Remember when Mayor Francis G. Slay aggressively fundraised in the Proposition E campaign to keep the city’s earnings tax?
The money went into the Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis campaign committee. After its success in the April 5, 2011 election, the committee had $151,574.77 left over to transfer to its nonprofit corporation counterpart (with the same name) on April 30, 2011.
Now the nonprofit has a balance of about $35,000, said Brad Ketcher, Slay’s legal counsel and manager for the nonprofit.
Mayoral candidate Lewis Reed, also president of the Board of Aldermen, is demanding that Slay’s staff provide bank account transaction histories to show how these funds were spent.
Reed said citizens and businesses that donated to Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis deserve to know what happened to their contributions.
“To be clear, these funds were donated to preserve one of our city’s most important revenue streams, and now we don’t know where that money went,” Reed said.
State dissolves nonprofit
According to the nonprofit’s 2010 IRS 990 statement, Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis had $86,521 at the end of its fiscal year on Oct. 31, 2011. The IRS statement does not detail where the funds went to. It lumps them in general “expense” categories.
Ketcher said the nonprofit reimbursed those who wanted their donations back and that’s where most of the money went. The campaign also had 50 to 60 staffers to pay, he said. The 2011 IRS report is not due until May 2013 – after the March 5 Democratic primary when the city’s next mayor will in effect be chosen.
Tom Shepard, Reed’s chief of staff, said Slay’s counsel could have kept the campaign committee intact until all the reimbursements were made, so that the public could have tracked the funds. On May 5, 2011, soon after the election, Ketcher and the campaign committee’s treasurer, Josh Bowlin (husband of the mayor’s press secretary Kara Bowlin), terminated the committee, after transferring the $151,000 to the nonprofit.
Committee finance reports are detailed and require the treasurer to state who received the money, Shepard said, but IRS reports do not require this.
The nonprofit also failed to submit legal documents to the state, raising even more questions about the group’s management, Shepard said. The Secretary of State’s Office “administratively dissolved” the nonprofit on Dec. 29, 2011 because the group failed to submit an annual report. The business was not allowed to conduct business after this point.
The failure to submit an annual report was an oversight, Ketcher said, and the report does not require a financial report. He said the organization spent about $40,000 on a sustainability conference held in December 2011 and about $3,000 to $4,000 on neighborhood banners.
Ketcher said none of the money has been used in politics after the earnings tax campaign.
“If money were used in politics, that would trigger immediate reporting to the Missouri Ethics Commission within 48 hours,” Ketcher said. He said the city also just passed a dark money ban (which Ketcher helped to draft) in December, “so you have several layers of protection.”
Richard Callow, Slay’s campaign manager, said the Slay campaign has received no campaign funds from the committee or from any successor group.
Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis is a 501c4 (not to be confused with a 501c3).
As a 501c4, its primary focus is to promote the social welfare, but the tax code is pretty loosely defined on what social welfare is. In fact, around the country 501c4 organizations spent more money on TV ads in the presidential race than did any other type of independent group, according to a Kantar Media study. Even Super PACs were trailing these organizations by tens of millions of dollars.
Paying for black support
Bradley Ketcher has been the treasurer for various Slay-connected campaign committees, including Citizens for a Better St. Louis and Proponent Group Committee, which was formed to oppose the recall effort against Mayor Slay in 2007.
During 2008 when the local black community was fervently opposing Slay after Fire Chief Sherman George was demoted in October 2007, Ketcher authorized payments to two media outlets owned by African Americans and marketed to the local black community.
Citizens for a Better St. Louis was paying about $2,000 monthly to Gentry Trotter’s MultiMedia PR Group and the St. Louis Argus, according to the campaign committee’s reports. After these payments were made, Slay-positive articles were featured in the Argus.
The committee seemed to have paid for positive editorial treatment in the black press after several protests opposing the mayor.
However, Ketcher said, “I don’t remember those transactions. I trust the political finance reports are accurate. That was a political committee, and it was a committee that was supportive of the mayor in those years.”
Phone call at night
Using money for politics doesn’t always have to come in the form of advertising or campaign donations.
“It’s a commonplace occurrence where politicians offer resources during political races,” said Ward 4 Alderman Samuel Moore, who is a vocal supporter for Reed as mayor.
A few months ago, Moore said he received a phone call from someone, whom he will not identify, offering him $10,000 for his ward in exchange for staying out of supporting anyone in the race for mayor.
“My statement was, ‘I am not for sale,’” said Moore.
Callow said no one from the Slay campaign or from Slay’s staff has offered Moore resources for his ward or asked him to cease involvement in the race for mayor.
Moore said the U.S. Attorney’s office called him this week regarding the incident. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith, lead prosecutor in political corruption cases for the eastern half of the state, said he could not comment on whether or not he is investigating the case.