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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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The Gateway to the West Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) will host a Jackie Kennedy expert at their quarterly meeting this Saturday. Steven Brawley runs the website pinkpillbox.com and will speak about the 1960 election and the first lady's term in the White House.
The APIC will also be buying, selling and appraising political memorabilia.
The meeting will be this Saturday at 12:00PM at the Carpenters Union Hall on 1401 Hampton Avenue.
Robin Harris will officially announce his candidacy for the State House District 86 seat tomorrow night. The campaign kickoff and fundraiser will be held tomorrow at 7:00 pm at 1813 Loehr Estate Drive in Ballwin.
Harris, a retired Naval officer and current Northwest Airlines Captain has not run for public office before.
To RSVP or for more information, call (636) 519-7173
Another State House candidate, Deb Lavender of Kirkwood just launched her website, www.lavenderforstaterep.com.
The agenda for next Thursday's State Board of Education meeting includes Derio Gambaro's oath of office. Since he was sworn in once, but then withdrawn, he must be sworn in again to make him a member of the board.
This calls Rick Sullivan's appointment into question since he was also withdrawn and reappointed, but to our knowledge he was not sworn in again. We are awaiting word on Sullivan's status.
UPDATE: As of 5:00, SLPS Communications Official Deborah Sistrunk had not yet gotten back to us regarding Sullivan.
According to a news release, 30,729 students are currently enrolled in St. Louis Public Schools. On the first day of school this year, 22,793 students showed up for class.
Earlier this week it was announced that the Centene Corporation will move its headquarters from downtown Clayton to two the coming Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis. But not everyone is happy about the arrangement.
Centene has promised 1,200 new jobs downtown in the next five years. In return, the city and state must fork over $78 million in tax incentives.
One group that has always been opposed to taxpayer funding of the Ballpark Village is the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums. They say the Ballpark Village is part of the stadium and should not be built with taxpayer funds.
Fred Lindecke of the Coalition visited PubDef's studio to talk about the issue.
The membership of the St. Louis Police Officers Association has voted "no confidence" in the leadership of Chief Joe Mokwa. But despite the lack of support among his officers and numerous scandals — including $40,000 stolen from a police station vault — the mayor and Mokwa's state-appointed bosses say they're staying with their man.
"The fact that only 17 percent of the Police Department’s 1,859 employees said they do not have confidence in Chief Joe Mokwa is hardly an indicator of any widespread discontent with his tenure," said the Mayor Francis Slay's blog.
Of course, the mayor neglected to mention that the 48% turnout in the no-confidence poll was much higher than the 15% turnout in Slay's own 2005 primary victory.
Chris Goodson, president of the Board of Police Commissioners, which is appointed by the governor, told KWMU that despite frustration over staffing and pay, Mokwa is doing a good job.
"Leadership is going to have popular and unpopular decisions that comes with the job, but what we want to know is are you making the right decisions to provide the best public safety for the workers and the citizens of St. Louis," Goodson told KWMU.
But the citizens of the City of St. Louis, which once again has earned the title of "most dangerous" in America, have little say in the running of their police department. Unlike most cities, the mayor does not hire or fire the chief of police. In fact, the chief is only accountable to the the police board, which is appointed by the governor and approved by the senate, both located in Jefferson City.
The politics suggests the People have little control over the police. The crime statistics suggest the police have little control over the streets. And the mayor's statement shows the opinion of rank-and-file cops can (and will) be disregarded as easily as the opinion of the people they protect and serve.
As reported earlier, the Green Party of St. Louis gathered enough signatures to request an audit of the city. They held a rally outside of City Hall today to make the announcement.
Missouri Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are asking the Justice Department to investigate possible civil rights violations in the case of the Jena 6. Clay and the CBC say the treatment of the case appears to be "An unbelievable example of the separate and unequal justice that was once commonplace in the Deep South."
They have also asked the Governor of Louisiana to pardon one of the Jena 6, 16 year old Mychal Bell. Bell is currently being held without bail, awaiting trial as a juvenile. The Third Circuit Court of Louisiana previously ruled he was erroneously tried as an adult.
In their letter asking for Bell's pardon, Clay and the CBC say the decision to refuse bail "Is harsh, to the point of being unconscionable."
ST. LOUIS — According to Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee, CPA, there WILL be an audit of the City of St. Louis. State law requires that a citizens' petition for a municipal audit have enough valid signatures to equal 5% of those who voted for governor in the most recent election. For St. Louis, that would be 7,192 signatures. Montee's office counted 10,842 signatures that were turned in and determined that 7,715 were valid. A press conference announcing the successful petition effort will be at:
11:00 am, Thursday, September 27, 2007, St. Louis City Hall, Tucker entrance
Members of the Green Party of St. Louis began collecting signatures in late 2006, when they reported that the City had not given full disclosure of where childhood lead poisoning prevention money was being spent.
"The issue has now gone far beyond lead poisoning dollars," says chief petitioner Daniel Romano. Along with other City residents Susie Parker, Percy Green II, Cris Mann, and Jerry S. McCaleb, Romano signed the July 25 letter submitting the petitions that requested an audit.
"In addition to lead remediation work in homes, we are asking the auditor to investigate how much is being spent removing lead from public schools," Romano adds. "We would also like to know how federal grant money allocated to build a recreation center on 12th Street near Peabody School was used, since the center never went up."
Susie Parker is Outreach Coordinator for the Green Party and collected several hundred signatures herself. She is concerned that block grants were made so that businesses would create jobs for low income citizens. "But I don't see the jobs that were created from those grants," Parker observes. "I want the auditor to tell us where the grant money went, how many jobs were created, and how much people earned on the jobs. And we need to know how much money was spent in each ward so we can know if all areas of the City benefited."
Both Romano and Parker want the audit to shed light on people who have lost their homes through eminent domain. "We've heard that HUD grant money should have been used to repair homes that were later blighted and taken from their owners," charges Romano. "We want the audit to tell us how much HUD money was supposed to be spent for repair and how much was actually spent."
Parker added, "And we need the HUD grant expenditures broken down by ward. Are all areas of the City being treated the same?"
The Greens say that the audit should begin with a specification of sources and expenditures of all Departments, Divisions and Commissions of the City of St. Louis, all "County" offices (i.e., Sheriff, License Collector), the Police and Fire Departments and the airport.
In late October, Romano, Parker and several other petitioners will meet with Thomas Kremer, CPA, Director of Local Government Audits for the State Auditor's office. They will indicate their interests for issues to be addressed by the audit. Residents with suggestions for what the audit should examine can e-mail fitzdon@aol.com or call 314-727-8554. Tips may be left anonymously.
Those awaiting the outcome of the trial to decide control of St. Louis Public Schools will have to hang on for another six days. According to SLPS spokesperson Deborah Sistrunk, Judge Richard Callahan has said he does not expect to make a ruling until at least next Tuesday.
Budget concerns were the main topic of the High School Athletics Administration/Management Subcommittee meeting last night. Due to budget cuts this year, each high school received $7,500 for athletics instead of the intended $10,000.
Athletics budgets have been lower than $7,500 in the past, but this $2,500 deficit could cause sports to be canceled and coaching staffs to be cut.
On the morning of Monday, September 17, members of CODEPINK from Springfield visited the Washington D.C. offices of Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill with letters from their constituents demanding that they stop funding the occupation of Iraq.
Missouri Attorney General candidate Margaret Donnelly is holding her first St. Louis fundraiser tonight at 8025 Maryland Avenue. The event starts at 5:30.
So far, over 150 people are co-hosting the event. The cost for the evening is $1,275 for hosts, $500 for sponsors and $250 for friends.
UPDATE: Not really the ideal way to end a fundraiser (From the Political Fix):
So packed that the event set off the fire alarm.
The ear-splitting sound came just as folks continued to eat and right before the speeches. The upshot: all those who were able had to walk down 18 flights of stairs. Donnelly, D-Richmond Heights, stayed on the roof with those who couldn’t.
State Senator Jeff Smith was charged today with a misdemeanor offense of using a false identification during a July 31 visit to the Isle of Capri Casino in Booneville. State Rep. Joe Aull (D-Marshall) and lobbyist Lynne Schlosser were also charged in conjunction with providing Smith the false ID.
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Two subcommittees of the Special Administrative Board will meet this week. First, the High School Athletics Administration/Management Subcommittee will meet today at 6:00 PM in room 108 of the Administrative Building at 801 N. 11th Street. The High School Athletics Finance Subcommittee will meet tomorrow at 6:00 PM in the same location.
Attorneys representing the elected St. Louis Board of Education, the appointed Special Administrative Board, and the state Board of Education will appear in a Cole County courtroom today for the start of the trial to decide who should be in control of the St. Louis schools.
The elected school board argues that the state Board of Education unfairly changed the rules by stripping the district of its accreditation more than a year before it was scheduled to be re-evaluated. The state board argues that SLPS' financial and academic situation, added with its persistent instability in its leadership, created a dire situation which forced them to act.
After several earlier rulings against them, the president of the school board said he doesn't expect the judge to rule in their favor.
"You have to remember this is a judge that ruled that the state constitution doesn't guarantee children a public education," president Peter Downs said at a forum last week referring to Judge Richard Callahan's ruling against 200 school districts across the state which challenged the state's method for funding public schools.
Regardless of the outcome of this trial, Downs said he expects appeals. "This to be ultimately decided by the state supreme court," he said.
There is a growing rift between two of the more active organizations in Missouri Democratic politics.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is charging the liberal political action group Missouri Pro-Vote with "union-busting." Meanwhile, Pro-Vote says SEIU Local 2000 and the Brotherhood of Union Support (BUSS) are using intimidation and harassment to force its five St. Louis employees to join the union.
SEIU has filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. Pro-Vote has responded by kicking SEIU off its steering committee.
