There will be one conspicuous absence at St. Louis’ only historically black university when the region’s African-American lawyers’ association convenes a debate between mayoral candidates for the City of St. Louis at the end of Black History Month 2009.
After failing to respond for so long that the Mound City Bar Association had to move forward with a press release without any knowledge of the mayor’s plans, the campaign for Mayor Francis G. Slay finally told organizers that Slay had a prior commitment and would not attend the mayoral debate.
The Mound City Bar Association is the oldest African-American bar association west of the Mississippi River.
Its current president is Robert S. Kenney, age 37. Kenney is the chief of staff for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. He formerly was a partner at Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC, where he chaired the diversity committee.
Slay’s former chief of staff and current campaign manager Jeff Rainford was called yesterday morning to request clarification regarding the mayor’s other plans for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, but the call was not returned.
The other two Democrats on the primary ballot, including attorney and former alderwoman Irene J. Smith, accepted the invitation.
So did both candidates on the Green Party ticket and term-limited state Senator Maida Coleman, who filed signatures with the election board on Tuesday with the intention of running for mayor as an independent on the April 7 ballot.
The mayoral primary election is Tuesday, March 3.
The only mayoral candidate on the March 3 ballot other than Slay who did not accept the invitation to debate in front of the bar association is Libertarian Robb E. Cunningham.
“Yet again, Francis Slay has snubbed his nose at the people in the city who are working to make lives better,” Coleman said.
“He seems to think reaching out to a community is irrelevant. This attitude of superiority seems to be the norm for him.”
‘Fright and oppression’
Veterans of City politics were abuzz this week about Sylvester Brown’s column in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch. It compared the tactics of the Slay administration and campaign to those of street thugs.
The news hook for the column was a recent report in the Post that the Slay campaign had pressured donors to drop Micheal McMillan unless McMillan told them he would not run for mayor in 2009. This power play was first reported in the American’s Political EYE column in the August 28, 2008 edition that reported on the historic nomination of Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
There is nothing new about the street thug comparison, either, though it startled many to read it in the Sunday Post-Dispatch.
The comparison rang true to Coleman.
“I am getting ready to attend a meeting of 30 business owners who want to talk about their concerns with the City and how to deal with the stimulus package,” Coleman said.
“Three of them declined to meet with me, including a prominent developer. They said they were afraid if the mayor found out he would try to hurt their business.”
Coleman added, “It’s disgusting where we have this climate where folks don’t feel comfortable talking about the big picture. People just trying to make the city better have to live under this fright and oppression.”
‘It’s done this way’
Irene J. Smith thinks she knows why the Slay administration resorts to intimidation tactics
As the first African-American woman to graduate from the law school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she has served as legal counsel to unions representing City employees and stood two terms on the Board of Aldermen. She knows the City Charter – and how severely it limits the powers of the mayor.
She said a certain fear factor and manipulation of the media are used in lieu of more substantial governing authority – or ability.
“You have all of these aldermen going to the Mayor’s Office to do stuff you don’t even need the mayor to do,” Smith said.
“They give him all this power that he doesn’t really have.”
Smith also pointed out that the mayor has only one vote of three on the City’s chief fiscal body, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and Comptroller Darlene Green have as much voting power on the board as the mayor.
Smith said she had supported Reed’s candidacy because “he indicated he would be working on a more holistic legislative agenda,” though she had not yet seen anything like this put into place by Reed.
“I am still hopeful a more holistic legislative agenda will be forthcoming and that this can be used to pull things together for leverage against the mayor’s authority,” Smith said.
Smith said inertia and fear at the Board of Aldermen was one reason she left the board.
“I would try to work with my colleagues on the board, and they would say, ‘Oh, well, it’s done this way,’ when I’ve always been about finding new ways to get things done,” Smith said.
“The way the city is run now, people don’t talk to each other enough. Right now, Slay and Rainford make a decision that something is going to be done – and that’s it.”
As for Slay’s unwillingness to rearrange his schedule in order to participate in the mayoral debate convened by the region’s black attorneys, Smith was not surprised. She had attended a recent forum on race staged at the Missouri History Museum and was amazed to see Slay – the only panelist to do so – slip alone out the back door after the event.
“He is there to cut the ribbon – that’s it. He’s insulated and refuses to be questioned,” Smith said of the mayor.
“He sure did – he went right out that back door! I said, ‘Mayor Slay! This is your city!’”
The Mound City Bar Association will present the City of St. Louis Mayoral Debate at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 26 at Harris-Stowe State University, Emerson Performance Center.
