Kansas City Star Columnist Blasts St. Louis City-County Merger Plan

St. Louis Gateway Arch in Missouri at twilight
Photo credit Dreamstime.com

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) — A Kansas City Star columnist feels people in St. Louis should solve their own problems.

Dave Helling spoke to Charlie Brennan this (Thurs.) morning about the statewide proposal to merge St. Louis City and County by the vote of Missouri residents. He blasted the proposal in a column this week.

Why would Missouri voters decide whether St. Louis City and County should merge? From @dhellingkc https://t.co/rdYGxsfZun

— KC Star Opinion (@KCStarOpinion) January 8, 2019

Helling says it's nothing against St. Louis, though. He just doesn't feel qualified to solve the city's problems from across the state.

"Imagine what would happen tomorrow if Rex Sinquefield said 'we're going to force Kansas City to merge with Jackson County...and the people of St. Louis are going to decide if that was a good idea.' I think the reaction would be like St. Louisans after the 1985 World Series!"

In his column, Helling called the "Better Together" proposal "uninvited, unworkable, unfair, and unnecessary."

Related: Councilman Harder: Most People in the Region Don't Want a Merger 

STL County councilman Mark Harder told @MarkReardonKMOX he's introducing a bill next week that would put a non-binding referendum on a future ballot asking local residents what they think of the proposall https://t.co/GvRAzmN9NM pic.twitter.com/HVQCwgqNF7

— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) January 10, 2019

Helling says Kansas City residents are no strangers to the state legislature's "heavy hand."

That includes Kansas City voters approving measures on minimum wage, tobacco taxes and plastic bags, but the state legislature then passing laws to make those measures illegal.

You can listen to Helling's conversation with Brennan in the podcast below (interview starts at 21:15):