As the final vote for the controversial “spy plane” bill could be as soon as Friday, three St. Louis politicians have disclosed donations from the surveillance company’s lobbying attorney.
David Sweeney, an attorney at the Lewis Rice law firm, is a lobbyist and former chief legal counsel for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
He became a lobbying attorney for Ohio-based company Persistent Surveillance Systems, doing business as Community Support Program on Jan. 6, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission. The company uses technology to provide police departments with “video surveillance technology.”
Sweeney donated $1,000 to Aldermanic President Lewis Reed’s mayoral campaign Nov. 19, $250 to Alderwoman Tammika Hubbard’s re-election campaign Oct. 28 and $150 to Alderman John Collins-Muhammad’s re-election campaign Dec. 20.
Sweeney did not immediately return a call for comment.
Reed, Hubbard and Collins-Muhammad also did not immediately return calls for comment on the matter.
Hubbard represents Ward 5, which includes portions of the Carr Square, Columbus Square, Downtown, Downtown West, JeffVanderLou, Near North Riverfront, Old North St. Louis and St. Louis Place neighborhoods.
Collins-Muhammed represented Ward 21, encompassing parts of the College Hill, Kingsway East, North Riverfront, O’Fallon and Penrose neighborhoods.
The bill
The 29-page Board Bill 200 was first read Dec. 11 and is sponsored by Alderman Tom Oldenburg, who represents Ward 16, covering parts of the Lindenwood Park, Princeton Heights, Southampton and St. Louis Hills neighborhoods.
The bill would authorize and direct the mayor and comptroller to enter into a contract with PPS to fly airplanes up to 18 hours a day over the city.
Oldenburgh argued in the bill that this type of surveillance is needed because of the city’s record-setting homicide rates and a shortage of 140 officers in the police department.
The bill was perfected for a third reading on Jan. 22 by a vote of 15-14 and can be put up for a final vote Friday.
However, on Tuesday, the program’s only potential funding source mentioned by Oldenburg thus far — Arnold Ventures — released a statement explaining their decision to no longer invest in the PPS program. Arnold Ventures is a Texas-based philanthropy who worked with PPS in Baltimore, which is the only known American city in which this program has been implemented.
“After 11 months of implementation, evaluation and preliminary research, we have decided against further investments in the program at this time.
“Therefore, Arnold Ventures will not fund the aerial investigative effort proposed in St. Louis,” they wrote, also noting that they would only fund the project in St. Louis if it were backed with overwhelming community support.
Reed sent out a media release after the perfection vote Jan. 22.
“In a stunning disregard for the cries for help from the aldermen in north St. Louis, the victims and parents who have lost children to gun violence, Cara Spencer voted NO to even looking into something that could possibly get shooters off of our streets. Until a real crime plan is presented by anyone, we need to look into utilizing all tools to reduce homicides in the City of St. Louis,” Reed wrote in a statement.
In response, Spencer, who is a mayoral candidate and alderwoman, pointed to her track record of keeping special interests out of her campaign.
“The president of the board can couch the spy plane situation any way he wants” Spencer said in an interview. “It’s clear from the contributions from the spy plane folks, as well as many other special interests that have tried … to get a hold of our public assets, that the president of the board is clearly for sale to special interests … [who] clearly want to have an influence on the next mayor.”
Opposition
The bill has received opposition from local activists and community groups, along with aldermen, who fear the planes would disproportionately target Black communities and invade people’s right to privacy.
Spencer said she opposes the bill and supports more comprehensive efforts to address violence and crime in the city.
“This is an ad hoc approach to public safety,” she said, noting evidence has yet been provided that this is an effective method for crime reduction.
The ACLU of Missouri argues the mass-surveillance system was “developed by the military to wage war in Iraq” and has opposed the effort for over two years.
The organization has worked with several others in opposition of the program: Action STL, Arch City Defenders , ACLU of MO, Bail Project , Coalition Against Police Crimes & Repression, Missouri Faith Voices, Organization for Black Struggle and Privacy Watc