In his Inaugural Address delivered on Tuesday in Jefferson City as the 55th governor of Missouri, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon spoke determinedly of the future.
“We’ll turn this economy around by making Missouri a magnet for next-generation jobs,” Nixon said, in a speech haunted by the current economic meltdown.
“In tackling the problems of today, we must not lose sight of the longer-term challenge: to boldly move Missouri’s economy into the 21st century.”
As governor, he was immediately greeted by a pointed reminder that at least one of the “problems of today” is stubbornly rooted in the 19th century.
“The year the Civil War began, 1861, is the same year that the current configuration of the board was put in place,” St. Louis lawyer Irene J. Smith wrote to Nixon on Inauguration Day in a letter about the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners.
According to Missouri law, the governor appoints four members to city police board; the fifth is the mayor, currently Francis G. Slay.
Smith has filed to unseat Slay in the March 3 mayoral primary. She has seized upon local control of the police department and Slay’s role as a police commissioner as a centerpiece to her challenge to the incumbent.
“This gubernatorial appointee system is not addressing the needs of the people in 2009 and is grossly outdated,” Smith wrote, evidently appealing to the themes of change and progress Nixon had sounded in his speech.
“We cannot continue to uphold outdated policies while the people have called for new leadership and change. This antiquated policy has contributed to cronyism, the abuse of power and a lack of transparency within our police department.”
While offering support for Police Chief Daniel Isom, who just marked his 90th day in the top job with a renewed call for community policing, Smith told Nixon that Isom needs more help than the presently constituted police board has proved able to provide.
“He cannot turn around a department working under the shadows of a board that lacks accountability and oversight,” Smith said of Isom.
“Underreported rape statistics, money missing from police evidence vaults, misuse of seized evidence, a towing scandal and possible criminal behavior within the police department are only some of the reasons why I am advocating that local control be established.”
Smith might have added that in October Slay and his fellow police commissioners on the board back in 2002 were accused of turning a “blind eye” to abundant accusations of police misconduct by U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber.
She also reminded Nixon of the bottom line n in a city and state, like most, strapped for cash: “more than a third of the City’s annual budget is allocated to the police department, yet we do not have the powers of direct governance.”
During the gubernatorial race, the Nixon campaign told the American he would not endorse local control.
However, he does have appointing authority for four positions on the board currently held by developer Chris Goodson, entrepreneurs Todd Epsten and Vince J. Bommarito, and former news anchor and author Julius K. Hunter. Under Missouri law, they are entitled to serve out the remainder of their appointed terms n unless they run for office, “accept any other place of public trust or emolument” or are deemed “guilty of any official misconduct” by the governor.
Goodson’s term is up at the end of January. Smith thinks he needs to go, based upon the performance of the board under his chairmanship and the board’s demographics compared to those of the city.
Smith said, “Presently, there aren’t any women members of the board, yet 52 percent of the city’s population is female. Additionally, none of the police commissioners lives north of Delmar Boulevard.”
Hunter is the sole African American on a board appointed to oversee a police department that serves a city that is slightly more than half black.
Smith thinks Nixon should appoint a police commissioner who is a woman, lives north of Delmar, is “involved in the community” and will make the board “more accessible to the community.”
“Preferably, an African-American female,” she said.
Nixon’s office did not return a call asking whether or not he had decided to retain or replace Goodson on the board.
Smith noted that while Slay has officially endorsed local control in recent legislative sessions, she questions his sincerity. She also points out the irony that when he calls for local control, he is asking to replace a police board on which he has served for nearly eight years.
“He is saying his own service is bad,” Smith said.
Under the current form of police governance, Slay’s service on the board will end only if he is defeated in the March 3 Democratic primary or April 7 general election.
Smith said, “The citizens of St. Louis and I will take responsibility for removing the sole elected member (of the police board), Mayor Francis G. Slay.”
Jeff Rainford, campaign manager for Slay, did not return a call from the American yesterday morning.
