05/12/2025
🚨Why Are Local Officials Ignoring Corruption in Smithville?
Despite mounting public records, property transfers, and evidence of favoritism and regulatory violations, local officials in Smithville — including aldermen, the city administrator, and law enforcement — have shown little interest in investigating or addressing these serious matters. The public deserves to understand why this silence persists.
1. Political Alliances and Fear of Retaliation
Elected officials often rely on financial support, endorsements, or silent cooperation from powerful developers. Speaking out risks political fallout, job insecurity, possible future taxes and personal retaliation — especially in small towns where social and professional networks are deeply intertwined.
2. Normalization of Corruption
When improper behavior becomes routine, it is tolerated rather than challenged. (Jokes, laughing creating ‘it’s ok folk’ nothing to see here’ and Over time, city leaders and staff begin treating ordinance violations and developer favoritism as expected, not exceptional.
3. Weak Oversight
Without strong press coverage (near none) biased independent auditors (who basically ONLY work for other municipalities) or citizen review boards, misconduct can flourish unchecked. Smithville’s lack of consistent media presence creates a vacuum of accountability.
4. Conflicts of Interest
Officials like Alderman Dan Hartman developments and Alderman Kobyliski’s crowdfunding have those financial ties to developers whose projects come before the board. When decision-makers stand to gain personally, impartial governance becomes compromised and is evident in political donations for the public to see, just most don’t research deeper.
5. Misunderstanding Legal Obligations
Some city employees may believe these issues are civil or private, not realizing they involve enforceable state laws — including ethics rules, zoning ordinances, and business compliance requirements.
6. Strategic Inaction
In some cases, inaction is deliberate. Officials may stall, deflect, or suppress scrutiny to protect allies, avoid controversy, or maintain insider control over lucrative decisions. This silence signals systemic collusion, not mere oversight.
7. Lack of Strong Men! Where did they all go? Men aren’t boldly challenging our local government and some have definitively shown up, so not saying we haven’t seen any come to the podium, but the women are definitely outweighing the men right now and it feels out of order!
This is why I, Kristine S. Bunch, have taken the step to document, expose, and formally report these abuses — not just for myself, but to safeguard the integrity of Smithville for all of its residents.
Sincerely,
Kristine S. Bunch, MBA
Public Advocate
Smithville, Missouri
