The so-called “Ethical” Society of Police (ESOP), once known for its diligence in standing with the community in the face of police misconduct, has taken the side of the wrongdoer.
Last week, the Missouri Senate held hearings, led by State Senator Nick Schroer, on whether the City of St. Louis should lose local control of both its police department and its democratically-elected circuit attorney. Schroer, who lives somewhere in St. Charles County, enjoys touting his Ferguson high school diploma while also ignoring his own White flight to the suburban wasteland that is Defiance, or Wentzville, or wherever Schroer is claiming to live these days.
Now [Ethical Society of Police’s] flip-floppery … it’s certainly disrespectful to the Black women who worked hard to engage with the community to repair their interactions with police.
We cannot emphasize enough what a bad idea returning the SLMPD to state control is — not only was there more crime in St. Louis City during state control, but Missouri would be on the hook for all financial responsibility if the SLMPD causes culpable harm or death. Even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s typically-pro-police editorial stance can’t ignore recent data showing recent decline in crime. After this week’s announcement of a $5.2 million settlement with the SLMPD’s kettling victims related to the 2017 Stockley protests, we wonder how serious the state legislature actually is about taking control and becoming responsible for all of those settlement and lawsuit expenses.
Moreover we have yet to see a single St. Louis City elected leader step forward to support this policy change.
Besides forcefully exerting unwarranted control over the largest city in the region because of the states’ short-sighted, even resentful approach, we really don’t understand how the Missouri legislature would even consider such a move.
But we don’t expect people like Schroer to try to understand except these ‘dog whistles’ are an essential part of the Trumpist Republican party. We do, however, expect organizations like ESOP, which has historically stood with residents of St. Louis and called for internal police reforms, transparency measures, and community-centered policies to understand. For decades, ESOP’s former president and current Deputy Public Safety Director, Sgt. Heather Taylor, advocated for programs that sought to rebuild police-community relationships. Taylor and other ESOP members recommended [CKM1], an independent Civilian Oversight Board, in its 2020 “Report on [CKM2] St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) by the Ethical Society of Police,” and issued public statements calling out racism within the SLMPD.
Now this flip-floppery to complete alignment with the notorious St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA) could mean that ESOP’s leadership has been usurped by those who want to silence the once-powerful organization. Whatever it is, it’s certainly disrespectful to the Black women who worked hard to engage with the community to repair their interactions with police.
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Pervasive doesn’t end with local police – the Rockwood School District has caused another mass exodus of employees who were made to feel unwelcome by the district. The Rockwood School Board seems to have been hijacked by two women of color who have bullied district employees, harassed fellow school board members, and targeted some district parents through social media stalking and threats.
This week, we call out Jessica Laurent Clark and Islam “Izzy” Imig for their openly hateful behavior toward Black and Brown children, LGBTQ+ children, and parents and community that support them. Laurent, who is Black, and Imig, who is Iraqi, have been the primary aggressors against children of color in the Rockwood public school system. These two women working to terminate diversity initiatives aimed to close racial disparities in discipline and test scores.
Instead of focusing on improving student experience – as all directors of the Rockwood school board have been charged to do – Laurent and Imig have launched a culture war on the students they’re supposed to serve and enrich.
At Laurent’s first school board meeting as an elected member, the self-described “sugar baby” stated with great confidence, “[t]hey come in with the kids in wheel chairs and everything…whatever, you are a libtard and I mean that and I stand on it.” Laurent further went on to say, “[w]hen we talk about this transgender crap, you’re not going to do that to my kids.”
Of course, that language has no place in a public school, but rather than resign with dignity, Laurent had to be sanctioned at her second school board meeting and was removed from two key roles in the district.
Rockwood parents have reported Imig calling herself a “veteran” despite having no actual military service for any country. During her school board campaign, she touted no professional experience but said that being a translator was “a skill she said she can use to help with disagreements.” Imig has caused more disagreements (and legal problems) for the Rockwood District in the nine months that she’s been on the board than any interpreter skills could ever hope to resolve.
Rockwood parents have questioned both women’s credentials to serve on the board. Before being elected to the school board, Laurent hosted a conservative web-based radio show and flaunted her privilege paid for by Fabian Marta [CKM3], her “sugar daddy” who seems to be lacking [CKM4] any actual “sugar” to pay for anyone’s lifestyle, including his own. Marta, however, seems to be Laurent’s connection to the far-right politics [CKM5] of West County.
Both women apparently created fake personalities in order to be elected, and now that they have a smidgen of power, Laurent and Imig have largely become pawns for wealthy white men who don’t care about them as women of color or the school children that they are supposed to serve.
However, they have created media fodder for State Senator Andrew Koenig, who has embraced the Christo-fascist culture war as part of his political agenda in Jefferson City. Koenig has opposed teaching Missouri public school children about the centuries-long impact of slavery in the U.S. and how post-Reconstruction institutions like Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and the “War on Drugs” have impacted Black people, mistakenly referred to by legislators who don’t want to know any better, as “critical race theory,” which is a graduate-level cross-disciplinary review of how laws and political movements shape, and are shaped by, race and ethnicity.
As a direct result of Laurent’s and Imig’s fanaticism, the Rockwood School District may be on the hook for very real employment law consequences: of the five district administrators who have left Rockwood in the last year, three are Black women who have referred directly to racist threats of violence by white MAGA-influenced parents as the reason for their departures.
The EYE will continue to watch this situation as it unfolds, as we suspect it is far from over.
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Finally, two MEC deadlines have passed in January alone, referred to below as two separate reports: the “40 Days Before the Municipal Primary” filing and the “2022 Q4” filing.
For the new First Ward, we don’t understand why anyone would be so foolish to challenge incumbent Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, who reported nearly $37,000 cash-on-hand in her latest disclosure and who has probably already knocked on every door within the expanded ward boundaries. Her opponents, Republican Matthew E. Kotraba and deputy sheriff Tony Kirchner, don’t come close (combined and doubled, their fundraising efforts fall short). Kirchner even received a boost from recently defeated congressional candidate State Senator Steve Roberts, although, in consideration of that 40+ point loss to Congresswoman Cori Bush, we think taking a contribution from him might be considered more of a liability.
On a related note in the new Second Ward, Bush’s field director Morgan Lowe has stepped in to take on leading Katie Bellis’ campaign, bringing with them a hard-hitting grassroots plan to engage deep South City voters. This is a refreshing counter to incumbent Tom Oldenburg’s politics, led by the Kelley Group, which calls a handful of impersonal mailers and a few sand castles “community outreach.” Oldenburg has the usual suspects in his MEC reports – including both the SLPOA and its lobbyist Jane Dueker, corporate welfare lawyer Dave Sweeney, and former mayor Lyda Krewson – to the tune of nearly $37,800 on hand, but Bellis has raised an impressive $5,630 in her relatively recent launch. Bellis recently landed the endorsement of St. Louis’ Democratic Socialists, whose grassroots organizing helped both BoardPresident Megan Green’s and Congresswoman Bush’s 2022 decisive victories.
Skipping ahead to the race for the new 7th Ward, current SLPS school board member and front-runner Alisha Sonnier has raised the most money of the non-incumbent challengers, amassing nearly $15,000 in financial support. Challengers Jon-Pierre Mitchom and Cedric Redmon raised around $6,400 and $2,900, respectively. Sonnier has garnered nearly every organizational and political endorsement in the race thus far, including current Alderpersons Christine Ingrassia, Dan Guenther, and Annie Rice (all who are not running again) and President Green.
Next door in the 8th Ward, incumbent Alderwoman Cara Spencer managed to raise $34,520 between the close of the 2022 Q4 filing (December 31) and the close of the “40 Days” report (January 26). Those funds include contributions from real estate developers, Teamsters Local 6 and Building Trades PAC, and lobbyists. Spencer has some support after her failed 2021 run, but her MEC reports don’t show a lot of her financial support coming from within her new ward. Shedrick “Nato Caliph” Kelley of McKinley Heights, on the other hand, has shown strong community support in both canvassing and fundraising, collecting $5,315.
Former alderman and current bar owner Ken Ortmann has not filed an MEC report since opening his committee on January 17. His former aldermanic committee terminated in May 2021.
Perennial candidate Emmett Coleman posted some sad numbers in his campaign for the new Tenth Ward, logging only donations from himself and his brother totaling $2,000. Incumbent Alderwoman Shameem Clark-Hubbard, on the other hand, has raised around $6,700 within about two weeks and has been speaking with voters of the New Tenth for months. At least, her MEC records show significant activity, including purchasing yard signs and voter database access that would show community engagement.
For the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Wards, we couldn’t really tell you much about the finances in those races, primarily because of the lack of required campaign finance disclosures and “limited activity” reports. Both Tashara Earl of Baden and incumbent Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, running to represent the new Twelfth, disclosed their contributions and expenses through their filings, but Tyus has had the same amount of cash on hand since 2021, indicating that she has done very little recently if anything – to engage her constituents and keep them informed on important issues at the Board. According to MEC reports, Earl has out-fundraised all of her opponents.
Incumbent Alderwomen Lisa Middlebrook, Norma Walker, and Pamela Boyd all filed limited activity reports for the Thirteenth Ward in January, suggesting little voter engagement and campaign communications. Remember, this is the only ward where all three candidates are incumbents vying for a single seat. Walker did report raising a little more than $3,000, although she has reported $2,000 in debt and $1,774 on hand. Boyd raised $1,052 and Middlebrook reported nothing.
Finally, in the new Fourteenth Ward, incumbent Aldermen James Page has raised $5,675, including a contribution-in-solidarity by fellow alderman Oldenburg. His campaign reports a nearly $1,400 debt. Other incumbent Alderman Brandon Bosley has filed one limited activity report since April 2021, when he claimed $100 cash on hand. Alderman Bosley is currently the front-runner for this electoral cycle’s award, “The Least Transparent Campaign.” Newcomer Ebony Washington, a member of the Hubbard political family, reported $7,300 raised, although $5,000 of that was loaned funds from her own accounts and her grandmother, former state representative Penny Hubbard.
However, the current state representative, Rasheen Aldridge, has the clear financial advantage in this race. With transparency on his side, Aldridge’s MEC reports show $35,283 cash on hand and December & January fundraising at nearly $18,000. Aldridge has the support of former state representative Bruce Franks, former mayor Francis G. Slay, and former state senator Jamilah Nasheed.
The next round of financial reports are due February 27 – just in time for our final Aldergeddon candidate guide!