In our editorial of April 8, after praising the “broad, diverse, bipartisan, multiracial, regional coalition” that came together to pass Proposition A in St. Louis County, which marginally increased sales taxes to fund public transit in the St. Louis region, we ended with a stern note of warning for Metro, the area’s transit agency. “Now that the public has placed its trust in Metro, we expect from Metro greater transparency and accountability to the needs of the public – Democrat and Republican, city and county, black and white.”
Some four months later, Metro has made its most momentous decision since the passage of Prop A in selecting a CEO to replace the interim administrator: John Nations. In terms of the dualities we stressed in reminding Metro of its broad group of constituents, the fact is that Nations – who will step down as mayor of exurban Chesterfield to accept the position – is a white Republican from one of the least black areas of St. Louis County. However, more important than Nation’s personal demographics, in judging how Metro fared in accountability and transparency when hiring him, is the selection process.
Even County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, whose office, despite his disclaimers, wields great de facto influence over Metro, has cosigned with the official statement that Nations was selected by a diverse committee that went through an open public process. We don’t know whether Dooley is personally uninformed of the facts, has misread them or is offering political cover, but our understanding of the selection process, based on many candid conversations with inside players, is very different. After initial public consultation seeking broad input on the qualities the public thought critical for the new CEO, the Metro board appointed an internal search committee that was then further narrowed down, with every decision being internal. At its narrowest, the search committe included only one African American – a man who is involved in investment banking at a large brokerage firm. Not your typical black transit user.
Nations, we were told by multiple sources, was selected from a short list that included no African-American candidates, when there were eminently qualified blacks in the candidate pool. We believe a more public review process would have revealed one or more of these candidates to be as qualified than Nations if not much more qualified to run a transit agency with a disproportionately high user base in North County and the city of St. Louis. However, the so-called “stakeholders” who had been led by Metro to expect to be informed about the candidate review process were not consulted again following the touchy-feely session on describing their dream CEO. They and the rest of the diverse coalition that passed Prop A simply learned from the media that Nations had the job.
It is a fact that Nations was largely the public face of the campaign that passed Prop A. He worked hard and effectively as an important role player in that effort. However, crucial elements of the coalition required for the passage of the tax increase were simply handed to Nations. To be plain, few African Americans voted for this tax increase because John Nations asked for their vote. They voted for it because they are a major part of the workforce, and because they direly need transit – restored service, expanded service, new north-south service lines – and because their pastors took time out of worship services to make them aware that an important ballot measure was coming to a vote.
Nations did nothing to disrupt that coalition, but neither was he critical to its creation and effectiveness. Nor did the Metro board of directors. And now the dubious way Metro has conducted the process to hire Nations has made a mockery of the good will and trust that went into forming that coalition. Metro starts over, now for many, at less than zero.
