“I believe in 2018 you shouldn’t have to go to City Hall to access your city government,” said Michael Butler, a candidate for recorder of deeds on the August 7 ballot in the city. “You should be able to go online and apply for your birth, marriage, and death certificates, and then get that mailed to you in 30 to 90 days.”
Butler is the sitting District 79 state representative Minority Caucus chair in the Missouri House of Representatives with six years of experience in politics in the state Legislature. He is not term-limited and could have run again for state representative.
“I think I can be more effective in City Hall,” Butler said. “I have been fairly effective in Jefferson City. I’ve gotten a couple pieces of legislation passed, but I feel like I can use my education and my experience better improving processes of City Hall and improving online services at City Hall.”
The Recorder of Deeds Office handles all of the land deeds to the city, marriage certificates, birth certificates, and death certificates, as well as all the archives of the city.
Sharon Carpenter currently holds the office and has held it for 38 years. She resigned in 2014 after admitting to nepotism, but still managed to win primary and general elections that year to return to office.
“There is a Sharon Carpenter myth that she can’t be beat, and the truth is she actually resigned in June of 2014 after the Democratic primary candidate filing was over,” Butler said, meaning she did not have a serious primary challenge. “I am the first viable challenger for Sharon Carpenter in over 30 years. She has never had an opponent who had represented as many people as I have before.”
If elected, Butler would be the first African American to hold the position and the first millennial elected to any citywide office.
Butler said he was won 20 out of the 28 ward endorsements, knocked on over 80 percent of frequent voters’ doors and outraised his opponent. Butler has raised about $70,000 throughout the election cycle, whereas Carpenter has raised about $15,000 with $6,000 of that being her own money.
Butler’s first course of action if elected would be to improve the office website and online accessibility.
“If you have been on the website for the Recorder of Deeds Office, it’s circa 1997,” Butler said. “I’m going to improve that website within 90 days of being in office. I want to improve online access to documents, after 12 to 24 months. That gives us time to try to improve our grid.”
Butler wants the office to provide online access so people can apply for licenses and certificates online and receive them in the mail.
Butler also wants to preserve the city’s archives. Right now, all of St. Louis’ vital documents and history are sitting in the basement of City Hall. Butler wants to partner with local organizations like the Missouri History Museum, where he serves on a board, to better preserve those documents.
Butler graduated from Parkway North High School and went to Alabama A&M University on a full academic scholarship. There he became the student government president and helped to lead a protest for a health and wellness center building being built. He majored in Business Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship, graduating in 2008.
“With the economic downturn there was no funding for loans for a 22-year-old,” Butler said. “It was very difficult to start a business, let alone get a job.
He ended up working for Wal-Mart, where he met his wife, Erin Butler. They now have a three-year-old daughter named Kimber Elise Butler.
After Wal-Mart, Butler applied for graduate school and obtained a Master’s in Public Administration on a full scholarship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Not having to pay tuition, Butler started interning at the state House his first year, then became a legislative aide for two years before running for state rep and winning in 2012.
“Literally in six years I went from an intern to the Democratic Caucus chair,” Butler said.
Now he faces a new electoral challenge.
“This election is about a new face,” Butler said, “and a new day in City Hall, and about improving services.”
