Leaders of the city’s black firefighters association said today that Mayor Francis Slay’s removal of Fire Chief Sherman George has created an “energized atmosphere of defiance and intolerance” among some white firefighters, and it is in that atmosphere that a toy monkey was left hanging from a makeshift noose at a northside fire house over the weekend.

The F.B.I. has been notified of this possible hate crime, but Abram Pruitt and Wayne Luster, co-chairs of F.I.R.E., said no one from the Mayor’s office nor Public Safety Director Charles Bryson had bothered contacting F.I.R.E. regarding this incident, despite the organization representing 98% of African-American members of the department.

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The coalition seeking to remove Mayor Francis Slay from office appears to have won a battle in a much larger war. The group’s threat to protest a public fundraiser for Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has forced the campaign to find someone other than Slay to introduce Clinton at the high-profile event.

The Post-Dispatch reports that former Congressman Dick Gephardt will now be introducing Clinton at her event at The Pageant on Sunday. And Traci Blunt, a Clinton staffer in charge of African-American media, tells PubDef.net that African-American clergyman B.T. Rice will join an otherwise color-free host party.

Today the recall coalition held a press conference outside The Pageant to warn that if Slay makes a surprise appearance at the rally, they’ll be ready.

“We have purchased a block of tickets [to the Clinton event],” said spokesman Eric Vickers. And if the mayor should appear on Sunday, “those people that we will have on the inside will protest the fact that this mayor has discriminated, divided this city, and disrespected this community.”

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AUDIO: Here’s a report on the situation from KMOX.

When presidential candidate Hillary Clinton comes to St. Louis on Sunday she was scheduled to be introduced by one of her best known supporters, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. But a threat to picket the event by the coalition seeking the mayor’s removal from office may have put an end to that.

It was former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neal who was best known for saying “All politics is local.” Well, the prospect of stepping into a big steaming pile of Slay’s local political woes seems to have forced the Clinton campaign to distance themselves from the beleaguered mayor.

State Representative Jamilah Nasheed and others supporting the recall effort contacted the Clinton campaign this week to inform them that they planned to picket Clinton’s event at the Pageant theater if Slay would be introducing the New York senator.

According to Nasheed, a representative from the campaign notified her Wednesday evening that Slay suddenly had a “scheduling conflict” which will prevent him from introducing Senator Clinton.

In the past, Clinton has offered praise for Slay.

“Francis Slay is one of a new breed of mayors who are revitalizing their cities and setting an example for the rest of the country,” Clinton said back in April. “I’m honored to have his support.”

Still concerned by Slay’s role in the Clinton campaign, the recallers have not yet decided whether to call off their protest entirely.

Clinton will be speaking at the Pageant, 6161 Delmar, this Sunday at 5:00 PM. This is Clinton’s last trip here before the important Iowa primaries.

The group representing African-Americans in the St. Louis Fire Department today called on Mayor Francis Slay to address the issues of their members — which account for 44% of the department — and no longer deal exclusively with the so-called “white firefighters union,” Local 73.

Addington Stewart, the chairman of the Firefighters Institute on Racial Equality (F.I.R.E.), also said that only this week was he informed by St. Louis police that they were about to begin an investigation into allegations of cheating by white firefighters on the 2004 promotions exam — three years after the alleged cheating occurred and after promotions have been made off a possibly tainted list.

Stewart said F.I.R.E. wants to see an independent investigation performed by a federal agency, not local police.

“Appointing a fire chief, police chief, or economic development director, or public works director, or streets department director because of his of her race is wrong,” said Mayor Francis Slay today standing next to Public Safety Director Charles Bryson.

Slay and Bryson announced Dennis Jenkerson as the new fire chief.

Some important things about today’s promotion of Jenkerson as the head of the city’s fire department:

1. Jenkerson is a personal friend of Francis Slay;
2. Francis Slay changed the rules to by-pass the leading deputy chief candidate, who was black (Historically, only deputy chiefs are considered for chief);
3. Jenkerson was a battalion chief, a lower rank than deputy chief;
4. Jenkerson is currently being investigated by St. Louis police for authorizing firefighters under his command to do personal work for lobbyist Lou Hamilton while on duty;
5. This situation just got worse.

The President of the 24th Ward Democrats sat down with PubDef.net this afternoon to discuss the ongoing effort to recall Mayor Francis Slay and why his organization opposes it.

John Corbett, president of the 24th Ward Regular Democratic Organization, was active in the recall of his own alderman, Tom Bauer, just two years ago. Corbett is a retired University City firefighter and has spent time lobbying on behalf of firefighters in state government. He says he sometimes worked with, and sometimes against, former Fire Chief Sherman George back when George was an active member of the black firefighters’ organization, F.I.R.E.

“Sherman has his own agenda, just like I did when I was president of the firefighters’ union,” says Corbett. “I don’t think Sherman ever changed from working for F.I.R.E.”

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