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Missouri Governor Matt Blunt was on the campus of the University of Missouri in St. Louis this morning to sign into law Senate Bill 389, which includes his controversial plan to take $350 million from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MoHELA), which makes loans for college tuition, to pay for new construction projects on campuses around the state.
In addition to the funding of construction projects, SB 389 also included several other provisions, including State Sen. Jeff Smith's "Teach for Missouri Act".
Modeled after the national Teach for America program, Smith's plan (renamed "Missouri Teaching Fellows Program Fund") would allow certain graduates of Missouri colleges who are hired to teach in unaccredited or partially accredited school districts can have some of their student loans forgiven for each of their first five years teaching.
There is a rumor that Riverview Gardens has been notified that the state is about to step in. Last week we asked Gov. Matt Blunt if state involvement in troubled districts was going to end with St. Louis Public Schools.
UPDATE: Today DESE released the agenda for the State Board of Education's April meeting. It specifically noted that neither the St. Louis City schools nor the Riverview Gardens School Districts will be discussed this month.
Sources tell Pub Def that Ken Franklin will be named Executive Director of the Missouri Democratic Party later today.
Franklin is currently an aide to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and a former state party staffer. He will be the first African-American to ever hold the influential position.
Check back later for more...
UPDATE: Over the course of several months, a field of 32 potential candidates for the E.D. job was cut down to 16, then 5, then just 3. Of those three candidates, according to Missouri Democratic Party Chairman John Temporiti, Franklin was the unanimous choice of state party officials.
Readers will recall that there was speculation that the sudden resignation of Democratic Party Chairman Roger Wilson back in January was the result of a clash between him, the Legislative Black Caucus, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, and Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Jay Nixon over who should be the next E.D.
According to sources, all sides agreed that it was time for an African-American director, but who?
Brandon Davis, McCaskill's former political director, interviewed for the job and actively lobbied officials for weeks. But Wilson told Black Caucus members "no way" on Davis.
But it was the manner and tone in which Wilson told the Caucus "no" that some speculate quickly led to his resignation.
In February, Davis accepted a job as political director for the SEIU MO/KS State Council, taking his name out of the running for E.D. (and saving Wilson from embarrassment should Davis had been appointed despite his stern objections).
Today's appointment of Franklin both satisfies one promise to the strongest part of the Democrats' base and places the Party in the hands of a capable, well-liked director who may be able to build bridges across the state to help the Democrats retake the Governor's office next year.
UPDATE 2: It's official. At 12:45 p.m. the Missouri Democratic Party sent out the following press release.
The Missouri Democratic Party today announced that Ken Franklin from St. Louis will be the party's new Executive Director. The selection was made by Party Chairman John Temporiti and approved by the Missouri Democratic Party's Executive Committee at the quarterly state party meeting today in Jefferson City. Franklin has served since May 2005 as St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay's Deputy Legislative Director and formerly ran Gov. Bob Holden's St. Louis office. Along with his experience in government, Franklin has also served as Political Director for Mayor Slay's successful 2005 re-election, Base Vote Director for Sen. Jean Carnahan's 2002 campaign, and Press Aid for Freeman Bosley, Jr.'s 2001 mayoral campaign. He has also participated in the St. Louis RCGA's Public Policy Council and the St. Louis Downtown Partnership's Legislative Affairs Committee. Franklin previously worked at the Missouri Democratic Party from 2001-2002 as the Director of Voter Outreach. "Ken's experience both in government and politics in Missouri make him the ideal choice to continue the momentum the Missouri Democratic Party has built over the last election," said John Temporiti, Missouri Democratic Party Chairman. "Ken brings both the background and enthusiasm to help Missouri Democrats win up and down the ticket in 2008 and beyond." Ken graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia with a degree in political science. Before entering government and politics, Franklin taught social studies and language arts for two years at Holy Cross School in St. Louis. Ken lives with his wife and one-year-old daughter in St. Louis, where his father, Robert, is a pastor. He replaces Corey Dillon who left in February to join the U.S. Senate office of Claire McCaskill. Franklin will be the first ever African-American Executive Director of the Missouri Democratic Party when he starts work the week of May 14.
The St. Louis Board of Education met Tuesday for the first time since last week's election shifted its balance of power once again.
There was no action taken Tuesday to replace Veronica O'Brien as president. Board VP Bill Purdy announced a special meeting of the board for Thursday at 10:00 a.m. At that time, the board may select new officers and vote to authorize the district's legal team to fight a state takeover.
Democrats young and old, incumbents and challengers, watchers and winners crammed into the southside hip spot, The Royale, Tuesday night to watch (and jeer) the President as he delivered his next-to-last State of the Union address.
A representative from the Missouri School Boards Association conducted a workshop this evening for members of the St. Louis Board of Education to discuss successful practices of functioning school boards. All but one school board member attended tonight's session. Board President Veronica O'Brien left before Dr. David Lineberry began his presentation.
State Reps. Robin Wright Jones and Jeanette Mott Oxford, Teachers Union President Mary Armstrong, and Rev. James T. Morris, a parent of children in SLPS, were among the speakers at this morning's event.
Check back later for videos of two school board members defending the district from takeover.
Board Hears Report on Sodexho, O'Brien Refuses to Hear Public Comments
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 11:59 PM
A PUB DEF VIDEO REPORT
The St. Louis City School Board heard a report tonight by Chief Operating Officer Deanna Anderson on the costs and benefits of ending the district's contract with Sodexho and bringing back in-house many of the maintenance operations that the contractor oversees.
Congressman Says He'll Take Wal-Mart's Money and Still Vote Against Them
By Antonio D. French
EXCLUSIVE PUB DEF VIDEO
At a press conference today meant to call attention to the working conditions of employees of Wal-Mart, America's largest private employer, Congressman Lacy Clay was asked about contributions he has accepted from the retailer.
At the conclusion of Clay's speech, which slammed Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott for his company's huge profits in the face of persistent poverty among his roughly 1.4 million employees, reporter Matt Sepic of local NPR affiliate KWMU asked Clay whether he would return nearly $7,000 in campaign donations from Wal-Mart's political action committee.
"Not at all," said Clay. "That's the name of the game is raising money. I have dues to pay to my Democratic Party, about $150,000 a year. So wherever I can get that money to pay those dues, I will take it."
Clay said even though he has accepted money from Wal-Mart, he has not voted how the company would have wanted him to on many issues in Congress.
"You have to have money to run effectively," said Clay. "I'm going to take all the money I can get."
Check back later for more exclusive video from today's press conference...
More than two dozen black elected officials from the City of St. Louis met this morning at the Gateway Classic Foundation to discuss plans for greater organization and cooperation.
The meeting, organized by Congressman Lacy Clay, Alderman Greg Carter and Committeeman Arthur "Chink" Washington, was an attempt to revive the defunct Council of Black Elected Officials which hasn't met in years.
Sources say the meeting lasted nearly two hours and ended with a pledge to meet again soon -- perhaps in early December -- and possibly elect officers for the organization at a later time.
The first votes have arrived at the St. Louis City Board of Elections. Election judges arrived at in police cars around 12:30 carrying white boxes filled with optical scan ballots.
Election officials said no vote totals will be released until after the polls close.
Actor Michael J. Fox, whose commercial for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill has been the subject of much discussion the past few days, discussed with Katie Couric the recent allegations made by radio host Rush Limbaugh and his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease.
Yesterday we took our camera over to the East Side, near Brooklyn, Illinois. No, it's not what you're thinking. It was for a project. No, not that kind of project... Look, can we just get back to the story?
Anyway, not far past all the strip clubs and prostitutes, in a town called Lovejoy (oh boy), is a school appropriately named Lovejoy School. Six decades ago, a boy named Hamiet Bluiett attended that school. That boy grew up to become one of the most respected saxophonists on the planet. Yesterday, he returned to Lovejoy and he brought along three of his friends. Together, they call themselves the World Saxophone Quartet.
The World Saxophone Quartet -- comprised of founding members Bluiett and Oliver Lake, and master saxophonists James Carter and St. Louis native Greg Osby -- are currently celebrating their 30th Anniversary. They will be performing tonight and Saturday at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., across from the Fox Theatre.
SPECIAL REPORT: ACORN Workers Claim Minimum Wage Funds Helping McCaskill
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, October 04, 2006 at 9:01 PM
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT
Several former and current workers demonstrated today in front of the St. Louis office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) demanding to be paid for work they had performed and alleging that they were instructed to tell people to vote for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill while registering voters in support of the proposed minimum wage increase.
Ten-year ACORN veteran Josephine Perkins claims she was fired last week, in part because she informed the teams she supervised that it was inappropriate and illegal for them to campaign for McCaskill while being paid by ACORN and Give Missourians a Raise, the political action committee which supports Proposition B and, according to campaign finance reports, has given money to ACORN to circulate its literature.
Several other ACORN workers also told PUB DEF that they were told to ask voters to vote for McCaskill. But Johanna Sharrard, the political field director for ACORN, denies that is the case.
"That's not going on in this office," she said. "It's not been the case at all."
She declined to say on-camera why Perkins was fired. But Perkins told us the reason Sharrard, who has been at the St. Louis office only four weeks, gave for her termination was theft, a charge she vehemently denies.
Another ACORN worker, Joseph Weick, said he has not been paid for work he did with the organization last month. He also said that he and others were told last week that they needed to re-apply for their positions, which he took as a termination.
"They refuse to give me my check," said Weick. "I guess there's at least about a half a dozen of us that have worked for these people and aren't getting paid."
Weick said he too was told to ask people to vote for McCaskill while registering voters and passing out literature supporting the minimum wage increase, which if true could be a violation of federal election laws.
"These are very serious allegations and we are reviewing our options as they relate to the McCaskill campaign and the potential exploitation of a tax-exempt organization that is supposed to help those who need help the most," said Rich Chrismer, a spokesman for McCaskill's opponent, Sen. Jim Talent.
The McCaskill campaign declined to comment for this story.
The Police Board voted this morning to lift the residency requirement for civilian employees who have been with the department for seven continuous years.
Mayor Francis Slay had made a motion to table the vote until after the Nov. 7 non-binding referendum in which voters would let their preference be known in the matter, but the mayor's motion was not seconded by any other board member.
Video later...
UPDATE: Here are some clips from today's meeting. BTW, the final vote was 3-2 with Slay and JoAnn Freeman Murrow voting against -- though interestingly, Murrow did not second Slay's motion to table the vote.
So say you're downtown paying your property taxes when all of a sudden Bin Laden's boys decide to attack City Hall with VX nerve gas (it could happen). What are you going to do? You have no idea, do you? Well, fear not, you simple-minded civilian. Lucky for you, you're being protected by the elite fighting force known as the St. Louis City Marshals.
Three such marshals -- "martial artists" are more like it. We hear they can kill you with a single blow, a move known only as the "shiny badge of death" -- anyway, three marshalls recently gave us an exclusive tour of their secret lair buried deep under City Hall in abandoned caves once used by Harriet Tubman. But when we later checked our videotape, only snow and static had recorded (surely the result of some superior Marshal technology designed to keep their secrets -- and St. Louis -- safe).
Well, we've got some technology too. And we were able to salvage a couple of minutes of footage of Marshals Robert Howard, Antron Lavington, and Christopher Fischer telling us about some Homeland Security training they recently completed at a secret facility in Anniston, Alabama.
Cleaning out the ol' PUB DEF video vault, we recently came across this jewel. It's a video we shot almost exactly two years ago -- back in August 2004 before we had any outlet to share such videos. It's from the St. Louis stop of the Hip-Hip Summit which sought to increase youth participation in the 2004 Presidential Election.
The video features Summit founder Russell Simmons; his brother, Reverend Run from Run-DMC; rappers Jadakiss; Loon; Remy Martin; Biz from D-12; soul singer Anthony Hamilton; hip-hop legend Doug E. Fresh; and HSAN President/CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis. Oh, and Nelly.
Look for cameos by State Rep. Rodney Hubbard, 5th Ward Committeewoman Cheryl Nelson, and a certain St. Louis American reporter that doesn't mind rudely getting next to celebrities while they're talking to other people just so he can get his picture taken with them.
School Board president Veronica O'Brien was denied a restraining order today against fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and his friend and supporter, Demetrius Johnson.
O'Brien had alleged that the two -- along with several other protestors -- threatened her and her 11 year-old child at one of many recent protests at her home in the Central West End.
But Judge Michael Stelzer, son of 8th Ward Committeeman Jack Stelzer, today denied O'Brien's petition after hearing testimony from witnesses including city police officers and even former Superintendent Creg Williams, who came back to town to testify on behalf of his friend, Irons.
During this final week before the August 8 primary election, PUB DEF will be pounding the pavement everyday with different candidates. We were in south St. Louis yesterday with Derio Gambaro, a candidate for state senate.
Gambaro was out with his family knocking on doors and meeting potential voters in the 17th Ward. That ward, much like the 4th District which Gambaro is hoping to represent in the senate, is racially and economically diverse.
Gambaro didn't get the official endorsement of the ward's political organization ("Because of the demographics of the ward [Ald. Joe Roddy] felt more comfortable going with Kenny Jones," he explained to a caller on his cell phone.), but he felt comfortable telling many voters to call their alderman, who he said would vouch for his character.
The former state representative shook hands and explained his positions on senior services, the need for better jobs in St. Louis, and the need to improve educational opportunities for children.
"That's my interest!" said one woman who is a parent volunteer at Vashon High School. "My interest is in the St. Louis Public Schools."
Gambaro told her about his plan to allow state and private money to be reserved for scholarships to help parents with the cost of sending their kids to other schools -- either a private school or a better public school in a fully accredited district.
The key to his plan, said Gambaro, is that for every dollar set aside for his program another dollar would go to St. Louis Public Schools -- allowing them to spend more on less children -- raising the dollar per student average.
As we've seen several times since we've been following candidates, for some voters, the smallest things make a difference.
One man told Gambaro that after just five minutes he can tell if a politician is "blowing smoke up my ass." He told Gambaro he seemed like an honest guy, but to make sure he asked him his astrological sign.
"I'm a Sagittarius," said Gambaro.
"Just like my brother," the man said. "You're cool."
During this final week before the August 8 primary election, PUB DEF will be pounding the pavement everyday with different candidates.
We tagged along with State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin yesterday as she and two supporters from ACORN went door-to-door in the same north St. Louis neighborhood that we followed one of her opponents, Jeff Smith, the day before.
El-Amin, who has represented that area in the state house for four years, was recognized by many of the people that answered her door knock. One lady, Ms. Dorothy Preston, a familiar face at many neighborhood meetings, teased El-Amin for not remembering her name.
"Do you know my name -- No! But everybody knows your name," she ribbed.
Like deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say, Ms. Preston bragged about her nephew who graduated from Cardinal Ritter High School and now attends Dartmouth College. Those who watched yesterday's video of Smith will recall that nearly the exact conversation happened between Smith and another woman just a few blocks away.
El-Amin was teased again about names later in the video -- this time her own. "What kind of name is this?" asked one older woman. "You not African."
El-Amin respectfully explained the meaning of her name ("beautiful in character") and joked that it was her mother's idea. She was a fan of the actor Yaphet Kotto.
"My father told her 'I'll let you give her his first name, but you're not getting ready to name my baby after this old man,'" she said.
As El-Amin was leaving the woman's porch, she asked her name so she could count her as a vote and give her a reminder call on Election Day.
"Loretha," she said.
"And what kind of name is that?" asked one of the ACORN guys to a burst of laughter from all.
During this final week before the August 8 primary election, PUB DEF will be pounding the pavement everyday with different candidates.
We were again in north St. Louis yesterday, this time we followed two candidates: State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin, who's running for the state senate, and Joe Palm, who's running for her seat in the House. Here's the video from our outing with Palm:
During this final week before the August 8 primary election, PUB DEF will be pounding the pavement everyday with different candidates. Yesterday we were in north St. Louis with Jeff Smith, a candidate for state senate.
As Smith and his aide, Quinton Lucas, hopped out of the car and head towards the streets of the Visitation Park neighborhood in the 26th Ward, almost on queue (and wouldn't you know it, before our camera was rolling), a couple of young guys shouted from across the street "Yo, Jeff Smith!" apparently recognizing the energetic Democrat from a campaign poster, or mailer, or maybe his work as a basketball coach at a northside community center.
Not long into our door-to-dooring, we got a call from another candidate's campaign who we were scheduled to tag along with later. They were down the street. Soon they and their "secret weapon" were on the same street as Smith.
The loud voice of a female announcer could be heard saying, "it's time to send a proven leader to the state senate." Soon the large truck bearing photos of one of Smith's opponents, Yaphett El-Amin, could be seen coming down the street. The 6-foot tall video screen on its side could be seen clearly in the evening light with shots of El-Amin in schools, in hospitals, and in the State Capitol.
"I think that is so funny that came with their little toy," said Smith. "I wonder how much that cost them. She's only done one piece of mail."
Despite the extreme heat yesterday, according to organizers, more than 2,500 people attended the 6th Annual Community Empowerment Festival of the Jeff Vanderlou, Blumeyer, Vandeventer, Tiffany Park, Shaw, Midtown and Grand Center Neighborhoods.
Fire Chief Sherman George, Marlene Davis and Ida Goodwin Woolfolk joined 19th Ward Alderman Mike McMillan at the annual event at which people were treated to health screenings, a job fair, senior services, college recruitment info, and giveaways of school supplies and grocery certificates. Kids enjoyed slides, rock climbing, horse rides, and sitting in a real race car.
Sponsors included the City of St. Louis, Metropolitan St. Louis City Police and Fire Departments, SLATE, SLAAA, CDA, Enterprise Leasing, Anheuser Busch, Pepsi Cola, President Casino, SLU, Grand Center, Major Brands, Hardee's, the Vashon/JVL Initiative, Scottish Rite Cathedral, Sam's Club, National City Bank, Commerce Bank, the Human Development Corpration, CAMCO, and McCormack Baron Salazar.
Members of the State Board of Education yesterday discussed the loss of focus on the students of St. Louis Public Schools by both sides in the ongoing political battles affecting the district.
"I can remember six, seven, eight years ago when we had a great deal of concern about Kansas City and actually St. Louis was improving every year and things were looking like it might turn out to be one of the better urban districts in the country," said board member Thomas Davis of Kansas City.
"And here we sit these number of years later and St. Louis' trend line has clearly been down and decelerating faster than almost any district than we have data on," said Davis. He said that in all the discussion he has read about the current situation in the district, he has not seen a focus on student achievement.
Vanetta Rogers, the St. Louis regional board member, shared in her colleague's assessment. She said she also saw a loss of focus by the players in the ongoing soap opera that SLPS has become.
"You hear the adults -- with their factions and their views and their PACs and their whatever -- talking about who failed to agree with whom about what," she said. "But you don't hear enough about efforts to come together and try to create a single voice."
Mike McMillan is now old enough to be President of the United States. That's just one of the dreams and possibilities that was spoken aloud yesterday in the ballroom of the beautifully refurbished Coronado in Central West End.
The official occasion was the 19th Ward alderman's 35th birthday, but the feeling in the room and the weight of all the heavies in it was indicative of a much bigger event: the much anticipated arrival of the city's next political force.
McMillan will soon become St. Louis' third black citywide elected official (yes, don't let the light skin and the almost blue eyes fool you -- he's black). But no citywide elected official, not even the Mayor or the Comptroller, has the mix of cross-racial appeal, fundraising ability, and smell-it-in-the-air potential as this guy.
But then, everyone already knows that. That's why nearly everyone who is anyone in St. Louis politics came out last night to welcome his arrival.
Eating slices from a cake shaped like City Hall (why not just pass out Mayor McMillan buttons?), politicos mingled with each other and spoke of things to come.
"Someone wrote you a birthday check and, without thinking, made it out to Senator Mike McMillan," said Ida Woolfolk in her introduction of the city's next License Collector.
We could try to make a list of everyone we spotted in the crowd, but that just sounds like too much bold print. Instead, watch this music video:
Now bear witness to the charm of your future something-or-other. Here is McMillan's "thank you" speech from last night:
For the third day in a row, people protested the school board's decision to force the resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams.
Yesterday evening, in front of City Hall, two dozen people carried signs bearing messages critical of the school board majority and shouting, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it!" They also gathered signatures on a petition of "no confidence" which they plan to turn over to the school board and the media later.
Among the protesters once again were ousted Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and local sports personality Demetrius Johnson, whose sister's job with SLPS was eliminated the same day as Irons'.
