” statement, but he’s spent years online showing us who he really is and what he believes. I for one plan to believe him.

  6. People of Maplewood beware. His “both sides” comment is straight from DT playbook “there are good people on both sides” .
    It’s way of minimizing the blatant racism of this administration and we need to call it out. Put me on the list of supporters for Ms. Schmidt.

    • It’s pretty gross. The majority of this statement from the candidate is just unnecessary. Let’s hear some ideas rather than just assuring us that “Obama was just as bad and divisive as Trump.” Come on. This statement is beyond ridiculous. This Scott guy supposedly went to school to be a journalist, sadly enough. Luckily that doesn’t seem to have come to fruition. I guess I would be skeptical of the education system if it had failed me as miserably as it apparently failed this guy, haha. Seriously though, I shouln’t joke, cause it’s unsettling that we are even talking about this.

  7. If he sent this to 40 South, I assume he’s going to come here and give some responses to his possible constituents….or is he just going to hide behind this weirdly crafted statement that has little to do with issues actually facing the community?

  8. This candidate’s twitter feed is dripping with racism, bigotry and misogyny. He is trying to backtrack on his obviously real opinions using these 40 South comments. If he wrote these comments himself, he is also a poor communicator. He does not seem to understand the role of a city council rep. “two presidents exploit (race) for political gains in a row” Is he serious with this? And I don’t want his unwarranted skepticism anywhere near our progressive and diverse school district. He sounds exceptionally uninformed about what K-12 education looks like in Maplewood. As a Ward 3 voter, I will be working hard to reelect Jenny Schmidt.

  9. Two presidents? Hmm. I have been alive for almost sixty years. I remember a senator named Wallace and one recent president but not current one with race issues. To whom are you referring?

  10. One other thing, why are LGBT rights relevant to the Maplewood Council? Marriage equality is the law of the land. It seems someone on council would only comment on LGBT issues in an effort to pander to a certain group with no real capability of doing anything for them.

    I’m not sure Scott brought this question up but rather answered it. There are much more relevant questions to ask someone running for this position.

  11. This guy sounds like breath of fresh air. Property taxes in Maplewood are among the highest in the region and they seem to be increasing every few years. Sales tax rates have gotten ridiculous as well. All these 1/8 of a cent increases add up to real money over the years. Double digits sale tax is the norm these days and it’s one of the most regressive taxes around.

  12. This is the same guy who said Obama won because he was black, the Ferguson protesters were “savages,” altered pictures of himself to be in blackface, and that he doesn’t believe that married homosexual couples should get the same tax benefits that hetero couples do. It’s all on his Twitter feed.

  13. “We’ve seen two presidents exploit it (race) for political gains in a row.”

    Get out of here with this trash statement. This comparison is so totally and completely nuts I can’t even believe someone would dare make it. This is obviously not a reasonable candidate with any critical thinking skills.

  15. “I don’t get how someone logically thinks their skin color makes them better or worse than someone else. I get we have issues with race in this city and nation. We’ve seen two presidents exploit it for political gains in a row.”

    What a clueless diatribe on race. I guess only someone this clueless could pen tweets like this:

    https://twitter.com/scottcriscione1/status/93005952722280448
    https://twitter.com/scottcriscione1/status/499014344684756992

    I guess the women of the community can feel good because this candidate thinks you should vote for and support women, even if those women support policies that are dangerous and harmful to women:

    https://twitter.com/scottcriscione1/status/1060028952461369344

    Also, this is a progressive community. The libertarian bent to the responses here does not fit our goals as a city. Our taxes support our schools and our schools help keep people here. And if I’m not mistaken, these taxes were voted on and approved, reaffirming that the community does not stand with this candidate.

    • WOW! First of all, before moving into the wonderful neighborhood of Maplewood and the awesome school district of MRH, NO ONE asked me my political affiliation (progressive, conservative or libertarian), my sexual identity (gay or straight), nor questioned the color of my skin nor my gender. All of these comments on this thread are filled with absolute hate of another resident of our community because his political views do not match their own. A member of our community who is taking the time to make our community a better place to live and not many of us (including myself) bother to take the time nor want to make the commitment to do this. His views and political affiliation may differ from myself, but I do appreciate his comments and agree with most of them. I do not get myself involved with the ridiculousness of Twitter so I have no idea what Scott has previously tweeted. However, I do know that Maplewood/Richmond Heights is a welcoming area for people of all different political affiliations, races, genders and nationalities. I will decide for myself who to vote for in Ward 3 and vote for the best candidate. Hopefully the rest of you will also and find out for yourself who both Scott and Jenny really are and not rely on the disparaging comments on this thread just because Scott’s or Jenny’s views differ politically.

      • First of all, no one here commented about his race, sexual orientation, etc. Everyone is commenting here that his views (as expressed in this piece published here) would not make our community a better place. And yes, someone’s political affiliation is relevant and directly related. If someone’s politics would actively harm the community, then we don’t want them in a council seat.

        • His political views or the fact that most of his views fall in line with our current president? And how exactly would his political views “harm” our community? Be specific and base your examples off of fact and not emotion(s). I agree that his political views are relevant to his running for a candidate in Ward 3, but to degrade him (as a person) in these posts just because his political views don’t line up with yours is ridiculous. Amazing how most of these posts preach tolerance, but will not extend this same tolerance to someone who disagrees with them politically.

          • If I knew nothing else about him, nothing at all, this article would be disqualifying for all the reasons people in this thread have already pointed out. What exactly do you find endearing about this candidate? What has he done for the community? How will he make it better? It would’ve nice if he would come here and discuss things that are relevant to the community rather than sending a post to 40 south that largely has nothing to do with the concerns of the community and mostly just tried to reassure us for some reason that he’s not racist, homophobic, and he hates taxes and schools.

            • This article (in particular) tells you all that? I do t think so… I think the fact that he is for lower taxes and the fact that he is libertarian along with the other comments people on this post, Twitter and Facebook lead you to believe he must be racist, homophobic and hates schools and taxes…. sad when one cannot make up their own mind. Good luck to both candidates and may the best person (not political affiliation) win…

      • I disagree these comments are “filled with hate”. The people posting about this candidate are pointing out his above statement conflicts with things he has posted on social media, where a person’s true colors shine. This doctored statement he wrote contradicts other statements he has said regarding the LGBTQ population and race. Due to that, I do not trust him and based on this am convinced he only tells people what he thinks they want to hear. Jenny has my vote, hands down. I agree Maplewood’s taxes are high, but I also like the fact we have an exemplary school district which helps increase property value and a solid police and fire department.

        My apprehension to vote for Scott is not because of his political views, it’s because of his deceit and contradicting words, in addition to his blatant homophobia, racism and misogyny.

Comments are closed.