St. Louis City License Collector Mavis Thompson overcame challenger Alderman Jeffrey Boyd’s bold move to oust her from her gubernatorial-appointed post in Tuesday’s primary election – despite efforts led by Mayor Francis G. Slay to aid Boyd. Thompson won the Democratic nomination by about 400 votes, according to unofficial city results.
“The first thing, second and third thing I want to say is, “to God be the glory,” Thompson said. “I really did my best to run an honest campaign with integrity, dignity, grace, a humble spirit and a willingness to serve the public.”
Boyd’s campaign engineered repeated and aggressive political attacks against Thompson. She said she hopes her campaign will be a “game changer” in city politics and serve as an example of how successful campaigns can be run in a respectful manner.
“I hope this shows that individuals no matter what status they hold cannot choose our elected officials,” she said. “The people ultimately will choose. These are jobs that the people want to have a voice. The people had a voice last night.”
Thompson 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. 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 two percent goes to the operation of the office and the rest to general revenue.
In her eight months as license collector, she has initiated a number of 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.
“Now I want to establish a business advisory council to give us new and fresh ideas about the licensing process,” she said. “I don’t have all the answers but I can go to the experts.”
Both a nurse and an attorney, Thompson served for six years as the city’s first female circuit clerk in the 1990s. Treasurer Tishaura Jones, Comptroller Darlene Green and aldermanic President Lewis Reed endorsed and supported Thompson in her race.
Dooley loses big to Stenger
St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger celebrated a wide margin of victory over St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley in the Democratic primary. Stenger won with 66 percent of the countywide vote, taking in the majority of the county’s 28 townships.
During his concession speech, Dooley promised to support Stenger in his November race against GOP candidate Rick Stream. However, many question whether Dooley’s support will be enough to gain votes among the African-American community, after Stenger led a campaign that caused a rift down racial lines (see analysis in Political Eye). Dooley, the first African American to serve as the county executive, lost by the biggest margins in the predominantly white parts of the county. Most of his votes came from the African-American community, which represents almost a quarter of the county’s population.
Amendments breakdown
Unofficial state returns showed Amendment 1, the “right to farm” proposal, won by a margin of only about one-quarter of 1 percent – which is close enough to entitle the opposition to a recount.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting in statewide, Amendment 1 passed with 498,751 votes, or 50.127 percent.
The “no” votes came in at 496,223, or 49.873 percent. Opponents said that the amendment is designed to benefit large corporations that engage in large-scale farming and animal-producing operations. They also contend that it will also make it harder for small family farms to avoid using genetically modified organisms.
Amendment 9 garnered the most votes, winning by 75-25 percent. This legislation would protect electronic data and communications from unreasonable searches and seizures. The ACLU of Missouri applauded its passage, saying that it will protect Missourians’
privacy from warrantless government surveillance.
Amendment 5 – to expand the Second-Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” in Missouri – won by a 61-39 percent margin. It changes the language to make the right to own a gun “inalienable.” Opponents say the language will make it harder to prosecute gun crimes.
Amendment 8 – to create a veterans’ lottery ticket – lost by a margin of 45 percent for and 55 percent against.
And lastly, Amendment 7 – the proposed transportation sales tax – lost big with only 41 percent of voters in favor. Opponents said the ¾ cent increase in both sales and use taxes would have had the heaviest burden on families, particularly those with low incomes, while mostly benefitting the trucking industry.
St. Louis Public Radio contributed to this report.
