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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
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At a press conference this morning, 1st Ward Committeeman Talibdin El-Amin said he will be staying in his 57th District State Representative race until the end.
"After having conversations with my family, friends, and many people in the community, I am convinced more than ever today that I will not waiver in my pursuit to become the next state representative in the 57th District," said El-Amin with his wife, Yaphett El-Amin (the current representative of the district), by his side.
Some wondered if El-Amin would withdraw from the race after reports in The Evening Whirl and on KSDK Channel 5 earlier this week called him a "deadbeat dad." El-Amin once again said these allegations are false. He told the room of supporters and just two members of the media that these were "trivial matters disguised as news."
Meanwhile, someone identifying themself as Antonnia Washington, El-Amin's "baby's mama," posted a lengthy comment to one of our earlier stories on this subject. "I don't know how Mr. El-Amin could even begin to think that Yaphett takes better care of my children that I do," she wrote.
"I have never taken a hit at the way she raises her children and I feel that I should be given that same respect because I am a good, hard-working mother. The St. Louis Family Court thought so too, that is why they are with me," the person wrote.
Editor's Note: Unless something big happens, this will be our last story on this subject.
State rep candidate Talibdin El-Amin calls the charges that he is a "deadbeat dad" ridiculous. But he said that these recent allegations have taken a toll on him, his wife, and his children.
El-Amin, the 1st Ward Committeeman and husband to State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin, told PUB DEF that he has been involved in every stage of his children's emotional, mental, physical, and educational development. He said allegations to the contrary by the mother of his two eldest children are the result of a personal vendetta.
"Never have I had to be 'forced' to tend to my fatherly responsibilities," said El-Amin. He said it was him who in 1996 initiated child support payments which were taken directly from his paycheck.
El-Amin said he has records that show that he has paid more than $88,000 in child support from 1997 to May 2006. "I am on record for providing over $80,000 in child support, this in spite of being denied my right to see my children per our custody agreement."
He said that there have been short periods when he was unable to make his payments: after surgery in 1996, after he donated a kidney to his father in 2000, and after being laid-off from his job at General Motors in 2000.
"In the fall of 2005, I initiated custody proceedings, seeking greater involvement than previously afforded," said El-Amin. He said the court rolled his missed payments into a new monthly payment amount, which he has been current on ever since.
"More troubling than the accusation of being an absentee father, is the attack on my wife, whose love, and nurturing of the children outside of our marriage, has transcended the atypical stereotype of a detached stepmother," El-Amin wrote in an email to PUB DEF.
"Her involvement in school events, planning of activities and trips, and overall development has often times superseded that of the biological mother, Ms. Washington," he said.
The character of El-Amin's "baby's mama" was something that sources in his campaign wanted to talk a great deal about. They provided documents which they say show that she has gambled $107,054.56 at a local riverboat casino between January 2004 to May 2005.
Sources tell PUB DEF that, maybe as soon as tomorrow, El-Amin is considering dropping out of the race to prevent possible further damage to his children caused by the "dirty politics" of the past week.
They point to the fact that an employee of Sheriff Jim Murphy, who has endorsed State Rep. Amber Boykins in her campaign against Yaphett El-Amin for State Senate, coincidentally showed up at their campaign office at the same time as a KSDK cameraman and reporter Mike Owens, who is married to Ald. Lyda Krewson, who has ties to Luther Boykins, Amber's father.
"This whole thing stinks to high heaven," said the insider. "It would be a shame to allow this kind of personal character assassination."
Several people told PUB DEF the real story here is that KSDK allows Mike Owens to do political stories. Imagine if Jo Mannies of the Post-Dispatch was Francis Slay's sister. Or if Jake Wagman was Jim Shrewsbury's son. Imagine if people working for the mayor were allowed to lobby for firms with city contracts -- oh, wait.
File this in the WTF folder. Mayor Francis Slay's website staff sent out an email yesterday with a picture of the mayor's face on the body of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous "Mona Lisa" painting.
The email talks about Dan Brown's book (and Tom Hank's movie), "The Da Vinci Code."
"Not since Salman Rushdie’s much more readable – and much less widely read -- 'The Satanic Verses' has a work of fiction attracted so many strong opinions," wrote Slay.
It's not clear what the mayor (or his advisor and web czar Richard Callow) were thinking with this, but we think someone should remind the folks over at MayorSlay.com that Photoshop can be very dangerous in the wrong hands.
The Third Annual Bosnian Festival will take place this Sunday, May 28, from 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the corner of Gravois Ave. and Morganford Rd. in the Bevo neighborhood.
The Organization for Black Struggle will host the "Best Candidate Forum" on Sunday, June 11, for the five candidates running for the open 4th District State Senate seat.
The event will be from 4 - 6 p.m. at the Rowan Community Center, 1401 Rowan Ave. Organizers say all of the candidates have been invited to attend.
The candidates are State Reps. Yaphett El-Amin and Amber Boykins, former Congressional candidate Jeff Smith, former Alderman Kenny Jones, and former State Rep. Derio Gambaro.
The PUB DEF Videos page has been updated with exclusive videos from Tuesday's special school board meeting and our interview yesterday with the president of the teachers' union.
BTW, we've passed 30,000 visits for the month -- already our busiest month ever! Email us today to advertise your business, campaign or event on PUB DEF Weekly.
Senator Kit Bond will be in St. Louis on Monday, June 5, to discuss the latest round of Republican tax cuts passed by Congress.
At a location "to be determined" later, Bond plans to make his case for how these tax cuts will help build a stronger Missouri by spurring economic growth and creating more jobs.
"This economy continues to grow and create jobs. Job growth remains strong and more Americans are going to work each day," said Bond in a recent press release.
"In the last three years, nearly 5.3 million jobs have been created. These gains are not by luck or accident. We are seeing the result of tax cuts enacted by Congress that allow families to keep more of what they earn," he said.
The St. Louis appearance wraps up a statewide tour by the senior U.S. senator. He will also be in Joplin, Springfield, Cape Girardeau, St. Joseph, Columbia, Kirksville, and Hannibal over the next two weeks.
VIDEO: Union Prez says SLPS sending "mixed messages" about rehirings
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 7:09 PM
As we reported on our STLSchools.org site yesterday, hundreds of teachers and staff at 13 city schools were given termination letters this week. They were offered the chance to reapply for their positions, but the president of the teachers' union says that the district is not being clear on what the criteria will be used to rehire employees.
Mary Armstrong told PUB DEF that the teachers have been told that they will be rehired based upon "certification and seniority." But Superintendent Creg Williams told the Post-Dispatch that seriority would not be taken into account.
We tried for two days to get a comment from SLPS spokesmen Tony Sanders and Johnny Little, but neither provided one.
BONUS: See a second video from our interview with Mary Armstrong at www.stlschools.org, home of the St. Louis Schools Watch.
Channel 5 reporter Mike Owens hasn't been able to find a scandal in the mayor's office in years (not since the infamous "Midnight Basketball" brouhaha from the Bosley Administration), but he has no problem following leads from The Evening Whirl to dirt on northside politicos.
Owens, who is married to 28th Ward Alderman Lyda Krewson, reported yesterday that Talibdin El-Amin, husband to State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin and a candidate to replace her, took out a bank loan for the couple's political activities while he owed thousands to his baby's mama.
Click here to read Owen's story and watch the video report. Warning: You will wince.
Several people who addressed the St. Louis Board of Education last night at a special meeting in the auditorium of Cleveland High School asked why the public was told about the meeting less than 24 hours before.
Alderman Ken Ortmann (9th Ward) told the board, "I don't know whose idea it was... If there was a week's notice, you wouldn't be able to park around here."
After the meeting, we asked Board President Veronica O'Brien whose idea it was. She said it was not her decision, but rather a "collective decision." She would not elaborate.
See more videos and keep up with the latest news on St. Louis Public Schools at our sister site, www.stlschools.org.
VIDEO: "It's not worth my health," Cleveland student tells the Board
By Antonio D. French
The most moving speech as last night's special school board meeting came from an 11th grade student at Cleveland NJROTC High School.
"This run-down building is my home," said Beulah Foehner. She said she and her fellow Cleveland cadets breathe the mold in the 93-year-old building everyday. "This is all we have. This is all we are reduced to."
She said she would like to be able to walk across Cleveland's auditorium stage next year at her graduation -- but not at the risk of her health.
As a senior officer at the Naval ROTC program, she said she hears everyday from the students in her charge that their chests hurt or they have trouble performing basic military positions.
"We are all you have left," Beulah told the school board. The self-confidence and self-discipline taught at the school make Cleveland students a valuable asset to the City's public school district.
VIDEO: Public, Aldermen address school board on Cleveland High closing
By Antonio D. French
Several dozen parents, students and community leaders arrived at Cleveland High School last night on less than 24 hours notice to let their opinions be known about the fate of the "Old Castle."
Five southside aldermen were spotted in the audience (Dorothy Kirner, Fred Wessels, Ken Ortmann, Jennifer Florida, and Craig Schmid). Three addressed Superintendent Creg Williams and the three school board members present at the meeting; Veronica O'Brien, Peter Downs and Donna Jones.
Alderman Schmid (20th Ward), a Cleveland alumnus, told the school board that they had a "golden opportunity" to show that there is a new way of doing business in the City's public schools.
Alderman Ortmann (9th Ward) said the district needs to develop a plan for what to do with all of its older buildings. He also criticized the board for calling the special board meeting just 24 hours before.
"I don't know whose idea it was," said Ortmann. "If there was a week's notice, you wouldn't be able to park around here."
Ortmann said he would have never supported building Mel Carnahan Middle School, which used to be a part of Creg Schmid's old 10th Ward. He said that the old Grant School was boarded up by SLPS, left to become a home for pigeons. "We have to come up with a maintenance program that saves these schools," he said.
"Five years from now, we'll be sitting at Roosevelt (High School) and going through the same thing -- or Meramec, or Shepard School," said Ortmann.
The controversy in the town of Black Jack involving the local government denying a couple an occupancy permit because they are unmarried and don't fit the town's definition of "family" has made the top of the Drudge Report.
With barely 24 hours notice, the St. Louis Public Schools has called two special board meetings for Tuesday evening.
The first meeting will be held at its Administration Building, 801 N. 11th Street, at 5:00 p.m. This meeting will be closed to the public to discuss legal and personnel issues.
The second meeting will be held at Cleveland NJROTC High School, 4325 Louisiana Avenue, at 7:30 p.m. There will be some time allowed for public comments and then the board is expected to take some action on the issue of closing Cleveland.
UPDATE: Up to three board members may be out of town, making it unlikely that the Board will vote to close Cleveland tonight. Considering the short notice, sources tell PUB DEF the purpose of this meeting may be to get the public comment portion "out of the way."
Back in April, we announced that political consultant Lou Hamilton -- who has recently drawn criticism for his dual roles as aide to Mayor Francis Slay and hired lobbyist for Barnes Hospital -- was the winner of our "Name That Politico!" contest. We promised to give Lou a "special prize."
"What do you get the man that has everything?" we asked.
Well, we had something in mind. And after some time in the PUB DEF archives room, we have it.
Back in 2002, as people were fighting against Slay and developer Steve Stogel's evil plan to tear to down the 102–year-old historical landmark Century Building, a series of posters appeared downtown.
One of those posters featured a headshot of Stogel surrounded by parking garage after parking garage. "Welcome to Stogel's vision for St. Louis," it read.
Such a collector's item is a rare jewel for a political junkie. And it is our pleasure to present this "special prize" to Mr. Lou Hamilton.
In next week's issue of Newsweek, Congressman Lacy Clay responds to serious security flaws found in the Diebold voting machines used by the St. Louis Board of Elections.
According to Newsweek'sSteven Levy, digital security experts say:
It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that, if it contained malicious code, could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. The machine could go dead on Election Day or throw votes to the wrong candidate.
Worse, it's even possible for such ballot-tampering software to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems.
"If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security expert.
Clay told Newsweek, "It gives me a bit of alarm that the voting systems are subject to tampering and errors."
Click here to read the Newsweek article. Related Stories:
The president of the St. Louis City school board would neither confirm or deny tonight that a special meeting was being planned for Tuesday.
School board president Veronica O'Brien called PUB DEF to inquire about our sources for an earlier story about a meeting being planned for this week to discuss, and possibly vote on, the question of closing Cleveland High School.
"Where did you get your information?" she repeatedly asked. When we twice tried to confirm with her the meeting plans, she yelled "This is how this will work; you will listen to me." We then hung up the phone.
Shortly afterwards, O'Brien sent an email to two other board members, the board's attorney, and PUB DEF.
"I am asking your assistance in informing [Antonio French] that he is not privy to confidential information nor do I owe him any special privileges regarding the content of board communication," she wrote.
"It appears Mr. French is determine [sic] to find fault in my leadership and thus I wish him well," she said. "One thing for sure is that under my leadership you will always know where I am coming from."
If the school board does plan to have a meeting on Tuesday, state law requires that public notice be given sometime tomorrow. With the heat being received by the board president, and two to three board members possibly unable to make the meeting, it is likely that it may not happen on Tuesday.
