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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Supporters of Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. announced today that they have filed complaints with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney, and the St. Louis City Board of Elections alleging fraud in the ongoing effort by a group of 3rd Ward residents to recall Bosley.
"We're tired of it. We've got the recall blues and we're going to do something about it now," said Janice Jernigans in an interview with PUB DEF following a press conference this morning in front of the Carnahan Courthouse downtown. Jernigans is with Citizens Against the Recall, a group supporting the longtime northside alderman. Bosley was not at this morning's event.
Tim Person, a well-known political consultant who worked in the administration of then-Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr., said he is volunteering his support for the elder Bosley in his recall battle in part because of what he called the "disgusting" tactics of the recallers.
"This kind of problem led to the Voter ID Act," said Person. "You consistently have people that are intent on defrauding our system."
Person said he would not only like to see indictments in this case, but also forceful prosecutions.
Supporters of Ald. Freeman Bosley. Sr., who is the target of an ongoing recall effort, will hold a press conference this morning to announce the actions they have taken against what they call "fraudulent activities engaged by the persons leading the recall effort."
Both sides on the recall effort, along with the St. Louis Board of Elections, are awaiting a decision by a Circuit Court judge as to whether the Board has the authority to allow Bosley to ask signers of the petition to have their names removed. If the policy is upheld, the recall effort will fail for lack of enough signatures.
Members of the "Coalition Against the Recall" will gather at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Carnahan Courthouse, 1114 Market Street.
Friends and colleagues of Election Board Chairman Ed Martin gathered tonight at Café Eau in the Chase Park Plaza to celebrate his appointment as chief of staff for Gov. Matt Blunt.
Many of Martin's election board colleagues were on hand to wish him well as he leaves the board and moves to Jefferson City. Republican officials including Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Judy Zakibe, Chair of St. Louis City's Republican Central Committee, as well as several elected Democrats -- including License Collector Gregg Daly, Ald. Jeffrey Boyd, Circuit Atty. Jennifer Joyce, Circuit Clerk Mariano Favazza, State Sen. Pat Dougherty, and State Rep-elect Talibdin El-Amin -- stopped in to congratulate Martin, who starts his new job on September 1.
Other well-wishers included: Former Election Board member Angeletta McCormick Franks; former Rams star, Mike "The Tackle" Jones; and Police Board Pres. Chris Goodson.
Sen. Jim Talent and challenger Claire McCaskill today accepted an offer by KYTV, Ozarks Public Television, KSMU and the Springfield News-Leader to debate during prime time on Monday, October 16.
The Springfield debate will be moderated by KY3 News Anchor Jerry Jacob and the panel will include KY3 Political Reporter Dave Catanese, Springfield News-Leader Editorial Board Editor Tony Messenger (what a great name for a reporter) and KSMU Senior Governmental Affairs Reporter Missy Shelton.
The candidates will also meet in Lake Ozark on September 15, at the Missouri Press Association's Candidate’s Forum, and in Washington, D.C. on October 8, for a debate on NBC's "Meet the Press."
We're told that both campaigns are continuing to work together to schedule additional debates in other regions of the state -- St. Louis, anyone?
LRA Property Now Fair Game for Inspectors, Thank Elliott Davis
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 10:15 PM
For years, city homeowners have complained that the worst slum lord in St. Louis is the City of St. Louis itself. While city inspectors give citations and fines to Joe and Jane Citizen for not keeping their property up to code, city-owned properties are literally falling apart right next door. A recent change in policy might help change that.
Sam Simon, the director of the Department of Public Safety, told KTVI Channel 2 reporter Elliott Davis this week that DPS inspectors will now cite -- or at least, log -- derelict properties owned by the City's Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) just as it would any other property.
"We're going to make sure that we keep ourselves as accountable as we hope the citizens will be," Simon told Davis.
Davis had earlier profiled the plight of homeowners on Maffit Street in north St. Louis who had received citations from the city while two houses across the street sat looking like bombed out shells. Those properties are owned by the city and have for years simply been overlooked by inspectors.
This problem is especially bad on the city's north side, where most of the LRA's property is. This was the subject of a resolution introduced by Ald. Charles Q. Troupe (1st Ward) earlier this year [See video below].
In other Channel 2 news... The local Fox News affiliate will be getting a much needed face-lift on its website soon. The current format makes it by far the worst and most useless of all the local news channels sites. The new look will be based on the standard myFox format used in New York, Dallas and D.C.
The St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable went on the record today criticizing the St. Louis City School Board for firing Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons.
"The Roundtable is seriously concerned about the recent decision of the St. Louis Public School District to remove Coach Floyd Irons apparently without proper due process," wrote John Moten, Jr., the group's chairman, in a letter sent to the media today.
"Based on the Roundtable’s knowledge, a decision to terminate Coach Floyd Irons at this time, without apparently affording him the opportunity for due process accorded employees, may be irresponsible," said Moten.
"The termination appears particularly inappropriate in view of the fact that the District needs effective administrative and Board leadership focused first on serving the needs of the District's children – leadership that Coach Irons seems to have provided the District."
U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill took a few minutes to talk to PUB DEF before tonight's Willie Nelson concert at the UMB Bank Pavilion in St. Louis County. The country music star has thrown his support behind McCaskill's campaign against Republican Sen. Jim Talent.
We discussed how effective celebrity support is in a close race like hers, why she thinks Nelson chose to support her campaign, what she thinks about Talent's silence on the issue of raising Missouri's minimum wage (which voters will decide the same day they select a U.S. Senator), and if she is worried about having much less money in the bank than her opponent.
We have requested an interview with Sen. Jim Talent some time in the near future.
VIDEO: Citywide Elected Officials Join for Back to School Message
By Antonio D. French
Several citywide elected officials joined today to bring attention to the effort to get St. Louis kids to attend the first day of school on August 28.
Gathered in the rotunda of City Hall, the group included most of the city's at-large officeholders. But noticeably absent was Mayor Francis Slay.
After unprecedented influence over the city's school district for three years, Slay has been a vocal critic of the new school board majority and has even called on the state to move in to take over the troubled district. Reporters were told that Slay -- as well as Aldermanic Board Pres. Jim Shrewsbury, the second highest ranking city official -- was on vacation.
Comptroller Darlene Green told reporters not to read too much into the absence of the mayor or a representative from his office. "This message is not about the adults today. It's about the children," she said.
"Though there are troubled times in the district, we want the children to know that the elected leadership in the City of St. Louis stands behind them 100%," said Green.
The case to decide whether signatures can be removed from a petition to recall 3rd Ward Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. has been continued until next week. During that time briefs may be filed in support of the two sides' positions.
The recallers claim that since there is no law that allows the city election board to allow petition signers to have their signatures removed, the board should not have allowed Bosley to ask hundreds of 3rd Ward residents to do just that.
The election board contends that since there is no limit to the amount of time that recallers have to gather signatures, it is only fair to allow signers to change their minds weeks, months or even years after they signed the petition. They also claim that since neither state law nor the City of St. Louis' charter says otherwise, then they are allowed to create board policies in the interests of fairness and maintaining an orderly process.
A decision in this case -- which may have a significant impact on several ongoing and planned recall efforts -- may come early next week.
The Progressive Party of Missouri reports that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today certified six Progressive candidates to appear on the November ballot. The candidates include:
Lydia Lewis of Afton, a retired federal employee and union officer, for U. S. Senate.
David Sladky of Mehlville, a retired brewery worker, for Congress (3rd District).
Terry Bunker of Kansas City, an in-house accountant for a financial institution, for State Auditor.
Melinda “Mel” Ivey of Kansas City, a computer programmer, for U. S. Congress, 4th District.
Shirley Yurkonis of Savannah, a retired social worker, for U. S. Congress, 6th District.
Bill Hastings of Columbia, a retired psychology professor, for U. S. Congress, 9th District.
Local election authorities had certified to the Secretary of State that 12,078 (81%) of the 14,932 petition signatures that the party submitted were valid. Ten thousand valid signatures were required.
Organizers say the new party, which is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States, is filing to provide an alternative view not currently expressed by existing parties.
"We need a real opposition party so that there can be a dialog about getting out of Iraq," said party chair Dee Berry of Kansas City in a press release sent out today.
A source tells PUB DEF that former basketball coach Floyd Irons was at Vashon High School this morning when he complained of chest pains. Shortly after, he was taken away in an ambulance. Irons' condition is not known at this time.
It is not yet know what Irons, who was effectively fired by the district a few weeks ago, was doing at Vashon. He and school board president Veronica O'Brien have been battling in court and in the media since his position was eliminated.
O'Brien claimed to fear for her safety after threats she said she received from Irons supporters. After a young man who had threatened legal action against Irons for an alleged beating by the former coach in 2000 was murdered Friday (police have no suspects and have not said Irons was in any way involved), the school board voted pay for 24-hour security for the board president at a cost of up to $20,000.
School board member Peter Downs today charged Mayor Francis Slay with playing politics with needed funding for St. Louis Public Schools.
In his St. Louis Schools Watch email newsletter (which PUB DEF hosts a blog for), Downs says the City of St. Louis, which collects taxes on behalf of the school district, is currently holding on to about $4.5 million of SLPS' money.
"Like a modern-day George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is still trying to deny educational opportunities to St. Louis children," wrote Downs. "His latest stunt is to withhold tax money from the city's public school system."
Downs also charges that Slay is using building inspectors to harm the school district. "For the three years that Slay controlled the schools through his hand-picked board members, he turned a deaf ear to parent, student, and employee reports of building safety issues," said Downs.
"After losing control of the schools, he bided his time until it would seem he could do the most damage. A week before school starts, he sends in inspectors to find any possible problem."
A spokesman for the mayor has not yet responded to a request for comment.
MORE: The $4.5 million that Downs is apparently referring to is SLPS' cut of hundreds of property tax bills being challenged by local property owners -- including many local companies.
Readers may remember that we reported back in February that the State Tax Commission sided with Nestle Purina in its case against Tax Assessor Ed Bushmeyer and the City of St. Louis. The decision meant that the company would pay taxes on its property valued at $19 million and not the $47 million that the city had assessed. Since then, more companies have challenged their assessments.
Downs seems to subscribe to a conspiracy theory running around certain government hallways that has the mayor organizing his corporate pals to hold back needed funds from the school district (and the city too, by the way) in order to push the district over the brink of financial ruin so the state can come in to take over.
The Mayor's office still has not responded to our request for comment. But a source in the Comptroller's office has confirmed that the City of St. Louis is current on its obligations to SLPS.
STILL MORE... Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff, hit back this evening at allegations from a member of the St. Louis City School Board that the mayor was withholding tax money from the district. Here is the text of an email he wrote to PUB DEF responding to Peter Downs' charges.
Peter Downs, William Purdy, Veronica O'Brien, and Donna Jones have been the recent subjects of a great deal of community anger, worry, and scorn because of their unfortunate decision to force Dr. Creg Williams to resign. To deflect some of this emotion, the quarrelsome quartet have been willing to say almost anything about almost anyone. Normally, I ignore them. Mr. Down’s most recent whoppers, though, are big enough to demand a response – if not from the District, at least from me. Using the readership of his muck-raising Internet newsletter, Downs now accuses Mayor Francis Slay of withholding $4.5 million in taxes collected on behalf of the schools. Mr. Downs also accuses the mayor of "unleashing building inspectors" into the schools to prevent them from opening on time. In fact, the Mayor does not collect taxes. The Revenue Collector, elected by the people and independent of the Mayor, collects taxes. The Mayor has nothing to do with the process of tax collection. And, as Mr. Downs (and everyone in the building division of St. Louis Public Schools probably knows), the City inspects the buildings EVERY year before the start of school to make sure they are safe. One likely consequence of Mr. Downs’ outburst of fiction? A school district mired even more deeply in disarray. That's the real shame.
A Cole County Judge today denied the St. Louis City Board of Elections' request to be a part of the legal fight surrounding the controversial photo ID requirement passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt.
Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, and Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shieldsjoined the ACLU in the legal challenge. The election board -- composed of Democrat and Republican members appointed by Blunt -- had requested to join the suit in defense of the law.
A spokesperson for Claire McCaskill's U.S. Senate campaign said their candidate will be joining country and folk music star Willie Nelson at the UMB Bank Pavilion on tomorrow.
We're told Nelson will be endorsing McCaskill, described as "the true champion for family farmers in this race."
"Claire knows who needs a voice in next year’s farm bill. I have been all across this beautiful land and I have seen how the big corporations are squeezing out our family farms. I know she’ll do what’s right to protect this long-standing way of life," Nelson is quoted in the press release.
A hearing in the lawsuit filed by 3rd Ward residents seeking to recall Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. is currently in progress.
As we reported earlier, the recallers sued the St. Louis Board of Elections to stop them from allowing more signatures to be removed from their recall petition and to have a judge order that previously removed signatures be returned.
On June 30, Citizens to Recall Aldermen Bosley turned in approximately 1,100 signatures to the Board. Bosley was subsequently successful in getting 339 people who had originally signed the recall petition to then sign an affidavit asking for their names to be removed.
The recallers claim that since such an allowance for removal is nowhere in the City's charter -- which outlines the recall procedure -- that the Election Board "exceeded the scope of power delegated to it" by allowing it and therefore violated the civil rights of the recallers. Developing...
In a closed-door meeting on Friday, the St. Louis Board of Education voted to pay for a private firm to provide security for board president Veronica O'Brien.
O'Brien has been the target in recent weeks of several protests at her home. Earlier this month a city judge denied the board president a restraining order against fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and his friend and supporter, Demetrious Johnson.
Last week, a young man who, according to the Missouri Division of Family Services, was badly beaten by then-Coach Irons in 2000 was murdered by three gunmen. O'Brien had recently called for a federal investigation into the beating and a lawsuit was to be filed this week against Irons and St. Louis Public Schools.
"This is out of control," O'Brien told PUB DEF. "They say I'm next. Pray for peace."
She added, "I wonder what the judges are thinking after they said I shouldn't have a restraining order."
