By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 8:13 AM
From the Post-Dispatch: Labels: BOA_President_Race
"Mr. Shrewsbury has a solid 24-year record of sometimes plodding, but honest and diligent service. Mr. Reed is a bright, engaging and capable politician who would help bridge the racial gap in city politics. The choice is a close one, but the recommendation here is that voters choose Lewis E. Reed."
From the Southside Journal:
"Both are sincere, hardworking men who are devoted to making St. Louis a better place to live.
Shrewsbury has been listening to the voice of St. Louis for nearly 25 years.
Reed has a vision for St. Louis that cannot be accomplished from the aldermanic chambers. Reed's vision is better suited for the mayor's office. Shrewsbury should be retained as aldermanic president when voters go to the polls March 6."
34 Comments:
The Journal's soft endorsement of Shrewsbury is interesting in that they say his opponent is better suited for the Mayor's office. It sort of makes you scratch your head, doesn't it? Why not just endorse Reed as the better leader?
Which is more important, a PD or Suburban Journal endorsement? The Journal is delivered free throughout heavy-voting southwest city, while most people don't get delivery of the Post Dispatch.
However, in advertising, Reed can now claim the endorsement of the region's only major newspaper.
2/28/2007 8:36 AM
That Journal endorsement must have been a dagger in Shrewsbury's heart: he gets their endorsement because his opponent is mayoral material.
2/28/2007 8:36 AM
The Southside Journal endorsement helps Shrewsbury only with his most loyal voters who he already has in his column - those in his SW City base.
The P-D endorsement has the potential to help Reed with a critical group of swing voters - central corridor and near-southside progressives.
2/28/2007 9:43 AM
A copout by the whiteside Journal. If Reed were running for Mayor (his next step?), the Journal would still endorse Slay.
2/28/2007 9:45 AM
Either way, Reed is the better candidate in this race. Hands down.The BOA staff knows it as well as the majority of Aldermen and neighborhood leaders, north and south!
2/28/2007 9:45 AM
Have we all forgotten what a piece of crap the PD is? THe SouthSide Journal is even worse!
2/28/2007 9:45 AM
As Mayor Slay repeatedly points out on his website, the Post gets it wrong again.
2/28/2007 10:13 AM
Oh please, the Post has been on the wrong side of nearly every major decision in St. Louis for the past decade.
2/28/2007 10:28 AM
As far as the Southside Journal's curious endorsement, isn't the current mayor a former President of the Board of Aldermen?
2/28/2007 10:58 AM
Help me, northsiders. Did the Journal run its endorsement in its northside papers, or just in the southside ones? In the 4th District senate contest last August, they ran their Gambaro endorsement in the southside papers and remained silent in the northside papers.
Perhaps more relevant: The print edition of the Arch City Chronicle endorsed Reed.
As a practical matter, voters care very little who any newspaper endorses. If they read the endorsement at all, they look to see whether the paper's reasoning in coming to that conclusion makes sense to them. The feeble reasoning in both the Post and Journal endorsements makes both pretty worthless.
On another matter, I wonder if all the talk about Reed being mayoral material and how the board presidency is a good stepping stone is giving Mike McMillan any second thoughts about backing Reed. Is he creating a monster?
2/28/2007 11:43 AM
What I don't understand is, how can someone who is 90,000+ dollars in debt 8 days out, be considered a viable canidate for Mayor?
Reed has no money, and without money he has no real support--I don't care who endorses him.
Shrewsbury wins in 6 days, and Reed loses both the race, and his house.
2/28/2007 12:18 PM
Money doesn't equal support, votes do. Note the last school board election. Money couldn't buy it.
2/28/2007 12:27 PM
"Note the last school board election. Money couldn't buy it."
Reed is not running against Republicans endorsed by Slay for school board.
Reed is running against a Democratic incumbent.
This is a very differnt election.
2/28/2007 12:53 PM
Anyone who cares that Shrewsbury has a practice in the county hasn't taken the time to listen to his reasoning and educate themselves. He still pays city earnings taxes and lawyers do not pay license fees.
2/28/2007 12:55 PM
If Lewis is such a great candidate, why is he the only one going negative? Sounds desparate to me. Stealing Shrewsbury signs, claiming he is doing push polling to tell people that Reed has a white wife? Lieing about the Circuit Attorney's budget.
I just got another slanderous piece of mail from the Reed camp today. Talk about dirty politics!!^!
2/28/2007 12:58 PM
So Beancounter, you're saying Democratic voters back candidates with the most money? Interesting.
2/28/2007 1:05 PM
Lies about the Circuit Attorney's budget?
See the documents for yourself:
http://lewisreed.net/crime.html
2/28/2007 1:07 PM
Is it true that the print edition of the Arch City Chronicle is endorsing Lewis Reed? That has got to hurt Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury has been courting the South Grandenistas for some time now, and for them to be drinking their lattes and reading that the ACC has endorsed Lewis Reed has got to hurt.
Did anyone see the ACC endorsement? What was their rationale to endorse Reed over Shrewsbury?
2/28/2007 1:14 PM
Reed Lies - See the numbers for yourself:
http://stlouis.missouri.org/government/budget.htm
2001 Circuit Attorney Budget (Shrewsbury's first year as da Prez): $4,755,944
2007 Circuit Attorney Budget: $5,863,110
Sorry if 1.1 million dollars wasn't enough of an increase and that Reed's wife didn't get a big enough raise. Shrewsbury backed those increases.
2/28/2007 1:21 PM
I saw the ACC endorsement. Drebes' rationale was essentially that while Shrewsbury has been dilligent and responsive as President of the Board, Reed has the energy, vision and passion that the city needs. He also argues that Reed is in a better position to help the city overcome its racial polarization.
2/28/2007 1:43 PM
And how is Reed able to do that? Help fix the racial polarization, I mean. I haven't seen specifics although I've seen that statement before.
2/28/2007 2:36 PM
I just received Mr. Positive's Cleaning Up mailer with the giant broom under the Arch.
Inside it carries a photo of a sink full of dirty dishes (deeply troubling to me because I could swear that's my sink right now, the dishwasher doesn't come home till this weekend) and the copy:
"LEWIS REED WILL MAKE A BIG MESS OF ST. LOUIS.
We've come a long way over the last four years - and we can't afford to let Lewis Reed take us backwards.
Reed introduced a law to relax building code inspections at a senior citizen facility - even though law inspections caused a fire at a group home near Joplin, Missouri that killed 11 people.
Reed even voted against a plan to create new jobs and bring in hundreds of dollars for the city."
If I were the previous Board President and now Mayor, I'd be pretty ticked off with some of the other copy:
"Aldermanic President Jim Shrewsbury - Cleaning Up City Hall to Get St. Louis Back on Track. Something had to be done. After years of scandals and mismanagement, Jim Shrewsbury took over the Board of Aldermen to help reform the way city government works."
The examples of cleaning up include giving his city car to the Circuit Attorney's office and stopping aldermen from using taxpayer funds for travel. Can anyone recall what the scandals were involving citywide elected officials using their city issued autos or travel by aldermen?
2/28/2007 2:39 PM
Reed has successfully represented a racially and economically diverse ward on the board of Aldermen for the past 8 years. During his tenure, the ward has attracted new residents and new business owners, both black and white.
He is the only African-American who represents the five racially mixed wards in the city's central corridor.
In this campaign, he has managed to gain the endorsement of roughly 1/3 of his white colleagues on the board of Aldermen, while his opponent has only been endorsed by one African-American alderman.
I think these are the kinds of things people are referring to when they say Reed is in a good position to help bridge the city's racial divisions.
2/28/2007 3:07 PM
Whom ever you are at 1:05 PM.
"So Beancounter, you're saying Democratic voters back candidates with the most money? Interesting"
You obviously were not paying atention to the last school board election.
The Slay slate spent $500,000 on Clinkscale and Buford.
Clinkscale was the president of the school board.
Buford is a Republican.
Downs and Jones spent around $50,000 and won.
The combination of faild leadership of Clinkscale and the political alignment of Buford ment people had a reason to vote against them.
On the other hand Jones and Downs had great credentals as candidates (Parents and comunity activism) ment that they could get their message out through means other than lots of money.
Reed has not hit on any substantial reason to vote against Shrewsbury.
Reed is a very likeable candidate but in this matchup his game hasent stepped up.
2/28/2007 3:23 PM
Beancounter, I was paying very close attention to the last school board election. Money didn't win, very clearly. So posters saying Shrewsbury will win because he has the most money are not necessarily correct.
2/28/2007 3:43 PM
Part of the Post-Dispatch rationale
for endorsement was how close Reed
would work with the Mayor on
the E&A Board. Let me count those
votes 1, 2, . . . 3.
2/28/2007 3:53 PM
Just read it...Drebes pretty well lays it out there...
Shrewsbury lacks vision and his ambition is less than the city's needs.
Shrewsbury weakened efforts to reform schools by staying on the sidelines of this important issue, thus denying reform advocates an important partner.
And by being a poll watcher, Shrewsbury avoided supporting the BJC lease not on principle, but rather simply based on public opinion.
Reed, on the other hand, "oozes" the vision and energy the city needs, and can help bridge the city's racial divide.
Further, Drebes states that Reed is about "more than calculating and navigating a dream to Room 200".
And then in a final, ringing endorsement of Reed, Drebes states, "and that 'more' is what the City needs. The city needs Lewis Reed for President of the Board of Aldermen."
Wow.
2/28/2007 4:18 PM
I guess if what the city needs is a flip-flopper who only does what's best for him, they have their man in Reed.
*Mad at Shrewsbury for not giving his wife a raise.
*Not supporting the African American candidate to succeed him.
*Sponsored the redistricting bill to remove an African American Alderman from the board.
Doesnt sound like he is bridging the racial divide.
2/28/2007 5:08 PM
The above quotes from Drebes (ACC) have been really selective. Here are a few more:
"[Shrewsbury] has been a faithful returner of phone calls, a helpful historian of political history and devoted attendant to the rules of the Board.
"In Reed I find the opposite - a person with [so] many ideas and efforts in the air, sometimes you have to call him twice or three times to get his attention; he hasn't been campaigning since he was a teenager; and he doesn't list professionalism of the Board as a plank in his platform."
Dave's conclusion was to endorse firing Jim Shrewsbury and replacing him with Lewis Reed. Reasonable minds (including this reasonable mind) can and do differ with that conclusion.
Ironically, as faulty as the ACC's reasoning was for endorsing Reed, it was still better than the Post's reasoning for the same endorsement and the Journal's reasoning in endorsing Shrewsbury. Print media in this town really suck.
2/28/2007 6:16 PM
I have never before agreed with the Oracle, and I don't know if it will happen again, but dammit he's right this time!
2/28/2007 11:31 PM
Oracle/Tim:
Why does someone who has never been a member of the Democratic party, yet a member, leader and founder of the Green, Progressive and Reform (Ross Perot's puppet party) Parties have so much to say about the Democratic primary in every election? Can't you find any viable candidates to run in the parties you actually support? It must be much easier to criticize leaders in other parties than to actually back anyone.
3/01/2007 8:52 AM
Isn't this the same town that didn't vote Alan Wheat U.S.Senator over John Ashcroft? Crime is color blind and the Post Disgrace has definately not boosted the Moral of what could be a great City if color were eliminated,,how about leadership and experience..Lofts and developers does that change problems of hate and ignorance to the qualifications of President of BOA??? Vote Experience Tue.. Jim Shrewsbury a man who cares and didn't have to float his own name on his own money like Reed..
3/01/2007 7:20 PM
More proof that 98% of the people who read the vomit produced on this page are pinheads. How dumb are you? The Post and the Journals are both owned by the same consortium. Wake up! It's an easy read the Post made no real endorsement. Besides Frenchy you lean to read becasue he's paying you lot's of money to be his mouthpiece. What a load!
3/01/2007 8:19 PM
So...Jim Shrewsbury is like John Ashcroft? Not a reason I'd vote for him.
3/02/2007 10:41 AM
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