In the biggest political upset in recent memory, Lewis Reed has defeated Jim Shrewsbury to become the next President of the Board of Aldermen.
Reed’s victory makes him the first African-American Aldermanic President ever elected in the City of St. Louis.
THE FINAL UNOFFICIAL NUMBERS:
JAMES F. SHREWSBURY — 12,687 — 46.18%
LEWIS E. REED — 14,729 — 53.62%
UPDATE: Click here to get all the unofficial final numbers.
March 6th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Wow, not even that close. Congrats to Lewis and you A.D. Nice work.
Hopefully Lewis will pay attention to the lesson Jim learned tonight.
Maybe now with the “conflicts of interest” gone, Jim can move his law practice back to the city.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Congratulations, Lewis Reed. The voters made the right choice.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
“Reed’s victory makes him the first African-American Aldermanic President ever elected in the City of St. Louis.”
FU antonio. If you want to bridge the racial divide why must you bring up the race card? You are shallow and small-minded. It’s funny how Tiger Woods would NOT talk about his race when he was bombarded early in his career. He did this because he didn’t feel it important and wanted people to see him for who is rather than the color of his skin.
As you can see it really bothers me that you must bring up race. Who gives a damn? When you realize that you will be better for it.
Congrats Lewis Reed, I wish you the best!
March 6th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Lewis Reed, be like Charlie Dooley, bringing people together, getting things done.
The time is now. We need to clean out City Hall, next stop Mayor Slay’s Office. Think Sen. Coleman will run for Mayor of the City of St. Louis? It’s possible.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Maida Coleman for Mayor….Ha Ha Ha!!!
Didn’t Shrewsbury tote Maida around as his big endorsement? Wow she really helped him, NOT! She is a joke.
Not only could she not balance her personal finances, I bet she didn’t carry her own ward for Shrewsbury.
She is a joke!
Mayor Coleman - HA HA HA LOL!!!
March 6th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Mike McMillian was the biggest winner tonight. Trust me!
March 6th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
^Well, maybe after Lewis Reed himself — and the 16 aldermen who stood with Reed.
McMillan (note the spelling) deserves a huge amount of credit, though.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I’m laughing at all the Shrewsbury supporters that were making disparaging comments about Antonio and the power of his blog and consulting work for Lewis Reed! You haters need to disappear into oblivion like shrewsbury is about to do!Congrats Antonio on the win of your clients Lewis Reed and Ms. Triplett!
March 6th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I like Lewis Reed; I’m happy for him. I like Jim Shrewsbury too. I think he provided better balance for the city and the BOE. If Reed is just going to be a Slay clone, I dont think that’s best for the city, at least some of the city, those without enough power, cause Slay doesnt care about them. As Lewis said, this is just the frontend; the backend is what we do with our victory. Fair enough. Let’s reserve judgment, and the proof is in the puddying. Got to be careful what you wish for because you might get it. I wish and pray that he finds his own voice, isnt afraid to say no to the Mayor when he doesnt agree. Think well and creatively about complex issues and not think or do what others tell him. Get Aldermen involved in helping our schools be better. Take construction jobs, including tearing down abandoned buildings, challenging the unemployed, including young people with no future, gang members or not, to learn the trades even if they have to be in school part-time; also pay them for tutoring others; they’ll learn as much as they’ll tutor. Take it to them. Pay them. Give them an alternative to the life they lead now. Dont give up. It’s good for them, we owe them the education we didnt give them when we had the chance, and it’s good for our neighborhoods. You know, all the things I would have tried to do if I had won.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Congrats Lewis! Thank you Florida, Griffin, Gregali, McMillan and the campaign! You guys did it!
March 7th, 2007 at 1:53 am
IMPRESSIVE I don’t know how it happened, but you did it. Nice work.
I’m glad no one took my 13 point over-under spread, because I would have lost BIG TIME!
You proved the doubters, the pollsters(LM) and the statisticians wrong.
Good luck and good night.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:00 am
So—who does he pick for the new 3 member school board? Probably someone with a slightly different viewpoint than whatever bozo Blunt comes up with.
He should choose a woman who would be willing to bring charges in the event Blunt picks someone who is “gender insensitive”.
March 7th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Kjoe, unfortunately the State Board of Education has disenfranchised the voters of St. Louis twice. It is my understanding that Jim Shrewsbury will still get to make the pick before Lewis takes office.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Congratulations ADF-you are a genius. I have always said it. Now it’s time for you to run for office!
March 7th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Antonio, it does not disenfranchise us for Shrewsbury to make a choice on the transitional board–he won an election fair and square the last time, and I expect him to continue earning his paycheck by representing the voters until his term is over in April.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Congratulations Antonio—and I hate to veer off the subject—but are you going to get to the bottom of what has happened regarding Floyd Irons?
What the?………….
It makes no sense…………
and regarding Giegerich—-how can he even write that story without mentioning………??????
March 7th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
regarding the item i brought up, Purdy has a decent explanation. I would imagine Antonio will have a thread on it soon.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
To the first “Anon” comment: We will wait and see if Shrewsbury ever moves his law practice to the City! Conflict of interest?? Are you kidding me? He’s an estate/trust lawyer. Conlficts between public and private practice don’t exist in that area of law. The only conflict Shrewsbury he had to resolve was the what he saw as detrimental to his pocketbook. But enough about him. I am so hopeful for the City of St. Louis with Lewis Reed at the helm of the Board. Congratulations to the Reed Team!!!
March 7th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
It’s not so much that Reed won is that Shrewsbury lost.
Lewis Reed received the endorsement and votes from the Firefighter’s Union local #73 and the St. louis Police officer’s Association. Their votes were just about the margin of his victory. Let’s hope he remembers who went to the polls and voted and who put him in office.
Nuff Said,
March 7th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I’m wonndering if Floyd Irons will be charged with burglary and theft of Vashon’s basketball team uniforms and also for mail and mortgage fraud for buying three properties and being in collusion with others to inflate the value of those properties to receive inflated mortgages?
March 7th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
The only board member quoted by Giegrich was O’Brien, who was not at the meeting. I was flabbergasted reading his story, but the vote was not a split—-it was a rare 6-0.
They are having to be really careful for legal reasons—but they did preserve the part that does not allow Irons to coach at Vashon and be administrator of the league.
A clear conflict of interest approved by Creg Williams.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:18 am
White people don’t appreciate that type of “racial terminology” being used to describe them, so whoever wrote this comment above needs to apologize.
Just because so many white people voted for Lewis Reed does not make them that lousy “n” word!!!!!!!!
March 8th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Hey KKK, Reeds wife is white! STUPID MF! How you love dat?
March 8th, 2007 at 11:42 am
so, Antonio, has Reed offered you a job yet in his cushy new office? You will get to work with Florida there, i bet. Who will run for the 15th? See, none of this is about Reed, it’s all about personal interests of those around him. AD French, Florida, McMillan, too.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
It is just horrible. The state should take over the board of aldermen, and appoint somebody to take Reed’s place, because the 13 percent who cared enough to vote must be—stupid for not voting the way you think they should.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
no, the state shouldn’t take over the board of aldermen… but the media should be ashamed of themselves for putting the race on the back burner and 87% of the city should be ashamed of themselves for not voting. Regardless of who you were rooting for, 13% is abysmal.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
13% is abysmal.
A point driven home by Mayor Slay when he was badmouthing the schoolboard—explaining that Jones and Downs received the support of only 4 percent of the voters.(which left his candidates with ?)
Of course, his comment about yesterday’s election was all about how happy the city is since it re-elected so many aldermen.
March 8th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
i love how no one has noticed that reed is so underprepared for this role. At least we’ll have interesting things ala redistricting in 2001 to blog about.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Alderman Reed will be well prepared for his new role. He has a sophisticated understanding of our Budget Process, TIF as well as our Legislative Process. The future of our city is looking much brighter. We now have a coalition building progressive in the President’s office
March 15th, 2007 at 11:57 am
how lame that Jennifer Florida blogged in. already defending her boy. pathetic. amateur politics 101, there, alderwoman.