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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Thousands of people gathered in downtown St. Louis yesterday to protest an immigration bill being considered by Congress. They joined hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who also marched in opposition to the controversial measure.
The St. Louis Independent Media Center reports that more than 5,000 demonstrators assembled downtown in Kiener Plaza earlier Sunday evening. They carried flags and banners with messages like "Ningun ser humano es ilegal: No human being is illegal."
According to STLIMC and other media outlets, a wide array of speakers, including Mayor Francis Slay and Archbishop Raymond Burke, addressed the crowd and shared a message of determination for immigrant families.
Chanting "Si, se puede!" the demonstrators eventually overflowed into the street and marched to the old courthouse at the base of the Arch. The bilingual gathering ended with the pledge of allegiance and then a moment of silence for all of the victims of the current U.S. immigration system.
House Resolution 4437 would make it a felony to illegally enter the country and to aid those that attempt to.
The above photo was taken by Elizabeth Jenkins, "the artful activist." Click here to see more of her photos on Flickr.
The Springfield News-Leader is reporting that both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Missouri next week.
Bush will travel to Jefferson City on Tuesday for a brief visit to discuss the Medicare prescription drug benefit, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday.
The paper said Bush will be in the state the day after Cheney holds a fundraiser dinner for U.S. Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) on Monday at the University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Springfield.
In Martin Van Der Werf's regular "Five minutes with..." column for the Post-Dispatch, this week he sat down with Cecilia Nadal, finder of jobs and producer of international events.
Nadal is the mother of State Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-72), who is in a tough rematch primary campaign with University City councilwoman Sandi Colquitt.
Nadal narrowly defeated Colquitt two years ago by just 196 votes and after her strong but unsuccessful involvement in the attempt to unseat U-City Mayor Joe Adams, many expect her foes to make a strong push to unseat her in August.
Is a vote on religous tolerance more about GOTV in the Senate race?
By Antonio D. French
Missourinet is reporting that the State House has tentatively approved a constitutional amendment for the November ballot that would confirm rights granted under the U.S. Constitution to voluntarily pray or worship in public places, including schools.
But some people are suspicous of the timing of the bill sponsored by State Rep. Carl Bearden (R-15) and believe it is part of an effort to draw social conservatives to the polls -- people likely to vote for Sen. Jim Talent over State Auditor Claire McCaskill in the much-watched race for U.S. Senate.
Click here to listen to a report from MissouriNet.
Senate tries to make Missouri less attractive to nuclear shippers
By Antonio D. French
The State Senate approved a bill yesterday to prevent Missouri from being the preferred, low cost route for the shipment of nuclear waste.
Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons (R-15), said he sponsored the bill because a federal mandate means that Missouri will see more shipments of nuclear waste sooner than expected.
In a statement the Kirkwood senator said, "We need to act fast and get these fees in place because the Department of Energy has estimated that Missouri could be the route for as many as 20,000 nuclear waste shipments." Gibbons said. "And I don’t want Missouri to be the radioactive waste pipeline to the West."
Gibbons says because Missouri currently charges no fees, routes through Missouri are being used even though they may be less safe than other routes in order for shippers to save money.
"These fees will put an end to the incentive for shippers to choose Missouri over our neighboring states," Gibbons said.
Donna Jones was a much stronger candidate than most political observers recognized (us included);
Jones got the most votes in 7 of 10 northside wards;
The 4th and 5th Wards were the only northside wards won by Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford;
Buford and Peter Downs got the same number of votes in the 9th Ward;
Downs and Jones won every southside ward but one;
Downs got the most votes in all but two southside wards (tied in the 9th, Jones won in the 20th);
Buford and Clinkscale won the 4 central wards;
The candidate who had the most votes in the 20th Ward (Donna Jones) won with only 126 votes;
And of course what everyone is talking about: Downs and Jones easily won the 23rd Ward, the political base of Mayor Francis Slay.
UPDATE:Some other outlets are incorrectly reporting that Clinkscale and Buford won the 3rd Ward. They are also reporting that the incumbents won the 9th Ward, which is hard to say since Buford and Down tied with 252 votes each.
The two newly elected members of the St. Louis City school board were sworn in this afternoon by Judge John Riley in the Civil Courts building downtown. But the ceremony might have been a bit premature.
Officials at the St. Louis City election board have not yet certified the election. And while the outcome is not expected to change, the official results of the election that gave victory to parents Peter Downs and Donna Jones have not yet been submitted to the state.
The Board of Elections has 14 days to certify the election. Before that happens, the Board must conduct accuracy tests on the voting machines and perform internal audits. Scott Leiendecker, the Board's Republican director of elections, said they were shooting to get all of that done by Wednesday.
"But they've kind of stepped on our shoes on this one," said Leiendecker. He said today's events have upset some down at the Board and they may now take the full 14 days.
Leiendecker said he returned a call yesterday from an attorney with the school district informing him of the things that still needed to be done before the candidates were sworn in -- including filing all outstanding campaign finance reports. That information apparently did not get passed on.
Downs and Jones should expect a letter of certification from the Board of Elections sometime before April 18. Until then, they are not "officially" elected officials.
UPDATE: There will be another swearing in on April 18, before that day's school board meeting.
During the month of April, a special episode of "Green Time TV" documents efforts of the great civil rights activist Ivory Perry to confront lead poisoning. It features extensive interviews with his longtime friend Pearlie Evans and ACTION organizer Percy Green. There are also scenes from the Ivory Perry Exhibit at the Missouri Historical Society Museum.
The show "Ivory Perry: A Pioneer in the Struggle Against Lead Poisoning" airs on KDHX-TV (Channel 21 in the City of St. Louis) at the following times:
2:30 p.m., Friday, April 7, 2006; 12:30 p.m., Sat., April 8, 2006; 6:00 p.m., Sunday, April 9; 8:30 p.m., Monday, April 10; 7:00 p.m., Wed. April 12, 2006; 2:30 p.m., Friday, April 14, 2006; 12:30 p.m., Sat., April 15, 2006; 6:00 p.m., Sunday, April 16. On Thursday, April 20, a special forum will be conducted to discuss Perry and the continuing fight against lead poisoning in St. Louis. Speakers will include:
Cong. Lacy Clay; State Sen. Pat Dougherty; former Ald. Irene J. Smith; George Lipsitz, from the Black Studies Dept. of the University of California Santa Barbara; and Dr. Daniel Berg and Kathleen Logan-Smith, from Health & Environmental Justice St. Louis. Don Fitz, from the Gateway Green Alliance, will serve as moderator.
Newly-elected school board members Peter Downs and Donna Jones will be sworn-in today (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. at the Civil Courts building downtown (not the Board of Education building as earlier reported).
The Peace Action Education Fund released its new Congressional Voting Record analysis this week. Congressman Lacy Clay (D-MO) was the only member of Congress from Missouri to get a favorable mention.
"Never has it been as important for U.S. citizens to hold their representatives in Congress accountable on issues of war and peace as it has since George W. Bush launched his war against Iraq," said Executive Director Kevin Martin.
In this year's PAEF's voting record, 27 House members and no Senators earned a 100 percent rating. The Senate rating resulted from the 99-0 vote in favor of the $82 billion supplemental appropriation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Six senators did however earn an honorable mention. Clay was one of the handful of House members to also get an honorable mention. Click here to see the full list.
In the month of March, we received 24,364 visits -- a 28.6% increase over the previous month. In the last seven days, we've already received almost 8,000 visits.
In March, we got 29,128 page views. That's a 23% increase over the previous month. In the last seven days, we've already received almost 9,000.
Neither of Missouri's U.S. senators are pleased with Pres. George W. Bush's proposed guest worker program.
Rich Chrismer, a spokesman for Sen. Jim Talent, recently told the Neosho Daily News the senator does not support the legislation because "It amounts to amnesty."
"Sen. Talent believes border security is our first priority," said Chrismer.
According to the article, Talent has sponsored his own immigration legislation -- "a no nonsense bill strengthening protection of the U.S. border by, simply put, increasing funding, increasing personnel and increasing penalties."
Sen. Kit Bond also opposes Bush's plan.
"We need legislation that both strengthens our border security and does not reward illegal behavior with citizenship free of consequences," Bond said in a prepared statement. "America is a country of laws and those laws need to be respected and enforced."
The Daily News said Bond did admit, however, Congress needs to develop a plan to deal with the "reality" of immigrant workers performing hard-to-fill jobs.
Parental involvement has returned to the St. Louis City School Board. After spending nearly half a million dollars in this campaign, Mayor Francis Slay's slate of candidates has been defeated by a grassroots campaign of parents and teachers.
These are the Unofficial Final Numbers:
Darnetta Clinkscale 20.3% (8,585) James Buford 21.06% (8,918) Peter Downs 25.16% (10,653) Donna Jones 24.4% (10,330) Joe Clark 5.9% (2,504)
Also... Proposition R (to amend the Charter relating to recalls) FAILED. Other media outlets, including the Post-Dispatch and local TV news, are incorrectly reporting that it passed by a simple majority. An amendment to the City Charter needs 60% of the vote to pass.
YES - 51.33% NO - 48.67%
UPDATE 1: For the record, the supporters of Clinkscale and Buford (who spent more than $450,000) paid more than $51.42 per vote (8,751.5). If there is a legacy for Mayor Slay's three-year control of the city schools, it is that they sure knew how to overpay for things.
UPDATE 2: Officials at the Election Board are reporting a voter turnout somewhere around 11%.
UPDATE 3: Votes from four precincts have yet to be counted due to a mix-up involving electronic cards left in computer voting machines locked in one polling place. Sources say that these represent just a hundred or so votes and will not affect the results. The official final results will reflect these numbers. Expect those in two weeks.
UPDATE 4: James Buford told the St. Louis American today that he is still reeling from a defeat he did not foresee.
"There was only about 10 percent turnout. The 'angry' voted," Buford said. "There are a lot of angry people out there."
UPDATE 5:Click here to see photos from the Pre-Election Day rally for Peter Downs and Donna Jones.
Workers at the St. Louis Election Board are still counting the ballots...
NOTE: Your computer isn't broken. There is no sound to this video.
SHOUT-OUTS: Special thanks to Johnson Lancaster for working the second shift at the Election Board and feeding us these hot numbers. And special thanks also to Chris at The Gelateria on Washington Ave. for staying open later just to allow us to update the site via their Wi-Fi (because the Board of Elections doesn't have it... yet).
Darnetta Clinkscale 21.91% (1234) James Buford 23.06% (1299) Peter Downs 20.28% (1142) Donna R. Jones 20.40% (1149) Dennis McLin-Shireff 2.72% (153) McFarlane E. Duncan 2.81% (158) Joe Clark 8.82% (497)
Darnetta Clinkscale 20.33% (548) James Buford 23.90% (644) Peter Downs 17.59% (474) Donna R. Jones 18.11% (488) Dennis McLin-Shireff 3.60% (97) McFarlane E. Duncan 3.82% (103) Joe Clark 12.65% (341)
St. Louis City voters, remember to check out our Video Voter Guide for today's school board race.
U-City voters, check out our Video Voter Guide for today's mayoral election.
Polls close at 7:00 p.m. And remember:State law says that employees who do not have three consecutive hours before or after work to vote may take up to three hours of leave to vote.
The battle in the 3rd Ward over an ongoing attempt to recall Ald. Freeman Bosley, Sr. is being fought out today at the polls.
Some residents are gathering signatures on a recall petition today near at least one voting place. At the same time, poll workers hired by Bosley, are passing out fliers urging voters not to support the recall. Bosley's workers are passing those handouts out along with ones supporting the two incumbents running for the school board.
The anti-recall flier seems to actually be two fliers printed on one sheet of paper.
On one side the headline reads: "Did You Know?" It claims that the recall effort is being backed by "big money people." A disclaimer says it is paid for by "Citizens Against Recall." That committee, whose treasurer is Committeewoman Lucinda Frazier, was established in February and is registered with the state.
The second side, which tells voters "Don't Be Fooled," says it is paid for by "Citizens for Honest Government," Cheryl Lacey, chairperson.
But the only committee registered under that name with the state Ethics Commission is from Kansas City and its treasurer is named Dan Porrevecchio.
With 70% of the precincts reporting, it appears we have a winner in the "Name that Politico!" game. Louis P. Hamilton, of Vigilant Communications, correctly identified more politicos (and even a certain UPI photographer) that any other contestant.
Congratulations, Lou!
Now we're off to find you a "special prize." What do you get the man that has everything?
The St. Louis Teachers Union is putting out a sample ballot for the two SLPS parents running in today's election. Local 420's ballot features photos of Peter Downs and Donna Jones (courtesy of PUB DEF) and a long list of elected officials, organizations and community leaders that have endorsed them.
The sample ballot supporting the two incumbents is paid for by a political action committee called "People Working for Excellence in Public Education." Tom Schlafly is the treasurer of that organization.
It has no photographs of the candidates, but presents their names enlarged and circled over a list of other candidates. The circle seems to cross out the name of one of their opponents -- Peter Downs.
The handout states that Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford are "committed to supporting new Superintendent Creg Williams and his planned reform of city schools." Click here to download a photo of this ballot.
UPDATE: There is another handout appearing at polls around the city. This one is also paid for by "People Working for Excellence in Public Education." It does feature photos of the two incumbents -- plus a photo of Superintendent Williams. "The Real Team," it says.
The flier also carries a quote from an endorsement by The St. Louis American. "The community can best support the vision and competence of this energetic and able superintendent by voting for Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford," it says.
The Judiciary Committee of the Missouri House of Representatives, which last week conducted a public hearing in the State Capitol on the use of eminent domain, yesterday recommended passage of House Bill 1944 which seeks to reform its use in the state.
Click here and here to see videos from last week's hearings.
VIDEO: Union will defend any teacher that takes off work on Election Day
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, April 3 at 8:52 PM
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE
The St. Louis Teachers Union will defend any teacher that chooses to take off of work tomorrow. That's according to the group's president.
Mary Armstrong, president of Local 420, told PUB DEF today that district officials first told the teachers back in March that the start of MAP testing would be moved up to the week of April 10. Superintendent Creg Williams had expressed some concerns about the testing period for the important exams covering four weeks. He wanted it to cover just two weeks.
According to Armstrong, the date of April 10 was published on the district's website, the union's website and in the teachers' newsletter. Then a few weeks ago the district again changed the date -- to Election Day, April 4 -- and sent out notices expressly forbidding teachers from taking off during the testing period.
Armstrong said the teachers were "stabbed in the back" after negotiating in good faith with the district. She said that if any teacher that took off tomorrow for an "emergency" -- which she said is allowed even in so-called "black out" periods -- the union would defend them should the district pursue punishment.
PUB DEF editor Antonio D. French and Dave Drebes, the publisher of the Arch City Chronicle, will be guests tonight on "Collateral Damage" on KDHX 88.1 FM at 7:00. A topic to surely come up will be tomorrow's school board election.
Drebes has endorsed the incumbents Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford. PUB DEF has endorsed parents Peter Downs and Donna Jones.
Let's get ready to rumble!!!
UPDATE: The show is now available for download as a podcast. You can also listen to the 30-minute show online. Click here to go to Collateral Damage's website to get the April 3rd show.
Supporters of the two parents running in tomorrow's school board election will be gathering tonight for a pre-Election Day rally and press conference.
At 4:00 this evening, supporters of Peter Downs and Donna Jones will be meeting in front of the Board of Education building, 801 N. 11th Street. Organizers are encouraging people to wear red and white to show their support.
Click here to read PUB DEF's endorsement. Click here to download and spread the commercial.
Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brownweighed in yesterday on the high-priced attack pieces sent out by supporters of the two school board incumbents running in tomorrow's election.
"The political material circulating for Clinkscale and Buford subtly diverts attention away from what the mayor's slate has accomplished," said Brown. "Toward what newly hired superintendent Creg Williamsmight accomplish. It's another slick, high-priced public relations maneuver."
That maneuvering comes via hired gun Richard Callow and a political action committee called Educate St. Louis.
As of Sunday, Educate St. Louis had spent $220,323.52 to keep Clinkscale and Buford on the school board. That is in addition to the more than $90,000 that Buford's campaign has raised and the other $80,000 raised by Clinkscale's campaign.
In addition, a group called the "Friends of Clinkscale and Buford Political Action Committee" has also been raising cash. The PAC recently launched a website supporting the candidates.
By the end of the day tomorrow, it is likely that those supporting the two incumbents will have spent more than $22.50 per vote.
Time is running out! Get your submissions in today by 5:00. Whoever answers the most correctly wins a special prize! That winner will be announced tomorrow. Click here to play.
