By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 6:00 AM
Mike McMillan is now old enough to be President of the United States. That's just one of the dreams and possibilities that was spoken aloud yesterday in the ballroom of the beautifully refurbished Coronado in Central West End. Labels: Events, Video_Reports
The official occasion was the 19th Ward alderman's 35th birthday, but the feeling in the room and the weight of all the heavies in it was indicative of a much bigger event: the much anticipated arrival of the city's next political force.
McMillan will soon become St. Louis' third black citywide elected official (yes, don't let the light skin and the almost blue eyes fool you -- he's black). But no citywide elected official, not even the Mayor or the Comptroller, has the mix of cross-racial appeal, fundraising ability, and smell-it-in-the-air potential as this guy.
But then, everyone already knows that. That's why nearly everyone who is anyone in St. Louis politics came out last night to welcome his arrival.
Eating slices from a cake shaped like City Hall (why not just pass out Mayor McMillan buttons?), politicos mingled with each other and spoke of things to come.
"Someone wrote you a birthday check and, without thinking, made it out to Senator Mike McMillan," said Ida Woolfolk in her introduction of the city's next License Collector.
We could try to make a list of everyone we spotted in the crowd, but that just sounds like too much bold print. Instead, watch this music video:
Now bear witness to the charm of your future something-or-other. Here is McMillan's "thank you" speech from last night:
17 Comments:
The Mayor of the City of St. Louis, Comptroller, and many other elected officials have taken a strong out front stance on major issues that are debatable in the public eye. Therefore, a lack of cohesion has resulted and was inevitable. When politicians take a stand on issues they lose the popularity that they had before the issues came about. Give it some time and wait for the honeymoon to end, and when it is time for some politicians to take a stand by virtue of their position we will see how they fair!
The License Collector has not been a position historically that negates a confrontation, but there are other higher positions that will eventually require taking a stand on one side of the fence.
The "golden boy" may want to consider running on a federal level next because their stance is one easier to take than the stance that is required of a Mayor.
7/27/2006 3:35 AM
Speaking of taking positions, did anyone notice the "thumbs down" given to the "J-Man" (Shrewbsury) in the Arch City Chronicle for his lack of a voice on the SLPS problems? They go on to say how if Shrewsbury ever wants to be mayor, he'll have to start mucking it up on the tough issues.
Any predictions on a Shrewsbury/McMillan mayoral race?
7/27/2006 6:58 AM
Antonio, I just want to tell you what a great, great job you are doing with the blog.
That Nina Simone montage was fantastic.
7/27/2006 7:13 AM
While everyone came out for Mike, this young single could come out too. I think Mike could be Mayor and easily beat Jim or Francis, but Mike needs to be himself.
7/27/2006 8:41 AM
Michael McMillan being an intelligent and articulate person will get him very far. The fact that he is a light-skinned African-American certainly helps in bridging the divide in this City. His southern-style drawl will certainly propel him if he were to run for state-wide or national office, as Republicans will vote for that image. Michael McMillan has the political world as his oyster, and I'll support him for whatever he runs for.
7/27/2006 9:55 AM
To be VERY pedantic, Mike McMillan won't become License Collector until January 1, 2007. The August election is technically a primary, and then there's the November general.
The FXer will still be in charge of the office until then. And we'll still be paying our taxes to Ronny Leggett this year, too.
Regarding my man Jim Shrewsbury: I think he has to be VERY cautious about what he says and does publicly regarding SLPS, partly because his wife (who holds a doctorate in education) works at Sumner.
7/27/2006 10:26 AM
Right you are, Joe. The poor wording in my post has been corrected.
7/27/2006 10:46 AM
"While everyone came out for Mike, this young single could come out too. I think Mike could be Mayor and easily beat Jim or Francis, but Mike needs to be himself."
Yowza! Whatcha tryin' to say. You sure aren't bein' very obvious there, friend!
7/27/2006 11:22 PM
^I'm saying as long as a person has closets, he will be limited in his ability to lead.
A citywide elected office is a significant step towards something greater, but there is no serious challenger this round. Facing an internal struggle between false shame and sincere ambition, a rising leader shouldn't let his secrets keep him exactly where future opponents want him.
You saw what dirt was exposed when Maida "over-reached." So far, Mike's moves haven't upset the powers in this town. But in the future, Mike will need to own his "personal demons," or others within or behind local politics will own him.
7/28/2006 9:39 AM
It is a shame that this conversation has degraded itself to this. I don't know the young man but he seems to be hard working and accomplished in what he has done. Turning 35, he is still very young for the political arena and will be around for some time it appears. Whether he has "personal demons" to confront in his life will be his choice to deal with at the time that he thinks is appropriate.
St. Louis has paid millions of dollars time and again to learn why don't more young people want to be here and why don't more young people want to be active in civic, charitable and governmental affairs and when you actually get young people into civic, charitable and governmental affairs, then St. Louis goes down the usual path of trying to undermine them as opposed to congratulating them.
In regard to taking a stand and being controversial about something, I have read on this blog that he was one of the only Alderman who supported school board candidates in the last election. I also read that he was one of the main organizers against the Home Rule effort and that was certainly against the "powers in this town."
As a resident of North St. Louis, I wish my Alderman did as much as he does for his people. I can't even find my Alderman in the communtiy or any evidence that he is doing anything but McMillan's area has changed alot since he got there. I watched "Jet" Banks for 30 years in the 19th Ward and he didn't do half as much in a much longer peiod.
7/28/2006 6:29 PM
How challenging is it for lots of politicans and donors to come out for Mike McMillan? He has no real race having paid off his democratic challenger. Ir's easy for people to circle around a winner. What would they have done if he'd had a real race?
7/28/2006 8:45 PM
Anonymous #12--you should not make statements that you have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about. No one even knows who his challenger is or was or if there was one to begin with because all I see are his signs all over St. Louis and no one else's running for License Collector. I don't think Antonio's point was that it was easy or not for people to support the man. I think his point was that there are about 100 politicians in the city alone and none of them have as much support as he does from a cross section of people. Lots or elected officials have events and almost no one shows up, let alone the people I saw in that video. I remember a few months ago I read on blogs and in the papers that he was going to have the Senate Minority Leader of Missouri run against him possibly and all of those same people showed up for him at the Fox Theatre before the close of filing happened so that proves they were with him all along. This town is so full of haters that I wonder why anyone would ever want to run for anything because of comments like yours.
7/28/2006 11:40 PM
To "Travis Reems":
How does "The fact that [McMillan] is a light-skinned African-American" help in bridging the divide in this City? Are you saying that whites are more willing to support an African American if he is (literally) not so black? How f*cked up is that?
McMillan has seldom taken leadership roles on community issues, but has been willing to work with white politicians and their supporters to create a power base in his ward. (Interestingly, most of the housing development in his ward has been done by Pyramid Construction and other white developers; how many black contractors or developers have gotten as rich on his ward as Pyramid?) Unfortunately, he has also compromised himself in the process. He is palatable to white St. Louisans for the same reasons Harmon was--he's a non-threatening Black man who positions himself as "progressive" but in no way militant. McMillan can be very successful in St. Louis with that kind of persona, but it's doubtful it will play well across the state, given his...um...personal issues.
7/31/2006 8:46 AM
Anonymous #14--McMillan has supported too many black politicians to mention in this blog over the past 10 years in addition to willing to be fair and equitable and support non-African Americans as well, especially in the cases when there was no black person in the running for an office. But just to name a few, he has helped Clay Jr. and Sr., Bosley Jr., Larry Williams, Darlene Green, Donnell Smith, state reps and senators, etc.
In regard to development and housing activities, I have driven down Page and seen homes built by Gary Johnson. The last time I checked, Gary is black and all of the people living in the new housing construction are black. But if Gary were not in his ward building, he has done quite a bit of other development with other African Americans as well. Unfortunately, there are not many blacks in development in this town anyway. I have seen Kwame Construction, the Mosley Group, Karl Grice, David Mason and Associates, Fleming Group, Kennedy Architects, ABNA and others display signage on projects in his ward. Who else can say that?
7/31/2006 12:01 PM
-given his ...um... personal issues-
Just because the guy has a Scottish last name... Geez.
Oh well, pip pip cheerio...off to the cricket test.
7/31/2006 1:12 PM
There is a rumor out there about Mike Mc Millan being of a different personal persuasion, but if that is true who cares!!! An individual's personal persuasion does not affect his ability to lead, and issues are more important for an elected official.
Mc Millan has supported some black people over the years and will need to support other black people in the future.
Mc Millan is non-confrontational because he wants to become Mayor or something higher. When the time comes and the power structure doesn't want Mc Millan in office, they will bring charges against him or some allegations of something and indict him. This happens to every black leader that is given a free ride like Mc Millan has received.
Mc Millan should enjoy his free ride while he can, one day the honeymoon will end. 7 out 10 marriages end in divorce, whether we are talking about personal or political marriages. When Mc Millan is of no use to the power structure any longer in 10 years or 30 years, the power structure will divorce him and obtain allimony.
8/02/2006 8:43 AM
-personal persuasion- Does that mean that he is grumpy all of the time? Don't whisper. I would still vote for him if he is an effective leader that makes sound decisions based on all of the information. Even though he has a Scottish surname. Gotta go, my bangers and mash are burning.
8/02/2006 9:30 AM
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