In an incident that instantly earned a place in St. Louis political history, a black woman who had never before run for office with the recently adopted last name of “Coleman” n Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman n filed for mayor as a Democrat on Friday, just before the closing of the filing deadline for the March 3 primary.
Maida Coleman n who is term-limited as a state senator and had publicly announced her intention to file n saw that another candidate with the same race, gender and last name as hers had already filed, then decided to stay out of the primary and run as an independent in the April 7 general election.
The campaign team for incumbent Mayor Francis G. Slay was visibly stunned by her decision, according to Maida Coleman and other observers.
Campaign communications consultant Richard Callow was present at the Board of Election Commissioners on Friday to hand out a two-page statement by campaign manager Jeff Rainford that had been prepared beforehand.
Interestingly, the six-paragraph statement makes three references to “Ms. Coleman” but never identifies “Ms. Coleman” by a complete name.
Rainford told the American he meant Maida Coleman. He said he had no idea that the other Ms. Coleman, Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman, would file on Friday. Rainford offered no explanation why he did not identify “Ms. Coleman” by her complete name in the statement.
When filing, Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman swore that neither she nor any member of her family “has received any personal remuneration, or any personal gift, or other personal favor or promise for filing this declaration.”
Dan Proost, team leader of the White Collar Fraud Unit for the Circuit Attorney’s Office, said lying while giving this oath is a Class One felony punishable by not more than five years in prison and/or a fine of between $2,500 and $10,000.
He said anyone acting in concert with a candidate lying in this oath also is committing a Class One felony with the same terms of punishment.
Apparently without investigating the strange turn of events, the Post-Dispatch ran an editorial on Sunday saying there was no evidence that the Slay campaign acted with Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman to place her in the race as a diversion from the other Ms. Coleman’s announced campaign.
“Surely, you are being satirical in suggesting that Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman has not been put up as candidate for mayor,” attorney Eric Vickers wrote to Kevin Horrigan of the Post in a stinging letter.
“I’ve known Denise for over 20 years as a lawyer, and this is the first and only time I’ve heard her use the last name Coleman.”
On Sunday evening, Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman told the American she had been inspired to run by working on the Obama campaign. She could not name her supervisor in the campaign nor anyone she had worked with. She said she would get back to the reporter with names, but did not do so.
Asked who would be her campaign manager, she said she did not know. Asked who would lead her fundraising, she said she did not know. Asked who would be her chief of staff if elected, she said she did not know.
Watson-Wesley Coleman said it was her idea to run for mayor and said that she did not know a number of typical Slay operatives: Callow, Louis Hamilton, Bradley Ketcher, even Rainford, who was chief of staff for Slay during Watson-Wesley Coleman’s recent seven-month stint as legal clerk for the Board of Aldermen.
She now is a lawyer in private practice. She said her stay at the Board was so brief because she was asked to do more typing than legal work.
“Virvus Jones was charged with a federal crime for supposedly having a stalking horse in the race,” Vickers wrote to Horrigan of the Post.
”But rather than do any kind of serious investigation of this possible crime, the Post puts the burden on the community to do the investigative journalism necessary to determine the truth.”
A startling number of city and state officials responsible for overseeing elections contacted by the American could not name what if any law is broken in staging a “stalking horse” candidate (see Political EYE, page A12).
The Circuit Attorney’s Office provided the above information about Class One felonies only after being read the oath that candidates swear to and asked what would be the penalty for lying in that oath or conspiring in that lie.
“The Post editorial is an insult,” Vickers wrote.
”It has only contributed to the intensity of the black community’s loathing of the mayor and the power structure that supports him.”
Anyone with evidence of wrongdoing in the mayoral race is invited to contact the St. Louis American at letters@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5426.
