Get Involved in St. Louis — Run for Elective Office!

Now is the time to plan running for elective office in the City of St. Louis. Continuing with my series trying to drum up good candidates for the upcoming elections here is some additional information that you won’t easily find on any website be it the Board of Elections, politically inclined independent newspapers or a local political party. All these sources, no matter how progressive they may purport to be, favor the status quo of over the common person (that would be you and I) not knowing how to run for office.

I’ve had the benefit and pleasure of running for elective office after seeking the Democratic nomination in the March 2005 primary for Alderman in the 25th Ward. After just two short months from filing to election I didn’t do too bad, receiving 44.1% of the vote in a two-way race with an incumbent that outspent me roughly 5 to 1. More time and more money may have tipped the scale. What I didn’t have was the benefit of planning a good 5-6 months in advance, nor did I have this type of information at my fingertips when I started.

I believe our main elected body, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, is stagnant. They have been in office many years and are not energized to seek new ideas. Challenging them in the political arena will accomplish a couple of things. First, if they are challenged it will make them work for the job. Second it will be an opportunity to bring up issues such as the need for new zoning codes that will promote good urban design and remove some of the politics out of the development process. And finally it is an opportunity to get someone new in office that will bring a fresh perspective and new energy to the position. Tried and true is not getting us where we need to be.

Ok, enough lecturing —- you get the picture. The following is more information including dates to help plan your campaign.

Important Dates for upcoming elections — filing begins in November!

•Wednesday, October 11, 2006 — Deadline to register to vote in November election.
•Tuesday, November 7, 2006 —- Election Day (I will be in Chicago and must vote by absentee for the first time ever).
•Monday, November 27, 2006 — Filing opens at 8am for Spring 2007 elections (even numbered wards, some city-wide offices — I don’t have the full list at this time)
•Friday, January 5, 2007 — Last day to file for Spring 2007 Elections
• Thursday, January 25, 2007 — 40 Day Before Election Report due (for period through 1/20/07), except those running as an independent.
• Monday, February 16, 2007 — Last day to submit signatures to run as an independent candidate for April general election.
• Monday, February 26, 2007 — 8 Day Before Election Report due (for period from 1/21/07 – 2/22/07), except for those running as an independent.
•Tuesday, March 6, 2007 — Municipal Primary election
• Tuesday, April 3, 2007 — Municipal General election

Running as a party candidate (Republican, Green, Democrat…):

•Filing fee is 1% of the annual salary for the job. To run for the Board of Aldermen you’d pay roughly $327 (I think the total taxable income is $32,700/year). This can and should be paid from your campaign treasury.
• You do not need the approval of a party’s central committee to file and seek office.
• Filing starts at 8am on November 27th. Most likely candidates will have had someone waiting in line to hold their place before filing opens. This is so they can assure their name is on the top of the ballot, above any possible challengers.

Running as an independent candidate:

•You must collect signatures equal to 10% of the registered voters in your ward (or 10% of city if running for a city-wide partisan office). So, if your ward had 7,000 registered voters as of April 2005 (the last mayoral election) you’d need 700 valid signatures.
• These would need to be turned in by the 8th Monday prior to the April general election. I believe this would be February 16, 2007 if they counted the dates back the same way I did. Ideally these would be submitted earlier although you can run as an independent after filing has closed for those seeking a party nomination.
•Working the polls on November 7th would be an ideal way to collect the necessary signatures as well as starting to campaign. I will try to put together an editable PDF form that could be used for such purpose. Email me privately if you are interested in running as an independent.

• Independent candidates must file election reports as well, see the Missouri Ethics Commission calendar for dates related to the April 3, 2007 election date.

For the purposes of this post I’m not going to get into city-wide offices such as the President of the Board of Aldermen or the Circuit Clerk. Here are the fourteen seats on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen that are up for re-election (name/party/ward/years served as of election/# terms as of election/campaign fund):

• Fred Heitert; R-12th Ward: 28 years (7 terms); Campaign fund unknown, files “limited activity” reports
• Terry Kennedy, D-18th Ward: 18 years (4.5 terms); $385 as of last specific report (2003).
• Stephen Conway, D-8th Ward: 16+ years (4 terms); Less than $4K
• Stephen Gregali, D-14th Ward: 12 years (3 terms); $12,500 in 2003, limited activity since
• Craig Schmid; D-20th Ward: 12 years (3 terms); $4,7000 in 2003, limited activity since
• Lyda Krewson, D-28th Ward: 9 years (2+ terms); nearly $19K on hand
• Lewis E. Reed, D-6th Ward: 8 years (2 terms); $356 on hand, $5K in debt.
• Dionne Flowers, D-2nd Ward: 8 years (2 terms); Campaign reports due in April & July not yet filed!!!!
• Joseph Vollmer, D-10th Ward: 4 years (1 term); $13K on hand.
• Jeffrey Boyd, D-22nd Ward: 4 years (1 term); $28K on hand.
• Frank Williamson, D-26th Ward: 4 years (1 term); $13K on hand.
• Donna Baringer; D-16th Ward: 4 years (1 term); $14K on hand.
• O.L. Shelton, D-4th Ward; since June 10, 2005; No campaign committee as of July 06!
• William Waterhouse, D-24th Ward: since December 16, 2005; $2,500 on hand

A new round of quarterly reports will be due in the middle of next month so we will see who has kicked into campaign mode and who has not. Many of these have not really had to campaign in years, if at all. Some have a pretty substantial campaign treasury but that should not discourage anyone from running, it will simply make your campaign have to work harder and smarter.

I believe 8 of the 14 have been in office long enough, with at least two terms (8 years). There are people born since Heitert was first elected that are now old enough to run for the office themselves!!! But, as others will certainly indicate, if the voters think they are doing a good job they have the right to re-elect them. My feeling is we as engaged citizens need to step up and run for office and actually give voters a choice. It would be wonderful to see a couple of Democrats, a couple of Republicans, a couple Greens and an independent or so in each of the 14 wards. Of course, that ain’t gonna happen but one can dream.

For additional resources see my post titled How to Run for Local Office.