St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition

My holiday reading has started with UMSL Professor Lana Stein’s 2002 book, St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition.   I’ve only just started reading the book so this is not a review, more of a teaser.

Dr. Stein was a guest speaker this Fall in one of my graduate classes at SLU and realized this would be a great way for me to get caught up on all those people and events that not being a native I would not know.  Dr. Stein, by the way, is not a native either — she moved to St. Louis in 1987.

From the book’s preface:

The roots of today’s system began in 1876 with the city’s divorce from its county and in its 1914 charter. Unlike a number of other cities, St. Louis failed to centralize either its government or its political function. It has practiced factional, ward-based machine politics for better than a century, and its political culture reflects the individual ward system and a distrust of any concentration of power. Although there have been bursts of leadership, the city has continued with a complacency and a lack of confidence. Changes to the system have not altered the fundamental modus operandi.

Ouch, that doesn’t sound too promising does it?  The book promises to enlighten the reader on our political history not from the city’s founding but from 1876 when we split from the county.   Here is one more teaser from the introduction:

Many newcomers to St. Louis look askance at the city’s political life, which may seem somewhat archaic to them.  St. Louis politics clearly hearken back to an earlier era in American history.  The city’s elections are partisan, a large number of offices need filling, and twenty-eight ward organizations serve as the focal point of campaigning, the source of endorsements, and the base of the city’s patronage employment.  Jobs still are provided in exchange for political support.  Power is fragmented, and ward-based factionalism remains a hallmark of the system.

Keep this archaic factionalism in mind this election cycle as candidates promise to change St. Louis for the better and as the 6th Ward organization attempts to locate their by-laws.