Who Is Pat Herod?
Pat Herod is the guy running as a republican against Mike McMillan for License Collector. Stop laughing, I’m being serious. Yes, an unknown republican is seeking to take away McMillan’s place in line. The audacity!
The decision by existing Collector of Revenue Ron Leggett to not run again has allowed the line to move forward a single spot: current License Collector Gregg Daly moves up to Collector of Revenue and Mike McMillan makes a bigger jump from the 19th Ward to License Collector. This slow moving line includes hundreds of people in various positions, mostly as ward committee folks. No cutting in line either, everyone must dutifully wait their turn. These things we call elections are just a minor inconvenience to those who’ve staked out their place in the line.
McMillan was unchallenged in the democratic primary earlier this month but Daly was nominally challenged by a rouge democrat that failed to understand the unwritten non-compete clause in local politics. Both Daly and McMillan face opposition in November which brings me back to Patrick Herod.
After reading Herod’s passionate letter to the editor via South St. Louis City Talk I decided I needed to know more about him. After a quick search on the Missouri Ethics Commission website and I was on the phone with Mr. Herod. We talked for a good 45 minutes.
I learned many things about the man, all of which made me like him more and more. He is not a politician, a very good thing indeed. He is, however, a father, grandfather, retired Air Force officer (Major), and he holds both a Bachelor & Masters of Science from St. Louis University. I also learned this is not his first run for office, although it is his first time having his named printed on the ballot (well, typed on the screen?). Pat Herod was a write-in candidate against Virvus Jones back in the mid 1980s and apparently got more write-in votes in St. Louis history save for one person, one of the Roberts brothers. In short I felt good about democracy after talking to Herod, rather than feeling like I need to take a shower after just 5 minutes of conversation with some of our elected officials.
I’m not making an endorsement in favor of Mr. Herod (not yet anyway). I am, however, endorsing the idea of contested political races. We owe it to our democracy to give this guy our fair consideration for the position of License Collector. To that end, click here to download and read Patrick Herod’s campaign flyer.
My next phone call is to Audrey M. Ruiz-Smith, the Green candidate running for the office of Collector of Revenue.
– Steve
I believe when elections are close, the citizenry can see the true colors of the candidates. Being challenged also keeps incumbents on their toes rather than being complacent and thinking they rule by legitimacy. The fact of the matter is that when only 612 out of 7k vote, you are not in power with legitimacy. Sure, you convinced 612 people to take 10 minutes out of their day and vote, but the true telling of a candidate would be a much higher return. People might not vote as much in local elections but it is YOUR job to get them involved! Wait thats more work, or is it?
The huge amounts of money raised by incumbents is probably one of the reasons that elections are not challenged. With this money they can buy media access, and without media access, *most* elections are doomed to fail.
The position of License Collector probably would not attract 150-300 college students. Perhaps someone should start a posse.
I read that letter to the ed. in the Journal as well. I made a post on my blog yesterday refering to the sheer honesty he laid down. This may be one of my first Republican votes! But, if he’s not politically affiliated, why the Republican party choice? I assume that if he ran as a Dem, he would not have had a chance against McMillan in the primary. So, running as a Rep gets him on the ballot in November, but probably just prolongs the agony of getting killed at the poll.
Anyhow, I like a grass roots campaign. And it takes a lot of honesty to admit you only have $137.72 in your checking account.
I do not care about things like family status or military service when it comes to candidates for elected office. I want to know how Pat Herrod and Mike McMillan differ on running the license collector’s office. Can anyone tell us?
Also, Daly’s primary opponent was on the ballot because she lacked enough signatures on her petition for Independent status for general election and could not be bothered with securing the several additional signatures.
[REPLY Good point on License Collector, knowing what they plan to do. I doubt McMillan is going to go on record saying the office is a mess and he needs to step in to fix it. The times I’ve been there getting my business license it seemed OK but there were a lot of steps and a lot of people to talk to. Most anything could run smoother.
Herod’s point with me on the phone about military service is that he has shown leadership and has had many people under his supervision. That is a valid point if anyone tries to say he lacks experience.
But to your point, I agree. To be an informed electorate we need to know what the issues are and where each of the two candidates stand. If you could ask both candidates questions what would those be? Let me know and I will contact both and publish the responses. – SLP]
License Collector is one of the least utilitarian of the county offices, and was recommended for consolidation with the Collector of Revenue’s office during the last charter reform effort.
McMillan will probably learn on the job. No matter, it’s more a step up the STL political ladder than anything else.
That’s why the office is important: To provide another STL politician with a patronage base.
I’m convinced that if things were left to the politicians, they’d create more elected offices rather than fewer.
Charter reform in the City of St. Louis will never be supported by elected officials as long as the plan calls for reducing the number of elected officials.
You are saying positive things about a political candidate with a “R” after their name!?!
Wow, I imagine a number of your regular readers will not be thrilled to see that.
I however commend you for keeping your mind even.
–I love that someone has already commented to the effect that, “He couldn’t possibly be a real republican.”
I don’t care what “letter” is after the name. I don’t care if the person is a Democrat or a Republican.
I care what the candidate thinks about the issues. In St. Louis, I will vote for the urban minded candidate.
Think about this….Has the tradition, in St. Louis, of voting a straight democrat ticket helped or hurt the urban cause? Have all these democrats elected over the last 50 years been able to slow the flight from the cities?
Partisan politics is a mixed blessing. When there’s an even split (as in the US Congress), the result is extremists playing to their base in their primaries and less opportunity for bipartisan efforts after the “real” election since everyone elected is beholden to the party for any opportunity for success. When things are lopsided (as they are locally), it becomes a bit of a sham, precluding many otherwise competent-to-excellent candidates from running (or wining) simply because they’re not an active part of the system. Plus, with the primaries generating little interest in most races, the engaged minority gets to control the outcomes.
Still, party has its place. It does act as somewhat of a filter, eliminating a few folks who shouldn’t be running. I served on a low-profile, non-partisan, elected board in Denver that had become a place for some truly “interesting characters” to have a chance to have their voices heard on an ongoing basis. Running for election in hopes of destroying an institution from the inside or in hopes of furthering a narrow agenda (racial patronage) becomes a real possibility when you can “fly under the radar”.
Bottom line, there is no perfect solution. Electing the best person for the job should be the goal, but getting useful information about qualifications and agendas varies from difficult to impossible in most races. And, in state and federal bodies, the reality is that party has evolved as the only alternative to the influnce weilded by lobbyists, leaving us poor taxpayer with essentially no voice at all . . .
I truly fail to see how party lines mean ANYTHING in city elections. I despise the notion of voting for a party (local or national elections) and not the candidate themselves. It hurts us on a local level and it really hurts our country as a whole.
I agree with the “anonymous” posting above…….voting straight democrat hasn’t helped this city in any fashion for the past 50 years, so why is it continually thought to be the best option for the city? What exactly have these democrats done to make our city any better? The answer is pretty much nothing.
Vote for the candidate, not the party.
I’d like to know what Herrod’s plan is, how it differs from Mike McMillan’s 5-Point Plan on his website:
1. Aggressively increase revenue to add more city services like police, fire, better schools, building demolition and neighborhood development
2. Continue to improve the technology of the office for better service delivery
3. Streamline the paperwork to make it easier to get licenses
4. Protect the citizens of St. Louis against fraudulent, unlicensed businesses by working to ensure every business is properly licensed
5. Continue to train employees and improve the customer relations with the public
Sounds good to me.
In the case of #1, it appears there is an answer in Herrod’s flyer. His plan is to help out businesses by reducing taxes, which means reducing revenue. That is certainly a different approach to the office than current License Collector Daly or candidate McMillan. The problem with Herrod’s goal is that he filed for the wrong office. He should be running for an alderman or state legislative seat. In the event that Herrod is elected, and on his own reduces collections, the Supremes would remove him from office and Governor Blunt would appoint a successor to serve until there was a special election.
Anyone running for a patronage office thinking one of the perks is filling a lot of jobs with supporters is very much mistaken. In the case of the next License Collector, he will get to hire the Chief Deputy License Collector of his choice but is stuck with the rest of the staff. He can laterally move staff within the office and fire for cause but patronage workers cannot be canned because someone new got elected or because they don’t feel like working the polls.
The problem with getting voter approval for consolidation of the Collector offices was the inability of charter reform proponents to be practical and go with combining the offices but leaving it elected.
St. Charles County voters don’t seem too eager to get rid of electing officials. Since adoption of their charter, they’ve turned down changing the Assessor, Collector of Revenue, Recorder of Deeds, and Sheriff into appointed positions a couple of times. They made their treasurer, medical examiner and public administrator appointed positions when they first adopted the charter. They did make the Circuit Clerk appointed by their circuit judges but it’s worth noting that they continue to elect all 8 of their judges.
“Have all these democrats elected over the last 50 years been able to slow the flight from the cities?”
Yes.
[REPLY Care to back that up????? I think the decisions and policies of our officials over the last half a century have caused many of the problems we face today. Numerous books and scholars have advanced as much at great length. What can you offer to show our political system has been positive rather than negative? – SLP]
I think PublicEye’s self-absorbed bubble will burst when the 2010 census numbers are made, well, public.
Too bad the next election is before that in 2009.
“What can you offer to show our political system has been positive rather than negative?”
Three years of Census numbers.
[REPLY So the locally elected democrat monopoly is responsible for 3 years of minor gains but not responsible for 50+ plus years of substantial declines. Got anything else? – SLP]
Pop. Year Rank
772,897 1920 6th
821,960 1930
816,048 1940 8th
856,796 1950 8th
750,026 1960 10th
622,236 1970
452,804 1980
396,685 1990
348,189 2000
344,362 2005
2005 numbers from: http://mcdc2.missouri.edu/pub/webrepts/casrh05/mor2county.pdf
Currently we have about 350k, which is on the same level of our population in 1850. Horrible. Our current rank is not even in the Top 50 according to 2005 population estimates.
The various post WW2 policies taken by leadership of both parties destroyed urban America. This is readily evident to anyone who has researched the subject.
Overall, this is probably one of the worst, and most embarrassing points in St. Louis History. Sure we have downtown development, but the suburb s are invading, and our SLPS is a catastrophe.
A quick consideration regarding the census history: The 1940 thru 1960 numbers include a lot of “excessive density” due to the housing shortage resulting from the Depression and World War II. There were a lot of people living with their in-laws, and young families of four or more living in two-bedroom flats (occasionally the dining room was used for sleeping). Our population is way too low now, but citing the 1950 statistic as a goal might not be realistic.
[REPLY Dave here is the problem with your rationale: people sleeping in dining rooms, attics and basements is an issue of occupancy, not density. Our density, expressed as people per square mile, was never excessive. Not in the least. Many cities such as NYC and Hong Kong far exceed our peak populations.
The issue is number of housing units. You had post WWII baby boom at the same time you had urban renewal projects gone made — razing everything in sight for public housing and interstate highways. Had we begun building higher density around our streetcar lines in the 1940s we could have accommodated everyone. Density has never been an issue in St. Louis. – SLP]
Howard’s posting says Mcmillan has a five point plan to make the LC office work. It reads like a job description to me. Who doen’t want to streamline operations? And isn’t it the job of the License guy to ensure unlicensed businesses do not operate in the city? Same for his other points.
When elected I will strive to reduce paperwork and archaic taxes for businesses. The number of taxes and licensing requirements levied on the business owners is ridiculous. And for small businesses, who have tiny profit margins to begin with, these taxes and the accompaning reports, draw away from production time and leave mom and pop operations in a precarious position.
A complete review of all taxation needs to be done, including the infamous Earnings Tax. How will the city make up for the revenue loss? Tax reduction will encourage investment in the city. Small businesses will look more favorably on locating in a business-friendly city, one not mired in old taxation and licensing laws.
Additionally, I will NEVER give out consulting contracts for work that can or should be done in-house. This city has a lengthy history of issuing contracts (often to family/friends) for information already known! I will ensure NONE of that will occur on my watch.
As I said in my flyer, I will work my rear off for the city I love. I’m not interested in being Gov, Sen, Prez. You guys elect me and you’ll get your money’s worth plus.
Gotta feel for a guy like Herod.
Sounds decent. Even reasonable. Some darn sensible ideas.
No matter.
He’s running against the machine.
And the machine always wins.
No news there.
I have to admit, I am intrigued by Pat Herod. This city has been run into the ground (or nearly so) by the Democrats for a very long time. I would love to see Pat Herod acctually win this race, and shake things up.
Good Luck!
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