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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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A Circuit Court judge has upheld School Board member Bill Purdy's right to sit on the board. Purdy was being sued by two fellow board members, Flint Fowler and Ron Jackson, and 47 other citizens, including fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons. The lawsuit claimed Purdy was serving on the board illegally and should be removed.
The issue was whether a person can run for the school board if he or she has relatives who work in the district. Two of Purdy's daughters and a grandson are teachers in the district. A recent change in state law allows school board members to serve even if they have family working in the system. But the school board bylaws still say that is illegal.
Those bylaws have not been amended to reflect the state law. But today's ruling by Judge Steven R. Ohmer affirms Purdy's assertion that state law trumps board bylaws.
Had Purdy lost the suit and was forced to give up his seat, Mayor Francis Slay would have appointed his replacement, shifting the balance of power on the school board for the second time in six months.
St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay and Republican Congressman Jon Porter from Nevada will convene a congressional field hearing Friday at 1:00 p.m. at Washington University Medical Center.
According to a press release from Clay's office, the subject of discussion will be how the creation of a proposed national electronic health records network could "prevent thousands of unnecessary patient deaths each year, save billions of healthcare dollars, and provide emergency responders with a powerful new Homeland Security tool to assist them in the event of a terrorist attack or major natural disaster."
Experts from the government and the private sector will offer testimony about the issues facing healthcare providers as they attempt to create a secure, electronic health records system.
KWMU reporter Kevin Lavery is leaving the station for Michigan, where he's getting a promotion of sorts -- he'll be a news director in East Lansing. His last day in St. Louis is tomorrow.
And speaking of KWMU, science reporter Robert Frederick had an interesting piece this morning on empowerment zone funds offered to the Solae biotech company to stay St. Louis. Click here to listen.
The special five-member committee appointed by State Education Commissioner Kent King last month to analyze the current state of St. Louis Public Schools is meeting today -- and unlike its last meeting, today's session is open to the public.
The committee will meet at the Washington University West Campus building (the old Famous-Barr in Clayton), 7425 Forsyth Blvd, at 3:30 p.m.
Check back later for video...
UPDATE: The video is up and the full story is at slswatch.pubdef.net. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be releasing the results from the 2006 MAP tests tonight at midnight on its website. CORRECTION: DESE won't be releasing the numbers on it's website until tomorrow morning some time. But we have the numbers already and we will be releasing them tonight at midnight on slswatch.pubdef.net.
Check back late tonight for SLPS results...
Bill Bryan of the Post-Dispatchreported yesterday that a 17-year-old male Beaumont High School student was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital after he was shot in the stomach during a fight at a school bus stop.
According the report, it happened about 6:22 a.m. at Thekla and Ruskin avenues. Officers said they suspect the incident was an extension of a separate fight Tuesday night. A suspect was sought in the shooting. Nobody else was reported hurt.
SLPS Attendance -- Day 1: 72%, Day 2: 84%, Day 3: 88%
Michael Allen of Ecology of Absenceis reporting that Richard Callow, political consultant to Mayor Francis Slay and live-in boyfriend of deputy mayor of development Barb Geisman, is the new chairman of the City's Preservation Board. Allen writes:
At its Monday meeting, the Preservation Board elected a new chairperson: Richard Callow, the public relations consultant who edits Mayor Slay's campaign website. New board member David Richardson nominated Callow after Melanie Fathman nominated architect Anthony Robinson, a reasonable voice who would have done well in the position.
Callow received the votes of Richardson, Luis Porello, Mary "One" Johnson (who presided over the vote rather clumsily), John Burse and new member Michael Killeen. Robinson received Fathman's vote, and the nominated parties abstained.
Attorney Kimberley J. Mathis has been sworn in as the next Chair of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners. Governor Matt Blunt announced today that he had selected Mathis to replace Ed Martin, who he recently tasked to serve as his Chief of Staff.
"I have tremendous confidence in the selection of Kim Mathis. She will contribute a fresh perspective to our election process," stated Martin. "Kim brings an exceptional legal, professional and personal background to this job and will continue to lead the Board’s ongoing efforts to maintain the confidence of our voters in this process."
Mathis, 34, is an attorney with the downtown law firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP. Mathis holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Louis University, and a Juris Doctorate from Washington University. She is married to James Mathis, an attorney for Anheuser Busch. They reside with their three children in the St. Louis Hills area.
"I am honored to serve at the pleasure of Governor Matt Blunt," said Mathis. "His administration is one that takes action with results, and I hope to lead the Election Board in much the same way he has lead our great state."
Mathis also praised out-going Chairman Ed Martin for his dedication and devotion to changing the way the citizens of St. Louis perceive the election process. "Martin has put us back on the map," said Mathis. "He deserves a lot of credit and praise. Ed has put into place a team which has helped rejuvenate and restore confidence in our city’s voting process."
Mathis was sworn in at 11:30 a.m. today at the Federal Courts Building by Judge Ray Gruender. There will be a formal swearing in sometime after the November election.
So say you're downtown paying your property taxes when all of a sudden Bin Laden's boys decide to attack City Hall with VX nerve gas (it could happen). What are you going to do? You have no idea, do you? Well, fear not, you simple-minded civilian. Lucky for you, you're being protected by the elite fighting force known as the St. Louis City Marshals.
Three such marshals -- "martial artists" are more like it. We hear they can kill you with a single blow, a move known only as the "shiny badge of death" -- anyway, three marshalls recently gave us an exclusive tour of their secret lair buried deep under City Hall in abandoned caves once used by Harriet Tubman. But when we later checked our videotape, only snow and static had recorded (surely the result of some superior Marshal technology designed to keep their secrets -- and St. Louis -- safe).
Well, we've got some technology too. And we were able to salvage a couple of minutes of footage of Marshals Robert Howard, Antron Lavington, and Christopher Fischer telling us about some Homeland Security training they recently completed at a secret facility in Anniston, Alabama.
In the November general election, Missouri voters will determine whether Non-Partisan judges whose names are on their ballot should be retained for another term. To help them decide, The Missouri Bar has provided information they feel is important in making those decisions.
Members of The Missouri Bar have evaluated each of the judges who will be standing for retention this fall and the evaluations are now online at www.showmecourts.org.
In St. Louis County, the Bar recommended two judges, Judy Preddy Draper and Brenda Stith Loftin, not be retained. Click here to see those recommendations.
Click here to download the Bar's recommendations for St. Louis City Circuit Judges. And click here for Associate Circuit Judges.
NEW HQ, OLD BS -- St. Louis City Democrats will be opening their new temporary headquarters Thursday to stage campaign activities for the November general election. The new digs will be located in the St. Louis Marketplace on Manchester. Interesting location, considering the gigantic failure of leadership that the Marketplace represents to so many locals.
Developed in 1992 with the use of eminent domain, $15 million of public money, and a familiar promise to "spur development," most of its life has been spent near vacant and as an ugly reminder of what happens when BS from overly optimistic politicians doesn't line up with the reality of Joe and Jane Public, who haven't dropped much dough at the Marketplace in over a decade.
The Dems better hope Joe and Jane are more generous with their actual votes than they are with their dollar votes.
BETTER ON DAY TWO -- St. Louis Public Schools reports nearly 84% of students expected to attend school today were in the classroom. These Day Two numbers reflect a big boost from the 72% attendance on Day One.
"We are certainly pleased to see an increase in the attendance for day two," said Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw in a statement released to the media. She added that district leaders still want "all of our kids in school tomorrow."
The total enrollment for St. Louis Public Schools today was 27,620 compared with the first day enrollment of 23,558.
SHE'S STILL GOT GALL! -- Jamilah Nasheed, who is running unopposed in north St. Louis' 60th State Rep District after winning the primary three weeks ago, is recuperating tonight after having her gallbladder removed earlier today. We're told she came through the surgery fine and was back on her cell phone within the hour. Bladder or not, we're sure Nasheed's trademark boldness and "gall" will be back to full strength in no time.
Slightly above 7 out of 10 St. Louis City kids attended the first day of school today. That's according to Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw, who told PUB DEF that while she considers the school district's Back-to-School campaign a success, she is not satisfied with more than a quarter of students missing the first day.
"We're not satisfied until we have 10 out of 10 attending," said Bourisaw. She said that SLPS attendance has typically been around 80% by the end of the first week. "We are well on our way to exceeding that 80% number," she said.
Bourisaw also addressed a concern brought forward by some of our readers about confusion surrounding a later start date for some Early Childhood students. She said that historically those students have started a week after other students (Sept. 5 this year). "We need to change that," said Bourisaw. "They need to start from Day One like everyone else.
New backpacks filled with crayons, three-hole paper, and bright yellow, unsharpened Number 2 pencils. The terror in the pit of your belly over the thought of being teased about your Payless shoes by kids wearing new Jordans whose price tags would cause your mother to faint.
It must be the first day of school.
School is back in session and so is PUB DEF's sister site, STLSchools.org. After a short summer break (it's not like anything ever happens with SLPS in the summer, right?), the watch dog is back on the beat. Check it out over at www.stlschools.org.
Some Felt Snubbed by McCaskill's Early Exit, Staffer Says Family Comes First
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 9:23 AM
Some attendees of Friday's NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner were upset by what they described as a "snub" from the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. PUB DEF received the following report yesterday from one insulted attendee:
State auditor Claire McCaskill, a democrat who is working to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Jim Talent(R-MO) seemingly gave short shrift to the St. Louis County Chapter of the NAACP when she stopped by before the group's 65th annual Freedom Fund Dinner last night at the Airport Hilton and stayed only 10 minutes.
Dinner attendees who were mingling outside the ballroom before the dinner said they caught a fleeting glimpse of McCaskill who smiled and waved during a quick walk-through.
Her political director, Brandon Davis, was later AWOL when he was called to the dais during the event to convey greetings from McCaskill. He failed to respond when his name was mentioned and some dinner attendees noted that he left shortly after McCaskill did.
If McCaskill stayed she eventually could have glad-handed at least 500 potential voters and touched bases with influential people like attorney Frankie Freeman, County Executive Charlie Dooley, State Representatives John Bowman (D-70) and Esther Haywood (D-71), State Senator Rita Days, radio personality Deneen Busby, and television journalist Bonita Cornute.
McCaskill could have politicked with Jim Buford, president of the St. Louis Urban League, county NAACP president Ina Boon and her counterpart in the St. Louis city branch, Harold Crumpton.
It seems like she missed an opportunity to score some points with a segment of her electoral base. The crowd could have been considered a broad cross section of the Black community that was equal parts male and female, of varying incomes, suburban and urban, and between the voting ages of 18 and 70. That is a demographic McCaskill sleeps on while she assiduously courts rural Missouri farmers and others.
PUB DEF contacted the campaign's communications director, Adrianne Marsh, who said McCaskill had a very busy schedule Friday and did not expect to even be able to make the dinner at all.
She said McCaskill left early because of a family obligation. "It's difficult balancing being a candidate for statewide office and a mother of three teenage daughters," said Marsh.
Supporters of Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. announced today that they have filed complaints with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney, and the St. Louis City Board of Elections alleging fraud in the ongoing effort by a group of 3rd Ward residents to recall Bosley.
"We're tired of it. We've got the recall blues and we're going to do something about it now," said Janice Jernigans in an interview with PUB DEF following a press conference this morning in front of the Carnahan Courthouse downtown. Jernigans is with Citizens Against the Recall, a group supporting the longtime northside alderman. Bosley was not at this morning's event.
Tim Person, a well-known political consultant who worked in the administration of then-Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr., said he is volunteering his support for the elder Bosley in his recall battle in part because of what he called the "disgusting" tactics of the recallers.
"This kind of problem led to the Voter ID Act," said Person. "You consistently have people that are intent on defrauding our system."
Person said he would not only like to see indictments in this case, but also forceful prosecutions.
Supporters of Ald. Freeman Bosley. Sr., who is the target of an ongoing recall effort, will hold a press conference this morning to announce the actions they have taken against what they call "fraudulent activities engaged by the persons leading the recall effort."
Both sides on the recall effort, along with the St. Louis Board of Elections, are awaiting a decision by a Circuit Court judge as to whether the Board has the authority to allow Bosley to ask signers of the petition to have their names removed. If the policy is upheld, the recall effort will fail for lack of enough signatures.
Members of the "Coalition Against the Recall" will gather at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Carnahan Courthouse, 1114 Market Street.
Friends and colleagues of Election Board Chairman Ed Martin gathered tonight at Café Eau in the Chase Park Plaza to celebrate his appointment as chief of staff for Gov. Matt Blunt.
Many of Martin's election board colleagues were on hand to wish him well as he leaves the board and moves to Jefferson City. Republican officials including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Judy Zakibe, Chair of St. Louis City's Republican Central Committee, as well as several elected Democrats -- including License Collector Gregg Daly, Ald. Jeffrey Boyd, Circuit Atty. Jennifer Joyce, Circuit Clerk Mariano Favazza, State Sen. Pat Dougherty, and State Rep-elect Talibdin El-Amin -- stopped in to congratulate Martin, who starts his new job on September 1.
Other well-wishers included: Former Election Board member Angeletta McCormick Franks; former Rams star, Mike "The Tackle" Jones; and Police Board Pres. Chris Goodson.
Sen. Jim Talent and challenger Claire McCaskill today accepted an offer by KYTV, Ozarks Public Television, KSMU and the Springfield News-Leader to debate during prime time on Monday, October 16.
The Springfield debate will be moderated by KY3 News Anchor Jerry Jacob and the panel will include KY3 Political Reporter Dave Catanese, Springfield News-Leader Editorial Board Editor Tony Messenger (what a great name for a reporter) and KSMU Senior Governmental Affairs Reporter Missy Shelton.
The candidates will also meet in Lake Ozark on September 15, at the Missouri Press Association's Candidate’s Forum, and in Washington, D.C. on October 8, for a debate on NBC's "Meet the Press."
We're told that both campaigns are continuing to work together to schedule additional debates in other regions of the state -- St. Louis, anyone?
LRA Property Now Fair Game for Inspectors, Thank Elliott Davis
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 10:15 PM
For years, city homeowners have complained that the worst slum lord in St. Louis is the City of St. Louis itself. While city inspectors give citations and fines to Joe and Jane Citizen for not keeping their property up to code, city-owned properties are literally falling apart right next door. A recent change in policy might help change that.
Sam Simon, the director of the Department of Public Safety, told KTVI Channel 2 reporter Elliott Davis this week that DPS inspectors will now cite -- or at least, log -- derelict properties owned by the City's Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) just as it would any other property.
"We're going to make sure that we keep ourselves as accountable as we hope the citizens will be," Simon told Davis.
Davis had earlier profiled the plight of homeowners on Maffit Street in north St. Louis who had received citations from the city while two houses across the street sat looking like bombed out shells. Those properties are owned by the city and have for years simply been overlooked by inspectors.
This problem is especially bad on the city's north side, where most of the LRA's property is. This was the subject of a resolution introduced by Ald. Charles Q. Troupe (1st Ward) earlier this year [See video below].
In other Channel 2 news... The local Fox News affiliate will be getting a much needed face-lift on its website soon. The current format makes it by far the worst and most useless of all the local news channels sites. The new look will be based on the standard myFox format used in New York, Dallas and D.C.
The St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable went on the record today criticizing the St. Louis City School Board for firing Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons.
"The Roundtable is seriously concerned about the recent decision of the St. Louis Public School District to remove Coach Floyd Irons apparently without proper due process," wrote John Moten, Jr., the group's chairman, in a letter sent to the media today.
"Based on the Roundtable’s knowledge, a decision to terminate Coach Floyd Irons at this time, without apparently affording him the opportunity for due process accorded employees, may be irresponsible," said Moten.
"The termination appears particularly inappropriate in view of the fact that the District needs effective administrative and Board leadership focused first on serving the needs of the District's children – leadership that Coach Irons seems to have provided the District."
U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill took a few minutes to talk to PUB DEF before tonight's Willie Nelson concert at the UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis County. The country music star has thrown his support behind McCaskill's campaign against Republican Sen. Jim Talent.
We discussed how effective celebrity support is in a close race like hers, why she thinks Nelson chose to support her campaign, what she thinks about Talent's silence on the issue of raising Missouri's minimum wage (which voters will decide the same day they select a U.S. Senator), and if she is worried about having much less money in the bank than her opponent.
We have requested an interview with Sen. Jim Talent some time in the near future.
VIDEO: Citywide Elected Officials Join for Back to School Message
By Antonio D. French
Several citywide elected officials joined today to bring attention to the effort to get St. Louis kids to attend the first day of school on August 28.
Gathered in the rotunda of City Hall, the group included most of the city's at-large officeholders. But noticeably absent was Mayor Francis Slay.
After unprecedented influence over the city's school district for three years, Slay has been a vocal critic of the new school board majority and has even called on the state to move in to take over the troubled district. Reporters were told that Slay -- as well as Aldermanic Board Pres. Jim Shrewsbury, the second highest ranking city official -- was on vacation.
Comptroller Darlene Green told reporters not to read too much into the absence of the mayor or a representative from his office. "This message is not about the adults today. It's about the children," she said.
"Though there are troubled times in the district, we want the children to know that the elected leadership in the City of St. Louis stands behind them 100%," said Green.
The case to decide whether signatures can be removed from a petition to recall 3rd Ward Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. has been continued until next week. During that time briefs may be filed in support of the two sides' positions.
The recallers claim that since there is no law that allows the city election board to allow petition signers to have their signatures removed, the board should not have allowed Bosley to ask hundreds of 3rd Ward residents to do just that.
The election board contends that since there is no limit to the amount of time that recallers have to gather signatures, it is only fair to allow signers to change their minds weeks, months or even years after they signed the petition. They also claim that since neither state law nor the City of St. Louis' charter says otherwise, then they are allowed to create board policies in the interests of fairness and maintaining an orderly process.
A decision in this case -- which may have a significant impact on several ongoing and planned recall efforts -- may come early next week.
The Progressive Party of Missouri reports that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today certified six Progressive candidates to appear on the November ballot. The candidates include:
Lydia Lewis of Afton, a retired federal employee and union officer, for U. S. Senate.
David Sladky of Mehlville, a retired brewery worker, for Congress (3rd District).
Terry Bunker of Kansas City, an in-house accountant for a financial institution, for State Auditor.
Melinda “Mel” Ivey of Kansas City, a computer programmer, for U. S. Congress, 4th District.
Shirley Yurkonis of Savannah, a retired social worker, for U. S. Congress, 6th District.
Bill Hastings of Columbia, a retired psychology professor, for U. S. Congress, 9th District.
Local election authorities had certified to the Secretary of State that 12,078 (81%) of the 14,932 petition signatures that the party submitted were valid. Ten thousand valid signatures were required.
Organizers say the new party, which is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, is filing to provide an alternative view not currently expressed by existing parties.
"We need a real opposition party so that there can be a dialog about getting out of Iraq," said party chair Dee Berry of Kansas City in a press release sent out today.
A source tells PUB DEF that former basketball coach Floyd Irons was at Vashon High School this morning when he complained of chest pains. Shortly after, he was taken away in an ambulance. Irons' condition is not known at this time.
It is not yet know what Irons, who was effectively fired by the district a few weeks ago, was doing at Vashon. He and school board president Veronica O'Brien have been battling in court and in the media since his position was eliminated.
O'Brien claimed to fear for her safety after threats she said she received from Irons supporters. After a young man who had threatened legal action against Irons for an alleged beating by the former coach in 2000 was murdered Friday (police have no suspects and have not said Irons was in any way involved), the school board voted pay for 24-hour security for the board president at a cost of up to $20,000.
School board member Peter Downs today charged Mayor Francis Slay with playing politics with needed funding for St. Louis Public Schools.
In his St. Louis Schools Watch email newsletter (which PUB DEF hosts a blog for), Downs says the City of St. Louis, which collects taxes on behalf of the school district, is currently holding on to about $4.5 million of SLPS' money.
"Like a modern-day George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is still trying to deny educational opportunities to St. Louis children," wrote Downs. "His latest stunt is to withhold tax money from the city's public school system."
Downs also charges that Slay is using building inspectors to harm the school district. "For the three years that Slay controlled the schools through his hand-picked board members, he turned a deaf ear to parent, student, and employee reports of building safety issues," said Downs.
"After losing control of the schools, he bided his time until it would seem he could do the most damage. A week before school starts, he sends in inspectors to find any possible problem."
A spokesman for the mayor has not yet responded to a request for comment.
MORE: The $4.5 million that Downs is apparently referring to is SLPS' cut of hundreds of property tax bills being challenged by local property owners -- including many local companies.
Readers may remember that we reported back in February that the State Tax Commission sided with Nestle Purina in its case against Tax Assessor Ed Bushmeyer and the City of St. Louis. The decision meant that the company would pay taxes on its property valued at $19 million and not the $47 million that the city had assessed. Since then, more companies have challenged their assessments.
Downs seems to subscribe to a conspiracy theory running around certain government hallways that has the mayor organizing his corporate pals to hold back needed funds from the school district (and the city too, by the way) in order to push the district over the brink of financial ruin so the state can come in to take over.
The Mayor's office still has not responded to our request for comment. But a source in the Comptroller's office has confirmed that the City of St. Louis is current on its obligations to SLPS.
STILL MORE... Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff, hit back this evening at allegations from a member of the St. Louis City School Board that the mayor was withholding tax money from the district. Here is the text of an email he wrote to PUB DEF responding to Peter Downs' charges.
Peter Downs, William Purdy, Veronica O'Brien, and Donna Jones have been the recent subjects of a great deal of community anger, worry, and scorn because of their unfortunate decision to force Dr. Creg Williams to resign. To deflect some of this emotion, the quarrelsome quartet have been willing to say almost anything about almost anyone. Normally, I ignore them. Mr. Down’s most recent whoppers, though, are big enough to demand a response – if not from the District, at least from me. Using the readership of his muck-raising Internet newsletter, Downs now accuses Mayor Francis Slay of withholding $4.5 million in taxes collected on behalf of the schools. Mr. Downs also accuses the mayor of "unleashing building inspectors" into the schools to prevent them from opening on time. In fact, the Mayor does not collect taxes. The Revenue Collector, elected by the people and independent of the Mayor, collects taxes. The Mayor has nothing to do with the process of tax collection. And, as Mr. Downs (and everyone in the building division of St. Louis Public Schools probably knows), the City inspects the buildings EVERY year before the start of school to make sure they are safe. One likely consequence of Mr. Downs’ outburst of fiction? A school district mired even more deeply in disarray. That's the real shame.
A Cole County Judge today denied the St. Louis City Board of Elections' request to be a part of the legal fight surrounding the controversial photo ID requirement passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt.
Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, and Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shieldsjoined the ACLU in the legal challenge. The election board -- composed of Democrat and Republican members appointed by Blunt -- had requested to join the suit in defense of the law.
A spokesperson for Claire McCaskill's U.S. Senate campaign said their candidate will be joining country and folk music star Willie Nelson at the UMB Bank Pavilion on tomorrow.
We're told Nelson will be endorsing McCaskill, described as "the true champion for family farmers in this race."
"Claire knows who needs a voice in next year’s farm bill. I have been all across this beautiful land and I have seen how the big corporations are squeezing out our family farms. I know she’ll do what’s right to protect this long-standing way of life," Nelson is quoted in the press release.
A hearing in the lawsuit filed by 3rd Ward residents seeking to recall Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. is currently in progress.
As we reported earlier, the recallers sued the St. Louis Board of Elections to stop them from allowing more signatures to be removed from their recall petition and to have a judge order that previously removed signatures be returned.
On June 30, Citizens to Recall Aldermen Bosley turned in approximately 1,100 signatures to the Board. Bosley was subsequently successful in getting 339 people who had originally signed the recall petition to then sign an affidavit asking for their names to be removed.
The recallers claim that since such an allowance for removal is nowhere in the City's charter -- which outlines the recall procedure -- that the Election Board "exceeded the scope of power delegated to it" by allowing it and therefore violated the civil rights of the recallers. Developing...
In a closed-door meeting on Friday, the St. Louis Board of Education voted to pay for a private firm to provide security for board president Veronica O'Brien.
O'Brien has been the target in recent weeks of several protests at her home. Earlier this month a city judge denied the board president a restraining order against fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and his friend and supporter, Demetrious Johnson.
Last week, a young man who, according to the Missouri Division of Family Services, was badly beaten by then-Coach Irons in 2000 was murdered by three gunmen. O'Brien had recently called for a federal investigation into the beating and a lawsuit was to be filed this week against Irons and St. Louis Public Schools.
"This is out of control," O'Brien told PUB DEF. "They say I'm next. Pray for peace."
She added, "I wonder what the judges are thinking after they said I shouldn't have a restraining order."
Early this morning, Timothy Bacon was shot and killed while he was on his way for cigarettes. According to a story by Bill Bryan on STLToday.com, he was shot by three men -- one of whom came back to the body to fire several more shots.
Bacon, 21, was the young man who, according to the Missouri Division of Family Services, was badly beaten by then-Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons in 2000 and whose case was recently brought up by St. Louis School Board President Veronica O'Brien, who called for a federal investigation into the matter.
Mayor Francis Slay took the stand today in the trial of Percy Green vs. The City of St. Louis. He testified -- as did his deputy, Barb Geisman, yesterday and his chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, later this morning -- that Green was not fired in retribution for comments he made in a June 17, 2001 article in the Post-Dispatch.
Percy Green contends that he was fired as director of the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Certification program because he was openly critical of what he told the Post was a "broken system." He also said this week that Slay wanted to weaken the office "because his major political contributors are owners of businesses that stand to profit from doing business with illegitimate 'front' companies."
Closing arguments in the case are expected around 12:30 after which Judge Jean C. Hamilton will hand the case over to a jury of 7 whites and 1 black. We expect a verdict later today.
Developing...
UPDATE: The jury found in favor of the City of St. Louis. Green says he has not decided yet if he will appeal.
HAM MAKES IT OKAY - U.S. Senator Jim Talent and his Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill may not be each other's favorite people right now, but it was all smiles yesterday at the State Fair's annual ham breakfast.
About 900 people attended the event -- with nearly all of them clearly already supporting one candidate or the other with a t-shirt or sticker proudly planted on their chests. For their part, Talent and McCaskill bumped into each other a few times and spoke cordially about family, the weather, and of course, ham.
HOUSE OF CLAY - Congressman Lacy Clay is hosting a free conference on homeownership starting this weekend. "10 Weeks to Homeownership" is being held at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1444 S. Compton, in cooperation with FannieMae, CitiMortgage, New Day Realty and With Ownership Wealth (WOW).
Word on the street is Congressman Russ Carnahan may be needing those services as he packs up and moves to a newly purchased home in Washington D.C. [UPDATE:Joel Jennings, Carnahan's communications director, tells us that the Congressman has only secured a larger apartment "to better accommodate his family when in D.C." and not actually bought a house.]
CROSSING $2M BRIDGES - Gov. Matt Blunt told reporters this week that he has not decided yet whether he will be running for re-election in 2008. But there is one thing he (and now we) definitely does know: he is "absolutely not" interested in running for a seat in the U.S. House or Senate.
As for what he'll do with the nearly $2 million he has already raised should he decide not to run: "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he told the Columbia Daily Tribune.
VIDEO: Residency Supporters and Opponents Address Police Board
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 1:12 AM
Meeting tonight at the Tandy Center in north St. Louis, members of the St. Louis Police Board again heard from civilian employees of the department who want to be allowed to move out of the City of St. Louis. Board members also heard tonight from citizens who want all police employees to live where they work.
Jamilah Nasheed, who as a new State Rep will soon be representing the north St. Louis neighborhood where the meeting was held, spoke against lifting the residency requirement.
"I'm against any city resident that's on the city payroll to be living outside of the city," said Nasheed.
And in his first interview with PUB DEF, Mayor Francis Slay said he hopes the police board, which as mayor he is a member of, waits to decide on this issue until after city voters are again allowed to let their feelings be known through a non-binding referendum which will appear on the November ballot.
"Frankly, tonight there was a total of 13 people that testified. We have 350,000 residents in the City of St. Louis. I'm sure there's a lot more than 13 in this neighborhood alone that have an opinion on this issue," said Slay.
Some people have emailed us saying they are having trouble watching the few videos we've posted recently using the Vimeo video sharing service. The solution is very simple: download and install the latest version of Flash for your Mac or PC. It's free, only takes a minute to install, and will make your iLife so much better.
The St. Louis School Board of Education, which just met yesterday, will meet again on Friday for an Emergency Special Board Meeting at the Administrative Building, 801 N. 11th Street.
The last such meeting ended with the abrupt resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams and a whole beehive full of new controversy for SLPS.
This Special Meeting will begin at 3:00 p.m. in open session and will move immediately into closed session to discuss an undisclosed emergency legal matter.
Developing...
UPDATE: An SLPS spokesperson has sent out another meeting notification -- this time without the word "emergency."
"This should not be considered an emergency meeting," he wrote in his email correcting the earlier announcement.
With the ongoing legal issues involving board members Veronica O'Brien (who appeared in court last week seeking a restraining order against a former district employee) and Bill Purdy (who at least two other board members are seeking to have removed from the board) -- not to mention the numerous legal issues normally facing any district the size of SLPS -- there is no guessing which issue this meeting will be about.
During the power outages last month, more than 1,500 people were left in the dark at Lambert Airport after three separate power generators failed. An investigation by Chris Hayes of Channel 2 News revealed that those generators had not been properly serviced in years, despite claims by the airport's deputy director, Girard Slay, brother of Mayor Francis Slay, that they had been tested as recently as June 30.
At a press conference after the storms which knocked power out to much of the region, Girard Slay told reporters that the generators had been regularly maintained -- including the June 30 test which he said included them being ran "at idle speed for a half hour." He told the same thing to Lambert's director, Kevin Dolliole.
But records reviewed by Channel 2 showed the June 30 "tests" did not allow the generators to run at all. In fact, according to the station's report which aired last night, there is no record of the main terminal's generator being turned on at all since September of last year.
After learning the truth about the maintenance records, Dolliole told Channel 2 that the situation was "unacceptable" and said he has notified Mayor Slay about pre-disciplinary hearings which may include his brother.
Slay has posted a comment about the situation on his blog. He notes that "a supervisor initially claimed that [the generators] had been tested every month." He does not mention his own relationship to that supervisor.
Cleaning out the ol' PUB DEF video vault, we recently came across this jewel. It's a video we shot almost exactly two years ago -- back in August 2004 before we had any outlet to share such videos. It's from the St. Louis stop of the Hip-Hip Summit which sought to increase youth participation in the 2004 Presidential Election.
The video features Summit founder Russell Simmons; his brother, Reverend Run from Run-DMC; rappers Jadakiss; Loon; Remy Martin; Biz from D-12; soul singer Anthony Hamilton; hip-hop legend Doug E. Fresh; and HSAN President/CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis. Oh, and Nelly.
Look for cameos by State Rep. Rodney Hubbard, 5th Ward Committeewoman Cheryl Nelson, and a certain St. Louis American reporter that doesn't mind rudely getting next to celebrities while they're talking to other people just so he can get his picture taken with them.
PUBDEF.NET received nearly 45,000 visits in July -- including several days in which many of our readers were without electricity. The first two weeks of August have already brought more than 27,000 visits.
Typical 160x600 banner ads like the one on the right side of this page run $100-$250 per week. We also produce and/or host video ads (from 30 seconds to 10 minutes long) like these below for very reasonable prices.
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The St. Louis Board of Education will meet tonight at The Administrative Building, 801 N. 11th Street, Room 108. The Executive Session will begin at 6:00 p.m. and is closed to the public. The open session will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Among tonight's agenda items are approval of the Non-GOB (General Operating Budget) budget for the 2006-07 school year and setting of tax rate for Fiscal Year 2007.
The St. Louis City Police Board will again be listening to opinions from the public about the residency requirement for civilian employees of the Department. But this time the board will be meeting in north St. Louis.
Tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., the Board -- which includes Mayor Francis Slay -- is supposed to meet at the Tandy Center, 4206 W. Kennerly, for its monthly meeting. Over the past few months, they have heard comments from groups in south St. Louis that were largely stacked with civilian employees and their families who mostly spoke in support of lifting requirement to live in the City of St. Louis.
Those opponents of the requirement point to the state of the city schools, the rise in property values, and even crime as reasons all employees of the Police Department should be able to move out of the city.
At past meetings, supporters of the current rule were often met with loud interruptions and booing from the audience. It will be interesting to see how different tomorrow's northside meeting will be.
Fight May be Brewing for City Dems Chairman Post, Committee Meets Tonight
By Antonio D. French
As the Democratic committee-men and -women of the City of St. Louis prepare to gather tonight to elect their officers, rumors are circulating about a possible battle for the top spot of that occasionally influential body.
Some are suggesting a challenge to the chairmanship of 7th Ward Committeeman Brian Wahby will come from the northside -- possibly from the 1st Ward.
When reached by phone, 1st Ward Committeeman Talibdin El-Amin said that he definitely would not be seeking the chairmanship. But Mr. El-Amin would not say whether his wife, Committeewoman and outgoing State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin, would be seeking the office.
Mrs. El-Amin could not be reached for comment, but her name has come up most frequently when we called around on this story. Considering some of the still fresh wounds from her campaign for the state senate, which ended last week in a loss to upstart Jeff Smith, it isn't clear if she would have enough support even among northside black committee members to stage a strong challenge.
Wahby said he isn't worried. "I'm pretty confident in my support," he told PUB DEF.
Tonight's meeting at The Cedars, 39 Lebanon Drive, at 6:00 p.m. will also try to serve as an after-Primary "coming together" to begin to heal those wounds in the name of making a strong push for the Democrats' statewide nominees -- most notably U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.
Many of last Tuesday's Primary winners have been invited to attend tonight's meeting, including: the next License Collector, Mike McMillan; the next Collector of Revenue, Gregory F.X. Daly; the next 60th District State Rep, Jamilah Nasheed; and the next 4th District State Senator, Jeff Smith.
TALENT WON'T TELL - The Secretary of State's office last week approved for the November ballot a measure that would raise the minimum wage in Missouri to $6.50 ($1.35 higher than the federal minimum wage). Gov. Matt Blunt is against it, candidate for U.S. Senate Claire McCaskill says she supports it, but her opponent, incumbent Jim Talent won't say whether he favors it or is against it.
We do know that Talent did support a bump in the federal minimum wage -- but only if it was linked to another tax cut for businesses and America's most wealthy individuals. We also know (thanks to the Associated Press) that one of the groups opposing the ballot measure is the National Federation of Independent Business, which Talent briefly lobbied for in Washington after he lost his 2000 campaign for Governor and left the U.S. House.
THE CASE OF PERCY V. SLAY - Percy Green will have his day in court Wednesday. The jury trial is expected to last only a few days as the legendary activist makes his case against the City of St. Louis and Mayor Francis Slay for his 2001 termination as director of the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Certification program. Green contends that the mayor wanted to weaken the office for political reasons.
"The purpose of the certification program was to prevent white, male-owned businesses from setting up 'front' companies to get city contracts that should go to legitimate minority- or woman-owned businesses," wrote Green in an email. "A weak (or non-existent) certification program benefits Slay because his major political contributors are owners of businesses that stand to profit from doing business with illegitimate 'front' companies."
The trial is set for August 16, at 9:00 a.m. in the new Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse, 111 South 10th St., in Judge Jean C. Hamilton's Courtroom, #16 North.
School Board president Veronica O'Brien was denied a restraining order today against fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and his friend and supporter, Demetrius Johnson.
O'Brien had alleged that the two -- along with several other protestors -- threatened her and her 11 year-old child at one of many recent protests at her home in the Central West End.
But Judge Michael Stelzer, son of 8th Ward Committeeman Jack Stelzer, today denied O'Brien's petition after hearing testimony from witnesses including city police officers and even former Superintendent Creg Williams, who came back to town to testify on behalf of his friend, Irons.
Mike McMillan, the newly elected License Collector of the City of St. Louis, along with Gregory F.X. Daly, the newly elected Collector of Revenue, held a joint victory party Tuesday night at Steinberg Skating Rink in Forest Park.
In their victory speeches that night, both thanked thanked each other for being a part of a successful north/south-black/white partnership.
"This is the first time in a long time that both sides of town have come together with a coalition that works," said Daly.
Jeff Smith raised $231,024.01 and received 6,755 votes, costing him $34.20 each.
Derio Gambaro raised $180,409.77 and received 4,261 votes, costing him $42.34 each.
Yaphett El-Amin raised $161,051.16 and received 4,618 votes, costing her $34.87 each.
Amber Boykins raised $102,705.04 and received 2,360 votes, costing her $43.52 each.
Kenny Jones raised just $4,570 and received 558 votes, costing him $8.19 each.
The four campaigns spent a total of $679,759.98 to get just 18,552 people to vote. That's an average of $36.64 per vote.
Note: The above numbers are based on the last campaign finance reports submitted by each campaign and assumes that every dollar raised was indeed spent.
Calculate other races and share the results in the comments section...
Not usually our topic here, but it is interesting that tonight's Rams game against the Colts won't be seen on television because not enough tickets were sold in time.
NFL rules state that if a game isn't sold out 72 hours before kickoff, the game will be "blacked out." The Rams were even given an extra two days to sell the rest of the tickets, but with no success.
The effort to recall 3rd Ward Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. is on hold as the recallers and election officials wait for a judge to decide the legality of an Election Board practice of allowing aldermen to get signatures removed from a recall petition by way of signed affidavits.
On June 30, Citizens to Recall Aldermen Bosley turned in approximately 1,100 signatures to the Board. Bosley was subsequently successful in getting 339 people who had originally signed the recall petition to then sign an affidavit asking for their names to be removed.
The recallers claim that since such an allowance for removal is nowhere in the City's charter -- which outlines the recall procedure -- that the Election Board "exceeded the scope of power delegated to it" by allowing it and therefore violated the civil rights of the recallers.
A lawsuit has been filed seeking to have those signatures put back onto the petition -- without which the petition will fall short of the required number of signatures. A temporary restraining order was issued last week preventing the St. Louis Board of Elections from certifying or removing any more signatures from the petition to recall Bosley.
A hearing in this matter has been set for August 21.
In the petition for a temporary restraining order filed yesterday by then-State Senate candidate Yaphett El-Amin, she alleged that one of her opponents, Amber Boykins, and State Rep candidates Joe Palm (who was running against her husband) and Shaun Simms (who was running against her political ally, Jamilah Nasheed) were distributing sample ballots in the 1st, 4th, 18th and 27th wards that were "false, misleading, and illegal."
Her complaint held that by using the terms "Democratic Sample Ballot" those campaigns were misleading voters into thinking that they had been endorsed by the respective Democratic ward organizations, which they had not.
Judge Lisa Van Amburg agreed with El-Amin and at 3:25 p.m. she issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting them from being further distributed.
Election Board officials say they instructed their roaming judges to inform the campaigns' poll workers to stop passing out the illegal ballots.
A hearing in this matter has been set for Friday, August 18, at 9:00 a.m. -- long after the polls have closed and winners have been decided in the affected races.
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We've also updated our post from Monday in which we made predictions about Tuesday's races. Click here to check out how we did.
According to former 1st Ward Ald. Irene J. Smith, defeated State Senate candidate Yaphett El-Amin filed a lawsuit yesterday against the campaigns of her opponent Amber Boykins, and Joe Palm and Karla May, both opponents of her husband, seeking to have those campaigns' sample ballots from being distributed in several wards.
According to Smith, who was speaking on Lizz Brown's "Wake-Up Call" radio show this morning, a temporary restraining order was issued around 3:00 yesterday to collect the "misleading" (El-Amin's word, not Smith's) sample ballots. According to Brown, some ballots were taken by election officials and Sheriff deputies.
Republican Leslie Farr has lost his bid to get his party's nomination for a second run against Congressman Lacy Clay in the 1st District. Mark J. Byrne easily defeated Farr, who had recently become at odds with several leaders of his party, with 73% of the vote to Farr's 15%.
State Rep. Sherman Parker, who had been the State House's sole black Republican, has lost his bid against incumbent Congressman Todd Akin in the 2nd District. Parker's candidacy was always considered a longshot at best, but an arrest just a week before the election made his victory nearly impossible. Parker got just 12% of the vote yesterday.
For the first time in longer than most political watchers can remember, the St. Louis City Board of Elections got the final unofficial totals out before midnight and beat the St. Louis County Board by hours (they still aren't done).
Board Chairman Ed Martin vacates his post to take over the Governor's Office on a high note as he, his fellow board members, the Republican and Democratic directors, and all of the Board's employees and E-Day workers have made the impossible possible.
At one point the results were popping out so fast reporters were begging them to slow down. "Bring the Democrats back," one joked. "I can't keep up!"
With 23 of 24 Precincts Reporting, State Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal has again defeated Councilwoman Sandi Colquitt. The count so far: 2,100 (62%) for Nadal, 1,277 (38%) for Colquitt.
Congrats to Maria and all the other winners tonight. I think the lesson here is that I should keep to predicting City politics and leave County races to County folks.
The St. Louis City Board of Elections has set up a pretty nice "media room" with a wireless Internet connection, veggie snacks, and "live" election results projected on the wall from a laptop.
The board should have some election results posted here on www.stlelections.com.
After months of campaigning, hundreds of thousands of dollars raised and spent, countless candidate debates, and dozens of mailers and robo calls, it comes down to this.
We sit numb and wait...
Stay with PUB DEF for results from today's elections...
E-DAY UPDATE... Election Board officials tell PUB DEF that only about 10% of St. Louis' registered voters have gone to the polls so far. Look for a final turnout around 23%.
E-DAY UPDATE... Polls close in less than seven hours. No reports of any craziness yet, but several people have told PUB DEF about some confusion involving the optical scan ballots. Some election judges are failing to remind voters that there are ballot issues on the second page. As a result many folks are undervoting.
As always, if you've got a tip call (314) 518-2364.
People are near polling places this morning gathering signatures on a petition that would require a public vote before any public park land (such as Forest Park) could be sold to a private interest.
State Rep Candidate Talibdin El-Amin got hit this morning by a full on assault from the disgruntled mother of his two oldest children.
Antonnia Washington, her mother and her sister all called into Lizz Brown's "Wake Up Call" radio show this morning to slam El-Amin. For more than an hour, Brown has carried on the attacks on Talibdin and his wife, state senate candidate Yaphett El-Amin.
State Senator Maida Coleman told PUB DEF today that she still feels disrespected by Mayor Francis Slay and would have a tough time forgiving her former ally even if he did apologize for his recent behavior -- which he has not.
As we reported over the weekend, Coleman was taken aback by a call on her cell phone from an angry and loud Slay last week. The mayor yelled at the senator about a letter she recently wrote to Gov. Matt Blunt defending the recent actions of the St. Louis City School Board.
"The only instability that you talk about in your press release that has occurred happened under the old majority school board, which the Mayor of St. Louis helped elect," wrote Coleman.
Slay ended his tirade with a thinly veiled threat: "Good luck with any future political plans you may have."
Coleman, who asserts that she never yelled back at the mayor, told PUB DEF today that even if Slay did offer to patch things up with her, she doesn't know if she can forgive him for speaking to her in such a disrespectful and bullying manner.
"I'll make my peace with God. I'll have to think twice about Francis Slay," she said.
Talent and McCaskill to debate on 'Meet the Press' in October
By Antonio D. French
U.S. Senator Jim Talent and his Democratic challenger, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, today accepted an offer by NBC’s "Meet the Press" to debate on the program on Sunday, October 8.
Predictions are always dangerous. More often than not, you usually wish you just kept your mouth shut and looked smarter than you actually were. Oh well.
Before we get started, let's remember one thing: these are predictions about who I think will win tomorrow's elections, not endorsements or statements about who I want to win these races.
Okay, let's get into it.
In the 57th State Rep District: Joe Palm -- 35% (29.53%) Talibdin El-Amin -- 42% (43.79%) Karla May -- 23% (26.68%) The winner will be Talibdin El-Amin (Correct)
In the 58th State Rep District: Rodney Hubbard -- 60% (73.3%) Bill Haas -- 40% (26.7%) The winner will be Rodney Hubbard (Correct)
In the 59th State Rep District: Jeanette Mott Oxford -- 75% (81.03%) Mark Rice -- 25% (18.97%) The winner will be Jeanette Mott Oxford (Correct)
In the 60th State Rep District: Bob Bartlett -- 5% (5.75%) Shaun Simms -- 20% (12.53%) Jamilah Nasheed -- 40% (43.92%) Sharon Tyus -- 35% (37.8%) The winner will be Jamilah Nasheed (Correct)
In the 72nd State Rep District: Maria Chappelle Nadal -- 49% (64%) Sandi Colquitt -- 51% (36%) The winner will be Sandi Colquitt (Wrong)
In the 4th State Senate District: Yaphett El-Amin -- 27% (24.89%) Derio Gambaro -- 21% (22.97%) Amber Boykins -- 18% (12.72%) Jeff Smith -- 31% (36.41%) Kenny Jones -- 3% (3.01%) The winner will be Jeff Smith(Correct)
So there it is. And now we wait....
I would be remiss if I didn't direct you politicos to my consulting firm's website. Find A D French & Associates LLC at www.adfrench.com.
The issue was whether a person can run for the school board if he or she has relatives who work in the district. Two of Purdy's daughters and a grandson are teachers in the district. A recent change in state law allows school board members to serve even if they have family working in the system. But the school board bylaws still say that is illegal.
