The fight for Missouri’s top law enforcement job has come to the wards of St. Louis City. On Thursday, two open Democratic ward organizations voted to endorse Attorney General candidates.
Two of the three leading Democrats running for A.G. addressed the meeting of the 25th Ward Democrats at Resurrection Church in south St. Louis Thursday night. State Rep. Margaret Donnelly of St. Louis County and State Rep. Jeff Harris of Columbia both spoke about the power and influence of the Office of Attorney General and how they would use it to better the lives of Missourians.
In the end, the 25th Ward voted to endorse Harris. One week earlier, Harris, who is being helped by 14th Ward Alderman Stephen Gregali, also picked up the support of the 15th Ward Democrats.
The same night as the 25th Ward endorsement, Democrats in the city’s largest voting ward, the 16th Ward, voted to endorse State Senator Chris Koster for A.G.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Not surprising that a southwest city ward would endorese a Republican.
April 27th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
The attorney general is not a law enforcement officer. He can not arrest people. Very little of what Jay does has anything to do with law enforcement. The head of the highway patrol is the state’s top law enforcement officer. Koster knows better and is lying to get elected.
I love your blog, Antonio, but I hope you are mistaken and not lying. Koster has conned you like he conned a lot of people.
[Sexy Dem, I disagree with your contention that prosecutors and attorney generals are not law enforcement. They are indeed officers of the courts and their successes and failures are just as, if not more significant, than those of the arresting officers.
A prosecutor or attorney general’s decision on whether or not to pursue charges, or how they choose to interpret the law can have great or greatly devastating effects of people.
When large groups of people are systematically wronged, who do you think goes after the perpetrators? When was the last time a police chief or the head of the highway patrol sent an officer to go arrest the head of a company that defrauds the elderly? When was the last time a cop arrested an entire city council for passing a law that disenfranchised minority voters? When was the last time an entire class of workers’ rights were protected by Officer Fife rolling by in his squad car?
Of course, the Attorney General is one of the most powerful figures in our legal system. No matter who he or she may be come 2009.
— Antonio]
April 27th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Antonio
I forwarded your response to a friend of mine who worked in the office for Jay. He was going to respoond to you but hasn’t yet so I have clipped his response. Here it is:
The attorney general is not a law enforcement officer. A law enforcement officer is defined in section 556.061 RSMo. as a public servant having both the power and duty to make arrests for violations of the laws of this state.
Koster is running around the state talking about the John Robinson case and how it makes him qualified to be attorney general. It doesn’t. I worked in the office early in my legal career. Only a small part of the office does anything in the criminal area and most of that is criminal appeals and not prosecutions. With a staff of around two hundred attorneys, the attorney general should not actually be appearing in court. Instead, he should be providing general direction for the office. Jay is not a great attorney. Some would even say he was an average attorney when he was in private practice. But he is a great attorney general.
Koster should know better. If he doesn’t his basic misunderstanding of how the office runs makes him unqualified to be attorney general. But I fear worse. I fear he is whoring the criming issue to get elected. His stump speech certainly seems like he is doing that and his flyers pictures mostly African-American defendants. I can remember in high school the disgusting way Bush went after Dukakis on Willie Horton. I hope Missouri is better than that.
I worked with Jeff Harris when he managed a division of the office. He is not perfect but he knows how the office runs. I think he will be prepared to be attorney general from day one. He is a good, honorable man This is not a knock on Margaret Donnelly. I do not know her.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Sexy Dem girl is correct. Law enforcement is the correct term for police officers; attorneys are officers of the court, yes, but they do not enforce the law. They argue the law. The Attorney General is a manager primarily. The best litigators should be in the courtroom and generally, knowing that, wouldn’t run for this office. This does not diminish the need for a reasoned, thoughtful person in this position, I just hope to point out what the job truly is.
Your discussion of the importance of when to choose to press charges, or not, is correct as well, Antonio. But it remains that the term “law enforcement” is incorrect in this situation.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
If you don’t think that prosecutors and attorney generals are charged with enforcing laws, then we really don’t have much to talk about here.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Did these wards (15, 16, 25) endorse in other contested races: State Treasurer, Lt Gov, City Treasurer (and also 5th Dist senator for the 15th and 25th)?
April 27th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
In the 5th District race, both the 15th and the 25th voted to endorse Rodney Hubbard.
The 15th and the 25th also both endorsed Mike Colona for State Rep.
As I recall, the 25th voted to endorse Clint Zweifel for State Treasurer, Sam Page for Lt. Gov, and, of course, Treasurer Larry Williams for re-election.
Not sure about the other 16th Ward endorsements.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Besides, Koster’s former boss and mentor (R)Bill Webster taught him how to raise money. On the edge!
April 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
When was the last time a prosecutor arrested somebody? I think the problem is people are using the same term but have different definitions of what it means. The verb phrase “enforcing laws” and the noun”law enforcement officer” aren’t the same thing.
I know what you mean, Antonio, really, but police and prosecutors have different jobs.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Of course they have different jobs, but they are all a part of law enforcement. That’s really not debatable (although somehow we are debating exactly that). And for the record, in my story, I called the Attorney General “Missouri’s top law enforcement job”, not top law enforcement officer.