On the surface, this looks like just another scuffle among black politicians to see who will become the king or queen of the vacant lots. A deeper look suggests that this is a proxy battle between Jones and Mayor Francis G. Slay. Jones, formerly one of Slay’s closet allies, was fired this summer because he would not stop working to recall Boyd. According to a reliable source, Slay has been very active in raising money to help fund Boyd’s fight against the recall. This has allowed Boyd to wage a vigorous campaign of direct mail and canvassing. Mailings and getting people to canvass in the cold to get voters to sign a notarized affidavit that instructs the Election Commission to take their name off the petition are expensive. Funds raised for recall efforts are not covered under campaign reporting laws, thus it’s impossible to determine the exact source of the funding.
Some North Side elected officials view this fight between Slay and Jones from a much broader prospective as a fight to establish who will decide who gets elected in North St. Louis. They say this fight started when Jones and others teamed up with OL Shelton to recall former 4th Ward Alderwoman Peggy Ryan. Ryan was an ally of Slay and was irritated that Jones, then a member of Slay’s cabinet, joined Shelton’s movement against her. A number of elected officials, including Jones, were concerned about the level of Slay’s involvement. Jones also thinks Slay double-crossed Ozier in the 2005 aldermanic election. And you thought this was just a simple case of ward politics.
The EYE has also been told that the Election Board might examine the notarized affidavits of voters who want their names removed from the recall petition. There is a question whether the notaries who attested to the validity of the signers of the affidavits personally witnessed the signing, as is required by law. If this complaint is validated, a number of Boyd’s supporters, including his wife and State Representative Yaphett El-Amin’s husband, may face legal challenges. Based upon Slay’s quick call for a full investigation in the dead voter incident, it will be interesting to see what if anything Slay says about this complaint, especially if he was involved in funding the effort to collect the affidavits.