Kacie Starr Triplett knows how to play inside the paint – in basketball, as evidenced by her appearance in Earl Austin Jr.’s “Best of 20 Years” lists, and now in politics as well. Her campaign for Reed’s seat in the 6th Ward is actually behaving like a campaign. This week, it crowed about labor endorsements (which were to be expected, because of her father’s connections and credibility) and it dropped a hint that one of her opponents, Patrick Cacchione, had put Tim Person to the dirty work of recruiting a black candidate to split votes with Triplett along racial lines. White folks who vote by race already face a choice between “often an electoral bridesmaid, never a bride” Cacchione and city politics insider Christian Saller, who resigned from St. Louis Development Corporation “as of Nov. 17,” according to his outgoing voice mail message.
Cacchione would not be playing the game if he were not encouraging a black candidate to file for the office. Person recently worked as an operative alongside Cacchione to defeat the tobacco tax hike. When asked if Starr Triplett’s people have it right about his work against her, Person said, “Oh, that’s interesting,” though he did acknowledge “rumors that there might be more” folks filing in the race.
If Person gets somebody to run, he had better get him or her a pile of money while he’s at it, because Starr Triplett is likely to build a war chest from her father’s connections and her own contacts made while working for U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.