State Rep. Connie Johnson calls the lawsuit filed against her by one of her state senate campaign’s opponents, State Rep. Robin Wright Jones, ”frivolous” and meant to “ignite her struggling campaign.”

Johnson will hold a press conference Monday to discuss her own legal motions to remain on the ballot. Here’s a statement she put out Saturday:

Almost moments after State Representative Connie Johnson JD, MA, filed for the 5th Senatorial District seat, letters filled with accusations questioning her legislative integrity were forwarded to the Board of Election, the press as well as other elected officials.

At the heart of these anonymous politically motivated letters was the false accusation concerning Representative Johnson’s residency. The letters of course, had no return address and were unsigned.

Representative Johnson has always maintained that these letters were politically driven: “I believe that at the end of the day, it will be clear that these letters are a desperate attempt by my opponent to bring some attention to her failing campaign. These are the types of political acts that most Americans have come to reject.”

It has now come to pass that once again Representative Johnson is correct. The mailing of these letters filled with lies, distortions and innuendo have turned out to be connected to a politically motivated act by her 5th Senatorial Seat opponent Robin Wright Jones. While there are no photographs of Wright Jones actually mailing these letters, these letters in effect have her political fingerprints all over them.

Despite the fact that the claims made in these letters are baseless, despite the fact that Representative Johnson will be vindicated and despite the fact that Representative Johnson’s name will be on the ballot, Wright Jones refuses to be deterred. She has now used these letters as a reason to file a lawsuit to remove Representative Johnson from the ballot.

Unfortunately for the constituents of the 5th Senatorial District frivolous, anonymous letters have now given birth to a frivolous lawsuit.

Johnson’s press conference is scheduled for 10:00 AM Monday at 6000 West Florissant Ave.

The third candidate in the race, State Rep. Rodney Hubbard, has not commented on his two opponents’ legal battles. Hubbard is a client of PubDef.net publisher Antonio D. French.

Report by Special PubDef Correspondent David Chilenski

Friday, Sports4Kids wrapped up its demo week at eight locations in the St. Louis Public Schools. The 12-year-old nonprofit which first started in the San Francisco Bay Area is now looking to bring a unique brand
of recess play to St. Louis and New Orleans next year.

Sports4Kids focuses on reducing conflicts during school recess. “You ask a principal or a teacher and they’ll tell you the bullying, arguments and fights all start at recess,” said Calvet Liburd, a Washington D.C. site coordinator for Sports4Kids. Liburd was in St. Louis this week for the demo.

“Our school staff is impressed with the organization and how they integrate sports and play into the curriculum,” said Principal Carey Cunningham of Simmons-Marshall Elementary School.

Sports4Kids focuses on public elementary schools with at least 50% of the children in free or reduced lunch programs. A trained staff member works at a school every day to provide fun and safe structured activities and conflict resolution strategies during recess and after school.

Sports4Kids is hoping to be in eight St. Louis elementary schools next fall. They are now hiring. Click here for more info.

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.

According to numbers released today by the Missouri Office of Administration, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County are heading towards more population losses.

St. Louis City, which has seen a small population increase since 2000, is projected to lose another 3,000 residents by the year 2030. The 349,004 population estimate is only a fraction of the city’s 1950 population of 856,796.

St. Louis County is also projected to lose population. The state estimates the County will lose about 50,000 people, down to just 956,817.

Click here to view the county-by-county projections.

More than 100, mostly African-American and largely Democratic, supporters of Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder came out last night to support his re-election bid.

The host committee included several well-known St. Louis African-American Republicans, including James Buford and Jerry Hunter. But it also featured the names of several prominent black Democrats, including St. Louis Argus Publisher Eddie Hasan, developer Tony Thompson, attorney Rufus Tate, and Sal Martinez, among others.

There were also several Democrats in attendance, including Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr.; Tom Shepard, chief of staff for Aldermanic President Lewis Reed; former State Rep. Betty Thompson; and former alderman and Anheuser-Busch executive Wayman Smith.

In this exclusive video, Smith jokingly compared the African-American turnout at Kinder’s fundraiser to those Barack Obama regularly draws.

In his speech and in an interview with PubDef (check back later for video), Kinder talked about the importance of Missouri’s rural and suburban legislators recognizing that the St. Louis region is the “economic engine of the state.”

“As the economy here goes, so goes the economy of the State of Missouri,” said Kinder.

Kinder highlighted his support of historic tax credits, which helped fuel development downtown, and the new Land Assemblage Tax Credit, which he hopes will spur similar development activity in blighted areas of the city, particularly north St. Louis.

Kinder will likely face Democrat Sam Page in the general election in November.

On Thursday, the 25th Ward Democrats voted to endorse Rodney Hubbard for state senate.

The 25th Ward is an open ward organization, meaning its members vote on who the organization will support. All the candidates running for the 5th District seat were invited to speak before the body, but only two, Hubbard and Robin Wright-Jones, appeared.

“I’m proud to have the support of the 25th Ward and also the friendship of Alderwoman Dorothy Kirner, Committeewoman Maggie Lampe, and Committeeman Norman Sutterer,” said Hubbard in a statement on his website.

The 25th Ward is the second southside ward in as many weeks to vote to endorse Hubbard. The 15th Ward voted last week.

All the candidates for the 5th District seat were invited to attend last night’s meeting and address the members, but only two did: Hubbard and State Rep. Robin Wright-Jones. State Rep. Connie Johnson did not attend.

During her speech, Wright-Jones said she was against the residency requirement for police officers. As a real estate agent, she told the southside audience, it is illegal for her to push people to buy homes in certain areas and so she thinks people should be allowed to live where they want. Besides, she said, she doesn’t believe there will be a mad rush to leave the city should all police be allowed to.

The voters of St. Louis voted overwhelmingly on two different occasions in non-binding referendums that they want police officers living in the city.

Wright-Jones also said that while she agrees, in theory, that St. Louis City should have local control of its police department, she said she doesn’t think the city government is ready for that responsibility today.

Hubbard supports local control. He co-sponsored the latest legislation to return local control to St. Louis and as the chairman of the Special Committee on Urban Affairs, he got committee approval for the bill.

“This is just an issue of fairness,” Hubbard said on his website. “Nearly every other city in Missouri has this same power. The people of St. Louis fund the police department — to the tune of one-third of the city’s entire annual budget — and the people who run the department should be selected at the local level.”

But Hubbard also stressed the importance of protecting police pensions. “Police officers do a great service to our city. They are there when we need them and their pensions should always be there when they need it,” said Hubbard.

“I made certain that language was included in the bill to clearly state that the police officers pension fund will not be touched by a change in local control,” his website says.

The 25th Ward includes the Carondelet, Dutchtown and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.

Full Disclosure: Hubbard is a client of PubDef.net publisher Antonio D. French