A group of 50 dedicated activists began a recall effort against Mayor Francis G. Slay last weekend. Even among those who oppose Slay, there are some serious reservations about whether this effort will oust the embattled mayor. However, as the Rev. Douglas Parham, a leader in the recall effort, has said, “You can’t win unless you risk losing.”
This is undeniably true. It should embolden other leaders in the black community (and other constituencies) who have lost trust in this mayor’s ability to lead this majority-black city. Slay previously has provided grist for critics on various issues, and at times we have sided with the mayor. But his heavy-handed and deceitful handling of Sherman George’s principled stand against making a controversial set of promotions in the fire department represents, for many of us, a point of no return. And the bad news for Slay is that visible activities do not fully express this view that is widely shared by the rank and file in a restive black community.
This still makes us pause on Parham’s metaphor of winning and losing. Who wins, and who loses, in this affair?
Evidently, Local 73 wins. The promotions from the contested 2004 list mean that white men will hold the vast majority of leadership positions in the fire department for the next generation and beyond. This is a big win for the white-dominated firefighters’ union.
By pandering to the union, Slay also scored a temporary, but dubious, win. His decision was important in heavily unionized St. Louis, especially since Slay’s coziness with area business leaders has cost him some support in the labor community.
In the long run, however, Slay loses and loses big politically. A tenure in office that could have been remembered for aggressive efforts to revitalize the city, especially Downtown, and improved professional management, now will be remembered for Slay playing the race card and playing it badly. He will be remembered for polarizing the city along racial lines more bitterly than any mayor since Jim Conway.
In the black community (and among public health advocates), Conway is and always will be the mayor who closed Homer G. Phillips Hospital. In the black community (and among those working toward greater cooperation), Slay is and always will be remembered as the mayor who undermined Sherman George and then appointed a black man to demote him.
Many other interest groups – many of them powerful – will lose along with Slay and will continue to lose so long as they support his unwarranted, ill-advised actions.
The mayor is recruiting a diversity task force, under the cover of some nice-sounding goals. We believe this is a calculated move on the mayor’s part—a blatant act of damage control, rather than reflective of a sincere desire for power-sharing in the leadership and direction of this city. We believe anyone who lines up with the mayor on this initiative will be seen as supporting his conduct in the backhanded demotion of Chief George.
The mayor advocates many important, but often controversial, economic initiatives for the city. He will need the support of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the Board of Aldermen to advance those agendas. St. Louis goes nowhere without the support of either Comptroller Darlene Green or Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, as well as the support of a critical number of black aldermen. The voter base of these officials will not forgive them if they hand the Slay administration everything it asks for unconditionally – not after the humiliation Slay has dealt to the black community in St. Louis.
Finally, Slay’s political problems could become contagious. Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon will not have an easy time, in any event, unseating incumbent Republican Governor Matt Blunt. He will need overwhelming support from black voters to have a chance to win. At this point, a public endorsement by Slay would cost Nixon black votes in the city. Some savvy Republicans who are running statewide without serious Missouri primary opponents are already seeking to exploit this Slay-generated rift inside the Democratic party.
Slay also gave U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton a very early endorsement. The Clinton campaign will learn that the more they are aligned with Slay locally, the worse she will fare among critical black voters and elected officials here in the February 5 Democratic primary.
Francis Slay faced a genuine problem when Sherman George refused to bend to his pressure tactics (which George has claimed in court were illegal). The way he handled that problem has left him, his party and the city with more, and messier, problems. How he addresses these problems – and who helps him do it – will have a direct impact on the extent of economic progress in the city and state.