By applause, St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones was the favored mayoral candidate at the “Questions from the People” mayoral forum on Sunday evening. But all five Democratic candidates present – Jones, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and Aldermen Lyda Krewson, Antonio French and Jeffrey Boyd – had their high and low moments.
About 1,500 people packed into the Saint Louis University’s Busch Student Center on Sunday for the forum, which had almost 20 grassroots organizations sponsoring the event.
Moderators Kayla Reed (no relation to Lewis Reed), a Ferguson activist, and Blake Strode, an attorney with ArchCity Defenders, asked questions that largely revolved around economic and racial disparities in the region.
“We broke through the polish and we got to what really matters to these candidates,” Kayla said.
The moderators asked pointed questions about gun violence, equal rights, a cash bail system, minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, criminalization of student misconduct and disparities in tax incentives, among many other topics. On most issues, the candidates expressed similar points of view. However, many of the crowd members noted the differences in their styles.
“Some candidates more than others were ready with policy and others were ready with promises,” said recent Washington University graduate Jamal Sadrud-Din. “I feel there is a divide there.”
Probably the loudest applause came when Jones was asked why she chose not to vie for the endorsement of the St. Louis Police Officers Association.
“I did not seek the endorsement of the POA because anyone who stands with [Jeff] Roorda, I cannot support,” Jones said.
Roorda, who was the police union’s spokesperson during the Ferguson unrest, had made posts on social media that attacked protestors as wanting “dead cops.” When four officers were killed at a protest in Dallas, he tweeted that the blood was on President Obama’s hands. Roorda is the union’s business manager.
Kayla then asked Krewson about receiving the union’s endorsement.
“Jeff Roorda’s comments on social media were incendiary and abhorrent,” Krewson said. “I do not stand with Jeff Roorda and those comments, but I do stand with the 1,200 St. Louis city police officers. I can’t help who they hire.”
Kayla then asked if Krewson would call for him to resign.
“He’s not a public official. I can’t call for him to resign,” said Krewson, causing stirring and yelling in the crowd. “He doesn’t do a good service to the SLPOA.”
Another lively topic was the proposed soccer stadium.
Jones earned applause for saying, “St. Louis has 99 problems and soccer ain’t one of them.”
Kayla asked why Lewis was the deciding vote on a recent board bill to ask city residents to vote on whether or not the city should use public funds for a stadium. He said he believes in empowering voters. French voted against the bill.
“We have a lot more priorities than a soccer stadium, especially when we are asking people to raise their taxes to pay for it,” French said. “This isn’t a tax incentive, it’s an increase. And it comes from funds that are normally spent to fully fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, to pay for demolition of vacant buildings in our neighborhood and for police.”
All the candidates received 20 pre-debate questions, and the forum hosts printed out the candidates’ answers for the audience. At the forum, the moderators asked the candidates to expand on certain answers, which allowed the audience to a more in-depth perspective of their stances.
After the debate, Sadrud-Din said he is prepared to vote for Jones because he believes her work in establishing bank accounts for city’s youth is extremely important. He also sides with her on opposing publicly funding the soccer stadium and denouncing Roorda. She was also the only candidate who talked about ensuring that giving tax incentives result in benefits to the entire community – not just some, he said.
Derek Laney, executive director of Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, noted the brevity in some candidates’ responses, particularly Boyd’s.
“It showed that maybe he hasn’t thought about these issues,” Laney said. “Lyda Krewson, she didn’t answer the questions about her endorsement of the police association. When she was asked about calling for Roorda to be fired, she waffled on it.”
Kayla also noted a “gap” between the candidates.
“Lyda held her ground in a space that would be hard to be comfortable in,” Kayla said. “I think Tishaura and Antonio did a good job. Boyd showed he had some work to do, and Reed got frustrated a lot. It calls into question what’s going to happen when tense things happen up in that office. Will you be able to be centered in what’s best for the people and not take things so personally?”
State Rep. Bruce Franks said there wasn’t a clear winner.
“It’s hard to lean a specific way when you have so many black candidates,” Franks said. “I think we should be shrinking the black candidates because it is taking away from the vote. I would never deter anyone from running, but thinking logically about the race. It’s hard.”
In fact, one question, which was initially addressed to Lewis, started a rebuttal war between Lewis and Boyd. With so many black candidates in the race, Kayla said that many believe this is a sign of poor leadership in the black community. Black residents are wondering since Lewis ran and lost in 2012, why should they vote for him in 2017?
“I ran against Mayor Slay when everyone else was scared to do it,” Lewis said. Then he started taking shots at the other black candidates, saying that Slay’s campaign manager now manages Jones’ campaign and Boyd passed out flyers supporting Slay at polls on election day in 2012.
In her rebuttal Tishaura said, “Slay’s campaign team does not run my campaign. They are advisors.” That earned boos from the crowd.
“There is a man who you know and who ran my campaign in 2012 and he’s my father,” Jones said, which seems to appease some in the audience.
Boyd took a shot right back saying that he supported Slay over Lewis because Lewis never lived up to his promises to the black community in his 10 years as president.
“How dare you – a man with no integrity – tell me who I should support? [Reed] does not keep his word,” Boyd said.
They each got one more rebuttal and both accused each other of doing nothing to help the black community.
