The Shadow – the political gossip column in the Evening Whirl – has been foaming at the mouth with a conspiracy theory that has Yaphett El-Amin joining league with U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan and Brian Wahby, chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, to help Jeff Smith win the 4th District, which of course keeps him off Carnahan’s back in the 3rd Congressional District.
Known contributors to The Shadow have close (paid) ties to the office of Mayor Francis G. Slay, which affords The Shadow access to authoritative sources for the most sensitive secrets in local politics, but the column also goes over the top at all times and at times clearly drops half-truths to settle scores and collect checks.
Carnahan supporters called the EYE to deny the conspiracy rumor, when the merest whiff of it appeared in the column last week, saying he has a track record of supporting black candidates and has found no new love for Jeff Smith, not even in the interests of preserving his own political hide. Another problem with this theory is it presupposes that Wahby has the juice to persuade people to do risky things with their political careers.
Not that a couple of white Missouri Democrats wouldn’t be capable of risking the political fortunes of a proven black female state legislator (or two) on behalf of a battle-untested white political professor in order to smooth the way for a white congressman. And not that Smith doesn’t deserve the backlash he is getting for running without credentials in a district that insiders consider to be an African-American franchise that deserves to “come home.”
And not that selfishness or disunity in black politics is anything new, even in this district. The failure of either Charles “Quincy” Troupe or OL Shelton to step down gave Pat Dougherty (a white man who did serve his constituents admirably) the seat in the first place. In fact, some would say Wm. Lacy Clay’s reluctance to intervene on behalf of Troupe or Shelton – to avoid alienating any of his base during his own Congressional bid – adds Lacy to the list of black politicians whose self-interest has let the 4th District slip away from black leadership. It’s just that The Shadow is keeping something in his pocket on this one. It could be a lump of money. Or maybe he’s just happy to see somebody?