Few Surprises in St. Louis Primary
As expected, many incumbent Democrats became their party’s nominee for the April general election. Few were opposed.
In two wards, the 23rd & 25th, the incumbent did not seek re-election so we were guaranteed to see new faces in the Board of Aldermen. In the 23rd Joe Vaccaro bested six other candidates to win the primary. In the 25th Shane Cohn defeated three other candidates. In both of these wards there are no candidates from any other political parties so they will be the new Aldermen for their wards.
Cohn becomes St. Louis’ first openly gay elected official. I had hoped that would have been me four years ago. Cohn is bright and energetic and he should set a good example for others.
In the 1st Ward Incumbent Charles Troup defeated Sharon Tyus with 54% of the vote.
Blogger Antonio French will be changing titles from Committeeman to Alderman as he has defeated incumbent Bennice King in the 21st ward. King was the only incumbent defeated in the primary.
Francis Slay, as expected, won the Democratic primary for Mayor. He now faces three opponents in the April general election.
For all the results click here (PDF of results).
Updated at 1pm on 3/4/09 — headline revised from ‘No Surprises in St. Louis Primary’ to ‘Few Surprises in St. Louis Primary’
Slay wasn’t a surprise, but it’s nice to see some young blood with Shane Cohn and Antonio French (even thought I disagree with Antonio 49% of the time).
A big CONGRATULATIONS to Shane Cohn! The 25th ward is more progressive than we’re given credit for.
I didn’t know Steve Patterson is gay. As a member of a previously persecuted minority, Steve should show respect and tolerance for the free choices of other St. Louis adults when it comes to the smoking ban issue.
Bill, that’s just stupid. I’ve seen you on TV defending your argument and seem a lot smarter than that.
Late in the day, I thought Slay might be in trouble. Contested races in north city and apathy on the south side could lead to a stealth win for Irene Smith. Was Smith more of a viable candidate than I had first thought? Were my early predictions of Slay in a walk off base? Nope. Dumb me.
I’m disappointed in the results in my old ward, the 23rd. I guess there aren’t a lot of Urban Review readers in the old neighborhood.
In the two wards, the 23rd & 25th, where the incumbent did not seek re-election, the “winners” each received less than a majority, with Joe Vacarro receiving 48.78% and Shane Cohn receiving only 46.25%. This should either reinforce the argument for non-partisan races, with the top two vote-getters going to a run-off election (if no one receives more than 50%) and/or encourage a better strategy on the parts of the challengers. Sure it’s good for the ego to run and have a forum for your message, but if the “designated” successor continues to win, you really haven’t won. Divide and conquer is a classic strategy in both war and politics. With 6(!) other candidates in the 23rd opposing Joe, the odds of any one mounting a viable challenge was slim, and the results show it. And having had the chance to have conversations with 5 of them at Timothy Lutheran (while politcking for Mary) yesterday, it became apparent that the challengers were not that much different on most issues, other than having reservations about moving forward with more of the same. Bottom line, choice was good, but the machine was able to play our desire for change against us . . .
Brian,
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I think you’re really onto something. I live in the 23rd ward, and was ready to vote for Vocarro. I think a lot of us saw his early and thorough plastering of the neighborhood with signs and campaign material and got the impression that he was the most interested and involved. It wasn’t until I read all of the candidate’s responses here on Urban Review that I could really compare based on the issues (and quickly switch to Homan).
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The fact is that most people don’t have any way to really compare. Mass-mailed fliers and yard signs are no way to choose a government. Either more people need to start reading Urban Review (which would be great) or our other local publications need to get their asses in the game.
I think that the race for the 25th proved that several candidates made for a much better race and a much better ward. I’m excited for Shane and our Ward. I am also thankful for Angie Singler and her supporters who helped raise so much awareness and energy within our neighborhoods. So many more people are involved than I’ve ever seen here. It will be a load on Shane to keep everyone involved, keep us together(on both sides of Grand) and progressively work towards a cleaner, safer and more vibrant 25th. I think he can do it. Congrats, Shane.
Antonio French got 62% against and incumbent. How is that not an upset or unexpected????
Shane won? F*** yes! One ward down, only 27 more to go. Maybe we can borrow Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy and apply it to our fair little burg. We won’t win them all, but you get the ideas out there and people talking about them, and pretty soon you’ve got a revolution on your hands. Taking back our City from the authoritarians and their fellow travellers, one ward at a time. I agree with joe h with his comment regarding mass-mailings. It’s no way to run a campaign, but just having your name out there, all over the place, is sometimes all you need to do. Mr. Vaccaro and his campaign obviously knew how to play the game. Now it’s up to the 23rd ward residents to keep his feet to fire. Let him know who the real boss is: you. PT, I sincerely hope Ms. Singler and her supporters can help Mr. Cohn and the other ward residents achieve as many of our goals as possible. The same goes for Ms. Kotraba, (a Jefferson Co. girl!–loves her nabe and her City) and Mr. Reems.
Is there any reason the mayoral race wasn’t broken down by ward? Usually vote totals are listed by ward for every race, aren’t they?
I am so proud of the 25th ward electing an openly gay man. Thank you for showing us that St Louis, like other progressive cities, can look beyond the sexuality of elected officials.
I am less proud of my ward, the 23rd, for voting for Vaccaro. I met him the Friday before the election and the man could not have a straight conversation about politics. Very disappointing indeed.
Steve, I didn’t know you had run for office (I know, I have yet to read your ‘about’ page) but I honestly think that The Urban Review may be a better contribution to the STL political world than office. I wish it were required reading. Thanks for doing it.
What’s peoples take on the general election?
btw, Steve, your site is great. I get a good amount of info from it, stuff that is not reported in the Post-Disgrace. 🙁 I look forward to the day when people don’t rely on them for (mis)information. I also hope Shane Cohn takes an independent stance with regards to what is best for his area, and doesn’t take marching orders from downtown. How about pressuring making Cleveland a school again? We shall see.
Samizdat,
I can’t speak for anyone else, but you’ll certainly see me offering help to Shane and attending as many neighborhood and DT2 meetings as I can. In my experience, I’ve seen more than enough people complain, spout off and take political sides rather than pitch in and work towards solutions(or put a little labor into the neighborhood). I’m a little concerned about your overconfidence with the whole “F-yeah†mentality. The Ward elected someone new yesterday, and its great to be excited. But, as of today, nothing has really changed from where I look out my front door today. I hope you intend to spend some time being helpful…in-between your battles to apparently start a citywide revolution.
Jimmy I agree with you 100%!
“Shane Cohn receiving only 46.25%. This should either reinforce the argument for non-partisan races, with the top two vote-getters going to a run-off election (if no one receives more than 50%) and/or encourage a better strategy on the parts of the challengers.”
I’m concerned with Shane’s win. Do we have another four years of Dorothy Kirner? The pictures on Shane’s website show that she was backing him all the way. Do we really want someone running our Ward that had signs on vacant, boarded up buildings. Espcially ones that have been long running concerns and issues at our neighboorhood meetings.
He has a long list of Boards that he sits on and I have to wonder what has he accomplished on these boards? Our Ward is in distress yet he sits on the Boards that should have been helping the Ward.
When Angie decided to run she knew that the most important membership was that of the 25th Democratic Ward Club. Why did Shane not know that this membership was important? Yet when it came time for the members to vote on who they would endorse, Shane was right there trying to get votes, yet he was not a paid member of the Club.
I think it would have been a much more exciting and interesting race had it been between Angie and Shane. He definately didn’t win by a landslide. He is new to the Ward and has an alternative lifestyle. I assumed he was gay but had it been openly known, would he have received all of those votes? You have to wonder.
As a lifelong resident of the 25th Ward and a former friend of Dorothy “Dot” Kirner, I, along with a lot of others, knew it was time for a change. We need a younger more energenic person running our ward. Many of us have tried working with Dorothy and the NSO and to no avail 95% of the time they have failed us. You can get more, not much more mind you, by calling the City offices yourself and making a complaint.
When Angie decided to run she was very honest and upfront with Dorothy. Dorothy didn’t like it and after this election it shows. Her true colors have been revieled. She was not a true friend and not an honest person. Instead of embracing Angie’s energy and working with her to improve our Ward, I believe Dorothy set out to make sure Angie had competition even if it meant splitting the votes.
It’s obious from the results that Travis and Debby didn’t stand a chance so all they accomplished was splitting up the votes.
Angie should to hold her head up and stand tall because she ran a clean and honest campaign.
The fact that Shane is gay was never an issue in the campaign. That is as it should be. Shane won because he knocked on every door in the ward (many more than once) and had an amazing GOTV ground game. I can’t express how impressed I was with campaign manager Lori Lamprich and the volunteers! Getting 20 or so people out at 4:15 in the morning in the freezing cold to do door hangers?! Impressive. There were ongoing phone and canvassing contacts with targeted voters right up until the polls closed. What a professional campaign! 21st century, meet the 25th Ward. Congratulations to all for a job well done.
The 25th ward will be interesting to watch. St. Louis is heavy into politics, but as PT mentions, what we need is community changing work on the ground.
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If elected officials can help bring investment, good property management, new businesses, and cleaner, safer streets to our wards and the city as a whole, then they deserve our unending love and admiration.
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Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all the people who ran and lost. May we all work together to make our city better!
Wow, where to start. First, Lisa, lay off Dorothy! She did not back anyone in the race. Dorothy is a sweet lady who does not hold grudges. Sure, she needed to go, but don’t trash her. Second, DT2 has generated more positive publicity for Dutchtown in the last 3 years than any other business association or neighborhood group EVER did. A Day in the Life Photo Contest, Deck the Street, Blues and BunFest,…not to mention the lights in the business district and now the streetscape project. What did Shane do? Well first of all he showed up. Then he volunteered to write the bylaws. Finally he accepted an invitation to sit on the Board. Lisa – what you don’t understand is that you have to participate to get things done. If you want something for you neighborhood, show up or we don’t even know you exist. Third, Shane won by running a professional campaign with lots of newer, progressive residents and us old timers all working together. (See previous post) Fourth, Dorothy wanted to run again and getting her to realize it was not a good idea was a delicate situation that was handled as well as it could have been by people who had been working with her in the community for years. You can’t just show up and say I want your job. Fifth, Travis ran because thats what Travis does. And rumor has it that Wessels put Kotraba up to running. So do yourself a favor and stop all the whining and accusations. We have a lot of work to do.
A lot of work is right. I’d like to hear what the plan is for the first 100 days of the Cohn administration. Getting people involved doing stuff on the ground would be a good start. Spring is here. People are getting ready to work outside.
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The 25th ward is a great, historic area. Lots of brick. What can be done with all that brick to build a great neighborhood? The 25th ward holds the promise of the whole city. We all have a stake in how things progress there. How can regular people help Shane strengthen the ward?
Dumb me – you don’t sound very dumb. We have 3 BIG things to do within my area. We have a huge vacant lot that was “this close” to having new development before the bottom fell out of the housing market. There has been talk of a community garden, a dog park, etc. at Virginia, Alabama and Liberty (VAL) Any ideas on what to do with the land while we wait out the economy? Any volunteers?
The old Virginia tavern at Virginia and Itaska has been a huge eyesore for years. It would be great to finally get that property and make it a nice English style pub. Anybody with some extra time and lots of money and a great fish & chip recipe?
And the old theater (the domed building) on Virginia. I hear it may be on the block cheap. Music venue? Community theater? It sure is a classic. Any ideas for that?
^25thProgressive, if you are serious about starting a community garden in your neighborhood, contact Gateway Greening. Great people, great org.
“Do-Nothing-Dorothy” is her name and how her legacy should be.
First of all, thanks to 25thProgressive for the kind words. We worked our butts off, and it paid.
I just have to speak up and defend myself and Shane, though, when I see some of these comments.
To respond to some specific things mentioned here:
Shane never denied that he was gay, so to say that he might have lost some votes if more people knew is just offensive.
Second of all, we had no help at all from Dorothy Kirner, and she definitely wasn’t backing us all the way. Photos on our website were mentioned, and I can only assume that Lisa simply confused one elderly lady for another. There were indeed photos on our page of Shane with his lovely neighbor across the street, Rose Tracey, but there were no photos with Dorothy.
Lastly, we did not put up yard signs in front of any vacant buildings or problem properties. Each of those signs that you saw, represented voters that supported Shane. In fact, if you look at our finance reports you’ll see that those things aren’t cheap and so we wouldn’t waste any on empty lots when we had more requests for them, from voters, than we could handle.
The fact is, we ran a tough field operation. I’ve always felt very strongly that the candidate who makes the most face-to-face contact with the most voters is the winner. And that’s what happened this time. Shane didn’t just go to meetings and shake hands. I had him and teams of volunteers going door-to-door every weekend starting on January 3. We went out for 3 hours every Saturday and every Sunday from then until Election Day. Shane also went canvassing a few hours each weekday. He spent close to 200 hours talking to voters at their doors. We also did a few phone banks (all live calls with volunteers, no robo-calls from us), and we held several coffee parties and meet-and-greets in the homes of supporters. Fact is, I’m a more of a field person, when it comes to campaigning, and that’s what I focused on. We knocked on every door in the ward, we identified support, tracked it in a database and had an aggressive GOTV plan. That is how we won. Voter contact and a dedicated candidate, staff and volunteers to see that plan though.
I worked hard for Shane because I believe in him, and he is going to do great things for this ward. Just give him a chance before you start complaining. He really is a good guy, I promise.
Lori Lamprich
Campaign Manager
Citizens for Shane Cohn
Lori thank you for your well thought out response here, but more importantly for your hard work and dedication to Shane’s campaign. You deserve a great deal of praise! You put together a thorough plan that put Shane on the road to victory and the 25th ward on a road towards positive change.
Also, in regards to signs, we did have several signs STOLEN out of supporters yards. And we were alerted to signs showing up in the yards of vacant and/or problem properties. We did, when we knew of those situations, remove the signs immediately. That’s not to say that signs didn’t show up in places without our knowledge that may have remained.
I am confused, what again is the point of the 25th Ward Democrat Club if the Committee people ignore who the club endorses and works for the other candidate…even making out sample ballots and confusing people at the poll who was endorsed? That seems odd.
And Committeewoman Maggie Lampe’s unprofessional behavior during this campaign with the name calling and voice raising should not go ignored. Neither should these negative robo calls…will the Democratic leaders and new Alderman help to find the source of these calls? Or will they just sit back and benefit from the harm that they did?
Committee people are elected by democrats in the ward to endorse and support the democratic candidates they believe will best represent the democratic constituents in the ward. Committee people are elected in the August Democratic Primary preceding the presidential primary by those choosing to vote the ticket. Committee people are not elected solely by “the club” nor are we bound to support the candidate endorsed by the club. Why? Because “the club” may not accurately represent all the democrats who live in the ward. Club members are not elected so there is no way for ward democrats who are not club members to hold members accountable for whom they endorse. Hence the committee persons autonomy from the ward club.
Committee people from the same ward are not even bound to support the same candidate as each other. In some wards there are multiple democratic clubs which may be aligned with either the committeeman or committeewoman and some clubs (because they are just that, clubs) are completely separate from their committee people and may align with only their alderman or another democratic party official.
Committee people may use a ward club’s endorsement as a barometer to determine which candidate they are going to personally endorse and support. But to use the club as a barometer one has to feel that it is an accurate representation. In this case, I did not feel that the ward club endorsement accurately reflected the full ward sentiment and so chose to depart from the club in my endorsement.
But Maggie, you chose to endorse Shane and publicized it on his website even before the Club voted on who they wanted to endorse. So if committee people are “autonomous” from the club, why do they lead the club meetings? Shouldn’t the President of the Club do that? And why do the committee people spend the clubs money without getting the club’s input?
^ Wow. As I said in an earlier post, St. Louis is heavy into politics. What is needed is work on the ground! Clubs, endorsements, committeeman, committeewoman…I think I am going to scream!
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What about the first 100 days? What about getting more people working on the ground level? House to house. Block to block. Jefferson/Broadway to Gravois. Meramec to Bates. The election is over. Now what? The 25th ward needs a lot of work. Let’s put the politics behind us and the neighborhood work in front of us. Dumb me.
confused – I did endorse Shane before the club’s endorsement meeting. To me the barometer was already broken long before then. Whether you are a person who believes stacking a vote is just part of the political process or a person who believes its wrong when one candidate stacks a club vote it is still stacked and therefore no longer a gauge to determine overall ward democratic sentiment.
As for the ward club’s money, you may want to spend some time understanding where the bulk of club money comes from, it’s certainly not the $6 membership dues. The bulk of the club’s money comes through the committee people from the St. Louis City Central Democratic Committee. Money is received based on the endorsements and work we put into campaigns whether they are candidate or ballot initiatives. In split wards the committeeman and committeewoman will each choose the political club or organization they would like their portion to go to. So it is through mine and Norm’s choosing that the 25th Ward Regular Democratic Club be the benefactor of those funds.
Had our regular club members, before the ward was stacked, chosen to endorse Angie Singler I would have had much less proprietary feelings over Angie receiving ward money because those are the people who year after year have worked for the ward club on and up to election day. They have stood out in the cold, rain, snow and brutal heat to work on behalf of democrats in the 25th ward. This was not the case in this election, hence my strong reaction to the motion on the floor of our stacked ward club meeting that Angie Singler receive the same monetary support as Dorothy Kirner did 4 years ago. In my opinion, Dorothy deserved money from the club because as committeewoman and a long time club member she brought in far more $ in to the club than she ever received back as a candidate and worked a lot of years supporting the club and the democratic party. Plus the regular ward club members supported her candidacy at that time.
I have never seen Angie Singler or any of her supporters work an election on behalf of the club, even when asked to help with the Obama election this past November.
Now, having said all that (sorry for the long post) I would like to respond to another comment.
dumb me – I agree that it’s time to move on and talk about what needs to be done. We definitely have our fair share of challenges to overcome. But I will also say that (having been on this side before) when your candidate loses there is a healing process. I don’t know if you’ve worked on a campaign before, but they are draining and when you’ve put your heart and soul into something it is difficult to just say “oh o.k. we lost now what”. Hopefully those who worked so hard on Angie Singler’s campaign will move on and work with our new alderman but there is a healing process that has to take place.
At the end of election day very cordial words were shared between Angie and Shane both recognizing each others hard work and dedication to the race. I too commended Angie for her efforts. She did indeed work very hard. I told Shane early in this race “there’s a chance you won’t win this race, so work hard because the last thing you want is to lose and have regrets because you didn’t give it your all”. From my point of view Angie worked very hard and I believe gave it her all. It may not have worked out for her in the end, but she, and those who worked diligently on her campaign, deserve nothing but a pat on the back for their A+ effort.
It will be good when the healing is done so the work on the ground can begin. Politics, personalities, gay, straight, committee money, Obama…none of those things matter much to the person with a boarded up foreclosure next door, lousy property management run amok, trash piling up in gutters and tree branches, dead trees, weeds, apathy, and on and on.
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Angie Singler and Shane Cohn were the two main contenders in this race. They obviously have the most active followers. Getting someone elected is important. Getting the neighborhood going in the right direction is more important.
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Alderman can only do so much. The real challenge is getting everyone else to do the thankless, permanent neighborhood work. There’s no glory in that, just the satisfaction of a having prettier block, healthier trees and landscaping, less trash, an improved sense of community, better maintained buildings, stronger demand for real estate.
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Maybe Cohn and Singler can do an Obama/Clinton, bury the hatchet, and pull everyone together to work in the neighborhood.
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A handful of volunteers is not enough. We need an army.
“Dumb me”, I suggest you get off the internet and get out in the streets. It is indeed a beautiful day, and it doesn’t take an alderman to take a walk down your own street, grab your neighbors and organize a cleanup. Or better yet, give Shane a call at 314-504-1226 and ask how you can help. Also, you can go to http://myward25.com/ and volunteer. Or email him at Shane@myward25.com.
Thanks for that. Good idea. And it’s well in play. The discussion here is about elected officials, leadership, and neighborhood priorities.
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Let’s keep the focus on our system of community based solutions. Or let’s say, let’s look at focused, community based solutions, and those are led by aldermen.
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We understand that alderman control the flow of public resources at the ward level. What should we be looking for in the 25th ward from the new regime?
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Will things change? How? Yes, Cohn isn’t even sworn in yet. But just as in the transition from Bush to Obama, everyone is now looking forward to Cohn’s administration and plans.
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From reading the posts in this thread, it sounds like there are a lot of readers close to Alderman-elect Cohn. What should the community expect to see when he takes office?
And what about these negative attack robo calls? Why is that still being ignored? Someone needs to be held accountable for those illegal phone calls that likely had an effect in such a close race between Shane and Angie. I wonder what the outcome had Shane and Angie had a runoff to see who gets over 50% of the vote without the spoiler effect of Kotraba and Reems.
It will be interesting to see when this thread dies down how much is weighted to 25th ward political intrigue versus 25th ward neighborhood improvement. So far, political intrigue is way ahead.
A few thoughts on the 25th ward race:
1 – The race is over. No matter what side you’re on…this will not change. The sooner you realize this the better. This isn’t meant to be mean. Its a fact, and if you don’t get over it, the ward will suffer. Really.
2 – The Robo calls were stupid, but they happened…and now they’re over too. Perhaps, if you’re really upset about them, you should call the Attorney General or the new alderman and voice the facts and your displeasure, with little expectation for results. No one can turn back time and make these things not happen in the past. and, no matter what you think, Shane will probably not resign(or ask for a run-off) because you think he might feel bad about what happened in the race. Neither would any of the other candidates had they won.
3 – Alderwoman Kirner is a very nice lady….maybe a bit “out there,” but nice. How about showing some respect for the good things that she did, forget about the the bad things she did, and be glad that she isn’t the Alderwoman any more. Be done with it. Maybe even drop off a nice note to thank her for, at least, the good intentions that she had for the ward. She tried as best she could.
4 – Remember when all you wanted was someone who cared about our ward and was willing to work hard for it? Someone smart, energetic, enthusiastic and someone who will work for the ward through common sense and community involvement? Both Angie and Shane provided those possibilities, but, in the end, Shane won. …and if you think about it, you won too. Some people are acting as though we now have someone worse than before…are you kidding me? Really, think about the ward as it stood one year ago today, and our possibilities going forward…are you still all pissed? You shouldn’t be.
5 – This ward needs help. now. You need to get involved NOW! If you don’t like the democratic committee(or any other group in the area) and the decisions they make, then go to all of their meetings listen for a while and then work for change. Complaining to the committeewoman on this blog will do very little to change your neighborhood for the better. The web is just not that interactive yet.
6 – The ward needs help now! Get involved. Stop yelling at the people who care…and start yelling at the people who DON’T CARE!! If you yell at anyone, it should be at the neighbor who doesn’t cut his grass, or the person who drops trash out of the window of his car, or the guy throwing trash in the “yard waste” dumpster, or the family with the dog who barks all night, or the person who leaves their teenage kids at home all day with nothing to do but play(loudly) their radio/tv, etc, or the neighbor with the broken/run down fence, or…you get the idea.
7 – The ward needs help now! Tell everyone around you that the time for complaints is yesterday, the time for action is now.
8 – …and lead by example. Clean up your own yard!! Plant flowers, mulch around your trees, or plant a tree. Clean up the trash on the street and in your yard, paint your front door(or whole house!), help your neighbor repair his fence, sweep the alley and clean up around the dumpsters. Call the CSB for every item you can think of, this week!! Call your NSO and tell her to “get to work!” Buy a duplex, clean it up and rent it out for a profit. Go visit that new Puerto Rican place on Grand for dinner and dessert. Check out Urban Eats for lunch. Hit up The Ugly Fish for Sunday breakfast. Wave to your neighbors when they drive by. Introduce yourself to the occupants of the 5 houses that surround yours. I dare you.
9 – Call Shane today and tell him what you want to see in the next 100 days and ask how you can help make it happen. I double dog dare you.
10 – Be proud that you live in an a ward that is about to go thru a major transformation for the better…because we’ve finally decided that we’ve had enough. Triple dog.
Paging Dr. Middle Ground – that’s the best comment I think I have ever read on a blog, period. Thanks for the perspective!
Alderman Dorthy Kirner’s ineptness was one of the major causes for the decline in the Ward over the past 5 years…so you are right….we should all be thankful and send her a note saying thank you for quitting before you got voted out 🙂
What about the 21st ward? What should be done to make progress in the heart of North City?
What should be done with the 3rd ward? We have 30 years with
the current Alderman. Lets give the voters the chance to vote
on term limits. We can vote on everything else. We are in need of some fresh blood. Help Save our community.
Bosley keeps getting elected because people like him.