The mayor's money machine II: how Mayor Francis Slay paid back his contributors by cheating voters.Mayor Francis Slay has a half-million-dollar reason for working hand-in-glove with the 17 millionaire owners of the St. Louis Cardinals For the National Football League team that played in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, see .The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. to get taxpayer funding for a new Cardinal ballpark. He is paying off his campaign contributors. A study by the Coalition Against Public Funding For Stadiums of Mayor Slay's 2001 campaign finance report shows that the Cardinals and their allies contributed $507,000 to Slay. This was 28 percent of his total $1.8 million campaign expense. The 2002 session of the Missouri Legislature killed the Cardinal effort to obtain $430 million in taxpayer funding over 30 years for a new ballpark. In this campaign, Slay was a leader in raising the fear, and making the threat, that the Cardinals would leave downtown St. Louis Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment and the anchor of the St. Louis Metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Interstate 64 to the south, Jefferson Ave. if the taxpayers did not buy them a ballpark. Slay is now leading a second effort to build a so-called privately financed ballpark for the Cardinals. As of deadline, there is no private financing for the ballpark. But there would be $237 million of public money over 30 years in this deal, and Slay pushed through the Board of Aldermen on Oct. 18 the biggest chunk of this money--$102 million to be left in the pockets of the Cardinal owners through elimination of the 5 percent tax on Cardinal tickets. He had to act quickly, because on Nov. 5 the voters of St. Louis were going to vote on Proposition S. Proposition S was placed on the ballot by initiative petition signed by 14,000 registered voters in St. Louis. It requires that any public financing for a new Cardinal ballpark must be submitted to a citywide vote. So if the elimination of the 5 percent tax on Cardinal tickets had been passed after Nov. 5, it would have had to go before a citywide vote. Slay obviously is working very hard to pay off his Cardinal campaign contributors. He will be going back to them for reelection re·e·lect also re-e·lect tr.v. re·e·lect·ed, re·e·lect·ing, re·e·lects To elect again. re money when he runs again in 2005, so he also is earning his money for the next time around. Slay's conduct is a classic example of how politicians use their constituents' tax money to buy campaign contributions. In fact, SJR's headline refers back to a major story about then-Mayor Vince Schoemehi's campaign contributions published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the only major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the region, and is available and read as far west as Springfield, Missouri. in the 1980s. It was excellent journalism spoiled by Editor William Woo's decision to allow the mayor a front-page rebuttal. The current study was conducted by comparing Slay's contributors to four sources: Members of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association The Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) is the chamber of commerce and primary economic development agency for Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis RCGA has three primary roles: 1) to serve as the regional chamber of commerce for over 4,000 member (RCGA RCGA St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association RCGA Royal Canadian Golf Association ), the Associated General Contractors Associated General Contractors of America is the nation's oldest and largest trade association representing the construction industry. It was formed in 1918 following a request by President Woodrow Wilson. of St. Louis (AGC AGC Automatic Gain Control AGC Automotive Glass Cartridge (fuse) AGC Associated General Contractors AGC Associated General Contractors of America AGC Atypical Glandular Cells AGC Attorney-General's Chambers ) and labor unions, all of which endorsed taxpayer funding of the stadium, and law firms who represented these entities, according to the Martindale-Hubbell law directory A database containing information about attorneys and law firms around the world. Primarily lawyers use the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory to assist them in the practice of their profession. . The study shows that Slay received more than $266,000 from RCGA members, $41,000 from AGC members, $58,000 from unions, $92,000 from law firms, and more than $48,000 from miscellaneous sources. Included in the miscellaneous category is $5,725 from Cardinal owners, a paltry sum considering how hard Slay has worked for them. Some of the biggest contributors were Anheuser-Busch, $26,000; the Shaffer Lombardo law firm of Kansas City, $12,375; Guilfoil Petzall law firm, $10,200; Thompson Coburn, $11,100; Charter Communications, $10,700; the TIP Educational Fund (hotel-restaurant workers), $10,000; and Enterprise Rent-A-Car $7,140. The Husch Eppenberger law firm, which drafted legislation benefiting the Cardinal owners, gave Slay $8,275. RELATED ARTICLE: Union Contributions Bricklayers' Local No. 1 of Missouri $1,125 Int'l. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 4 $1,000 Teamster TEAMSTER. One who drives horses in a wagon for the purpose of carrying goods for hire he is liable as a common carrier. Story, Bailm. Sec. 496. Local 600 Drive PAC $2,250 Missouri State Council Fire Fighters' PAC $1,125 TIP Educational Fund, Washington, DC $10,000 Seafarers Political Activity $1,000 Hoisting Engineers Local 513 $2,250 SEIU SEIU Service Employees International Union SEIU Special Education Intake Unit SEIU Secondary Education Interdisciplinary Unit SEIU Software Engineering Institute Union , Local No. 1001 $1,125 St. Louis Assn. of Retired Fire Fighters $1,625 Missouri/Kansas State Council, No. 29 $2,250 Laborer's Intl. Union, Local No. 53 $1,125 Eastern Mo. Laborers' Educ. Fund $1,125 Operating Engineers, Local No. 2 $1,975 Plumbers and Pipefitters $1,000 Pipefitters Local 62 $1,000 Iron Workers, Local 396 $2,250 Int'l. Assoc. of Firefighters No. 73 $875 Laborers' Local 110 $1,125 Laborers' Local 42 $250 Sheet Metal Workers, Local No. 36 $2,250 Glaziers Local No. 513 $1,900 Missouri State UAW (spelling) UAW - Misspelling of "IAW"? PAC $1,125 IBEW IBEW n abbr (US) (= International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) → sindicato internacional de electricistas IBEW n abbr (US) (= International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers , Local No. 1439 $2,050 IBEW No. 4 $2,000 Asbestos Workers Local 1 $875 Boilermakers, Local No. 27 $1,125 Gas Workers Local 5-6 $1,500 Missouri AFL-CIO AFL-CIO: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO in full American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations U.S. $3,375 St. Louis Labor Council AFL-CIO $2,250 International Brotherhood of Teamsters $1,125 Engine Company No. 29 $1,125 Laborers Local No. 42 $2,125 Int'l. Assoc. of Fire Fighters Local No. 73 $1,125 Associated General Contractors Contributions SM Wilson General Contractors $500 Clayco Construction Co. $2,000 TGB TGB Tangentbord (Swedish: keyboard) TGB Très Grande Bibliothèque TGB Tiagabine TGB Telecommunications Grounding Busbar TGB Terrain Vehicle (Swedish military) TGB Taiwan Golden Bee Co Ltd Inc. $5,000 Environment Operations $5,225 Katsinas General Contractors $1,125 HBD HBD Happy Birthday HBD Homebrew Digest HBD Here Be Dragons HBD Has Been Drinking (police communications) HBD Hadron Blind Detector HBD Human Biodiversity HBD Hypophosphatemic Bone Disease HBD Hemoglobin--Delta Locus Contracting, Inc. $2,000 Spirtas Wrecking Co. $1,125 Albert Arno, Inc. $1,000 Hensley Construction $2,500 Schuster Engineering, Inc. $1,100 Associated General Contractors PAC $1,000 SCI (Scalable Coherent Interface) An IEEE standard for a high-speed bus that uses wire or fiber-optic cable. It can transfer data up to 1GBytes/sec. (hardware) SCI - 1. Scalable Coherent Interface. 2. UART. Engineering, Inc. $1,050 HBD Contracting $1,000 Welsch, Flatness & Lutz, Inc. $2,125 Vee-Jay Cement Contracting Co., Inc. $1,000 CDG (CDMA Development Group, Costa Mesa, CA, www.cdg.org) A membership organization founded in 1995 that promotes CDMA wireless systems worldwide. It is involved with developing new features and services and promoting standards that provide global compatibility and interoperability. Eng Arch & Planners $2,500 Anthony Hooper, Instituform Technologies, Inc. $2,125 Sidney Grossman, Jr., Grossman Iron & Steel $4,250 Comp Check Corp. $1,125 Budrovich Excavating, Inc. $2,000 City Design Group, Inc. $500 Joseph Danis, AON Risk Services $1,125 Lawyer Contributions Husch & Eppenberger $8,275 Reizman & Blitz $6,700 Shaffer, Lombardo, Shurin, Kansas City $12,375 Blitz, Bardgett, & Deutsch LC $1,000 Sonnenschein Nath $1,000 Poisinelli, White, Vardeman & Shalton $2,450 Dankenbring, Greiman $2,125 Schlichter Bogard & Denton $2,250 Guilfoil, Petzall $10,200 Bryan Cave $8,250 Stolar Partnership $6,275 Lashly & Baer $7,325 Thompson Coburn LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol $11,100 Lewis, Rice $250 Fox & Vuylsteke $1,125 Gallop, Johnson $3,000 Herzog Crebs $1,000 Dickstein & Shapiro, Washington D.C. $6,500 Helfrey, Simon $1,025 Regional Chamber & Growth Association Contributions Johnny Londoff Chevrolet $250 Joseph Sansone $1,075 St. Louis Rams Michelson Reality Co. $1,000 Conley Insurance Group, Inc. $1,000 Rothschild Development, Ltd. $1,500 Kaplan Real Estate $4,375 BLL BLL Blood Lead Level BLL Bovis Lend Lease BLL Business Logic Layer BLL Buraku Liberation League (Japan) BLL Billund, Denmark - Billund (Airport Code) BLL Base Locator for Linkage & Associates $6,500 Central Business Communications $1,000 Hamilton & Company, Inc. $3,125 Roach Consulting Corporation $3,500 Harbour Group $2,125 BJC BJC British Journal of Cancer BJC Baptist Joint Committee BJC Bechtel Jacobs Company, LLC BJC Bryce Jordan Center (Penn State University building) BJC Barnes-Jewish/Christian (BJC Healthcare) Health Systems $1,125 Grey Eagle Distributors $2,000 Regal Riverfront Hotel $1,000 Horner & Shifrin, Inc. $1,500 Contemporary Group $1,000 Anheuser Busch $26,000 Engineered Support Systems $7,050 Kwame Building Group, Inc. $2,000 Creve Coeur trucking, Inc. $1,500 C. Hager & Sons Hinge Mfg., Co. $2,250 Union Planter's Bank $1,000 Fox Inc. $1,000 S & H Parking Systems, LC $4,625 DCM Management Co. $2,000 THF Realty $3,225 West Gate Partners $1,125 Ramada Downtown at the Arch $2,000 Mehlville Haulers, Inc. $1,500 Crystal Springs Development Services $1,500 DFC Group, Inc. $3,250 Arch Construction Co. $1,000 Vandiver Group $1,100 Geotechnology Inc. $3,225 Southwestern Bell MO EPAC EPAC European Particle Accelerator Conference EPAC Eastern Pacific EPAC Exchange Protein directly Activated by cAMP EPAC Ethanol Producers and Consumers EPAC Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder (Lucent/Bell Labs) $3,250 Alper Audi $1,000 Independent Concrete Pipe Co. $1,125 HOK, Inc. $4,250 Kowelman Engineering $3,225 Dobbs Tire & Auto $2,625 Maritz $1,125 Ross & Baruzzini, Inc. $4,500 May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was a department store chain founded in 1877 by David May in Leadville, Colorado. Its headquarters moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1905, and the company went public in 1911. $509 Allegiant Bank $1,000 Mary 1 Enterprises LLC $1,100 Fred Weber, Inc. $1,125 Afram Corp. $2,800 General American Life Assoc. PAC $1,125 Hermann Companies $3,375 Fuse $2,250 Drury Development Corp. $4,500 Waste Management of St. Louis $1,125 Jefferson Bank and Trust Co. PAC $1,000 JS Alberici Construction Co. $1,000 Kozeny-Wagner, Inc. $750 Emerson Electric $1,125 Iron Mountain Trap Co. $1,125 Balke Properties $1,000 AAIC AAIC Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops AAIC Accounting Authority Identification Code AAIC Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (journal, Australia) AAIC American Agricultural Insurance Company , Inc. $1,050 Eads Center $1,125 Clarence Barksdale, Washington University $1,125 KCI Construction Co. $1,125 Schnuck Markets, Inc. $6,750 Murphy Company $1,225 BSI Contractor $1,000 Imo's Pizza $500 Jotori Dredging, Inc. $1,125 McMahon Ford Co. $3,350 Pasta House Co. $1,275 Laclede Gas Co. $2,600 Edith Spink $1,125 Fischer & Frichtel $1,000 Political Action Committee of Emerson $1,125 Falcon Products $2,000 James B. Becker Consulting $1,075 Fox Associates, LLC $2,000 Commerce Bancshares, Inc. PAC $1,100 The Jones Company Custom Homes, Inc. $4,500 St. Louis Blues Hockey Club, LP $2,250 Central District Alarm $1,125 Guarantee Interiors, Inc. $1,000 AmerenUE PAC $2,250 AMS AMS - Andrew Message System Automotive $1,125 Keil Center Partners, LP $1,125 McBride & Son $1,000 AMS Distributing, Inc. $1,125 Lohr Distributing $1,125 Richard Baron $500 Jacobs Engineering Group Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC), a publicly traded company with annual revenues approaching $7 billion, provides professional technical services. Headquartered in Pasadena, CA, Jacobs offers support to industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple $1,000 Ralston Purina Co. $1,625 Crawford, Bunte, Brammeier $1,600 Enterprise Rent-A-Car $7,140 Charter Communications $10,700 McCarthy Brothers: Contractor $4,500 Development Strategies, Inc. $1,000 Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. PAC $1,125 Breckenridge Companies $1,625 Brown & James $8,625 Koplar Communications $1,000 Union Planters Comm. on Gov. Affairs $1,000 Michael Clark $1,125 Don Musick Construction Co. $3,750 Sweet Traditions, LLC $1,000 Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Inc $1,000 Roberts Communications $2,000 KPMG KPMG Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (accounting firm) KPMG Kaiser Permanente Medical Group KPMG Keiner Prüft Mehr Genau (German) KPMG Kommen Prüfen Meckern Gehen $5,000 Pinnacle, Inc. $2,225 Dean Morgan, Regional Commerce and Growth Assoc. $1,000 Paric Corp. $1,500 Site Improvement Association PAC $1,125 Midland Oil Co. $2,250 Brown & Associates $1,125 Kuhlmann Design Group, Inc. $4,125 St. Louis Assoc. of Realtors PAC $1,750 Environmental Management Corp. $2,084 William Tao & Associates, Inc. $1,225 Raskas Foods, Inc. $1,000 W. Thomas Reeves, Downtown NOW $1,125 Miscellaneous Contributions Alex Aboussie $1,000 Daly for License Collector $2,010 Raymond Geisman $1,000 Frederick Hanser, Cardinal Owner $1,125 John Bardgett & Associates $4,225 23rd Ward Regular Democratic Org. $4,000 Floyd Warmann $1,000 Gene Warmann $1,000 Barbara Geisman $3,175 Richard Callow, Public Eye, Inc. $3,125 Citizens for Jim Sondermann $1,125 Historic Restoration, Inc., New Orleans $6,725 Michael and Ceil Pulitzer, Cardinal Owners $2,250 James Komorek $2,012 Louis Hamilton $4,150 Building & Construction Trades Council $2,250 Mississippi Valley Bancshares, Inc., Cardinal Owner $1,225 William Dewitt, Jr., Cardinal Owner $1,125 Missouri Sports Radio $1,125 Lyda Krewson, St. Louis Alderwoman al·der·wom·an n. Abbr. Ald. A woman who is a member of the municipal legislative body in a town or city in many jurisdictions. [alder(man) + woman.] $750 James Shrewsbury, St. Louis Alderman $1,000 St. Louis Port Council Education Fund $2,084 Citizens for Buzz Westfall $1,125 May Scheve, State Representative $1,125 (This report is the result of an investigation by the Coalition Against Public Funding For Stadiums. It was conducted by Louis J. Rose and Fred Lindecke, retired reporters for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Anne Little, a volunteer for the coalition.) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion