I can always tell when the East St. Louis mayoral elections are on the horizon. As a columnist who covers East Boogie’s poli-tricks, my inbox, DM, voice mail and mailbox becomes flooded with rumors, innuendos, propaganda and last minute opposition attacks every four years.
My assignment is to separate the superfluous from the relevant, personal attacks from the legitimate, accomplishments from spin and truth from propaganda and not allow myself to used to promote the agenda of any one particular candidate.
However, the question becomes whether voters can wade through the misinformation, disinformation and so-called “achievements” of those seeking election or re-election and make an informed decision.
The upcoming April 4 election is a battle between political incumbents, legacies and upstarts; and it’s already a heated affair.
Mayor Robert Eastern III is running for re-election amid accusations that the recent exits of the city manager Carlos Mayfield, police chief Kendall Perry, public works director Timothy Lockett, Sr. and code enforcement officer Harry Hollingsworth were political firings of non-supporters.
Those accusations come from community activist and mayoral candidate Marie Franklin, a former IL State Trooper, who hopes to shake-up the East St. Louis mayoral landscape with a ticket of political neophytes who are campaigning on the theme “Reclaiming Our 89 Blocks”.
Mayor Eastern claims that the terminations are anything but political; that the city manager is on medical leave and that interim city manager Calvin Riley was appointed at $7,000/ month during Mayfield’s absence.
Eastern went on to provide an email from, then, Chief Perry submitting his retirement to HR director Monica Granberry, effective January 18, 2023. However, Perry contradicts the mayor’s claims, saying that he learned of his firing via a photograph of a letter received by text on January 18.Â
He (Eastern) went on to state that the public works director was terminated for signing off on contracts without city council approval and that the code enforcement officer was fired for using a city credit card to fuel his personal vehicle.
Yet, the timing of these terminations can easily be perceived as political, especially if one knows anything about the vicious nature of poli-tricks in East Boogie.
But Eastern chooses to focus on his “record” of lowering of the crime rate, attraction of the IL State Police HQ and promises of the conversion of the old Broadview Hotel into mixed use and independent housing for senior citizens.
A third candidate, Charles Powell III, is a city councilman and has also decided to make a run at unseating Eastern. He is a political legacy, with his father being the former head of the ESL democratic machine who was convicted and incarcerated for vote buying. Eastern also hails from a political family, his father being the former ESL township supervisor.
Marie Franklin has also accused Powell’s ticket mate, city clerk Debra Hamilton Tidwell, of using official city clerk letterhead to solicit campaign donations, a violation of IL state campaign law. Hamilton claims that she was unaware of the violation and has ceased utilizing the letterhead in her solicitations.
So, April 4 appears to be a day of reckoning for ESL voters. I suspect many will be forced to use their best political discernment or simply hold their noses after being inundated with accusations, attack ads, cash and Easter hams in exchange for their votes.
I, for one, hope that their BS detectors are finely tuned as they vote for the future and survival of East Boogie.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com Twitter@JamesTIngram
