Endorsements in political campaigns are tricky. Sometimes they can alienate as many voters as they attract.
In the case of the St. Louis Police Officers Association’s endorsement of mayoral candidate Lyda Krewson, whatever plus the SLPOA support might have had for her campaign seems to be slip-sliding away. That is mainly due to the misbehavior of the SLPOA business agent, Jeff Roorda, who can’t seem to walk by a pissing match without reaching for his zipper.
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Roorda’s latest tantrum surfaced on Facebook, where he posted that he was responding to a supporter of mayoral candidate and city treasurer Tishaura Jones. Said supporter had called him the “worst person to occupy skin.” Roorda then described Jones as “daughter-of-a-felon, laziest-legislator-of-all-time, globe-trotting traveler on the taxpayer’s dime, cop hater, race-baiter.”
The flame-throwing rhetoric Roorda aimed at Jones was not an out-of-character aberration, yet it did lead to something new, with Krewson calling for Roorda to be fired. Previously, Krewson had side-stepped calls for Roorda to resign or be fired, saying that police officers had selected him and it was up to them to decide.
“Lyda should have called for him to resign a long time ago,” Jones said. “We’ve been calling for him to resign for months. His post proves Maya Angelou’s saying that when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. This was a low blow, a really low blow. He’s got to go.”
Roorda drew criticism for his comment on national media during the unrest in Ferguson. He might have drawn the most heat when he tweeted a photo of blood-stained hands after five Dallas policemen were killed, and said then President Barack Obama had blood on his hands due to the killing of the policemen.
“The police officers association has to decide what kind of police officers association they want to have,” Jones said. “Do they want to continue to be associated with a race-baiting person, then that’s their choice, but they need to realize what kind of image they present to the world and to St. Louis.”
Krewson described Roorda’s comments about Jones “vile and disgusting” and a “despicable characterization.” She stated this was not the first time she repudiated something Roorda had said, adding that, “When I am mayor, he will not be welcome in my office.” She called on the “elected leadership” of the SLPOA to fire Roorda.
Jones did not seek the endorsement of the SLPOA, mainly because of Roorda. Krewson, who cites public safety as the No. 1 campaign issue, sought the police endorsement despite Roorda’s ongoing histrionics.
After the SLPOA spokesman’s most recent tempest, mayoral candidate Jeffrey Boyd called his comments “not tolerable.” Mayoral candidate and Alderman Antonio French said the “silence of Krewson and others had enabled Roorda’s dangerous rhetoric for years. We needed them to speak up long ago.”
Aside from SLPOA support, other significant endorsements between Krewson and Jones form a centrist-progressive split.
No endorsement comes free and clear of a downside. Even public backing by a four-term incumbent mayor alienates some voters who see Mayor Francis Slay’s endorsement of Krewson as branding her as an extension of an unsatisfactory status quo. On the same day Slay announced his preference, four-term Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said it’s time for a change and that Jones or French are preferable. As the city’s chief prosecutor for 16 years, Joyce was not always universally popular, so even her backing comes with baggage.
Krewson has 10 aldermen supporting her: Dionne Flowers, Christine Ingrassia, Jack Coatar, Steve Conway, Tom Villa, Joe Vollmer, Larry Arnowitz, Beth Murphy, and Carol Howard.
Jones has the support of three aldermen: Megan Green, Frank Williamson, and Chris Carter. Jones has been endorsed by State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman, St. Louis County Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray, former Secretary of State Jason Kander, and City Sheriff Vernon Betts. Organizations supporting Jones include SEIU, NARAL Pro Choice, Mobilize Missouri, the Young Democrats of St. Louis, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Jones also declined to seek the endorsement of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial page, citing unfair and biased reportage by the newspaper. She called out editorial page editor Tod Robberson, who had stated in a column that he lived in the city and was afraid to walk his dog, and any mayoral candidate coming to meet the editorial board better have a plan to “address blight and abate the graffiti that’s killing our city.”
Jones’ two-page, single-spaced letter attacked the Post and was an extension of a previous press conference she held to blast KMOV for its story on her work-related travel and the Post for a piece on the treasurer’s office doing business with an Atlanta firm (one of its employees had been convicted of a felony and had St. Louis connections).
The letter was retweeted with positive comments by former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean as well as LeVar Burton, who played Kunta Kinte in Roots, played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS. Those tweets made the social media rounds, as did an annotated treatment by Brentin Mock of CityLab, which is affiliated with The Atlantic Monthly. Jason Johnson of The Root also reported on the “savage letter.”
UPDATE: 6:16 p.m. Meanwhile, back at the daily newspaper of record that Jones attacked, the Sunday editorial endorsed Antonio French for mayor. The editorial charged Jones with “bad temperament” and did not back off earlier critical coverage of Jones. The Post-Dispatch would have appeared knee-jerk predictable if it had endorsed Krewson, and by endorsing French, the three-person editorial staff appear progressive. Although the endorsement is good news for the cash-strapped French campaign, the significance of a newspaper endorsement has declined, not unlike its circulation and staff. (An earlier attempt to reach editorial page editor Tod Robberson did not trigger a response.)
Preview of coming attractions
As the mayoral race heads into the final two weeks of the campaign, two forums promise to give candidates the opportunity to make their pitches to a wider audience. On Wednesday, February 22 at The Sheldon, the St. Louis American is sponsoring a forum. On Monday, February 27, KETC’s the Nine Network is televising an hour-long forum on Channel 9.
