Usually the mayoral election (in March) is pretty quiet until after the November elections. But here are a few tidbits:

The Slay campaign rolled out a couple of announcements on his website, Mayorslay.com. 

Whispers expect another big quarter from Slay when it's filed next week.

And the latest names mentioned as possible opponents are Eric Vickers and Irene Smith.

Joan Barry, running in Harry Kennedy’s seat against Rep. Jim Lembke, released her quarter. She raised $142,170, spent about the same amount, $137,966 and finished with $213,220.  Major expenses included mail (about $75k) and TV time (about $45k). That’s a good report. Most of the money was spent on voter contact and she’s still in good cash position with a month left.

Democrats have moved to a more vocally optimistic posture on this seat in the last month. While it’s not “safe,” they clearly expect a Hold.

In an email to friends and family:

Wells Fargo said early Friday that it would merge with Wachovia — including the troubled Charlotte bank’s banking operations — in a $15.1 billion all-stock merger.

The announcement comes only four days after Citigroup agreed to buy Wachovia’s banking operations for about $1 a share, at the government’s behest and with a guarantee to absorb most of the losses on Wachovia’s massive loan portfolio. That deal, which Wachovia now appears to be spurning, would have left the Charlotte bank with only its securities and retail brokerage businesses.

The Sarah Sisters will be officially unveiled on Thursday, October 2^nd.  Go to www.SarahSisters.com to sign the pledge.  The web site is being constructed and updated, and founders will be seeking suggestions for a nationally recognized Democrat woman office holder who has demonstrated the same courageous characteristics to be the Democrat image of the 'sisterhood'.  "This is about courage and leadership, not about party or ideology," added Cunningham.  The organization is open to women holding any publicly elected office in the United States.  Cunningham and Wang will be at the Sarah Palin rally at Chaifetz Arena on Thursday to help spread the news about the launch.

Senate Candidates Eric Schmitt and Rep. Jim Lembke will be joined by Rep. Walt Bivins tomorrow for a public forum with energy experts to help develop an energy plan for Missouri.

The three officials will be joined by experts in the areas of natural gas, wind, nuclear energy, bio-fuels and clean coal technology.

The event will begin at 8 a.m., Tuesday, September 30, 6921 South Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis.

Shows him leading by 1% over Peter Kinder.

Quite a different view than the Post-Dispatch poll which showed him trailing Kinder by 16.

Neither Rodney Hubbard nor Robin Wright-Jones have filed 30 Day After reports.

From MayorSlay.com: Sending and receiving emails reliably; searching and using the Internet quickly; safely sharing documents; having an up-to-date, useful, and accessible website – these are all things that mostly eluded City government until just a few years ago. Following a partial reorganization of the technology department and a government-wide emphasis on new technologies, it has – by most accounts – become easier recently to do those things at City Hall. Part of the credit belongs to the City’s IT department; part belongs to increasingly sophisticated City government users who have demanded more effective Internet tools.

But, even as the City’s technology has gotten smarter, not all of the City’s technology workers seem to have followed suit. Squabbling ex-partners at the City’s former technology consultants have alleged bad behavior by themselves and by some of the City’s employees.

How dumb – or bad — was this? A performance/financial audit and an investigation will tell.

For now, disciplinary proceedings regarding IT director Mike Wise have been started and he has been asked not to report to work pending the outcome of those proceedings. The disciplinary system doesn’t require any special technology; I expect it to work quickly.

Rumor has it that former state representative John Bowman will be walking the halls again soon, as the chief of staff for incoming Sen. Robin Wright Jones.  Bowman had a hand in the field operations that lifted Jones over Rep. Rodney Hubbard in Senate 5. Though Bowman is a savvy political mind, he does bring the baggage of having pled guilty to bribery earlier this year.

This morning Peter Kinder and John Cross held a joint press conference (they’ll repeat the exercise again tomorrow in St. Louis) announcing that the state has agreed to pay a previously-disputed $4.75 million to probation and parole officers.

Kinder is participating in the press conferences in his role as acting governor (Matt Blunt is in Kosovo?), so we’re talking official state business here. Still, the twosome is raising some eyebrows as they’re an unlikely pairing – a top Republican in the middle of a re-election campaign, a top official with SEIU, a union normally backing Democrats.

Days after Democrat Debbie Cook told the P-D that she really didn't want to win, David Malan has qualified for the the November ballot as an independent in House District 19. The incumbent is Cynthia Davis.

Malan, a retired architect, writes that he "believes who we elect is not as important as what we do in our cities, states and nation, and that the key ingredient needed to tug our political decision-making system into the 21st Century is a convenient but controlled way for We The People to modify or override most legislative decisions.  To test this idea, if elected, Malan proposes to announce how he plans to vote on most major bills.  But if enough constituents disagree by the time a bill reaches its final vote, Malan says he will vote the people's way."

Colleen Bridges has a website up indicating that she is running for alderman in ward 23.

Previously we mentioned that Joe Vaccaro had started a campaign committee for alderman as well.

Looks like a nice primary is shaping up there this spring.

No word on whether the incumbent Kathleen Hanrahan is running for re-election.

Eric Schmitt, the Republican nominee in Senate 15 (Gibbons is termed and running for AG) announced endorsements from both ends of the labor-business spectrum.

In today's press release he touts endorsements from: Missouri Laborers International Union, Missouri Carpenters District Council of St. Louis, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Missouri, National Federation of Independent Business, and Missouri Council of School Administrators, IAFF Local 2665 and the Missouri State Council of Fire Fighters.

Charles Kindleberger, economist and father to St. Louis' Chuck Kindleberger, was mentioned in today's Wall Street Journal editorial.

Chuck Kindleberger was a planner with the City for thirty years.

Neal St. Onge’s 30 Day Report has raised eye-brows of a couple of St. Louis County Republicans.

These folks are wondering where all the mail went. Most people following the senate race only saw two pieces of mail from St. Onge, yet he clearly according to his last campaign finance filing, he paid for more:

Brewers – printing and postage - $23,533

USPS – postage - $14,883

KAMA – mailing - $8,674

KAMA – mailing - $1,726

KAMA – mailing - $34,119

USPS – postage - $59,535

Total: $142,470

The usual rule of thumb is that a senate district mailing cost about $15,000 start to finish. Even if he was using an expanded universe of voters, there should have been postcards and mailers littering the district.

Best regards,

Margaret Donnelly

Since I've been driving all over the state this week, I though I'd share a few excerpts from a book I recently read, Traffic.

• We do draw a lot of information from bumper stickers.  The point was demonstrated in 1969 at California State College, a place marked by violent clashes between the Black Panther Party and the police. In the trial, fifteen subjects of varying appearance and type of car affixed a bright BLACK PANTHER sticker to their auto’s rear bumper. No one in the group had received traffic violations in the past year. After two weeks with the bumper sticker, the group has been given thirty-three citations.

• What is meant to be the “forgiving road,” argues [professor of urban planning Eric] Dumbaugh, becomes “the permissive road.” Safety features meant to reduce the consequences of driver error encourage drivers to drive in a way requiring those generous safety provisions.

• This raises the interesting, if seemingly outlandish, question of why car drivers, virtually alone among users of wheeled transportation, do not wear helmets.  Yes, cars do provide a nice metal cocoon with inflatable cushions.  But in Australia, for example, head injuries among car occupants, according to research by the Federal Office of Road Safety, make up half the country’s traffic-injury costs.  Helmets, cheaper and more reliable than side-impact air bags, would reduce injuries and cut fatalities by some 25 percent.

 And since it's 9-11

• Grimly tally the number of people who have been killed by terrorism in the United States since the State Department began keeping records in the 1960s, and you’ll get a total of less than 5,000 – roughly the same number, it has been pointed out, as those who have been struck by lightning.  But each year, with some fluctuation, the number of people killed in car crashes in the United States tops 40,000.

Here's their press release following the recount:

* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *

September 9, 2008

Trout Confirmed Primary Winner
Recount of primary over, and James Trout
will be the Democrat’s candidate for the 15th state senate seat

St. Louis County has completed its recount of last month’s primary contest for the Missouri state senate’s 15th district, and James Trout has been declared the official winner. The vote recount request by Steve Eagleton’s campaign only changed the vote by one – in Trout’s favor.

“I’m honored to be the nominee for state senate, and I look forward to Steve’s support,” Trout said. “He and his volunteers worked hard, and I look forward to their help in the final leg of this important campaign.”

Trout, with the full support of the State’s Democratic Party as well as local organizations, wasted no time in launching a general election campaign within a day of the primary, and the campaign has already been running full steam for weeks. Sean Barry, who successfully managed Steve Brown to a primary victory in the 73rd district state representative contest, has been named his campaign manager.

“I'm anxious to begin the work of meeting with voters, listening to their concerns, and building on my ideas of how we can turn this state around,” Trout said. “I believe we’ll do it by making our community more attractive to businesses, addressing the need for health care for our neighbors, and making our area schools even better.”

James Trout is a father, design/build consultant, and community leader. Currently he is directing the first major “green” housing project in the Midwest, which includes 100% geothermal-fueled heating and cooling and a two-thirds reduction in their carbon footprint. He has proven success in collaborating on strategic planning with new businesses. From neighborhoods to private-public partnerships, Trout has built coalitions that make projects succeed. He’s crafted improvements to Missouri’s first eminent domain law, and successfully fought for campaign finance reform in the courts. For more information, see www.votetrout.com.

 

Not that Don Suggs and Francis Slay are talking a lot now-a-days, but here's yesterday's editorial.

Given the awkward governance structure of the city’s police department, there is little public pressure that can be applied on the governor-appointed commissioners. City voters did not elect them - the majority of them did not even vote to elect the governor who appointed these commissioners. However, Police Commissioner Slay is directly accountable to the public. And the public should be telling Slay: Unless you know a great deal more than we know about where corruption starts and stops in the leadership of the police department, then you should prepare yourself to work with your interim police chief while your Jefferson City lobbyist pressures state legislators to reform the woefully flawed governance structure of the St. Louis Metropolitan Department.

With License Collector Mike McMillan casting off talk of a mayoral run (in 2009), the latest rumor is that Sen. Maida Coleman, who's term limited in her current office, is considering throwing her hat in the ring.

Coleman had previously eyed the License Collector position before McMillan's candidacy scuttled those plans.

This polling memo has been circulating among donors and supporters of Rep. Sam Page, running for Lt. Gov. against Peter Kinder.

It shows a difficult environment for Republicans and Page within striking range of Kinder.

In Gentry Trotter's column in the Whirl this week, he ends with this bit: Last week, we heard that Mayor St. Francis was furious that Mike McMillan maybe running against him, after making a promise that he wouldn't? This is America - Mr. Mayor - freedom of choice is still what's happening.

All true, part true, untrue?  Who knows? But fun to read, which it the point of his column.