Maybe you knew, maybe you didn’t, but we had an election on Tuesday. If you didn’t vote, you didn’t miss much this time — there was only one contest on the ballot, and that was for the nonpartisan primary between aldermanic board president candidates Alderwoman Megan Green and Alderman Jack Coatar. Both candidates move on to the November 8 general election.
Tuesday’s election was “redundant,” meaning that it did not serve to narrow down the number of candidates. Due to a glitch in the drafting of 2020’s Proposition D (enshrined in the City Charter through the 2022 passage of Proposition R), no further guidance was provided for special elections when only two candidates collect enough signatures to run.
Rather, the election this week was a taxpayer-funded poll to see where Green and Coatar stand in the race for Board President. Typically, polling is not done by aldermanic president campaigns, so both candidates have been given the opportunity to see where their platforms land with voters before the November general.
Absentee results showed Green ahead of Coatar by 8 points, and Green was able to maintain that same margin by the time the final, full results were released. A little less than 900 votes gave Green her edge at the end of the night. However, with slightly more than 6% of registered voters turning out, Green will need to widen that lead significantly if she wants to win in November.
Voter turnout perhaps spoke more volumes than the candidates’ performance, and voters overwhelmingly seemed unenthused by both candidates to fill the vacant President role of the Board of Aldermen. Maybe we could chalk up the abysmal voter turnout to the low-stakes nature of this particular race, or even voter fatigue – after all, we will have 9 elections across the City in 2022, with half of them being citywide. Of course, with a contested Senate race between (absentee) Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Democrat billionairess-slash-nurse-by-training Trudy Bush Valentine, on top of a bad recreational cannabis bill that still somehow manages to further criminalize cannabis, Green may have an advantage if voter turnout improves beyond this week’s nonpartisan primary.
While political insiders may have bet on Coatar prevailing in this (insignificant) primary, what cannot go unnoticed are Coatar’s connections to numerous local unsavory players and cartoonish villains and how the continued media exposure of those dubious connections has caused voters to turn their backs on Jack.
Coatar dumps some campaign coffers after criticism of shady donors
For the last few months, the EYE has been researching campaign contribution records, aldermanic board bill resolutions, and other media coverage related to Ald.Coatar (D-Ward 7), and we have delivered several of those reports to you, our readers. These reports have included naming Coatar’s connections to the efforts to privatize Lambert Airport, which weren’t shared until a lawsuit forced the disclosure; recounting the alderman’s relationship with the Kelley Group and its most notorious clients; and even tracking down campaign donations made by shell corporations to line Coatar’s coffers. Some have dismissed our findings as unfounded political gossip. They have disregarded the details pulled from our surgically-extracted open public records requests and waved us off as disgruntled pundits.
This week, however, we report some of the very real consequences of our public record-supported coverage that cannot be brushed off:
Ald. Coatar has returned at least $12,500 in campaign contributions, according to his MEC report filed last week. These particular donations came from none other than Lux Living-owned real estate development projects with dubious names such as “Vinson One LLC,” “Vinson One MM LLC,” and “SOHO-EL Capitan One LLC.” Coatar then tried to claim that he returned Lux Living’s campaign contributions after a recent report on the mismanagement of the Ely Walker Lofts, but to believe this line of reasoning would also require our readers to be born yesterday.
Believing Coatar would also mean believing that the hundreds of residents at Lux Living properties have not been raising the alarm about the abusive slumlords for years. We know this to not be the case, because this column previously has uplifted the tenants suffering under Lux Living management. We also recognize that Lux Living – regardless of what name it uses – has deliberately harmed its tenants since at least 2016 – but Coatar doesn’t want you to know that part.
We at the EYE do not believe that Ald. Coatar returned the campaign contributions because of one news report, two weeks ago.
Rather, we believe that the walls may be closing in around Coatar.
Exhibit 1: in emails obtained by the St. Louis Observer, an online local news publication, Coatar seems to ask for special treatment for a client at his law firm, Spencer Fane, from the previous deputy mayor for development, then Linda Martinez. In the email, sent from his law firm account, Coatar says, “My firm represents Cullinan Properties, the developer of the Iron Hill site at Grand and Chouteau. I know you’ve previously met with Cullinan and members of their development team. We’ve been working closing with SLDC and are preparing our TIF application. In advance of submitting our application, Brad and I are hoping for a few minutes of your time by phone to give you an update on the project, anticipated incentive requests, timing, etc.”
Setting aside (1) the blatant conflict of interest of an alderman leveraging his government relationships to advance a $60.6 million tax incentive package and (2) the likely Sunshine Law violation between two City officials (Coatar and Martinez) discussing official City business and not making a record of said meeting — legal experts believe that Coatar’s solicitation may violate the Missouri ethical code of conduct for attorneys.
Specifically, the rule states “[a] lawyer who also holds public office, whether full or part-time, shall not engage in activities in which his or her personal or professional interests are or foreseeably could be in conflict with his or her official duties or responsibilities.”
Coatar’s email exchange with Martinez shows a pattern of disregard for the aldermanic ethics reform voted into law by St. Louis City residents. He has even launched a legal challenge against the implementation of Proposition R, which requires aldermen like Coatar to disclose conflicts of interest to the Board of Aldermen’s attorney.
Clearly, readers, Coatar does not like transparency or accountability or any of the other responsibilities required by a leader.
The shameful Schmitt Show in Cedar County
Last week, we discussed some pretty despicable allegations out of Stockton, Missouri, involving a Christian boarding school for “troubled youth” that had been accused of, among other things, abusing schoolchildren in every conceivable manner. In our reporting, we shared that a(nother) Sunshine Law request had revealed Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s knowledge of slavery, child labor, and sex trafficking allegations at the school that were made in February 2021, and how Schmitt’s office failed to act once they had received this tip.
A Cedar County judge had ordered the school to be closed last Wednesday, but later decided to “stay” the order to determine whether an Agape staff member on the child abuse registry was still employed at the school. However, because the employee was no longer at Agape, the Cedar County judge nevertheless found it appropriate to keep the school open. The Attorney General’s office feebly pledged to “continue to fight for the children at Agape.”
But by Monday, the Attorney General’s office appeared in court, wholly unprepared and apparently unwilling to protect vulnerable children. Despite the Missouri Department of Social Services substantiating 100% of the child abuse reports that have been submitted against Agape, the assistant attorneys general fumbled through the State’s and DSS’s request for an injunction to close the school because of the repeated abuse occuring there. Needless to say, things didn’t go well for the state’s “top” lawyers.
Agape’s lawyer later bragged about the state failing to present witnesses for procedural reasons, while the Attorney General’s spokesman weakly suggested that Schmitt’s office “did everything possible to present evidence and witness testimony, including that of victims of alleged abuse, to prove the pattern of abuse at Agape Boarding School.” The state’s arguments imploded and little-to-no evidence of the ongoing abuse was presented to the court because of avoidable mistakes made.
If the Attorney General’s performance was “everything possible,” the EYE truly feels sad for the children living in Missouri, all of whom deserve a better advocate in their corner. In all likelihood, given the missteps taken by the Schmitt’s office, the Agape Boarding School will not be closed under the current legal action initiated by the state.
Once again, the Missouri Attorney General’s office has expected kid-glove, special treatment from the courts and their attorneys were treated like everyone else. The consequences for the Attorney General’s entitled behavior, however, is that more children are at serious risk for physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse because of that lapse in judgment.
And instead of demonstrating a semblance of leadership, Schmitt skipped off to Washington, D.C., for the week, to canoodle with Republican extremists who introduced an anti-abortion bill. “Absent Eric,” as he has come to be known as in St. Louis, has yet to make a statement on the allegations against the boarding school.
As of today, Agape Boarding School – despite the increasing number of lawsuits and criminal charges being filed against its ownership and staff – remains open.