We would endorse Mavis T. Thompson for license collector in the August 5 Democratic primary even if Mayor Francis Slay had not meddled in this election and thereby raised the stakes. Thompson, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Jay Nixon last October when Michael McMillan resigned to take leadership of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, has demonstrated that she is an able administrator in this office. Her office licenses and taxes all businesses located in the city of St. Louis, collecting on average $50 to $60 million per year, of which 2 percent goes to the operation of the office and the rest to general revenue. Thompson is, if anything, over-qualified for the position by training and experience. Both a nurse and an attorney, she served for six years as the city’s first female circuit clerk in the 1990s. In just eight months as license collector, she has initiated a number of sensible improvements to the office, including cross-training staff, instituting a comprehensive business closure policy, hosting informational briefings for local businesses and having the office’s public information printed in Bosnian, Spanish, Vietnamese and braille.
Her opponent, Jeffrey Boyd, a veteran of the U.S. Army and alderman of the 22nd Ward, claims virtually no professional experience as an administrator. As an African American filing against the only incumbent African American on the August 5 ballot, Boyd would have been dismissed as a misguided distraction – were it not for the way Slay intervened on his behalf. Slay, a sitting Democratic mayor just reelected to his fourth term, endorsed Boyd against the African-American Democratic incumbent before filing even opened. In the political circles that pay attention to primary contests for offices like license collector, this was perceived as Slay boldly declaring Boyd as his candidate and this contest as his proxy campaign to assert his dominance in city politics.
Why a fourth-term mayor with no tenable opposition, African-American or otherwise, in sight would do this remains something of a mystery. Perhaps the mayor is so unaccustomed to losing political races that he felt the need to vindicate himself for Tishaura O. Jones winning the treasurer’s race over three candidates (including Boyd) whom Slay would have preferred. For whatever rash motive, Slay decided to try to beat a black incumbent with his own black candidate (Boyd) who has been loyal to Slay for years. We believe Slay ultimately is trying to send a message, in this largely insignificant race, that he is the sole king-maker in the city and can do as he pleases, regardless of what anyone – and especially the city’s black community – thinks about it.
We believe that the black community – and other independent-minded voters – must send Slay a different message in return. Treasurer Tishaura Jones has been joined by the African-American majority on the city’s Board of Estimate & Apportionment, Comptroller Darlene Green and aldermanic President Lewis Reed, in endorsing Thompson. We believe these officials are both supporting a strong colleague and defying a meddling mayor who should have better things to do. Especially with the city competing on the short list for a major federal facility and facing floating a bond issue that will require support from a broad diversity of city voters, we can not have Francis Slay disrupting and dividing our community for his political sport. Because she is a better candidate – and to prevent Slay from doing any more damage to this city’s fragile ability to cooperate when consensus is direly needed – we strongly endorse MAVIS T. THOMPSON FOR LICENSE COLLECTOR.
Leslie Broadnax has worked for the county and the city prosecutors’ offices. She has been a city attorney and is a municipal judge. She is currently a lawyer practicing family law and criminal defense. She also has been a victim of crime in St. Louis County, which convinced her that the county prosecutor’s office could do much to improve victim services. She also sees a need for greater use of drug and DWI courts so that we can focus more of our criminal prosecution resources on violent criminals. The incumbent, Bob McCulloch, has had nothing to offer our community and, in recent months, has used his elected office as a bully pulpit to campaign against County Executive Charlie Dooley. We believe Leslie Broadnax is an intelligent, capable and dedicated attorney who deserves her chance to improve a public office that has tremendous impact on our community. We strongly endorse LESLIE BROADNAX FOR ST. LOUIS COUNTY PROSECUTOR.
