Last week, Mayor Tishaura O. Jonessigned into law Board Bill 47, which finally gave “teeth” to the Civilian Oversight Board after seven years. Provisions of the bill included giving subpoena power to the oversight board and creating the independent Division of Civilian Oversight.
Despite, previously supporting and even testifying in favor of such provisions, the Ethical Society of Police – now under new leadership – curiously opposed the creation of a separate entity to investigate St. Louis Metropolitan (SLMPD) police misconduct and giving any sort of investigative alleged powers to an independent body. This is not unlike the position held by the St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA) – typically referred to as the “white police officers’ union.”
Historically speaking, SLPOA has opposed any measure of police reform and oversight, favoring blank check policies and increased protections for police accused of misconduct. The inclusion of subpoena power – meaning the Civilian Oversight Board could obtain otherwise confidential records – and moving the Board under the larger umbrella of the Department of Public Safety have been opposed by SLPOA because St. Louis police officers no longer receive special treatment and favorable decision-makers overseeing employment-related disciplinary matters, like reports of abuse by civilians or shooting an unarmed person. ESOP, on the other hand, has oftentimes been a lone voice for police reform that fights to hold all officers, regardless of race or rank, accountable for civil rights abuses and violations.
Not any longer, it seems.
Although both the Director of Public Safety Dr. Dan Isom and his Senior Policy Advisor Heather Taylor were members of ESOP during their respective time spent at the SLMPD, the Black police union has found itself now at direct odds with the City – and likely the wrong side. The new ESOP vice president, SLMPD Detective Sergeant Todd Ross, reportedly has been aligned with the objectives of SLPOA, where Jeff Roorda seems to still be rearing his obnoxious head. Our readers will recall Roorda as the former business manager and racist windbag for SLPOA who is fresh from yet another electoral loss. Out of jobs to grift, Roorda still seems to be wielding what little influence remains, to the detriment of ESOP and the policies the organization used to support.
Considering the complete turnaround that has occurred within ESOP, we wonder if the membership base was aware of Ross’s alignment with SLPOA. SLPOA is, after all, the greatest opposition to ESOP being recognized as a union with bargaining power in both the City and County.
ESOP, on the other hand, has been the police union that has, for decades, focused on advancing policing reform and accountability policies to improve relations between police and the community they are sworn to serve and protect. So of course, its sudden flip and subsequent opposition to those measures are noteworthy – something is amiss. ESOP even went so far as to sue the City of St. Louis, alongside SLPOA, for adding “teeth” to the Civilian Oversight Board, policies that ESOP leadership testified in support of.
Falling for the oldest trick in the book, ESOP has been manipulated into carrying water for SLPOA’s racist publicity war against Mayor Jones for the sole benefit of the white police union. After all, what’s the point of having segregated police unions if they’re both fighting for the status quo?
Next, the EYE would like to congratulate former police lobbyist and now-failed candidate Jane Dueker for being the first woman to lose both the Democrat and Republican nominations at the same time.
We, of course, refer to the karmic double losses of Dueker, who ran as a Democrat and pulled thousands of Republican votes away from her friend, State Representative Shamed Dogan, who soundly lost the Republican nomination by around 7,200 votes. Dogan could possibly have had a decent chance at winning the seat but for Dueker’s siphoning some GOP votes but even more consequently – racism.
As Dueker tumbles into her sad spiral of irrelevance, we look to the obvious cause for Dogan’s double-digit loss to political newcomer Katherine Pinner. Pinner pulled out an unforeseen upset for the Republican nomination to the St. Louis County Executive seat, currently held by County Executive Sam Page. If you’ve never heard of Pinner, there’s likely a good reason:
Until last week Pinner had no candidate committee filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission to formalize her run, which means minimal campaigning and fundraising. Pinner further was unknown to St. Louis County Republican leaders, who reportedly still haven’t been able to get in contact with her since her victory on August 2.
Pinner comes into St. Louis County politics as a follower of Qanon, the fanatical conspiracy theory that believes high-level American politicians are engaged in a child-harvesting cabal and that the war in Ukraine is part of a plan to replace President Joe Biden with deceased former president John F. Kennedy, who is disguised as living former president Donald Trump, among many other completely nonsensical things. Pinner has written on her blog that coronavirus vaccines are a plot to “inject humans with nanotechnology to program people against their will” and compared COVID-19 quarantines to Nazi concentration camps.
So how does an unknown candidate, with no money and no campaigning and no sense, manage to upset a candidate who was all but a shoo-in for the Republican County Executive nomination?
If you forgot that you were in St. Louis, let this be your reminder:
Racism.
Shamed vs. Katherine
Pinner had the whiter-sounding name on the Republican ballot. Her victory was as simple as that. Even one of Dueker’s biggest cheerleaders, Ray Hartmann, named the reason for Dogan’s loss as racist during last week’s Donnybrook program.
If St. Louis County Republican voters are willing to forego a qualified loyal Black candidate for an unknown white woman who – as it turns out – represents the most extreme fringe beliefs in national politics, then that sounds like even County Republicans have some soul-searching to do. Let’s not hold our breath until we see how much party leaders will support Pinner’s candidacy between now and November.
