In our reporting last week on the April 4 municipal general elections, we did not cover every election, which is, indeed, impossible in the St. Louis metropolitan area. In St. Louis County alone, there were elections in 81 municipalities, 17 school districts, 12 fire districts and a community college district. St. Louis County had 499 candidates file for 267 different offices, as well as 22 different ballot propositions. No news organization in St. Louis has adequate news staff to cover all of these elections intelligently – and that’s just St. Louis County. But there was some more news of interest in municipal elections that needs reporting.
Jennings finally has a new mayor to replace the impeached Yolonda Fountain Henderson. Yolanda Austin won easy (854 votes to 520) over Francine Dugger, the Ward 2 councilwoman who had been serving as mayor pro-tem. Dugger keeps her seat on the council. Joining her in representing Ward 2 is Terry Wilson, the son of Austin, who just beat Dugger for mayor. Wilson crushed Harold D. Cushshon with 91 percent of the vote, running for an open seat, as incumbent Yolonda “Yonnee” Fortson was disqualified by the Missouri Department of Revenue.
Fountain Henderson tried to come back from the political dead with a run for the Ward 1 Jennings council seat but lost to incumbent Councilwoman Miranda Jones, 131 votes to 103. The council has another newcomer in Julia Roberts, who handily won the election in Ward 3 over Ted Simpson, 193 votes to 73. In Ward 4, incumbent Councilwoman Carol Epps kept her seat, beating Shonte Byrd, 169 votes to 119.
Fountain Henderson’s misfortunes as mayor began when she had Elbert Walton file a bizarre suit on her behalf, suing just about everyone in Jennings government – including herself, in the capacity of former councilwoman – in a failed bid to force a stronger mayoral system giving the mayor broader appointing powers. Without council approval, Fountain Henderson then brought aboard as a consultant Tony Weaver, who was with Walton when he ran the Northeast Ambulance and Fire District into court receivership.
Speaking of Northeast, one of the Walton gang’s old nemeses, Kris Boevingloh, lost his bid for district director, with Duane H. Moore thumping him by more than 1,700 votes and more than 40 points.
Jennings’ neighbor Pine Lawn reelected Terry Epps as mayor, with three times the votes of his nearest rival, Elwyn. M. Walls, 312 votes to 104. Epps was just barely elected in April 2016 by all of 4 votes (206 votes to 202) over Kellie G. Shelton, who did not run again on April 4. Epps ran first to complete the unexpired term of former Pine Lawn mayor Sylvester Caldwell, whose prison term for extortion is what is now unexpired. He remains in federal prison in Talladega, Alabama with a release date set at December 20.
Flip a coin to see who wins
At least some of these places in St. Louis County, you have never heard of and will never need to hear about. Hello, Country Life Acres, all of three streets immediate west of I-270 and south of Clayton Road, population 74. Of those, there were 24 votes cast for three open trustee positions, which sounds like eight voters showed up at the polls. Two candidates tied for 8 votes, with another coming in just 1 vote short of forcing a three-way tie. All three were elected. That’s right: Eight voters elected three people.
Or take Champ, a bustling metropolis of 13, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, nestled in the southeast armpit of the I-270/I-70 interchange, which elected five trustees. It had a shockingly high voter turnout by percentage, with at least seven people voting, since someone got 7 votes. The other four candidates all tied for second with 6 votes. All five were elected. It’s quite possible that seven voters elected five people.
Ties are not unusual in elections where less than 10 people vote, though in these two micro-munis, enough seats were elected for the ties not to matter. Sometimes, ties do matter.
“There appears to be a tie in Flordell Hills Ward 1 and for trustee in Uplands Park,” Eric Fey, Democratic director of elections in St. Louis Count, told The American. Flordell Hills (819 people just south of Jennings) had two candidates each get 8 votes for one alderperson seat. Uplands Park (some 445 people just south of a short stretch of Natural Bridge Road) elected two trustees, with one clear winner at 39 votes, but two tied at 32 votes for the second seat.
In that case, what do you do. Flip a coin?
Uh, yeah, actually, you could.
“Under Missouri law, ties can be broken by ‘the drawing of lots (coin flip usually)’ or by having a runoff election” Fey told The American. “Since people usually won’t agree to a coin flip, runoffs usually ensue. We had to conduct two runoff elections in 2015.”
These were not the elections on April 4 where the fewest votes won. The only candidate for alderman in Ward 1 of Pacific, which has more than 7,000 residents out by Six Flags, won with only two votes. Two votes also elected a new director of the Pacific Fire District (not the same person as the new alderman), with the only other candidate on the ballot losing with only his self-vote. Note to political hopefuls in Pacific: Don’t file unless you can line up one vote besides your own.
Then there was the open seat for Ward 2 alderperson in Velda City, some 1,400 (living) people just north of St. Peters Cemetery in North County. No one filed, but 10 people wrote in a candidate. The election authorities were still sorting that one out at press time. We won’t hold our breath any more than the denizens of St. Peters Cemetery (God bless the dead) are holding theirs.
Show-Me conflict of interest
This week, the Special Committee on Litigation Reform in the Missouri House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 43, which would make it significantly more difficult for victims of unlawful discrimination based upon their race, gender age or sexual orientation to prove their cases under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
Senate Bill 43 is sponsored by state Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, who owns a company, Show-Me Rent-to-Own, that is being sued for unlawful racial discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
“This is a blatant disregard for common decorum and integrity by Senator Romine, who is attempting to change a Human Rights law on a matter that directly benefits his company,” said state Rep. Michael Butler, D-St. Louis.
A message was left with a number for Romine and emailed to a state Senate communications staffer requesting comment, but not no reply had been received 12 hours later.
$6 million superhero
Bruce Franks Jr. has embraced the concept of being a “superhero” (and encouraging others to embrace their own power). As the new state representative for Missouri’s 78th House District, Franks has leapt his first building in a single bound. As a freshman Democratic lawmaker from St. Louis in the Republican-dominated Missouri House of Representatives, where Republicans control everything all the way down to keys to the restroom, Franks managed to restore funding for a jobs program that Gov. Eric Greitens wants to cut entirely.
The amendment sponsored by Franks would put $6 million toward the state’s youth summer jobs program in St. Louis and Kansas City. “They come from the highest crime areas, who are the most at risk,” Franks told St. Louis Public Radio.
GOP House leaders and Franks found the money in another social services program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which doesn’t need as much funding next year because of a drop in cases, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
The funding measure still needs to make it through the Missouri Senate and the governor. There are more, taller buildings ahead that will need to be leapt over.
