As ongoing investigations into political corruption in St. Louis and Missouri continue, and continue to yield guilty pleas and resignations, it becomes more and more important that we speak very candidly about this city and state that we all love.
Three state legislators from the St. Louis area – Jeff Smith, Steve Brown and now Talibdin “T.D.” El-Amin – have recently pled guilty to significant crimes and resigned their positions. Smith and Brown admitted to conspiring to obstruct justice, El-Amin to bribery. These are very different crimes, with different scope, committed for different motives and discovered through different investigations.
But the personal and political connections of these three men overlap. They are all Democrats from the St. Louis area. Smith and Brown both hail from Ladue, and Smith and El-Amin both represented parts of North St. Louis in the state Legislature. Smith and El-Amin both share funding sources in the school choice movement and have worked to advance the agenda of privatizing the system of public education provided for in the Missouri Constitution. Both were allies of Mayor Francis G. Slay. Both also were Democrats who collaborated with some Republicans, as does Slay.
We are not saying these political commitments are necessarily bad. Bipartisan cooperation in Jefferson City has done some good things for St. Louis. Also, it is possible to disagree in all sincerity about how best to improve education in this troubled city and state. This newspaper has at times sided with Slay on education issues and been criticized harshly by our community for doing so.
Our point here is merely to state that these three politicians who have pled guilty to serious crimes and resigned from office have deep and overlapping ties to some of the most powerful people in this city and state. We know our regional political and business culture well enough to know that these guilty pleas and resignations are matters of grave concern for a number of powerful people.
It is our belief and expectation that all over St. Louis and Missouri, powerful people are encouraging people who are less powerful to keep certain facts to themselves. We believe and expect the length of the prison sentences and fines likely faced by Smith, Brown and El-Amin are being compared to the value of loyalty and the benefits of loyalty. We believe and expect powerful people and their agents are advising less powerful people that now is not the time to be a hero – that if everyone can keep quiet this whole thing will eventually blow over, and when it does there will be plenty of life left to lead and plenty of friends to help enjoy that life. What’s a year in prison and even $100,000 when you have powerful friends for life?
We may be mistaken. These all may, in fact, be isolated incidents and there may be no reason for any powerful people in this city and state to be concerned. There may be no other, deeper secrets to hide. However, in the event that we may be right about these things, we would like to voice a very different opinion. We think now is precisely the time to be a hero. We think now is precisely the time for everyone in St. Louis and Missouri who have accepted a political culture that disregards the law to tell the federal investigators everything they know. This will all blow over one day, but when it does, will it leave this place a better place to live, work and serve the public’s interest?