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Reporter Lucas Hudson interviews Mayor Francis Slay in this week's issue of the Vital VOICE.
From Hudson's intro:
The city’s sweltering racial thermometer portends an all-out political meltdown as Mayor Francis Slay was booed right out of the Old Courthouse by supporters of the city’s ousted first black fire chief, Sherman George, as he gave a speech Jan. 21 honoring Martin Luther King Jr. This humiliating show of resentment demonstrates that Slay’s legacy is in danger of being permanently branded with the scarlet R of racial unrest.
African-American displeasure with his administration did not start with the political game of chicken that resulted in the public demotion of George, but that event lit the match in an environment already filled with the fumes of African-American distrust, suspicion and anger at what some have described as Slay’s "racial politics."
In a Jan. 11 interview with the Vital VOICE, Mayor Slay speaks to these issues, and also outlines African-American progress that has taken place under his administration, declaring that "There isn’t enough coverage of positive news."
From the interview:
The Vital Voice: We both know that some of the city’s African-American leaders are up in arms over what many have described as your “racial politics.” With racial tension inflamed in the wake of Fire Chief Sherman George’s removal, The National Society of Black Engineers has threatened to move its 2011 conference scheduled to take place in St. Louis unless the situation changes. In addition, a citizen’s group primarily made up of African-Americans called the Citizens to Recall Mayor Slay has started an effort to recall you from office.
Consultant and blogger Antonio French’s site (www.PubDef.net) lists major gripes the black community has with your administration, which I have paraphrased. They include:
Disassembling the city’s largest black voting ward (the former 20th).
Removal of the city’s only ever black fire chief and the subsequent 4-to-1 promotion of whites over blacks.
The closing of more than a dozen schools (neighborhood anchors) in North St. Louis.
The disproportionate investing of hundreds of millions of tax dollars in downtown and white neighborhoods, while northern black neighborhoods continue to suffer.
Mayor Slay, if you don’t agree with African-American disillusionment regarding your administration, can you at least understand it?
Mayor Slay: I am very aware of some racial unrest in the City of St. Louis. I am very aware of some of the reaction to what happened in the Fire Department. I will also tell you that if Chief George had made the promotions, he would still be the chief. I talked to civic, political and clergy leaders throughout the community during the process before any decisions were made. I want you and the community to know that I did everything I could to try and get the promotions done without confrontation or controversy. I respect Sherman George as a man of principle, but ultimately, we disagreed how to handle that situation.
There isn’t anybody in St. Louis that agrees with every decision I have made, but there are some people that want to divide the city. However… I don’t think anybody can argue with the fact that St. Louis is much better today than it was seven years ago. We were losing jobs and people faster than virtually any other city in America. Now, our job base has stabilized, our population is on the increase, and we’re getting national and international recognition for our successes. Chief Mokwa and I just announced that crime in the city has dropped 16 percent from last year. Crime is now at a 35-year low. That is something that impacts everybody positively.
Have we solved all the issues? We have not. And some of those allegations like disassembling the largest black ward in the city…Well, the people are still there. If that was the largest black voting ward the city, it is still the largest black voting ward in the city, but it just has a different number on it.
Most people only hear the negatives, and there is no balanced view. For example, the affordable housing initiative that I helped pass is spending $5 million a year, with much of that money impacting people of color. When I took office in the year 2000, 31 percent of the kids tested were positive for lead, and now it is only six percent. The neighborhoods with high incidences of lead poisoning are in predominately African-American areas. I am not suggesting there are no more challenges and everything is fine, but there isn’t enough coverage of positive news.
VV: What specifically have you done, and what more can you do to defuse the current racial tension in the city?
MS: I have been working hard to call upon fair-minded people who are very interested, regardless of what they think of my decision or how it was done—to pull together, begin the healing process and move the city forward. I believe that is going to take some time, but I have been very encouraged by conversations with a number of black leaders. I believe I realize how deep this issue goes, and I am not taking this tension for granted. It is going to take a lot of work and leadership from me and my office.
Click here to read the entire Vital VOICE interview.
VIDEO: O'Reilly Pushes Obama Aide, Calls Him "Low-Class" and "S.O.B."
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, January 07, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is anything but subtle and he let an aide to Senator Barack Obamaknow exactly how he felt when he couldn't get immediate access to the Democratic presidential candidate in New Hampshire this weekend.
O'Reilly reportedly got into a physical altercation with Marvin Nicholson, the Obama aide. According to reports, O'Reilly pushed Nicholson and demand that he get out of the way of his view of Obama.
On September 18, Multimedia KSDK, Inc. filed a complaint with YouTube about our posting of a video contrasting a September 13 story by reporter Mike Owens which ended with a promise to air a tape of an allegedly crooked real estate seller "saying he makes regular payments of cash to the local alderman" with their September 14 follow-up story that makes no mention of the allegation.
YouTube suspended our account and took all 500 of our videos off-line. We filed a counter-notification with YouTube charging that KSDK was full of shit and our usage of their video clearly falls under the "Fair Use" doctrine.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay told Channel 5 reporter Cordell Whitlock yesterday that he thinks Firefighters Union Local 73, which is white-dominated, and F.I.R.E., the African-American firefighters organization, need to come together.
But as Slay was quick to publicly remind ex-fire chief Sherman George, the mayor's office controls the fire department. He can, as he did with George, order both sides to the table.
Instead, he has clearly sided with Local 73.
To now say "something" needs to be done by "someone" "someday" is just skirting his responsibilities once again.
According to a survey paid for by the Downtown St. Louis Partnership and reported today by the Post-Dispatch, "those living [downtown] are younger, richer and better educated than the average St. Louisan."
Just one problem: the mail survey doesn't include downtown's largest population: the poor and the homeless.
"Developers say the number of young adults moving to downtown validates their investments," reports the Post. Self-validation is a dangerous thing when it involves public money.
The Post's articles offers a few clues to why the survey's results differ from what anyone who's spent any time downtown has surely observed: there are more homeless people than yuppies downtown.
The survey was sent in late summer to 5,000 downtown residents (that is, people with known addresses)
Only 14.5% of those people bothered responding
Of those 727 residents who did respond, 46.3% were between the ages of 25 and 34
Only about 7% of respondents said they had children (maybe those with children were too busy to respond)
Of the respondents, 146 had dogs and only 53 had kids
Though it will probably never show up on any Downtown Partnership survey, one of the largest populations downtown, without a doubt, is the homeless.
Any given day, a downtown visitor is more likely to see homeless men and women than they are groups of these mysterious 25-34 year-old hipsters the Post writes so much about.
Despite making up such a large population downtown, very little in comparison has been spent to address this homeless downtown population. In fact, many resources have been spent to sweep them away.
In 2004 more than a dozen homeless persons, many of them veterans, filed a federal lawsuit complaining that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has a policy of attempting to drive the homeless from downtown St. Louis and telling them downtown is "off limits" to them.
The suit, filed with the assistance of the ACLU, alleged that St. Louis police officers have routinely arrested the homeless without any suspicion they have committed crimes, have thrown fireworks at them to get them to move from a public park, have taken the homeless to remote areas and dumped them, have taken their food, medication, driver's licenses and insurance cards, have made them engage in forced labor prior to ever seeing a judge, and have generally attempted to remove the homeless from downtown, particularly before major events.
The word "homeless" does not appear one time in the Post's story about the face of downtown.
There are a lot of people hurting in the City of St. Louis. Not just struggling to make ends meet, but really struggling — to find shelter, to food for their children.
This is a developing story, which seems to be getting more desperate everyday. But you won't see this story on the front page on the Post-Dispatch. This will not be the top news story on Channels 5, 4 or 2.
There is a horrible disconnect between our community and those that report on it, and those who are supposed to report to it.
While the parents, media and lawmakers look for someone to punish for the suicide of Megan Meier, others wonder how Internet postings could possibly drive someone to suicide.
"What if the boyfriend was real?" asked a friend of mine. "What if he dumped her, called her a [vulgar name] and she ran home and killed herself? Would they try to prosecute him?"
Good question. While the link to the popular social networking website MySpace has made this St. Charles tragedy a worldwide story, the media's thirst for sensationalism mixed with politicians' opportunism has really left common sense and any idea of personal responsibility at the roadside.
Shouldn't a 13-year-old be able to handle "meanness" better than this? Or is this newly-coined "cyber-bullying" really a new, more menacing threat to young people, as an editorial in the Post-Dispatch claimed today:
"The pervasiveness of technology, including cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging, coupled with the anonymity it bestows, makes electronic harassment less escapable and more effective. Bullies no longer lurk only in school hallways and playgrounds; now, they slip right into a child's bedroom, wreaking havoc even when school is out."
Really? Are emails really more scary than three bigger kids beating the hell out of you everyday at lunch? Because sticks and stones can indeed break your bones. Words — well, they can be hurtful too, but at 13 years-old aren't kids at least responsible enough for their own actions as to rule out the words of a faceless boy or girl as the reason for them killing themselves?
Ironically, at the same time newspapers, TV news, and the girl's parents are arguing that 13-year-old Megan was not responsible for her own actions, a St. Louis County judge sentenced young Sherman Burnett Jr. to 60 years in prison for a crime he committed when he was — you guessed it — 13 years-old.
So which is it, Missouri? Are 13 year-olds responsible for themselves or not?
Because if they are, young Sherman should go to jail for a very long time for kidnapping, beating and sexually assaulting his 6 year-old neighbor. And young Megan was old enough to know what the hell she was doing when she decided to take her own life. No words from someone she never met caused her suicide.
Or is someone else really responsible for causing Megan to hang herself in her room, because as a child, Megan was manipulated and harassed to the point of her own suicide and, like young Sherman, had no concept yet how precious life — theirs or others — actually is.
So which one is it, Missouri? What are 13 year-old kids responsible for — your kids and mine?
On Friday, KMOV Channel 4 interviewed Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett, who is the new official local spokesperson for the Barack Obama presidential campaign, and PubDef.net editor Antonio French on the results of a new KMOV/Post-Dispatch poll showing Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani leading their primary races.
In perhaps the most disgusting example of inaccurate, protective reporting ever witnessed, KSDK Channel 5 is reporting that only a few dozen people attended yesterday's rally to recall Mayor Francis Slay.
From KSDK.com:
Dozens of St. Louis residents gathered on the steps of City Hall Sunday, demanding a recall of Mayor Francis Slay.
The group of citizens, city and religious leaders say they support former Fire Chief Sherman George, and believe his demotion was the result of a racial divide in the mayor's office.
Watch PubDef's video from Sunday's event. We invite you to pause the video at the beginning and the end and do a head count for yourself. At its peak, there were easily 700 people in front of City Hall yesterday.
This content has been restored and your account has been reinstated.
Sincerely,
Harry The YouTube Team
Our YouTube account has been restored and I am happy to report that all 507 of our videos are back online.
It was two weeks ago that KSDK Channel 5 filed two bogus copyright infringement claims against us with YouTube claiming we unfairly used segments from their news broadcasts in our media watch reports.
We maintained our usage of KSDK's video falls under the "Fair Use" provision in copyright law and filed a counter-notification with YouTube.
Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
Our win against KSDK, though it will likely go completely underreported locally (like far too many significant events — which is, of course, why PubDef exists and KSDK is threatened by us), is huge in this new media vs. old media revolution which we are proudly engaged in.
One small step for PubDef; one giant leap for St. Louis independent media!
On Wednesday we filed a formal counter-notification with YouTube in response to our account being suspended and our more than 500 videos being taken off-line. The suspension came just hours after KSDK Channel 5 filed two complaints with YouTube alleging that we violated their copyrights by using clips of their broadcast in our piece criticizing their coverage.
We believe our usage of KSDK's video falls under the "Fair Use" provision in copyright law. From the Stanford University Libraries:
Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
The webzine NewTeeVee.com has written about our spat with KSDK Channel 5, which has resulted in all 500 of our YouTube videos being taken off-line:
French argued that the use of the clips — less than sixty seconds from two different newscasts, edited to include titles commenting on the station’s reporting — was clearly fair use. He pointed to past Pub Def footage used by Fox News to argue that this is standard operating procedure in broadcast journalism. “We think we’re ideal YouTube users,” French said of the site. “We work our butts off here; we don’t get any money, it’s completely free.”
Mike Shipley, the news director at KSDK, confirmed that the station had issued the takedown notice, but disagreed that French’s clip was clearly fair use. “It’s not my understanding that fair use allows for you to take the piece in its entirety and reuse it for your own purposes,” Shipley argued over the phone, continuing:
"He never approached us about the material at all. If he had excerpted something and edited all on his own and put together his own presentation about it, that would be one thing. But to simply pirate the video from our site and use it without our permission is copyright infringement."
French said that what troubles him is that in the course of a few hours he can go from providing a public service using YouTube’s platform to being completely removed from the site.
Yesterday evening, Multimedia KSDK, Inc. filed a complaint with YouTube about our posting of a video contrasting a September 13 story by reporter Mike Owens which ended with a promise to air a tape of an allegedly crooked real estate seller "saying he makes regular payments of cash to the local alderman" with their September 14 follow-up story that makes no mention of the allegation.
At 5:29 PM we received notice that YouTube took that video off-line. Then late last night, around 1:00 AM, all of our videos went off-line. That's around the time KSDK Channel 5 filed a second complaint, this time on the posting of the original Sept 13 video. YouTube responded by suspending our account and taking all 500 of our videos off-line.
First, we believe our usage of Channel 5's video falls under the "Fair Use" doctrine, the same doctrine Channel 5 presumably operates under each week as they use video content from other sources in their news broadcasts. In fact, PubDef's own video has appeared on local television without our expressed written consent, presumably under "Fair Use".
Secondly, KSDK never contacted us to ask us to remove the content and its labeling of us as a copyright infringer with YouTube is wrong and has caused us and our readers quite an inconvenience.
As we work this issue out with YouTube, we'd just like our readers and our community to know what's going on, and the extent to which KSDK has gone to crush fair journalistic criticism.
According to a new ranking by BlogNetNews.com, PubDef.net is the 7th most influential political blog in Missouri.
The site (more specifically BlogNetNews.com/Missouri) launched a new feature this week that ranks which Missouri state politics and news blogs are having the most influence on the direction of conversation in the state blogosphere.
Considering we haven't even heard of, let alone visited, half the other blogs on the list, we're not sure how realistic the ranking is, but we'll take the compliment just the same.
"Our rankings come from data provided in your RSS feeds, data from the activity of readers on BlogNetNews.com and data about Internet traffic from third parties," says the site's operators.
Each Sunday morning at 12:01 AM, BlogNetNews.com will release a new top 20 list of the blogs "most powerfully shaping opinion in the Missouri blogosphere." Here's the link.
And here's the current list:
1 Tony's Kansas City 2 Fired Up! Missouri - 3 The Turner Report 4 Politics Blog 5 KY3 Political Notebook 6 The KC Blue Blog 7 PUB DEF 8 CHATTER 9 Show Me Progress 10 Branson Missouri 11 Rhetorica: Press-Politics Journal 12 Blog CCP 13 Ozarks Messenger 14 Arch City Chronicle News 15 Ozarks Politics 16 The Source 17 The Kansas City Post 18 Corner of the Sky 19 Missouri Politics 20 Gone Mild
Okay, so this is probably a great time to encourage you to ADVERTISE on this "influential" website. Rates are reasonable. Call (314) 260-7321 or email us for a quote.
And if you're not an advertiser, but still want to support PubDef and help us expand our coverage, SUBSCRIBE for only $7.00 a month. Get a quarterly DVD of our best videos and a warm and fuzzy feeling for helping to keep independent media alive in St. Louis.
KSDK Chickens Out, Doesn't Name Accused Alderman or Air Tape
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, September 17, 2007 at 11:20 AM
After promising that on Friday we'd hear a tape of a allegedly crooked real estate seller "saying he makes regular payments of cash to the local alderman," KSDK ran a short follow-up that did not include the tape, the name of the alderman, or any mention of the allegation.
An email to reporter Mike Owens, who investigated the story, has gone unanswered.
YouTube Note: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Multimedia KSDK, Inc"
Last night Channel 5 reporter Mike Owens did a story on a shady real estate man who sold a couple a home that he apparently no longer owned. The real owner is evicting the "buyers" and the shady salesman is ducking the law and TV cameras.
It was a pretty good story. But more interesting than the story itself was the teaser at the end.
"Tomorrow night, more on Furqan and we'll hear a tape of him saying he makes regular payments of cash to the local alderman, a charge the alderman denies."
Hmmmmmm. Who could it be?
Considering the reporter is married to 28th Ward Alderman Lyda Krewson, we can pretty much rule her out.
According to clues from Owen's report, the property Wali Furqan sold the couple is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of the 3rd Ward, represented by longtime alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr.
Whoever it is (and we really can't wait to find out who), as the KSDK report stated, he (or she) completely denies the charge.
Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe appeared on Lizz Brown's radio show this morning to counter any claims that he ever spoke in favor of House Bill 1, the economic development package which contained the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit.
Brown even played for her listening audience the first few seconds of PubDef's recording of Troupe's testimony in which he criticizes the bill as a "Christmas Tree" for legislators around the state, "with the exception of the Land Assemblage part of the bill." Brown then quickly instructed her engineer, Howard, to turn off the tape.
She and Troupe of course left out the part when Troupe said, "Mr. Chairman, I think the bill is a great bill... I think it brings a lot of economic development to the area and I support everything in this bill."
PubDef wasn't the only one who was shocked by Troupe's 180-degree turn in Jefferson City. State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, who has consistently opposed the Land Assemblage Tax Credit, was visibly furious with Troupe after his testimony.
She argued with him as he returned to his seat two chairs away from her. Across the lap of Rodney Boyd, lobbyist for Mayor Francis Slay, Nasheed voiced her displeasure in a loud whisper. When her loud whisper was no longer a whisper at all, she and Troupe took their conversation to the hallway.
The conversation ended with Nasheed walking away and yelling "sell out" to the alderman and former state representative.
Guess she misunderstood Troupe's testimony too.
Troupe will be hosting a forum tonight on the dangers of the bill he called a "great bill" three weeks ago. Fellow aldermen April Ford Griffin, Freeman Bosley, Sr., and Marlene Davis are supposed to be there as well.
The entertainment starts at 6:00 PM at Lexington School, 3130 Norwood Avenue.
If the confrontation plays all the way out, George will lose his job. That will not be good, and I say that not just because I like George. Firing him would be racially divisive. A lot of people in the black community see the dispute as a matter of respect. George is the chief. Where's the respect?
There has not been much in the tone of the mayor's rhetoric. It's almost as if the mayor thinks history started yesterday. I mean, come on, this is about race. George came through the ranks when the association was pretty much a white guys' club. Nothing unusual about that. My dad was a union electrician in Chicago and I remember when his union was that way. Those fellows felt that they were protecting what was theirs.
I remember the business agent talking to my father. "If your son wants to get into the union, he's not going to have to wait in line behind any blacks," he said, although he used another word for blacks. It's a word we don't use any more. Times have changed, and thank goodness for that.
But it's easier for white guys like me or the mayor to say that times have changed.
Kristen Hinmanwrites on the Riverfront Times blog:
Bryson, who has worked in Mayor Francis Slay’s office for just shy of seven years and has a background in social work, brings an additional new perspective to the director’s office –- that of an African-American. “One of the reasons the mayor chose me is so that we can work on race relations,” says Bryson.
Race has long been said to be a factor in the tenuous relationship between George and city hall. “If you talk to clergymen on the north side,” points out Bryson, “they will suggest that part of the problem in the past between the public-safety director and the fire chief may have been race.”
Bryson says he and George already have “a good working relationship” from having made the rounds at various public boards and commissions over the past few years.
As the new public-safety director puts it: “My race will not be an ace in my pocket. It will be a different way of looking at things.”
Click here to vote for PubDef.net in the RFT's "Best of St. Louis" Poll
Following revelations last week that Streets Department employees have been working on private jobs on public time and with public equipment, another city worker, Sterling McKinney, told Channel 4 News of how three years ago he was ordered by his supervisor to pave the driveway of a city business.
He told Channel 4 that it is common for low-level workers like him to be ordered to do such "high-profile jobs." For fear of losing their jobs, he said, the workers comply.
When informed about McKinney's allegations, Ed Rhode, spokesman for Mayor Francis Slay said he was happy to hear McKinney "confessed his wrongdoing."
"We all know this is wrong and we plan to turn this information over to the Circuit Attorney for prosecution," said Rhode, suggesting that the whistleblower may soon need to find himself a lawyer.
"Fight, fight!," as we used to say on the school yard.
The Political Eye column of the St. Louis American newspaper and MayorSlay.com, a creation of Public Eye, Inc., the PR firm of Richard Callow, have gone to the mattresses.
Last week, the American reported that actions by the city's public safety director, Sam Simon, had possibly left city firefighters in a dangerous position by ordering that all Fire Department airmasks be removed by Aug. 1 without notifying Fire Chief Sherman George.
A few days after the report was published, Mayor Francis Slay's anonymously-written blog, MayorSlay.com, called the story "bad reporting" and outlined its own version of events:
Five years ago, two St. Louis firefighters died tragically. Their widows filed suit against the manufacturer and distributor of some of the Department’s equipment. In the course of the first trial, testimony suggested that equipment might be defective. Both widows are convinced the equipment contributed to the deaths of their husbands.
Armed with that information, Simon wrote to the distributor asking for a $1.2 million refund. The distributor responded by offering to remove the equipment, but without refunding any cash. Simon declined. At no point did Simon ever order the equipment removed.
That’s the simple chronology that "supports" the baseless assertion by some partisans that Simon’s actions were improper.
Bad reporting? "Surely it is not 'bad' reporting to report a 'demand' as a demand. That is simply letting grammar be one's guide in interpreting the English language," answered today's anonymously-written Political Eye column.
In another post on mayorslay.com, using the same pompous tone, Slay-Rainford-Callow-Rhode write, “One of the challenging things about the current state of news reporting is the mix of rumor and fact that gets churned around in blogs, talk shows and boards - and then re-reported on mainstream TV and radio.”
It should be evident from Simon’s signed letter and the statement of the "facts" on mayorslay.com that the mayor’s own blog is guilty of mixing rumor and outright lies with whatever facts it churns around - and, unfortunately, the mayor’s version of events too often gets "re-reported on mainstream TV and radio," whether or not it is based in fact.
In a press release sent out today, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Diana Bourisaw says CEO Rick Sullivan is still running the district.
"Rick Sullivan’s appointment to the Special Administrative Board remains in effect," said Bourisaw. "Reports indicating that Governor Blunt withdrew Mr. Sullivan’s appointment are unfounded. The district will continue with business as usual."
Unfounded? Not really.
Below is a copy of the letter, signed by Governor Matt Blunt, withdrawing Sullivan's nomination.
Click images to enlarge
The question that now remains is whether the Special Administrative Board will have to re-elect Sullivan as President of the Board following Blunt's expected re-appointment of the Chesterfield real estate developer in the coming days.
Both Rick Sullivan and Derio Gambaro have indeed been withdrawn. This is a fact. Read the letter for yourself above.
Before the next meeting of the Special Administrative Board of St. Louis Public Schools (and after the Missouri Senate has adjourned again till January), Sullivan will most likely be re-appointed by Blunt through a letter sent to the Senate. This is the process.
In the meantime, Sullivan cannot legally vote, hire, fire, sign contracts, or anything else. No matter what PR people or the "Daily-Disappointment" says.
Last week, Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe (D-St. Louis) appeared on Lizz Brown's radio show and was quoted in the St. Louis Argus screaming to high heaven about how horrible the proposed Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit was for north St. Louis.
He even attacked St. Louis' black delegation to the state legislature for supporting the tax credit earlier this year.
But when he testified in Jefferson City before the special House committee examining the bill, Troupe had nothing but praise for the bill.
"Mr. Chairman, I think the bill is a great bill," said Troupe. "I think it brings a lot of economic development to the area and I support everything in this bill," said the former state representative.
Show Me Progress was founded in summer 2007 by a coalition including members of Democracy for America, Progressive Democrats, bloggers, and other Missouri activists. Our goal is to provide a resource and gathering place for the Missouri progressive community. Show Me Progress is a member of the 50 State Blog Network.
This 5-part video report comes from the UK's Sky One television network. Ross Kemp on Gangs is an award-winning documentary series that looks at gangs and gang members all across the world — including London, New Zealand, and Rio de Janeiro. For its second season, Ross Kemp came to "one of the most violent US cities," the City of St. Louis, Missouri.
Those people who still don't think that St. Louis is a violent place to live for tens of thousands of its law-abiding, peaceful, and productive residents... well, you don't know St. Louis. You don't know what terrorism really is. And you don't know why so many people are angry — at government, the police, and their seemingly blind neighbors.
"They don't care," says a crying mother in the second video. "It wasn't their kid that was killed."
Please watch these videos.
Look for a cameo from Alderman Sam Moore in video #1, a "Jamilah Nasheed for State Rep" yard sign in video #3, lots of mentions of my O'Fallon Park neighborhood and its "Associated Crips," an anti-gang program at Carnahan School ran by Kabir Mohammed, and a very disturbing interview with two Blood gang members in video #5. Thanks to Doug Duckworth for calling our attention to this video.
www.blognetnews.com/Missouri — Jumping ahead of other news aggregators that just reprint posts, the editors of BlogNetNews say they take and organize feeds of top Missouri-centric news and political bloggers to create new content and information that will organize our respective slices of the Internet to make it work better for you, our readers. Features include:
The day's top news - based solely on what news stories Missouri bloggers are linking to - no matter what mainstream news source they're in.
A Missouri political blogs search engine.
A quick guide to the hottest blog comment sections in the Missouri-centric blogosphere (still being fine-tuned a bit).
A quick index of the day's most active Missouri state news and politics blogs.
A guide to the Missuori blogs most linked to by other Missouri bloggers.
www.newletters.org — A couple of quick clicks can provide a peek into Kansas City’s literary venue. New Letters, the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s international literary magazine, offers through its website the most comprehensive listing of literary events in the Kansas City region.
This community service includes details and contact information for events sponsored by a range of organizations throughout the area, including those in Lawrence, Kan., Columbia, Mo., and everything Kansas City.
And coming soon...www.showmeprogress.com (see the preview here). Think DailyKos, but from Missouri (so slower and not quite as progressive as it thinks). ShowMeProgress.com is an effort to bring together progressive bloggers from across the state, to offer a political site with insights from all corners of Missouri.
Our friends over at "The Real Deal" radio show tell us that former St. Louis Public School Board President Veronica O'Brien will be on the show today at 4:15 p.m.
The show airs on WGNU 920AM and you can listen online at www.wgnu.net.
Before she was brightening the views on KMOV Channel 4, news-achor Vicki Newton was paying her dues on the other side of the state in Kansas City.
We recently stumbled upon this video on YouTube of Newton, from the '90s (judging by the hair and the huge gold buttons on her blouse), when she was at WDAF Newschannel 4 in KC.
Wardell Anthony Connerly was born June 15, 1939, in Leesville, Louisiana. Connerly has stated he is one-fourth black, with the rest a mix of Irish, French, and Choctaw. His father, Roy Connerly, left the household when Ward was 2, and his mother died when Ward was 4. The young Connerly went to live first with an aunt and uncle and then a grandmother.
He attended Sacramento State College, eventually receiving a bachelor of arts with honors in political science in 1962 . While in college, Connerly was student body president and actively involved with Delta Phi Omega, later becoming an honorary member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. During his college years, Connerly was active in campaigning against housing discrimination and helped to get a bill passed by the state legislature banning the practice.
After college, he worked for a number of state agencies and Assembly committees, including the Sacramento re-development agency, the state department of housing and urban development, and State Assembly committee on urban affairs. It was during the late 1960s that he became friends with then-legislator Pete Wilson, who would later become governor in 1991 . At the suggestion of Wilson, in 1973 he stepped away from his government job and started his own consultation and land-use planning company. In 1993 he was appointed to the University of California board of regents.
Connerly is married to Ilene Connerly who is his equal partner in the firm of Connerly & Associates and they have two children.
On May 8, 1995, two years after he went public with his anti-affirmative action views, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Connerly had taken advantage of a minority preference program on multiple occasions in the 1990s. The article was based on the paper's review of the records of California's State Energy Commission which showed that Connerly had listed his firm, Connerly & Associates, as a minority-owned firm, and that Connerly's firm received more than $1 million in state government contracts.
The article included excerpts of an interview with Connerly in which he admitted that he only participated in the minority preference program to comply with state law [4]. However, the Chronicle published a correction on May 18, 1995, stating that their original source had erred and that Connerly's firm had not been registered as minority-owned at the time the State Energy Commission contract was awarded [5].
As Connerly pointed out in a story published by the Associated Press on May 9, 1995, due to the state's requirement that 15 percent of state contracts be given to minority-owned firms, he would have been placed in the position of having "to find a minority to turn over 15 percent of a contract which has an 8 percent profit at best." [6]
[Wikipedia Note: This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality.]
STLMedia.net reports that WGNU 920 AM, home of radio show host Lizz Brown, has been sold to BDJ Radio Enterprises, the company that owns KXEN 1010 AM.
According to the press release, the change of ownership will probably occur sometime in September or October. "There have been no decisions made at this time about format changes," says the release.
In a recent editorial in the Springfield News-Leader, the paper's editors call for its industry's increasingly powerful competitors, political bloggers, to unmask themselves and give up their anonymity.
First, not all political bloggers hide their identities. Obviously, here at PubDef we use our real names and even regularly show ourselves in our video reports. Other notable blogs, including ArchCityChronicle.com, UrbanReviewSTL.com, and JohnCombestBlog.com, also join us in the Fantastic Four approach to blogging, tossing aside any secret identities to protect our loved ones.
But for those Spider-Men and Supermen of the world, who in order to protect their Mary Janes and Louises (or perhaps just their jobs), do choose to hide their identities, their words and perspectives are no less real, nor do their messages speak any less to their regular readers.
Just as ironic as both Spider-Man and Superman characters' day jobs being at large urban newspapers and them both feeling that to do any real good they needed to hide their identities and dress up in colorful suits — it is also with great irony that readers of the News-Leader's anti-anonymity editorial must do their own independent investigation to find out who actually wrote it.
People have their own reasons for writing anonymously. Arguably Missouri's greatest writer, Samuel Langhorne Clemens felt the need to wrap his words in the false name of "Mark Twain". Was it because "Twain" was a name that could sell more books? Or was it a name that readers and critics could better accept the truth from?
As someone who attaches his name to everything he writes and then often gets attacked for those words, I can definitely see the attraction in hiding one's identity. Without the protection of a large news organization, telling truth to power can be damaging to one's livelihood.
But however varied the individual reasons are for blogging anonymously, the reason that we blog in the first place is the same; because the mainstream media have failed and continues to fail everyday.
Missouri's political bloggers fill a void and no matter how the mainstream media may try to copy us, they will never be able to do exactly what it is we do.
Today's information consumers are the most savvy ever. They can judge for themselves the credibility of their news sources. And increasingly, more and more readers on the Web are relying on blogs for their news than on large newspapers that, sure enough, attach bylines to each and every boring, out-of-touch, and shallow news story they print.
Just because you sign your name to it, it doesn't make it suck any less.
It was Senator Joe Biden's fauxpaux right out the gate of his Presidential run that inspired three local black professionals to start a new website called CleanAndArticulate.com.
Just days after announcing he was running for President, Biden said about one of his Democratic opponents, Senator BarackObama, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy ... I mean, that's storybook, man."
Like many other Americans, St. Louis attorney (and early State Rep candidate) Don Calloway took issue with Biden's backhanded compliment.
"Implicit in Sen. Biden's comments about Sen. Obama is that cleanliness and articulation are in short supply among African Americans," Calloway wrote. He said he believes that being "clean and articulate" (C&A) is the norm among black people.
According to Calloway and his partners at CleanAndArticulate.com, Miller W. Boyd III and fellow attorneyRobert Kenney, the site seeks to provide readers with news, commentary, and daily insight relevant to the African-American experience.
Light on original writing and heavy on links to news sites, by Calloway's own admission, "Clean and Articulate" is still in its infancy. But with so much news about the black community going on, and so few of the good news stories being reported, C&A should have no shortage of material to comment on.
St. Louis University Administrators have reached a compromise agreement with student staff and editors of the University News concerning the newspaper's charter.
Earlier this month, PubDef reported on efforts by the SLU administration to replace the paper's existing charter with a new version.
Students objected to the first proposed revision of the charter because it would have given university officials the power to appoint the paper's editor. Students argued that this power of appointment would prevent the paper from maintaining an independent editorial position.
In the compromise agreement, the student staff of the paper retain the ability to elect the paper's editor. However, this candidate will now be subject to ratification by the school's Office of Student Development, giving the administration a degree of oversight.
State Senators John Loudon, a Republican from West County, and Rita Days, a Democrat from North County, recently appeared on the public affairs show "Jeff City Journal" with host Missy Shelton. One of the topics discussed was the situation with St. Louis Public Schools.
Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention today a story run by the Post-Dispatch. According to the story, "A poll released today by a Clayton research institute shows two-thirds of Missouri residents favor the controversial school choice legislation defeated earlier this year by the state House of Representatives."
The story goes on to explain that the survey "found that 67 percent of Missourians support the tax credit proposal."
The problem Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention is that the Post-Dispatch story downplays the fact that the survey was conducted on behalf of the Show-Me Institute by Market Research Insight.
The Show-Me Institute itself is an advocacy organization that supported the defeated legislation, and Market Research Insight is a paid consultant of Governor Matt Blunt, for whom school vouchers are key re-election issue. The organizations are mentioned in the story, but there is little recognition of the fact that the survey results come from these possibly biased organizations.
Instead, these results are presented as objective, with several paragraphs intervening between the mention of the polling firm and the explanation of that firm's biases. Even then, only a single sentence is given over to mention of this potential bias.
Questions and/or accusations regarding motive aside, this is, at best, shoddy reporting.
Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention today a story run by the Post-Dispatch. According to the story, "A poll released today by a Clayton research institute shows two-thirds of Missouri residents favor the controversial school choice legislation defeated earlier this year by the state House of Representatives."
The story goes on to explain that the survey "found that 67 percent of Missourians support the tax credit proposal."
The problem Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention is that the Post-Dispatch story downplays the fact that the survey was conducted on behalf of the Show-Me Institute by Market Research Insight.
The Show-Me Institute itself is an advocacy organization that supported the defeated legislation, and Market Research Insight is a paid consultant of Governor Matt Blunt, for whom school vouchers are key re-election issue. The organizations are mentioned in the story, but there is little recognition of the fact that the survey results come from these biased organizations.
PubDef has acquired a copy of the survey results and of the email policy briefing sent to Missouri policy makers, written by . Upon comparison, the two documents demonstrate significant discrepancies, and it is evident thatPost-Dispatch reporter Steve Giegerich either did not have access to or did not examine the actual survey document himself.
For example, the "policy briefing" reported that "63 percent of respondents said they believe public education in Missouri is "in a crisis" or has "serious problems." The same number was reported by the Post-Dispatch. The actual question and statewide percentages by response are:
"Which of the following statements comes closer to representing your personal opinion about public schools in Missouri?"
A crisis: 26%
Not a crisis: 38%
Critics exaggerating: 15%
Doing very well: 12%
Uncertain: 9%
In other words, 26% of residents feel that public education is "in a crisis," while 65% do not. The numbers from the policy briefing just aren't from the copy of the survey results PubDef obtained.
The St. Louis University Board of Trustees voted last night to grant school administrators the go-ahead to replace theexisting University News charter. This vote comes as a defeat for newspaper staff and editors who had hoped that the vote would be tabled until the board's next meeting in September.
According to News Editor-in-Chief Diana Benanti, the vote also had a caveat that "[newspaper staff] are to collaborate with the administration to make changes that are suitable for both sides." Administrators and students have 9 more days to discuss the situation before the charter becomes active on May 15.
When asked what actions she and her staff were planning to pursue following this resolution, Benanti said that they would "wait and see how [the administrators] respond to what we want, and from there we will decide either individually or as a group... what we want to pursue."
The following letter comes from the President of the St. Louis Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists:
Dear fellow journalists,
The Saint Louis University board of trustees will vote Saturday morning on whether to eliminate the existing charter for the University News, the student news at SLU. If approved, the university will then rewrite a new charter. After much public uproar, the administration now says it will solicit input from the newspaper staff, but it will only give them a week to provide opinions, according to Editor in Chief Diana L.Benanti. And the students still have no clear idea what the charter will actually look like once the administration acts. Basically, the university is giving these students an ultimatum. Thus the students continue to defend their editorial independence and remain opposed to changing the charter for this 86-year-old publication.
Though not allowed to present their ideas to the board of trustees, the students are still hoping the board might be convinced to take no action on the charter. To sway the board, the students will pass out flyers and demonstrate at SLU's DuBourg Hall, 221 N. Grand Avenue, starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday (May 5).
They're asking all other journalists worried about campus free speech to attend and participate.
Greg Cancelada President, St. Louis Chapter of SPJ
SLU's Student Government Association voted unanimously last night to urge the Board of Trustees to postpone any decision on the University News charter. The vote came after an extensive question and answer session, at which several University News staff were present, including Diana Benanti, the student paper's current editor.
The resolution passed by the SGA does not directly address either the old University News charter or the proposed new charter.
When PubDef reached Benanti for comment following the meeting, she seemed optimistic. When asked what effect she expected the resolution to have, Ms. Benanti said, "If this does get to the Board of Trustees tomorrow, I suspect their vote will be tabled until the board meeting in September."
Channel 2 aired a report last night by "You Paid For It" reporter Elliott Davis on the cell phone expenses of St. Louis Public Schools officials.
The report, which is apparently out of date, featured an interview with Ron Jackson, who is no longer on the school board, and included phone bills only as late as January.
According to Davis, between July 2005 and January 2007, SLPS spent nearly $230,000 on cell phone and Blackberry service. But it is hard to tell from this report if the district's cell phone bill is any more expensive than other organizations of similar size.
PubDef today requested cell phone bills from several neighboring school districts to see just how St. Louis Public Schools' bill compares. Check back next week for our special report.
A move by St. Louis University to exert a greater degree of control over its student-run newspaper has many current and past SLU journalists worried.
University officials met with the student staff of the University News on April 30 to present a new version of the newspaper's charter. The new charter would give an administration-appointed board control over candidates for editorial positions, including the power to both hire and fire editors.
Student staff and editors feel that the proposed changes would give the administration too much control over the publication's content, but school officials maintain that the proposed changes are about improving the quality of the paper's content and providing oversight in cases of student misconduct.
A vote on revoking the existing charter is expected within the week.
St. Louis University's Student Government Association will meet tonight at 5:00 in the Pere Marquette Gallery to pass a resolution on the situation of the University News.
Check back later for PubDef's video report.
UPDATE:Here is our interview with Diana Benanti, the paper's editor.
With co-host Tim Person away, Syl Wilson and I had some fun yesterday discussing a wide range of topics, from the field of Democratic Presidential candidates to the "Stop Snitching" movement.
We also talked about Pub Def's more prolific commenters as well as the controversy with the St. Louis Public Schools and the state of public education in America.
The St. Louis American is at it again. Last week, the paper which bills itself as "the" black weekly became the first media to attack the city's first African-American ever elected as President of the Board of Aldermen — just two days after he was sworn in!
The reason for the attack? Its anonymous "Political Eye" column claimed that it was because the editors at the paper had not received an invitation to the bi-annual swearing-in of Board members (Is that why the American never breaks any stories, because they're waiting to be invited to cover them?), but that isn't really the reason.
Journalists don't get invitations to such things, supporters do. And St. Louis American publisher Dr. Donald Suggs, who endorsed Reed in his historic election, was mailed an invitation to his home address.
(By the way, the American's top-notch photojournalist, Wiley Price, apparently doesn't subscribe to his editor's "wait to be invited" philosophy, because he covered the event.)
So why did the paper's editor attack Reed then? Because editor Chris King has a problem with me.
See, King hates a couple of things about me and my PubDef.net — but as is often the nature of hate, it has more to do with King's own insecurities.
Last year, PubDef.net was the only media to cover a campaign event several black businessmen held for Republican Senator Jim Talent. The Talent campaign invited the American and others to cover the event, but I guess their personal politics got in the way of covering the story. But next week, low and behold, the "Political Eye" writes about and slams the black businessmen for presenting at that meeting a mock failing report card to Talent's opponent and eventual victor, Democrat Claire McCaskill.
"St. Louis American, WTF?" I wrote at the time. "There was no American reporter in the room... but no mention of our exclusive report or photos." The paper responded by calling me a "stealth black Republican."
Then in October, the "Eye" wrote about then-aldermanic candidate Kacie Starr Triplett, a black woman who was trying to become the city's youngest alderman and whose election would ensure blacks would not lose numbers on the Board. "If you want the political support of folks old enough to be your father or grandfather, next time talk to them about your candidacy before you quit your day job," they said.
But King couldn't waste an opportunity to take a shot at me. "Triplett also may not have a pitch-perfect ear for friends, as she is close friends with an avowedly independent local journalist [Antonio French] who seems to have at least one leg in the Republican Party, if attracting exclusive ads from the Jim Talent campaign are any indication."
(Of course, King failed to mention that the Talent campaign also advertised in the American, or that his publisher, Suggs, had in the past given money the campaigns of President George W. Bush and Senator Kit Bond.)
By October 26, I had had enough. "What is you guys' problem over there?" I wrote.
"In the absence of any kind of real reporting (have you broken a single story this year?) you've turned a once-great newspaper into a gossip rag, something people pick up just to see which local African-American you spit at this week."
That remains true. While Pub Def breaks stories, like the one about the Riverview Gardens School District losing its accreditation (which the American re-reports on its website without any attribution), the American is left to report made-up gossip about black officials.
While young African-Americans are out in the streets and in the corridors of City Hall and the State Capitol, and in front of books and computer screens trying to make real improvements to our city, the American focuses every week on tearing those same people down over pettiness.
But it is not just that his paper continues to lose the war for relevance. What Chris King seems to really have been hurt by was that I apparently was the first person to point out in public that King, the author of many of these attacks on black officials, is white.
Now, to be clear, I never attacked the American for having a white editor. Diversity is a beautiful thing, which I practice even in my own home. And I still long for the day when St. Louis has a newspaper with a newsroom that looks like the City of St. Louis and covers the entire city equally and fairly. Hopefully that day will come soon.
Again, the issue is not that King is white, it is that the American hides it that riles people. The American knows just like we all do that if their readers knew who was writing these attacks, they would interpret them differently.
And so here we find ourselves today where the city's new black President of the Board has been attacked twice by the white editor of the city's largest black paper even before he has led his first full meeting.
Is the American positioning itself to be to Reed what Sharon Tyus and Velma Bailey were to Mayor Bosley? When will we learn?
I have extended an olive branch to King, even inviting him out for a drink to sit down face-to-face and work out our differences. He declined.
Instead, it appears the American has found something better than the news to report: personal pettiness.
Like a jilted girl enraged at the sight of an old boyfriend standing with a rival cheerleader, this once-great paper continues to waste its credibility and reputation on short-sighted personal agendas while news happens all around and our people suffer.
We have for the first time an Aldermanic President who has made it a legislative priority to rebuild the long-suffering areas of north St. Louis. I believe we have in Lewis Reed our city's best chance at real economic parity in terms of public and private investment in areas that have for decades been under-served.
It would be beyond unfortunate for King and the American to allow pettiness to stand in the way of progress.
My offer still stands, Chris. A beer and a conversation at The Royale or a continuation of the same kind of personal destructiveness that has held our city back for years?
UPDATE: After exchanging a couple of emails, King and I have agreed to a détente. While we haven't set a date yet for that drink, we both agree that furthering the city and the black community remains a common goal — one that should not be derailed over minor personal beefs.
Listen to "The Real Deal with Syl and Tim" today at 4:00 on WGNU 920AM. Syl Wilson and I will be chatting it up about hot topics while co-host Tim Person takes the day off.
I'll be a guest on "The Real Deal" radio show with hosts Syl Wilson and Tim Person this afternoon during the 4:00 hour on WGNU 920 AM.
Topics of likely discussion include: the swearing-in of new Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and the new legislative session, the St. Louis Public Schools' controversy, local endorsements in the 2008 Presidential race, and more.
UPDATE: Okay, we didn't actually get to any of that stuff. But we did have an interesting conversation on the history of Pub Def, the Virginia Tech shootings, Imus, and the "N-word".
Here's video of the first part of the show, including some BREAKING NEWS about Governor Blunt's visit to St. Louis tomorrow.
Political consultant to both the Blue and Red teams Tim Person has taken his perspective to the airwaves. Person is now co-hosting "The Real Deal" radio show with Syl Wilson. Person says the show has a "current affairs format with a little bit (or more) of politics just to make things interesting."
The show can be heard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4—5:00 p.m. on WGNU 920AM.
Post-Dispatch education reporter Steve Giegerich has become a lightning rod for controversy and has for months been accused of fanning the flames of the takeover of SLPS supported by Mayor Francis Slay.
At press conferences in the past, speakers have called out the Post-Dispatch — and Giegerich, in particular — for what has been seen as biased reporting.
Yesterday, during the first hour of the continuing student sit-in in the mayor's office, Giegerich's reporting again became the subject of discussion after the reporter attacked the credibility of the students and their supporters.
In an open letter to his old friend and publisher of the St. Louis American newspaper Dr. Donald Suggs, longtime activist Percy Green says the esteemed dentist should have remembered to "do no harm" before operating on St. Louis Public Schools.
"I have confronted the St. Louis Board of Education on issues as far back as 1969," said Green in the letter dated March 5. "So, that does not make me a 'Johnny-come-lately' on tackling issues pertaining to [public] education."
Green outlines Suggs' involvement with the 2003 takeover of the St. Louis School Board led by Mayor Francis Slay. Suggs served as advisor and campaign treasurer for candidates* Vince Schoemehl, Ron Jackson, Bob Archibald, and Darnetta Clinkscale. He also advocated in his newspaper their candidacies and their eventual decision to briefly privatize the management of the district and close several school buildings (located mostly in predominately black north St. Louis).
"Mayor Slay with Donald as a team member, lost two straight school board elections, year 2005 and 2006," wrote Green. "After the last election, 'like me and my shadow', Slay and Donald begin advocating a state take-over of the public school system."
Suggs was appointed to the five-member state committee (later known as the Danforth-Freeman Advisory Committee) which, as expected, recommended a takeover of the local school board.
According to Green, all five members of the Advisory Committee "were either friends or close associates. They all supported the Slay failed experimental school practices that lost many accreditation points over the past three years. This scheme was like putting the wolf in charge of the hen house to say the least."
"I am sure my old friend Donald had good intentions when he first engaged Mayor Slay about him teaming up with the Black [Leadership] Roundtable," wrote Green.
"Mayor Slay and Donald’s 'how-to' intentions of fixing the public schools became obvious after three years and the accreditation points slipped downwardly from 2 to 25 points from full accreditation.
"Purposely done or not, it happened. My old friend Donald has made it worse than what it was before he and Slay intervened."
Like the voice of your grandpa telling you to put on a raincoat before you go out, KWMU Meteorologist Ben Abell has for years been a reliable source of helpful advice. But after April, the able weatherman will be moving on.
Last night, the 75 year-old Abell announced he will be retiring. According to the radio station, his weather reports have been a part of KWMU ever since the station went on the air, in 1972.
Abell's last forecast will be on April 27. Click here to read more.
Mayor Francis Slay is once again using his blog to call out our city's daily underachiever.
"Based on an interview with one person," wrote Slay (or his regular ghost writer, Richard Callow) on MayorSlay.com, "the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a headline that asserted that the Mardi Gras celebration this past weekend in Soulard was 'the worst year yet.'"
"Aside from the fact that the one person who believed it was a bad event also suggested that the Christian calendar be re-worked so he could sell more beads, what about the thousands and thousands of people who had great times in Soulard and other nearby neighborhoods despite the winter weather?"
"Mardi Gras is a fun event," concluded the mayor. "There is no such thing as a 'worst' year."
In this week's issue of the St. Louis Business Journal, which includes a long list of the "Most Influential St. Louisans", I am for some reason listed as one of the most "influential" people in media.
"[Antonio] French, the brain and brawn behind PUB DEF Weekly, leads a never-ending town hall meeting at www.pubdef.net, telling residents what they missed while they were too busy to care — or, we hope, just too busy. The blogger has been all over the ongoing tussle involving St. Louis Board of Education President Veronica O'Brien and Superintendent Diana Bourisaw, prompting scores of comments from supporters and opponents of a proposed state takeover of schools. He keeps an eagle eye on the Board of Aldermen too. If anyone understands better than French that the devil's in the details, we have yet to be introduced."
Thank you to the writer of those flattering words. I do wish, however, that I and the thousands of people who clearly expressed their opposition to a state takeover, including nearly every state legislator from the City, did have more influence over those outside people that clearly have more power over our city than we do.
Other "influential" media people on the list were: Kevin Mowbray, the publisher of the "once-admired" (that's according to the Biz Journal) Post-Dispatch; Donald Suggs, publisher of the "once admired" (that's according to me) St. Louis American; TV station managers Lynn Beall (KSDK), Allan Cohen (KMOV), and Spencer Koch (KTVI); radio station manager Tim Dorsey (KTRS); radio host and Donnybrooker Charlie Brennan and fellow KMOXer Dave Simmons; and my fellow bloggers, John Combest and Dave Drebes. Meanwhile, our blogger buddy Steve Patterson is listed among the region's "Influential Steves".
This reporter joined many others in a collective "WTF?!" when he read in the current issue of the St. Louis American that the Organization for Black Struggle had endorsed incumbent Jim Shrewsbury (who is white) over challenger Lewis Reed (who is black) in next month's President of the Board of Aldermen race.
Well, turns out, the authors of the American's "Political Eye" column have once again gotten their facts wrong.
In an open letter to the American's publisher, Donald Suggs, and the paper's editor, Chris King, OBS spokesperson Kalimu Endesha wrote:
"In the most recent Political Eye, the St. Louis American saw fit to engage in the kind of reckless journalism and scurrilous name-calling it often accuses others of when they disagree with the newspaper or its publisher." "With no documentation and no follow up to confirm its story, the American reported that the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) had endorsed James Shrewsbury in his re-election bid for President of the Board of Alderman. This is an absolute lie!" "On behalf of our members and our many supporters, we demand a written and public apology for your malicious attack." "To erroneously report on an endorsement is one thing. However, to use that as a basis for attacking our history and credibility is quite another. The scandalous attack on the reputation of the Organization for Black Struggle was totally unfounded and to use the American's own words, 'reactionary'. There was only one half of one sentence in the whole piece that was accurate and that is OBS 'began its existence as a radical revolutionary group'." "OBS has worked tirelessly in the interest of the African-American community for 27 years. There are no back-room deals or under-the-table payoffs in our history. Our operations are transparent and our integrity has endured the test of time." "We have participated in the advancement of black political power for many years and in that process endorsed many candidates. OBS has never, ever endorsed a white candidate over an African-American candidate. This is more than can be said of the St. Louis American."
Also... State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, who is also mentioned in the American's story, tells Pub Def that her position was also misrepresented. She has "absolutely not" endorsed Shrewsbury.
The editorial board of the Post-Dispatch told its urban readers yesterday that they don't give a damn about what they think about the future of their public schools — and neither should the state.
"Let's get real," said the editors condescendingly. The editorial says that sure, at the first and only opportunity the public has had to let its feelings be heard about this matter, hundreds of people showed up to clearly, and often very articulately, express their opposition. But what do they know?
The Post says the public should not trust in the ability of the current superintendent, Dr. Diana Bourisaw, but rather in the wisdom of Mayor Francis Slay (who brought us such figures as Veronica O'Brien and Dr. William Kincaid) and the sensitivity of Gov. Matt Blunt (who's said that nobody in their right mind would live in St. Louis City).
The Post says the parents, voters and taxpayers of the City should trust that what is being threatened will only be "temporary" and in ten years the politicians will give us our rights back. Kind of like state control of our police department was just a temporary action when the nation was gripped in civil conflict.
The Postjoins its partner the American in asking the public to have faith in something for which their is no proof; that the State of Missouri or any three people it empowers can do what has, so far, been very difficult for us to do locally: get parents, teachers, school board members, political leaders, civic leaders, the business community, the general public, and the media to focus on the needs of young people in the City of St. Louis and help them, in all parts of their lives, prepare for a better future.
Just one problem: There's nothing about how to do that in the Danforth-Freeman report. A takeover in no way guarantees success. In fact, no plan at all has been presented on how the state plans to improve the district. But Dr. Bourisaw has.
And the reality that DESE, the Danforth-Freeman committee, the Post-Dispatch, and the American never seem to acknowledge is that SLPS is just recovering from one takeover. From 2003 to 2006, the district was under the de facto authority of the mayor's office. And during that time, things got worse.
During the same period, the Wellston school district was under the authority of DESE and the Governor's office. And things got worse.
So what now, by bringing these two failures of leadership together, are the people and parents of St. Louis promised in exchange for turning over their power, tax dollars and children?
And as one speaker at last week's public forum asked so appropriately: If ten years from now we find ourselves in the very likely situation of having a failing, state-operated school district, then what? Will they hand it back to the voters? What is the exit strategy?
There are few times in history that power is given up and given back without a fight. The editors at the Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis American must excuse us if we don't share in their faith in the abilities or promises of politicians.
It is up to the people and parents of the City of St. Louis to make right our own house. The state can aid in that by: better funding public education across the state, passing Sen. Maida Coleman's bill to allow for the recall of school board members, and respecting the rights of the citizens of this city as you do those of people elsewhere in this state by allowing our vote to mean something on April 3, 2007.
Two stories from the Post makes us ask what happened to "southern" hospitality?
First, Jake Wagmanreports that the Police Officers Association denied their endorsement to Matt Browning's aldermanic campaign. Browning, a former police officer, lost both of his legs in the line of duty just two years ago. What upset Browning as much as anything, according to Wagman, was that he first heard about the union's decision this week by a phone call from a reporter.
Second, in this week's Southside Journal, Jim Merkelfollowed up on our earlier report of the fallout of the Aldermanic President's decision to not allow a prayer for the son of a colleague even though prayers were allowed, as they regularly are, for the then-missing Kirkwood boy and others.
"I think what Jim Shrewsbury did was morally reprehensible and politically dimwitted," said Alderman Stephen Gregali, D-14th Ward.
Little over a week ago Old Norther Michael Allen, co-blogger at Ecology of Absence, witnessed what he thinks was a "dumping" of a homeless man at a downtown shelter by suburban cops.
He wrote an email to MayorSlay.com (aka Richard Callow) describing the incident and Callow -- er, Mayor Slay posted about it on his blog. And in today's Post, they write about Callow writing about what Allen wrote about, which may not have been what Allen thought he was writing about. Whew!
State Rep. Talbdin El-Amin appeared this morning on Fox 2 News discussing his bill to strip slugger Mark McGwire's name from the section of Interstate 70 running through north St. Louis and replace it with the name of former Comptroller and State Senator John Bass.
El-Amin will also appear on ESPN at around 10:20 a.m. this morning to discuss the bill, which we first reported on a month ago.
Via the Arch City Chronicle, here is a message produced by and aired on KMOX Radio today urging their suburban listeners to call the state Board of Education and demand a takeover of the St. Louis City school board.
In the newspaper business -- and even here in the blogosphere -- publishers and editors share the same repeating nightmare: to print a mistake so embarassing that you'd want to change your name and move to Alaska. Well publisher Mike Williams from the St. Louis Metro Sentinel Journal might be pricing tickets as you read this.
On the cover of the current issue of the Sentinel (above the fold no less), Mr. Darryl Piggee, aide to Congressman Lacy Lacy, is identified as "Thief of staff" for the Congressman. Click the image to the right to enlarge.
Williams could not be reached for comment, but Piggee said he was aware of the typo and has not yet received a call of apology.
In April, parents Peter Downs and Donna Jones pulled off a huge political upset by defeating two incumbent school board members that were backed by Mayor Francis Slay and were well financed by some of the city's business interests. But the support of the city's elite nor spending more than $50 per vote could make up for the incumbents' lack of parental and teacher support.
"There are a lot of angry people out there," James Buford told the St. Louis American. Indeed there were, and still are -- maybe even more today.
Pub Def asked has Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan become the Che Guevara of southside liberalism? Don't ask us. Ask The Bill McClellan Motherfuckers!
In his state of the city address, Mayor Slay announced plans to seek voter approval for a sales tax that would pay to hire 50 new officers and fund a "Career Criminal Unit" in the city prosecutor’s office.
Post-Dispatch publisher Terrance C.Z. Eggerresigned. "Even in a job you love, sometimes 10 years is enough," he said.
The five-way race to replace the term-limited State Sen. Pat Dougherty began to heat up with the candidates attending forums around the city. Pub Def's camera was there at many.
Maxine Johnson, a homeowner in the 3rd Ward, picketed on Easter Sunday in front of Bethlehem Lutheran Church to call attention to a plan supported by Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. to use eminent domain to take her home as part of a planned redevelopment project.
On April 21, Vince Schoemehl and his supporters celebrated the 25th anniversary of his swearing-in as mayor of the City of St. Louis.
Pub Def's camera was there as Air Force One landed in Columbia carrying President George W. Bush (Click here to see our exclusive photos). Anti-abortion activists parked two large trucks in front of the State Capitol displaying graphic photos of aborted fetuses. They were meant to send a loud message to President Bush and others during his visit.
Continuing to hold State Senator-elect Jeff Smith as the elected official all black officials should strive to be like, the St. Louis American today labeled State Rep-elect Jamilah Nasheed the "un-Jeff" for requesting public hearings on the issue of state takeover of St. Louis Public Schools.
The still anonymous authors of the "Political Eye" said that Nasheed's suggestion "overlooks the fact that the Special Advisory Committee has been doing its business in public, as required by the Sunshine Law. Also, if the powers in play wanted the fate of the pubic schools decided by the folks who show up at school board meetings, then it would never have appointed this committee in the first place."
Of course the "Eye" fails to mention that Donald Suggs, publisher of the American and former campaign treasurer for the original 2003 slate of school board candidates backed by Mayor Francis Slay, was one of the members of that Special Advisory Committee.
And they also fail to mention that while most of the committee's meetings took place in public, those meetings never allowed time for public comment.
Nasheed's suggestion is a good one and, quite frankly, is the least the state should do before acting to disenfranchise 300,000 people.
When the balance of power shifted on the St. Louis City School Board back in April, the Post-Dispatch and its education reporter, Steve Giegerich, suddenly began to watch the district with a critical eye.
Before, when the board members were going through superintendents like Kleenex, thumbing their noses and the state's Sunshine laws, and talking fiscal responsibility while voting in favor of budgets that actually added to the financial crisis, Giegerich and his paper barely printed a critical word.
But suddenly, after the new board took over, around the same time Pub Def first reported that Mayor Francis Slay and board members Bob Archibald and Ron Jackson began secret communications with state officials about taking over SLPS, the Post began its series of attacks on the district and members of the new board majority.
As a matter of fact, the "good reporting being done by P-D education writer Steve Giegerich" (as Mayor Slay notes on his blog) is actually used as evidence in the Special Committee on SLPS' report calling for a state takeover.
Just today, Giegerich writes under the headline "Bourisaw slapped over wage issue at school board meeting", that one board member attacked the superintendent last night for him not knowing what he was doing when he voted against her recommended budget amendment last week.
Nowhere do Giegerich or his editors inform their readers that this particular board member, Robert Archibald, was the first public official to call for a state takeover of the district, a complete abdication of his own responsibilities, and therefore has an invested interest in attacking the superintendent.
And nowhere does the Post note in today's article that the majority of other board members did not blame the superintendent. They either voted for her request in the first place or acknowledged that maybe they just weren't paying close attention at the last meeting.
The fact is that many (if not most) of the reporters and editors at the Post-Dispatch do not live in St. Louis City -- and neither do their readers. Maybe that is why they seem to have no problem actively destroying the image of our public schools -- especially now that the mayor is leading the charge.
In fact, our crisis seems entertaining to their suburban readers who have their urban neighbors' education and crime problems to discuss until the new season of "American Idol" starts.
But for those of us that do care about this city, and deeply resent the constant attempts of outsiders to take away our power in the name of fixing our problems for us, I have to say that the Post is indeed disgraceful in its cheerleading for our disenfranchisement.
State Treasurer Sarah Steelman appeared yesterday on CNBC's "Kudlow & Company" to discuss Missouri's terror-free investment strategies, which attempts to avoid investing taxpayer dollars in companies that do business with countries that are believed to sponsor terrorism around the world.
Steelman is considered a likely candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2008.
KWMU's Matt Sepic reports that Webster University is handing control of the St. Louis Journalism Review back to its founder, Charles Klotzer.
Editor Ed Bishop said Klotzer will continue printing the magazine, although Bishop said he favors doing just an online version. Bishop said he will step down after a new editor is hired, but he will remain involved with the Review.
The 26-minute discussion covered St. Louis Public Schools, the TIF for St. Louis Centre, the shake-up on Cherokee, and the 6th Ward executive committee flap.
Here's the behind-the-scenes video... Please excuse some of the more interesting camera angles. You trying being a guest on a show and acting as cameraman at the same time. Not easy, let me tell ya.
A story in today's Southeast Missourian details a coming financial windfall that state legislators and the governor are already spending in their minds.
"When the Missouri Legislature returns to work Jan. 3, its spending choices will be dramatically different than they were as recently as two years ago, when legally mandated spending was projected at more than $1 billion more than revenue," writes reporter Rudi Keller.
More from the story:
If revenue continues to increase at this year's rate through July 2008, general revenue tax receipts should exceed $8 billion for the first time.
The extra money from last year's budget and the surplus from the current year -- up to $600 million total -- should be viewed as a one-time windfall and not added to ongoing spending, officials said. But the race is on to be first in line with ideas for either spending next year's extra money or turning back to the public through tax breaks.
But State Sen. Maida Coleman (D-St. Louis) reminds us that much of this "new money" is the result of cuts to services to children and the poor...
Medicaid changes in 2005 pushed 114,525 people off the rolls of the medical assistance program, according to figures from the Missouri Budget Project. At the same time, lawmakers imposed a deadline on themselves for a complete overhaul of the program, setting up a debate that will demand a major portion of this year's legislative work on policy and spending.
"This pseudo-surplus we have is the result of kicking our citizens off Medicaid," Coleman said.
Gov. Matt Blunt will present his spending and policy proposals next month. In the meantime, he recently announced a desire to further cut taxes -- though he did not make clear which taxes or whose taxes. Stay tuned.
Workers Checks Withheld Because School Board Didn't Approve Budget Request
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 11:16 AM
KTVI Channel 2 reported last night that the decision by three members of the St. Louis school board to deny a budget request from Superintendent Diana Bourisaw may mean that hundreds of district employees may not get checks promised them until January.
Board member Ron Jackson, who along with Bob Archibald and Veronica O'Brien voted against the request, told Channel 2 he didn't know his vote would mean those workers wouldn't get paid. He blamed Bourisaw for not telling him.
Board members Peter Downs, Donna Jones and Bill Purdy voted in favor of Bourisaw's budget amendment Tuesday, but since Flint Fowler was absent, the 3-3 vote meant it couldn't get passed.
Click here to watch reporter Chris Regnier's story.
Channel 2 News did a report last night on Aldermanic President candidate Lewis Reed's political signs. Apparently the alderman is breaking a city law by putting the signs out so early.
A city ordinance clearly states that political signs "shall not be posted more than 90 days before the election."
Gov. Matt Blunt appeared on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday to discuss what he and host Bill O'Reilly called "activist judges".
Specifically, the two discussed a recent ruling by Lawrence County, Missouri Judge Larry Meyer, who sentenced 50 year-old Kenneth Slaght to probation after he was convicted of raping his 9 year-old step-granddaughter.
"This is a great example of why we need to take discretion away from judges," said Blunt. "We need to have strict mandatory sentences, and that's what we'll have in the future in Missouri."
The Post-Dispatch picked up on our story about a recent comment made by a PR person at the Convention and Visitors Commission.
Attempting to debunk the city's recent designation as the "most dangerous" in the U.S., [Mary] Hendron said she was explaining that the city's crime figures were skewed by some areas.
"It's a bad part of town, but every city has a bad part of town," Hendron told the industry publication. "Frankly, the only reason anyone would go there would be to purchase crack cocaine."
The comments were the last line in a story about the commission's reaction to the crime ranking. It ran last week in Venues Today's weekly electronic newsletter — sent to 3,000 subscribers in the sports and entertainment industry — and reported locally on a blog, Pub Def.
Several arrests were made after as many as 25 simultaneous fights broke out at the St. Louis Galleria mall yesterday. According to KSDK Channel 5, the new Metrolink expansion is partly to blame for the violence.
"More people, easier access to the mall from all areas of the City and County," Richmond Heights police Sgt. Marty Votaw told Channel 5. "Whenever you make easier access and you get larger crowds, you're going to have more crime."
KSDK reporter Erin O'Neill said, while Sunday's fights were an isolated incident, Richmond Heights police "have noticed an increase in other crimes such as car break-ins since the opening of the Metrolink extension."
In related news... Last week, KMOV Channel 4 did a two-part not-to-be-missed investigative report on the most dangerous places to park your car downtown.
A couple of weeks ago, in our open letter to the St. Louis American -- written in response to yet another unprovoked jab in their Political Eye column -- we asked a question in a comment.
In the absence of any kind of real reporting (have you broken a single story this year?) you've turned a once-great newspaper into a gossip rag, something people pick up just to see which local African-American you spit at this week.
The question was, have they broken any stories this year? We don't read the paper regularly so it was an honest question. So this week we picked up a copy of the American (why not, it's free). And we got our answer.
In the last seven days, PubDef.net was the first or only news outlet to report 14 different stories. As far as we can tell, the American didn't break a single piece of news.
Amazingly, in just one sentence the still-anonymous character assassin at the American makes two factual inaccuracies:
By the way, at least one of Talent’s quasi-supporters in the local "independent" media went nowhere near his candidate’s party at the Frontenac Hilton, spending the evening cheering results at McCaskill’s party downtown. Funny how that worked out.
It's sad. So long a champion of biased and opinion-laced reporting, the American no longer even recognizes what non-partisan reporting looks like.
And they're blind too. Here's our video from the Talent watch party, in which we interviewed radio commentator Jamie Allman and flashed shots of Talent, Sen. Kit Bond, and even consultant Tim Person, another frequent target of the American's venom.
So why does the St. Louis American continue to take shots at this little website? Look at the scoreboard.
A report by the blog ePluribus Media outlines over $30,000 in campaign contributions from executives and political action committees related to UniGroup, Inc., a Fenton-based firm that owns some of the nation's largest moving companies and which has millions of dollars in federal contracts.
According to campaign finance reports, Richard McClure, the firm's CEO and the former chief of staff for then-Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft, has given $4,000 to Talent's Senate campaign. His wife, Sharon, gave another $2,000.
What's wrong with that? Well, according to ePluribus, the Senate Ethics Manual bars contributions from federal government contractors. Not exactly.
While the rules fordid contractors like UniGroup, Inc. from giving to candidates, its employees and executives are free to give as much money as is legally allowed for anyone else.
Now whether it's ethical for politicians to accept campaign contributions from people whose employers are affected by legislation overseen by those legislators is another deal altogether.
But if that was outlawed, who would fund all the citywide campaigns in St. Louis?
Election Board Hires Perkins, Asks New Registered Voters For More Info
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 9:13 AM
A story in today's Post-Dispatch recounts much of what has already been reported on this and other websites about allegations of fraud, poor management and collusion by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). But reporter Jeremy Kohler's article does add one new piece of information.
"In a twist, [Josephine Perkins, the fired ACORN worker featured in PUB DEF's Oct. 4 exclusive video report] was hired days later as a temporary worker by the city's Republican elections director, Scott Leiendecker, an outspoken ACORN critic," wrote Kohler, putting Perkins' credibility in question and apparently suggesting the Republican-controlled Election Board was rewarding Perkins for publicly alleging that ACORN managers instructed employees to get out the vote for Democrat Claire McCaskill.
The Post did not mention that the job Leiendecker gave Perkins pays just $7.25 an hour (75 cents less than ACORN pays) and lasts only two weeks.
Leiendecker told PUB DEF in a phone interview yesterday that he felt sorry for Perkins, who came to his office last week nearly a month after being fired by an ACORN manager who she and other workers identified as telling them to GOTV for the Democratic candidate. ACORN maintains they fired Perkins for stealing a purse, a charge she vehemently denies.
Leiendecker said he respected her spirit and decades of experience in northside organizing. After also being interviewed by Democratic Director of Elections Mary Wheeler-Jones, Leiendecker said Perkins was offered a temporary job helping the Board prepare for the Nov. 7 election.
In related news, Leiendecker and Jones sent letters last week to hundreds of people that were registered to vote by ACORN workers, asking them to call the Board of Elections to confirm their registration.
This appears to add an additional hurdle to the voter registration process, one that civil rights organizations may soon jump on.
"Due to concerns about a number of the Applications submitted by ACORN, as reported recently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, we are asking that you contact the Election Board so that we can confirm your voter registration information and complete the registration process," states the letter dated Oct. 24.
Cable news network Fox News has picked up on the controversy surrounding ACORN's GOTV and voter registration campaigns. Reporter Jeff Goldblatt is in Kansas City today reporting on ACORN's troubles there.
His story, to run during the 6:00 hour at 5:30, will feature PUB DEF's video report on allegations made by several St. Louis ACORN workers about being trained to campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill while registering voters on behalf of Proposition B, the proposal to raise the state's minimum wage.
UPDATE: Here's the Fox News report, which also features St. Louis City's Republican Elections Director, Scott Leiendecker...
Former Missouri Governor, U.S. Senator, and U.S Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft recently appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". Here's the video.
At the end of the interview, when the former Attorney General and Stewart, a New Yorker, make a friendly wager on the Cardinals/Mets series, Ashcroft says if the Mets win, "We'll let you move to St. Louis and you'll think you moved to heaven!"
Jon Stewart in St. Louis? We might be willing to give up the pennant for that.
The Suburban Journals recently published a story about the race currently taking shape to decide who will replace Lewis Reed as alderman of the 6th Ward. The same story, written by reporter Jim Merkel, was published in the Southside Journal and the Northside Journal and on their respective websites.
The Southsideonline version of the story is accompanied by an over-sized headshot of Committeeman and likely aldermanic candidate Patrick Cacchione, but no photo of Kacie Starr Triplett -- to date, the only candidate to have actually announced.
And on the Northsideversion, there's no photo at all. Hmmmmm.
KC Star/Roll Call: Senator McCaskill Would Be Among Nation's Wealthiest
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 10:14 AM
A story in today's Kansas City Star examines how some of U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's husband's business dealings would create "several potential conflicts of interest" should McCaskill successfully unseat Sen. Jim Talent. Click here to read it.
In the story is an interesting bit that many may not realize. These guys are rich -- really rich.
From the Star: A disclosure report filed with the Senate this year puts McCaskill’s net worth at between $13 million and $30 million, possibly more. Even the low end of that scale would make her one of the Senate’s 10 richest members, according to estimates by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
Republicans have been trying to turn "Mr. McCaskill", businessman Joseph Shepard, into an issue in the final weeks of this campaign, repeatedly demanding Shepard release his tax returns to the media.
"[Jim and Brenda Talent] recognize when you serve in public office you forfeit a certain amount of privacy when it comes to financial information," said Rich Chrismer, a Talent spokesman, in a press release sent out this morning.
According to the Star, the Talents reported a net worth last year of between $300,000 and $1.3 million.
Sen. Jim Talent and State Auditor Claire McCaskill will meet tonight in Kansas City for their fifth and final debate before the Nov. 7 election. But St. Louis voters may not see it at all.
The debate will take place at the University Academy charter school and will be moderated by KMBC-TV's Larry Moore. The panelists are KMBC-TV’s political reporter Michael Mahoney, Kansas City Star political reporter Steve Kraske, KCPT-TV public affairs and the news programming director Nick Haines, KCUR-FM news director Frank Morris and Examiner Independence editorial board editor Jeff Fox.
The debate will not be televised live in St. Louis, in Kansas City, or anywhere else. Instead, according to Brad Belote at The KY3 blog, the debate will air tomorrow night in K.C. on both KMBC and KCPT. Tonight, KMBC viewers will be treated to "Dancing with the Stars" instead.
St. Louisan may be able to stream video of the debate from one the television station's websites tomorrow. Maybe.
McCaskill tells Newsweek that Pub Def's Quote Taken "Out of Context"
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Friday, October 13, 2006 at 6:39 PM
In an interview with Newsweek.com published today, U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill claims a quote first reported by PUB DEF was taken out of context.
Newsweek: You took a lot of flak for your comments about President Bush and Hurricane Katrina. You said: “George Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black.” Correct me if I’m wrong but I haven’t seen any retraction. Could you just explain what you meant?
McCaskill: The quote was taken out of context. What I was doing was acknowledging how many people in America felt. And the reason those feelings were so prominent after Katrina was because of the way this administration has treated the most vulnerable in this country. I think that is something we need to get to work on. I think acknowledging that a lot of people felt that way is an important part of fixing the problem.
Newsweek: Do you think race played a significant role in the federal government’s response to Katrina?
McCaskill: I certainly do not think that President Bush is a racist. Obviously, I do not think that. I do think, however, that gross incompetence led to tragic results because the people in New Orleans did not have the resources to help themselves. Part of the reason they were so vulnerable is a direct result of the policies of this administration.
Here again is the context in which that comment was made.
On Tuesday, September 5, Committeewoman Norma Leggette (4th Ward) told McCaskill at a meeting of St. Louis City Democratic elected officials -- both African-American and white -- that she wasn't sure what to tell her constituents about what the Democratic Party stood for anymore. She said she felt the there were two parties in the City -- one white, one black.
Leggette has since confirmed to Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown that her quotes were indeed accurate.
Committeeman Joe Palm (26th Ward) said that McCaskill's opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, was making strong inroads into the black community. He claimed the incumbent Republican has been making promises of financial aid to black church leaders and even some northside politicos. Palm warned McCaskill that gimmicks won't increase voter turnout.
"I know I lost, but my opponents in my [State Rep] race had a big truck with video and signs too, and the turnout was still terrible," said Palm. He said the Republicans have gimmicks too. "Talent lit the Arch up pink," he said referring to Talent's bill that authorized bathing the Gateway Arch in pink lights to bring attention to breast cancer.
McCaskill listened quietly to Palm and Leggette before taking the floor. In a spirited voice, she told them that she would do everything she could to make clear to every Democratic voter that "George Bush has no better friend than Jim Talent."
McCaskill said she would remind people that "George Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black."
Click here to read Newsweek reporter Lee Hudson Teslik's full interview with McCaskill and her opponent, Sen. Jim Talent.
Radio talk show host Lizz Brown and her co-host, former Ald. Irene J. Smith, took some time between paid ads for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill to attack PUB DEF for our coverage of the senate campaign. Brown and Smith claimed that the $900 ad that McCaskill's opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, bought on this site was influencing our stories.
"When you look at some of the things that [Antonio French] is doing... and it's not balanced, you wonder whether or not the fact that Jim Talent has an ad on his website -- It's like I bought me some good coverage," said Smith.
In the three-minute video, which features numerous shots of McCaskill interacting with elderly voters, is a brief shot of a senior pulling out an absentee ballot and McCaskill looking at it with her.
The story was actually intended to be a positive piece. We didn't mention anything about the incident in our story. Nor was it highlighted in any way in the video. But several conservative blogs reposted the video with headlines such as "Voter Fraud Caught on Tape".
We have disabled the video's embedding feature on YouTube so no other sites can repost the video with that false characterization.
And speaking of false characterizations, Brown claimed we deleted a comment back in August that spoke negatively about Talent -- presumably to save embarrassment for someone who might one day be an advertiser on this site.
Those that spend any amount of time in the comments section know the only comments we ever delete are vulgar and slanderous ones (and sometimes -- if they're really clever ones -- we even leave those up).
Look, for those that define "fair and balanced" as one explosive story deserves another, then we can see how you think PUB DEF has been harder on the McCaskill campaign. All we can say to you is: Help us out.
We are always looking for news. It's true we have been very successful in breaking news relating to Claire McCaskill's campaign recently. But we can't take all the credit. A steady stream of tips have been coming in from Democratic sources about their senate candidate.
We have repeatedly asked them and other sources for tips about the Republican candidate. But nothing has come in (yet). So should we hold the next McCaskill story until an equal or greater Talent story comes about? That's not how we work.
And so now we ask Lizz Brown, Irene J. Smith, and anyone else who thinks PUB DEF has been bought for $900 and a pat on the head: What are we not reporting on Jim Talent? Where should we be looking for the next big story?
As always, email us at editor@pubdef.net or call our 24-hour Tip Line at (314) 518-2364. All tips are 100% confidential.
U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill again appeared on WGNU's "The Wake-Up Call with Lizz Brown" this morning. In the weeks leading up to the election, the State Auditor has paid for a one hour block of time each Monday on the AM talk show. Calling in from the road, she talked about her nationally televised debate yesterday with her opponent, incumbent Sen. Jim Talent.
McCaskill's mother, Betty Anne, also appeared on today's show. She said as a mother it is hard to watch the negative campaigns, some of which effectively call her daughter a liar and a cheat. She said Claire McCaskill was taught as a child in the church to act on behalf of others, not just talk about it.
The elder McCaskill also took issue with Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown. In his column Sunday, Brown said he left his recent face-to-face meeting with the Democratic candidate unimpressed. "I didn't hear anything that made me too hopeful about political and economic progress for local blacks," he wrote.
"He didn't point out the fact that when Claire had the biggest prosecutor's office in the state, she hired more African-Americans." Betty Ann told Lizz Brown. "This is actions speaking louder than words."
Lizz Brown's show can be podcasted from the White Rose Society's website here.
A couple of things that were in my notebook but took a while to get posted...
'BOYISH' JEFF SMITH? -- Washington Post columnist Jabari Asim on St. Louis' own Jeff Smith: "Jeff Smith, an aspiring politician in Missouri, bears no resemblance to Jimmy Stewart. Unlike Stewart, who was a lanky leading man, Smith is small and boyish. Unlike Stewart's homespun tenor, Smith's voice tends toward the upper registers. His appearance is so youthful that a colleague once said of him, 'He's obviously short, looks like he's 12 and sounds like he's castrated.'" Click here to read the full article.
THE POST IS LOSING MONEY -- "Lee acquired Pulitzer Inc. in June 2005, and Pulitzer revenue is reported in statistical periods. For the statistical reporting period ended Aug. 27, 2006, Pulitzer advertising revenue decreased 2.0 percent compared with 2005, with total revenue down 1.6 percent. In St. Louis, advertising revenue decreased 2.8 percent, and total revenue decreased 2.6 percent. In the other former Pulitzer newspapers, advertising revenue decreased 0.2 percent, and total revenue increased 0.4 percent." Click here to read more.
Blogger, urbanist and "best gadfly" Steve Patterson has a way of pissing people off. It's a gift. Earlier this evening, he attempted to share that gift with the owner of downtown restaurant Copia Urban Winery. The result makes for great TV.
Click here to see Steve's video of the incident at his site, UrbanReviewSTL.com. Then watch the Pub Def "Fight the Power" remix...
Okay, let's round out the Thursday morning bitching with a complaint about an article in the St. Charles Journal (man, with all this whining this site's going to start reading like a -- a blog).
Now granted it's St. Charles, but considering this reporter used to write for the Suburban Journals, it kind of hurts that we weren't included in their story on political blogging, which mostly talked about partisan blogs Fired Up Missouri and The Source, and a local site called St. Chuck Watch. But no Pub Def Weekly. [Insert sad face]
Oh well, no more whining. Let the haters hate. We've got important work to do...
From today's "Political Eye" column in the St. Louis American: "...several other African-American businessmen announced Monday that they are backing Talent and gave his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill an 'F' on the issues."
Now how would they know about that report card? There was no American reporter in the room -- or any other reporter except PUB DEF's -- but no mention of our exclusive report or photos.
It is very tiring to have to fight over and over for the same basic courtesy that any other reporter would get. A little appreciation for making it so easy for these larger news organizations to simply copy-and-paste their stories would be nice.
