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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Talent, Bond Vote to Allow Bush to Broadly Interpret Geneva Convention
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Friday, September 29, 2006 at 8:25 AM
The U.S. Senate, by a vote of 65-34, has passed a controversial bill that gives broad authority to President George W. Bush to interpret (or re-interpret) the long-standing Geneva Convention standards on the treatment of prisoners of war as he sees fit. Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent, both Republicans, both voted in support of the bill. Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, both Democrats, voted against.
Clay, Carnahan Vote Against Wire-Tapping, Passes House 232-191
By Antonio D. French
St. Louis Congressmen Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan were among 191 members of the House of Representatives to vote against legalizing the Bush Administration's domestic spying program yesterday. The bill passed with the support of 232 of their colleagues. The Senate has not been able to come to an agreement on the controversial program and likely will not vote on it before the pre-election recess.
Blacks Aren't Getting Very Much From Well-Funded Stem Cell Supporters
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Thursday, September 28, 2006 at 1:13 PM
Several African-American elected officials and community leaders have asked supporters of the extremely well-funded Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures why so little of their budget is being spent with and on the black community.
"As we head into the final days before the November election, I believe that more emphasis should be given to the inclusion efforts of the Coalition," wrote St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green in a letter to Dr. William H. Danforth.
In the letter, written on Sept. 8 and recently obtained by PUB DEF, Green tells Danforth, who has often been the public face of the Stem Cell initiative, that more minorities should be added to the Coalition's staff.
"If at the end of the day when the vendor list is tallied and African-Americans have been fairly represented, then this non-partisan initiative can certainly shine through as inclusive," wrote Green.
The Comptroller isn't the only one complaining about how little of the organization's $16 million is trickling down to black political vendors around the state. Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellanrecently wrote about a similar letter from Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. written to Brad Ketcher, the Coalition's campaign manager.
PUB DEF has been told that that letter was not actually ever mailed. But Ketcher did receive a letter from the chairman of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable. In his response letter, dated Sept. 14 and also obtained by PUB DEF, he said "more than $2 million has been expended or is committed to be spent for African-American outreach."
Outreach? Is that money spent with black firms to reach black voters or money spent with out-of-town white-owned companies, such as Clear Channel Radio or Washington-based mail houses?
"The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures has many African American vendors, consultants, staff members and volunteers on our team," said spokewoman Connie Farrow. She told us to look on the campaign's financial reports filed with the state. And so we did.
As of July 1, over $1.2 million to California-based Winner & Mandabach. $350,000 to Seattle-based Michael D. Meyers Co. for direct mail. $94,000 to Ketcher. $64,000 to Farrow. $75,000 to Sandra Aust from the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing. $12,000 to the Kelley Group (that's Robert J. Kelley of the Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO).
Oh wait, a black person: $6,000 to Rev. B.T. Rice for "issue outreach". Not looking so good, Connie.
"The next campaign finance reporting deadline is Oct. 15, which we will meet. Our Coalition and supporters continue to identify opportunities to strengthen our efforts in the African American community," said Farrow.
We will see.
[Editor's Note: PUB DEF contacted the Coalition for Lifesaving Cures last week about doing some advertising. To date, we have not heard back from them.]
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.
Rumors breed rumors. In the days since the local blogosphere has been discussing a possible challenge to Aldermanic Pres. Jim Shrewsbury from 6th Ward Ald. Lewis Reed, another rumor has been circulating about a second alderman who was considering entering the race.
Two separate sources told PUB DEF that 27th Ward Ald. Greg Carter wanted to be the African-American candidate to run for President of the Board. When Reed became the choice of some influential politicos, they say Carter became upset and soon cut a deal with Shrewsbury involving committee assignments and a possible chairmanship.
Carter told PUB DEF tonight that those rumors are ridiculous.
"I haven't done anything with Shrewsbury," said Carter. He said that it wouldn't even be possible for him to run for any other office at this time because of the demands of his full-time job and the risk to his retirement benefits. "I've got 23 years here. If I do anything, it'll be after my 25th year."
Carter said his ward organization, which includes committeewoman and State Rep. Connie Johnson and committeeman Curtis Royston, decides as a group which candidates they are going to support.
"We don't do it like other communities do it," he said. "We invite all the candidates and ask them questions. Then we decide who to support." He said the President's race will be no different.
Any good rumor has some truth to it and Carter admits that he does have his eyes on a higher position.
"I've got something in mind, but not for at least another three years," he said cryptically.
Someone is updating U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's Facebook profile -- and it ain't her.
According to The Maneater, the student newspaper of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Facebook, a social networking website popular among college students, created thousands of pages for gubernatorial and congressional candidates, including McCaskill. But to the average visitor, it appears as though the candidates themselves created the page.
A Facebook spokesman told The Maneater that the login codes were made available to the campaigns so that they -- and only they -- can update the info. But apparently someone else was updating it -- with suprising accuracy (who knew she loved Crosby, Stills and Nash?).
"The information looks accurate, but it seems as though the page was written in a way that appears it was written by Claire McCaskill," the campaign's spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh, told the paper.
According to The Maneater, the McCaskill campaign contacted Facebook administrators Monday and requested that the profile be taken down and replaced with a series of links. The profile now includes only her educational history, contact information and links to her official Web site. We'd give you a link, but registration is required to view Facebook pages.
Back in April, the staff of the Columbia Missourian created a mock-up of Pres. George W. Bush's Facebook profile. Click here to see it.
FUN FACT: Guess who the editor-in-chief of The Maneater was back in 1999... None other than Post-Dispatch City Hall reporter Jake Wagman.
State Rep. Rachel Storch (D-64) will host a town hall meeting next week on the topic voting changes ahead of the November 7 election.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan will be on hand to answer questions regarding the state's controversial Voter ID requirement and the elimination of so-called "straight party" voting.
The meeting will be at the McCormack House, 4575 Cadet (at the corner of Manchester and Kingshighway), on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 7:00 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
The president of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, Kevin Ahlbrand, debated 6th Ward Alderman (and possible Aldermanic President candidate) Lewis Reed on the question of police residency last night.
The informational debate, which occured at a meeting of The Tilles Park Neighborhood Association, is largely moot since the state-appointed police board voted last week to significantly relax the ban just seven weeks before voters are scheduled to let their opinion be known on the matter in a non-binding referendum.
Reed joked that the debate took place on Ahlbrand's home turf, in SLPOA's hall in south St. Louis. Those in attendence -- including Ald. Jennifer Florida, state senate aide Harold Brown, mayoral aide Charles Bryson, and current Aldermanic Pres. Jim Shrewsbury -- also heard debates on the stem cell initiative and the proposed tobacco tax increase.
At a meeting of the Tilles Park Neighborhood Association last night, Aldermanic President Jim Shrewsbury tried to explain several of the propositions and charter amendments voters will be asked to vote on November 7.
Today (Thursday) is the deadline to sign up to be a tech support guy (or lady) at polling places on Election Day, Nov. 7. Technical Specialists are still needed.
You don't have to be a CS, able to write code with your eyes closed. Just know a bit more than the sweet white-haired ladies that will be asking for your photo I.D. before you can vote.
Do a public service and maybe make enough to pay your car payment (or at least a couple of fill-ups). The pay is $225 for a day of training and the actual work on E-Day. Call Stephanie Doss at 622-3546 or Summer Richardson at 622-4327. Tell 'em PUB DEF sent you.
AUDIO: McCaskill Defends Record, Asks Why Crumpton Was at Talent's Event
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 5:14 PM
State Auditor Claire McCaskill defended her record this morning on WGNU's "The Wake-Up Call with Lizz Brown" against what her campaign called "totally unfounded" statements made at a fundraiser for her opponent, U.S. Senator Jim Talent.
In PUB DEF's exclusive story yesterday from the event hosted by a group of local black businessmen, we reported that two of the hosts printed a large poster calling out McCaskill on what they said was a decades-long silence on issues relating to blacks. They gave the senate candidate an F grade in four different categories.
The mock report card was an answer to a similar failing report given to Talent from the NAACP on his record. Today during a one-hour block of paid air time, McCaskill told radio host Lizz Brown she thought it was strange to see on PubDef.net that local NAACP head Harold Crumpton was among those in attendance at yesterday's event.
"Maybe you can explain this to me," said McCaskill, who was calling in on a cell phone. "The NAACP gives Jim Talent an F on his report card for the way he has voted in Congress and [Talent's supporters] have a press event trying to make up some problems I have, which are not real, and the head of the NAACP in St. Louis is there?"
Brown answered that Crumpton is not your typical NAACP president. "If the NAACP gave out indictments... we would have the most indicted head of the NAACP in the State of Missouri."
The board of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the metro area's designated planning agency, will be meeting tomorrow for their regular monthly meeting. One of the topics of discussion will be the new $1 billion Mississippi River Bridge.
The board is scheduled to vote on a proposal to do yet another analysis of the traffic and financial situations at the root of more than a decade of calls for a new bridge and why construction still has not begun on actually building one.
Elected officials from Missouri and Illinois are expected to attend, including St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, St. Clair County Executive Mark Kern, Madison County Chairman Alan Dunstan, and St. Charles County Executive Joe Ortwerth.
The meeting will be Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at Gateway Tower, One Memorial Drive, on the 16th floor.
The Tilles Park Neighborhood Association will sponsor a State and Local Ballot Issues Forum tonight at 7 p.m. at the St. Louis Police Officers Association Hall, 3710 Hampton. The event is open to the public and will be moderated by Dave Drebes, publisher of the Arch City Chronicle.
Proponents and opponents of Constitutional Amendment 2 (the stem cell initiative), Constitutional Amendment 3 (the tobacco tax increase), the non-binding (and now irrelevant) police department residency referendum, Proposition B (the minimum wage increase), the proposed recreation sales tax, and the Charter Amendment to increase fines will be speaking on these issues.
UPDATE: More on tonight's line-up...
Constitutional Amendment 2 (stem cell): A representative for Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures v. Dr. Rob Hanson, MD, PhD, Missourians Against Human Cloning.
Constitutional Amendment 3 (tobacco tax): Cindy Erickson, Committee for a Healthy Future v. Ron Leone, Missourians Against Tax Abuse.
Proposition B (minimum wage increase): Proponent Amy Blouin, Give Missourians a Raise.
Proposition P (city recreation sales tax): Proponent Charles Bryson, Office of the Mayor.
Four charter amendments: Neutral presentations by Board President Jim Shrewsbury.
Police Dept Residency Nonbinding Vote: 6th Ward Alderman Lewis Reed v. Kevin Ahlbrand, St. Louis Police Officers Association.
TPNA was unable to secure the ballot numbering on the city charter amendments. As of 8:40 a.m. this morning, the Board of Elections did not have sample ballots. Absentee balloting in Missouri began this morning.
The St. Louis Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will be hosting a luncheon on Tuesday, Oct. 10. The topic of discussion will be corporate media ownership.
Panelists include Jeff Gordon, president of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild; Dave Ervin, vice president/general manager, KMOX 1120; William A. Lanesey, vice president/general manager, KPLR-TV Channel 11 CW; Alvin Reid, city editor, St. Louis American; Ed Bishop, editor/general manager, St. Louis Journalism Review; and Antonio D. French, PubDef.net.
The location of the event is still to be announced. Stay tuned for details...
Republican Sen. Jim Talent, in the middle of a very close campaign with Democrat State Auditor Claire McCaskill, took a few minutes yesterday to sit down with PUB DEF to discuss what he sees as the choice facing Missouri voters in November. He also answers why he's taken the position he has on the stem cell debate and why he hasn't taken a position on the proposal to raise Missouri's minimum wage.
Before retiring in 2002, J.C. Watts was the lone black Republican in Congress, the first elected from a southern state in over 120 years. Today he is a businessman and ordained minister in his home state of Oklahoma and a talking head on cable news.
Yesterday Watts was in St. Louis to speak to a group of local black business, religous and civic leaders. He also spoke with PUB DEF about his friend, Sen. Jim Talent ("He listens to hear, not to respond."), and the anti-incumbent sentiment of voters across the nation ("If you find yourself in a ditch, you probably dug it.").
Black Businessmen Raise Funds for Talent, Give McCaskill "F" on Issues
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, September 25, 2006 at 12:41 PM
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE
Republican Sen. Jim Talent continues his push to make inroads with black voters. A group of African-American business leaders held a breakfast fundraiser for Talent this morning at the offices of Midwestern Construction Company in old north St. Louis.
The host committee included Midwest owner Charles Kirkwood, entrepreneur Darryl Jones, David Steward of World Wide Technology, Bryan Cave attorney Jerry Hunter, and political consultant Tim Person. The event also featured a special guest, former Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr. from Oklahoma.
Talent told the roomful of nearly 100 black business, civic, and church leaders that too often politicians come to the African-American community and tell them what they are going to do. He said what he tries to do is ask people what they want him to do for them.
"Politicians do that with other communities of interest," said Talent. "I don't go to the farmers and say this is what Jim Talent thinks ought to happen in agriculture."
While Talent made only a couple of indirect mentions of his Democratic challenger, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, his supporters took a more direct approach.
Darryl Jones held up a glossy poster which read: "...Let's See Claire's Report Card", an answer to the NAACP's report card which is often referenced by McCaskill supporters. On that report card, the organization gave Sen. Talent a failing grade. On this report card, paid for by Jones and Kirkwood, McCaskill scored F's in three categories relating to black St. Louis and an F minus in the more general "Fighting for Our Communities" category (click here to see the card).
Familiar faces attending today's event included former school board member and Urban League CEO James Buford, Rev. Sam Jones, NAACP Pres. Harold Crumpton, and former St. Louis Rams star Mike Jones.
Talent and Watts both sat down with PUB DEF for an interview. Click here to see video of our conversation with Talent and click here to see Mr. Watts.
UPDATE: The McCaskill campaign calls Jones and Kirkwood's claims "totally unfounded." Adrianne Marsh, the campaign's communications director, sent the following statement to PUB DEF this afternoon:
"When elected as Prosecutor and as Auditor, Claire walked into offices that had little to no diversity and she made unprecedented changes for the better. Additionally, she conducted ground breaking audits that affected African American businesses, including an audit of the Minority Business Enterprise to ensure that diversity within state contracts was a priority.
At a time when the voice of those who have been adversely affected by the policies of the Bush Administration should be heard, Senator Talent wants to prevent thousands from voting by supporting both the state and national Voter I.D. laws aimed at disenfranchising minority, disabled and older voters. Claire has been and always will be a champion for the African American community."
The addition of the new video player in our banner now presents an opportunity for campaigns and businesses to run their television commercials on our site (That's a big "hint-hint" to Ms. McCaskill, Thomas and Montee; Mr. Talent; all you Stem Cell supporters and opponents; and all the folks against the tobacco tax and in favor of it).
Steve Smith, owner of The Royale Food and Spirits, which is often home to many political and social get-togethers, has some beef with 20th Ward Alderman Craig Schmid. While Smith is eyeing a Cherokee Street property for his next splash of urban cool on the southside's often beige canvas, a little thing called Ordinance No. 66690 all but ensures the underutilized commercial area remains one of the city's notable underachievers.
Last year, around the same time Schmid was also pushing a law to authorize seizing young people's vehicles for merely possessing speakers deemed too large, the shall we say "conservative" alderman passed Ord. 66690 which extended by three years his ban on new bars in the ward.
The ordinance states, "The existence of alcoholic beverage establishments appears to contribute directly to numerous peace, health, safety and general welfare problems including loitering, littering, drug trafficking, prostitution, public drunkenness, defacement and damaging of structures..."
Smith takes objection to that blanket characterization of neighborhood watering holes.
"Contrary to Ordinance No. 66690, I do not believe that an establishment similar to the Royale will contribute to the destruction of property or community values in the 20th Ward," wrote Smith in an open letter asking people to write a letter of their own in support of his campaign against the devil-90 law.
But even with a Santa's bag full of supportive words and "fight the power" sentiments, Smith is going to have a tough time swaying Alderman Schmid.
Schmid told former RFT reporter Mike Seelyearlier this year that he'd rather see buildings remain closed and vacant in his ward than allow new bars to open.
"In particular locations, absolutely," the alderman said. "What happens is that your good residents go somewhere else, and you can't attract people to take their places. We're planning some new homes right to the north of [Crimmins' property], and we can't have that next door. Quite frankly, we want to have our cake and eat it too."
The Crimmins in reference is Tim Crimmins, a local realtor who paid $130,000 for a 20th Ward property with plans of opening a hip urban bar similar to what Smith now has in mind. But before Crimmins invested another $200K in the building, the alderman pulled his coat tail to the fact that he, his bar, and his money weren't welcome in the 20th Ward.
Despite that precedent, Smith remains hopeful. In the nearly 10 years since the bar ban was first enacted, the city has seen a surge of new energy and a greater willingness on the part of entrepreneurs to invest in the region's urban core.
"What the Ordinance does not take into account," wrote Smith in his letter, "is the progress that has been made in the intervening years by the neighborhood, and the City itself. The area is poised for additional growth."
