Dirty tricks are being deployed in the final days before the first round of voting in St. Louis’ mayoral election. Naturally, they evoke the specter of President Donald Trump.
Yesterday, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ campaign sent an email blast claiming that the political action committee associated with an opponent, Alderwoman Cara Spencer, had posted pro-Trump videos on its website. “It should come as no surprise that our opponent in this race, Cara Spencer, has allied with some right-wing MAGA types,” the email read. “Even so … seeing pro-Trump messages on the website of Spencer’s PAC is still shocking, even if we’re not totally surprised by it.” The email included a GIF purportedly taken from PAC’s website, with the words “We Chose Donald Trump” flashing in front of images of the president. Text reading “Brighter Future for St. Louis” hovers above. Jones’ campaign posted the message, and GIF, to its Facebook page as well.
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There’s just one problem: The website Jones linked to has no association with Spencer.
The PAC affiliated with Spencer is called “A Brighter Future for St. Louis,” not “Brighter Future for St. Louis.” According to ICANN, which tracks internet domain registration, the site was set up last Friday. Spencer calls it “fake.”
The site appears to have been taken down.
The Jones campaign did not respond to an email this morning asking how they became aware of the fake PAC site, or if they had any role in its setup. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
“Tishaura Jones and I disagree on many things,” Spencer said in a statement. “But I would never blatantly lie and spread false claims in order to advance my campaign. It is my hope that the mayor takes down these false statements and focuses on the issues facing St. Louisans.”
Spencer’s statement went on to say that her campaign was asking Jones’ to “clear the record” and that they would be exploring options with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
In a follow-up statement, Spencer called the situation suspicious. “If this isn’t some Trumpian tactics I don’t know what is!” she wrote.
This isn’t the only example of dubious politicking the campaign has seen in recent days.
As SLM previously reported, last week someone texted to voters a push poll, a faux-survey that pretends to be interested in taking voters’ views but is actually meant to manipulate the survey-taker’s opinion. Public opinion research organizations generally take a poor view of the practice. The push poll painted Mayor Tishaura Jones in as rosy a light as it did Spencer in a menacing one. “When it comes to crime, keep an eye on Cara Spencer’s words AND deeds,” began one prompt. “Some people are ready to give up on the Northside and other neighborhoods in St. Louis. But not Tishaura Jones,” started another.
Curiously, whoever created the push poll misspelled “Tishaura” quite a few times.
Jones campaign spokeswoman Rosetta Okohson-Reb previously told SLM, “This is not our poll. I would have spelled Mayor Jones’ name correctly. Not sure who sent it either.”
Update: The Jones campaign sent out a press release after we published this story. In it, they said they were “relieved’ that Spencer had disavowed the fake website. They made no apologies for sharing it.
