The bottom line with endorsements, of course, is not settling old scores but rather winning the race. Local 73’s endorsement of Reed will help him in South St. Louis among white voters. How much clout Local 73 exerts among voters is anybody’s guess, but it will not hurt Reed to print and mail political literature with pictures of firefighters and their endorsement printed on them. FIRE’s endorsement, on the other hand, will be important to Shrewsbury by helping to ease the impression among some that he is just a red neck from South St. Louis.
Although the EYE clearly understands FIRE’s “you shoot my cat, I will kill your dog” philosophy as justification for endorsing Shrewsbury, it is shortsighted. FIRE’s clout was built on the strength of the black body politic. Shrewsbury has never been credited with any public display of support for affirmative action, because he fears angering white voters in his South Side base. He has always taken the safe, non-engaged route. Yes, he has watched Chief George’s back in his struggles with Slay and Sam Simon, the director of Public Safety, but then so has Reed (albeit from his less powerful position as 6th Ward alderman).
With Reed’s endorsement by Local 73, along with endorsements by License Collector-Elect Michael McMillan and the aldermen from the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 15th wards and Democratic committee persons from the 2nd, 5th and 6th wards, Reed’s campaign is starting to gain momentum. Quoting one City Hall observer, if a election was held today among the aldermen, Reed would win by a landslide. Reed has also beefed up his campaign organization by hiring Bob Rice (of political guru Nancy Rice’s political family) as his campaign manager, and reportedly Michelle Clay has joined his campaign to help in his fundraising efforts. It is still early, but it looks like the campaign for president of the Board of Aldermen will provide a lot of unexpected heat this winter.