There’s a certain beauty about people coming into the democratic fray when they get passionate about an issue, especially young people or people who’ve never been involved in making change in their communities. Last Friday’s Board of Aldermen’s meeting was a civics lesson that would’ve been impossible to reproduce as a text book lesson plan.
To a packed gallery of citizens, supporters of Board Bill #208 watched with disappointment and anger as a motion to suspend the rules and call for a vote on the bill went down in defeat. There were plenty of questions and comments by advocates of the Civilian Oversight Board (COB) as they grappled to better understand the legislative process wrought with obvious political finagling.
Just a few days prior to the full board meeting, Board Bill #208 had easily passed out of the Public Safety Committee. Only two members of the Public Safety Committee are not bill co-sponsors – Larry Arnowitz and Jeffrey Boyd. A move to fast-forward a vote on civilian oversight should’ve been achievable.
Suspending the rules allows the bill to be read for a second time and then be voted on for what is called “perfection.” After this point, no amendments can be added and the bill is ready for a final vote.
A lesson in how not to get votes to suspend the rules went down in real time. Three of the bill co-sponsors, whose votes had been counted in and counted on, failed to deliver. The votes of Lyda Krewson, Christine Ingrassia and Shane Cohn were part of the 18 votes needed to suspend the rules.
What happened to lose these seemingly solid votes in such a short time span? That’s another lesson in not just civics, but in who’s really ready to break from the racist politricking that this city is known for. Who’s ready to stand on principle and not kowtow to the fear tactics that hold this city hostage to backward thinking?
We know the St. Louis Police Officers Association is not ready for “a new day.” The group’s attorney, Neil Bruntrager, told the Public Safety Committee that he planned to tell officers not to cooperate with the civilian oversight process. This is an example of the bullying behavior that those of us seeking a new racial and power dynamic will have to boldly confront.
The Ferguson Factor is what each of us is moved to do once the grave racist injustices were exposed with the murder of Mike Brown. People want to make the kind of meaningful changes St. Louis needs in order to embrace the life and liberty of all its citizens. It will become easier and easier to see who’s in the way of a progressive agenda.
The people are not giving up on passing and implementing an effective civilian oversight board. The line in the sand just got deeper and wider. We expect that the public servants whose salaries we pay will be standing with us.
