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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
City of St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal is to cast a critical eye
on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
them, and to educate our readers about legislation and the political
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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.
The Post-Dispatch pointed out that Esquire Magazine recently named Mayor Francis Slay one of the best-dressed mayors in the country. Slay appears in the September issue of Esquire.
But St. Louisans may have a different idea about their best-dressed politican. According to a poll on Mayor Slay’s Website, License Collector Mike McMillan is the best-dressed local politician. McMillan beat out April Ford-Griffin, Gregor Francis Xavier Daly, Charlie Dooley, Lyda Krewson, Kacie S. Triplett and Joe Mokwa.
Update: This month's issue of Alive Magazine named McMillan one 2007's "Men of Style." Other Men of Style for this year include KTVI anchor Kevin Steincross and St. Louis Ram Orlando Pace.
The Post-Dispatch reports today that Representative Nathan Cooper (R-Cape Girardeau) will resign from the legislature within weeks. The resignation comes after Cooper pleaded guilty to visa fraud and making a false statement to the Department of Labor.
Cooper used his power as an immigration lawyer to obtain and falsely extend visas for foreign truck drivers, most of whom came from New Zealand.
The Post-Dispatch further reports that Cooper committed the crimes “With no connection to his elected duties or his close association with Governor Matt Blunt.”
Cooper is now facing 30 to 37 months in jail.
Governor Blunt said he will set a special election for Cooper’s seat.
VIDEO: State Rep on Violent Crime: Send in the National Guard?
By Antonio D. French
State Representative Talibdin El-Amin held a press conference Thursday in his north St. Louis district to address a wave of violent crime that has affected many parts of the city.
El-Amin, who also serves as the Democratic Committeeman of the 1st Ward, called on Police Chief Joe Mokwa to increase patrols in his ward and others facing high instances of violence, which often accompany the hot summer months.
The first-term State Rep also suggested that if things don't improve soon, he would not oppose the state committing resources in the form of the National Guard to help patrol the roughest parts of town.
...into a new office in the Delmar Loop. Moving will have us a little busy today and tomorrow, but we should be back up to speed shortly.
The new office will provide us with great space (that's quality, not quantity) to do even more interviews with Missouri elected officials and candidates.
Campaigns interested in getting their candidates a little face time on the soon-to-be-launched PubDef.TV should email us at editor@pubdef.net or call (314) 779-9958.
The region's political players came together last night for what has become one of the largest annual events in St. Louis politics. License Collector Mike McMillan played the role of "cash collector" once again as the region's elite literally lined up to drop off their $500 and $1,000 contributions to McMillan's future endeavors.
Among those spotted: County Executive Charlie Dooley, East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks, Democratic State Senators Maida Coleman and Chris Koster, announced Attorney General candidates Jeff Harris and Margaret Donnelly, Lt. Gov. candidate Sam Page, Comptroller Darlene Green, President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed and most of the city's aldermen, nearly all of St. Louis' state legislative delegation, committeepeople, citywide elected officials, and many, many others.
Still fuming over Senator Chris Koster's defection to the blue team, the Missouri Republican Party today issued a statement calling on the former GOP senate leader to return the hundreds of thousands of dollars he raised as a Republican.
"The Missouri Republican Party’s telephone lines in Jefferson City have been ringing off-the hook since Koster turned his back on Republicans who not only gave their money to Koster but also sacrificed their time and energy on his behalf over the years," read the statement.
"The hard working people of Cass County have been betrayed by Chris Koster and we are demanding that he return our hard-earned money so that it can used to support real Republicans instead of being used by a charlatan and turncoat like this disgrace of a senator," said Ronald Johnson, the Cass County Republican Committee chairman who's committee has donated over $4,000 to Koster over the years.
"Koster smashed a solemn trust and if he has one shred of decency or moral character left, then he should return every penny he took from us," he continued.
The MRP also continues to call on Koster to resign his Senate seat. GOP Communications Director Paul Sloca said Koster should run as a Democrat in a special election.
"The voters of the 31st Senatorial District have a right to expect him to resign his seat," said Sloca.
"While Koster resumes accepting donations from his liberal friends in Big Labor and among his fellow trial attorneys, his once loyal and hard-working Republican supporters are being left out in the cold both financially and politically."
Cleaning out the old digital closet, we ran across this nugget of irony.
In July 2006, when he was running for state senate, Derio Gambaro sent this mailer to St. Louis voters saying he was the "best person to stop Governor [Matt] Blunt's agenda."
As we all know, in June 2007 Governor Blunt appointed Gambaro to the State Board of Education...
According to a Gaming Commission official responding to our request, the requested video tape was "seized as evidence by the Missouri Highway Patrol pursuant to a criminal investigation and is part of an investigative report. Therefore, pursuant to Section 610.100.1(5)RSMo, these records are presently closed records and not open for inspection or duplication."
We have amended our request to include a copy of the report from the Commission's own investigation.
Meanwhile, the Turner Reports reveals that Smith, a member of the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, has received quite a bit of cash from the gaming industry.
An examination of Missouri Ethics Commission records shows Smith received $2,600 which can be directly traced to casinos during 2006, as well as $5,400 from casino lobbyists or their clients.
Another $4,800 appears to have come from Ameristar Casinos after being legally laundered through a Democratic party committee. On Aug. 12, 2006, the 94th House District Democratic Committee received a $5,000 contribution from Ameristar Casinos. Three days later, the committee gave $4,800 to Smith. Oddly, Smith's own committee disclosure form says the 94th Committee contribution came Aug. 11...the day before the committee received the Ameristar Casinos contribution.
Other casino or casino-related contributions for Smith include:
30 days after general election 2006- Harrah's Operating $650, Isle of Capri Casinos $650
Eight days before the election 2006- $500 contributions from Missouri Dental PAC, Missouri Pharmacy PAC, and Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists, all clients of Ameristar Casinos' lobbying firm Gamble & Schlemeier
October 2006- John Bardgett and Associates, lobbying firm for Pinnacle Entertainment and numerous other clients, $650; Penn National Gaming $650
30 days after primary- Two $650 contributions from Missouri Pharmacy PAC and $650 from MORESPAC, clients of Gamble and Schlemeier, $650 from Bardgett, $650 from Bardgett's lobbying firm
94th House District, $4,800
Jake Wagman, of the Post-Dispatch, also reports that Lynne M. Schlosser, the lobbyist for the Isle of Capri casino who supposedly gave Smith another legislator's players card to keep him in the game, may not have been fired as previously reported. But no comment from her or the casino makes it hard to find out for sure.
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.
Flying back from New York yesterday, I picked up the latest issue of Fast Company magazine. I was searching for the beginning of the cover story on "Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover" (good read, by the way) when I stumbled upon the magazine's listing of the 30 Fastest Cities in the World.
Near the center of the list is another, less flattering list: the 5 Slowest Cities.
You guessed it! Placed above (or below, depending on your perspective) New Orleans, Detroit and Havana, and just below Budapest, is our own St. Louis.
From Fast Company:
St. Louis, Missouri — Too normal for its own good. It ranks dead last on CityVitals' "Weirdness Index," a measure of passion and engagement.
