Your $7.00 monthly contribution will go a long way to helping us expand the coverage and services you enjoy.
GET THE LATEST PUBDEF NEWS 24/7:
ABOUT PUB DEF
PUB
DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
City of St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal is to cast a critical eye
on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
them, and to educate our readers about legislation and the political
processes that affect our daily lives.
CONTACT US
Do you have
a press release, news tip or rumor to share?
VIDEO: SLCC Professor Suspended for Sexual Abuse At Previous School
By Gabe Bullard
Filed
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Earlier this week, St. Louis Community College (SLCC) suspended music professor Lawrence Stukenholtz for sexual misconduct. Stukenholtz was not suspended for any misdeeds at SLCC, but for incidents at Matter Dei High School in California, a Catholic institution.
Court records show that after reports of sexual relationships and abuse with female minors, Stukenholtz was offered the chance to resign or else face a full investigation. He resigned and eventually wound up teaching music at SLCC.
When one of Stukenholtz's victims, Sarah Gray, found out about his position in St. Louis she contacted the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Local SNAP officials say they told SLCC administrators about Stukenholtz's past, but after no action was taken, they met with Gray and hand-delivered a letter to the school's main office.
Following the delivery, Stukenholtz was suspended.
Gray's legal options against Stukenholtz are limited since she already settled a case, along with other victims.
"The settlement was basically a way for myself and the other girls to move forward," says Gray.
Gray is currently pushing to get Stukenhotlz indicted on charges of sexual abuse of a child in Orange County, California.
PubDef talked with Gray before she and SNAP representatives delivered their letter to the SLCC.
The President of the 24th Ward Democrats sat down with PubDef.net this afternoon to discuss the ongoing effort to recall Mayor Francis Slay and why his organization opposes it.
John Corbett, president of the 24th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, was active in the recall of his own alderman, Tom Bauer, just two years ago. Corbett is a retired University City firefighter and has spent time lobbying on behalf of firefighters in state government. He says he sometimes worked with, and sometimes against, former Fire Chief Sherman George back when George was an active member of the black firefighters' organization, F.I.R.E.
"Sherman has his own agenda, just like I did when I was president of the firefighters' union," says Corbett. "I don't think Sherman ever changed from working for F.I.R.E."
And now the exciting conclusion of our interview with affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly.
Connerly has come to Missouri to support a proposed amendment to our state constitution to "ban affirmative action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education."
Last week, I sat down with Ward Connerly, the controversial founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization created to oppose racial and gender preference, commonly known as affirmative action.
In 1996, Connerly was instrumental in getting Proposition 209 passed in California. The controversial initiative amended the state's constitution to prohibit public institutions, such as universities, from taking race or gender into consideration in hiring or admissions.
Connerly has now come to Missouri. He has been brought in to be the spokesman for a group based out of Grain Valley, Missouri which is organizing to get an initiative passed next year which is very similar to the one passed in California.
The California initiative passed by 54%. In this much more conservative Midwestern state, supporters of affirmative action are up for a fight — one that will likely be settled on the very same ballot that decides who will be the next President of the United States.
And now, part 1 of my interview with Ward Connerly...
PubDef.net caught up with State Senator Rita Days (D-St. Louis County) as she was leaving the Ferrara Theatre in America's Center, where Democratic Presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama addressed the National Urban League Conference just moments before.
We asked Days, who says she supports Barack Obama's campaign, what she thought about the candidates' speeches and the absence of the major Republican candidates, who each chose not to attend.
Days said for all the talk from Republican candidates about wanting to reach out to African Americans, their actions speak otherwise.
PubDef.net caught up with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean at the National Urban League Convention today. We asked him what he thought about the major Republican Presidential candidates choosing not to attend the convention.
"I'm not entirely surprised," said Dean. "They didn't show up at the NAACP. They didn't show up at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials."
"Our party is the party that includes everybody — in fact, it depends on everybody in order to win. And theirs doesn't."
Longtime "Blairmont" watchdog Michael Allen sat down with PubDef Friday to discuss Governor Matt Blunt's veto just hours earlier of the giant economic development bill that included a $100 million tax credit for one man, developer Paul McKee.
In addition to giving his reaction to the veto, Allen, an Old North resident who said he fully supports the state earmarking millions of dollars in tax credits to rebuild north St. Louis, suggested ways that McKee and state legislators can craft a better piece of legislation next year — one which residents and local elected officials can support.
Very few of the tens of thousands of people who attended this week's V.P. Parade know anything at all about its history.
Local Civil Rights legend Percy Green sat down with PubDef.net yesterday to discuss to history of the Veiled Prophet (V.P.) Parade and tell us the story of how in 1972 he led his group of militant ACTION activists in an operation to unveil the mysterious prophet.
JEFFERSON CITY – Still receiving criticisms and praises alike, State Sen. John Loudon spoke with PubDef today about his passion for the controversial issue of midwifery and the fallout from his stealth legalization of the practice in Missouri.
Yesterday, Missouri House members in support of Affirmative Action held a press conference in Jefferson City to express their opposition of an anti-Affirmative Action ballot initiative being pushed by a group calling itself, rather ironically, the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative.
State Rep. Talibdin El-Amin (D-St. Louis City), one of the organizers of the event, told PubDef that this issue is not just about reserving jobs and spots in higher education for African-Americans. He contends that the entire country benefits from diversity.
"We wanted to convey that this is not solely an African-American issue," said El-Amin. "We're trying not to be reactionary... trying to make sure people are being educated as to the deceptive language that is being used."
El-Amin went on to say that he expects any bill attacking Affirmative Action to receive strong Democratic opposition, and that he has spoken to some Republican lawmakers that he has worked with in the past that will also "be inclined to support" Affirmative Action.
While opponents contend that Affirmative Action programs have outlasted their usefulness, El-Amin couldn't disagree more.
"You can look at the numbers, and there is a disparity. It is obvious that you need some type of remedy," he said. And he will continue to feel that way, "until they can show me some numbers" to the contrary.
A native St. Louisan and former reporter for several local publications, Jabari Asim's byline can now be regularly seen in the pages of The Washington Post as deputy editor of the book review section. But it is his own book which is earning this "hometown boy made good" national attention.
Asim's book details the history of what is perhaps the most controversial word in our language today: nigger (commonly referred to in polite company as "the N word").
On Sunday afternoon, Asim sat down with PubDef on the corner of 14th Street and Washington Ave, in front of the Geletaria café, to talk about his new book and the word that continues to cause so much pain and controversy.
You can meet Asim tonight at the St. Louis Public Library Central Branch, 1301 Olive Street, at 7:00 p.m. He will be discussing and signing copies of his book. The event is free to the public and all are welcome.
There was a time not too long ago when religious leaders in America focused the energies of their flocks on social ills like poverty, education and civil rights. But in recent decades, religious conservatives have refocused those energies on the narrow fights against abortion and homosexuality.
While the country engages in wars which result in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, with only some notable exceptions, the religious community is largely silent. What happened to the Christian calling for social justice?
The name Kennedy is synonymous with a religious calling leading to social action through politics. The family and their two most famous sons have a legacy of public service that is rooted from their Catholic values and has branched into nearly every arena of public service thanks to a family tree as large as any in Yellowstone.
Earlier this week, I sat down with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and the eldest of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children. We discussed her new book, "Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way".
Click here to buy "Failing America's Faithful: How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way" on Amazon.com.
There is a rumor that Riverview Gardens has been notified that the state is about to step in. Last week we asked Gov. Matt Blunt if state involvement in troubled districts was going to end with St. Louis Public Schools.
UPDATE: Today DESE released the agenda for the State Board of Education's April meeting. It specifically noted that neither the St. Louis City schools nor the Riverview Gardens School Districts will be discussed this month.
Friday afternoon, the day the Special Advisory Committee on St. Louis Public Schools recommended that an appointed three-person board run the city schools for the next 6-10 years, Mayor Francis Slay sat down with PUB DEF to discuss what it all means for the children and parents of St. Louis City.
"The school district is in crisis. It's been on a downward spiral for quite some time," said Slay.
"It's not something that happened last week, or several months ago, or even four years ago. It's something that's been going on for a number of years."
But some would argue that the current state of the SLPS financial and academic spiral can be traced back to 2003, the year longtime superintendent Cleveland Hammonds retired and four new members, all backed by Mayor Slay, were elected to the school board. Since then the district went from a positive to a negative fund balance, slipped further away from full accreditation (after being only two points away), and has lost the confidence of the city's parents, voters and corporate community.
But Slay maintains that the current woes have more to do with troubles which started much earlier.
"What happened back then is something that was created by the crisis this district presented," said Slay.
He said the financial situation realized in 2003 forced the board to make some tough decisions causing some disruptions. But the mayor repeated his view that the school district's problems go back many, many years.
"This started a long time ago," he said.
Even if all of the Advisory Committee's recommendations, which seem to attempt to take politics (and the voters) out of the process for a while, are eventually adopted, the central question of how to better educate urban children is barely addressed in their report and is by no means a riddle only we in St. Louis are scratching our heads about.
All across America, large school districts are trying to answer the same question: How do we prepare poor children for the world of the future while competing with the deadly challenges of their world today? None of these recommendations guarantee success. So we asked the mayor if at the end of two, four, even six years into this latest experiment, SLPS still isn't succeeding -- what then?
"I think everyone involved in this ought to make sure that doesn't happen," said Slay.
The chairwoman of the St. Louis City Board of Elections says Election Day is going pretty smoothly so far.
Kim Mathis told PUB DEF that aside from some minor problems with a few optical scan machines, the election is proceeding without any major controversies so far.
We asked her about reports of confusion at some polling places -- either with faulty equipment or misinformed elderly judges -- that resulted in some voters being given provisional ballots. Mathis said she had not heard of any of those incidents, but she said even though an optical scan ballot might have been marked "provisional" it wasn't actually a provisional vote if it was scanned and counted on the spot.
Mathis also said she had not heard of any touch screen machines not working today. But when this reporter arrived to vote at Yeatman School this morning, only one of the three touch screen machines was operational. Twenty minutes later, by the time I got to the front of the line, all three were functioning.
Mathis would not predict what time tonight the election board would have the final unofficial vote total. "We'll try to get them out as soon as we can," she said. "But I don't anticipate you're going to see anything longer here than you would find anywhere else."
Watch our entire 5-minute interview with Mathis...
State Auditor candidate Sandra Thomas sat down with PUB DEF for a few minutes this morning to talk about her campaign and her vision for the office.
Thomas, who is a CPA and currently the auditor for Platte County, said she thinks politics has no place in the auditor's office.
"I think it's really important that we have someone that is going to take the politics out of that office," she said. "Someone who wants to do the job for the taxpayers of finding the waste, fraud and abuse in state government."
She focused on her education (Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in accounting) and her experience in Platte County as qualifications for the office.
Yesterday we published our interview with Thomas' Democratic opponent, Susan Montee. Click here to watch it.
A few weeks ago, Susan Montee, the Democratic candidate for State Auditor, sat down with PUB DEF to talk about her "exciting" race to succeed Claire McCaskill.
Montee, who is a CPA and currently the auditor for Buchanan County, said the office of State Auditor is important because it serves as a watchdog for state government.
She said if Republican Gov. Matt Blunt gets an auditor of his same party we will see is a lot of "happy news coming out over the next two years from the Auditor's office telling us about how great the Blunt administration's policies have been."
Tomorrow we are scheduled to interview the Republican candidate for State Auditor, Sandra Thomas, who is also a CPA and currently auditor for Platte County.
On Nov. 7, St. Louis City voters will be asked to raise their sales tax by 1/8 percent to pay for the construction and maintenance of two new state-of-the-art recreation centers -- one in north St. Louis and one in south St. Louis -- and to provide a dedicated revenue source for maintaining and upgrading the City's existing recreation facilities.
In an interview yesterday, Mayor Francis Slay said the new tax is estimated to generate about $4.37 million annually. Should Proposition P pass, the City would almost immediately issue bonds to pay for building the new rec-plexes (which cost about $19 million each) and upgrading its existing rec centers (about $9.5 million). Expanding the number and scope of recreation programs offered by the City will cost about $700,000 per year, according to Slay.
The southside rec-plex is going to be built in Carondolet Park. The northside location has not been finalized, but O'Fallon Park is the frontrunner after receiving the endorsement of the Aldermanic Black Caucus. Should the tax increase pass, Slay said to look for doors to open on the two facilities in two to three years.
If Prop P fails next Tuesday, Slay said it will have been another "lost opportunity" for the City of St. Louis.
"This is what it's going to take," said Slay. "It's going to take something like this to really do something that makes a difference as far as recreation in the City."
