4th District Senate Forum
Let's just say the forum was not well attended by the all the politicians in the race. Kenny Jones sent a doppleganger, Amber Boykins (though no fault of her own) was 30 minutes late, and Yaphett El-Amin (not expected to show) was of course absent. So, Amber Boykins, Derio Gambaro and Jeff Smith were the only candidates physically there, and the results were rather ho-hum. It was standard politicking and posturing, and the only fireworks came when Gambaro accused Jeff Smith of "lying" about his (Gambaro's) stance on the privatization of Social Security.
Gambaro went into a semi-detailed, muddied, "definition of is, is" explanation of how his plan for Social Security did not technically call for mass privatization, but regardless, the distinction was hardly clear. Jeff Smith is unlikely to let this issue drop, and will probably attempt to hang this potential albatross firmly around Gambaro's neck. Gambaro may very well not be in support of privitization, but he needs to make that crystal clear.
Crime was an issue that got the crowd predictably riled up, with someone asking the hackneyed "St. Louis is the 3rd most deadly, dangerous, murderous, etc. city in America and what are you going to do about it" question, and the candidates need to do a better job addressing the issue.
Is crime one of, if not the most serious problem(s) affecting the city-- yes. But the manner in which those studies are done do not accurately assess the problem and are prone to gross oversimplification in order to generate clips and soundbytes.
That being said, it is a critical issue, and the answer voters want to hear is "more police" and "longer sentences". But that, of course, won't solve the problem. Voters might not want to hear crime is tied to poverty, which is often born of inequity, but any politician that can burn both ends of the candle by pledging to hire more police officers while offering employment programs to offset some of the root causes of crime would have all the bases covered.
From what I know, I am not sure how Derio says he did anything but work to make the Bush Social Security proposal the law of the land. It sure looked like privatization to me. I still can't figure out what a Republican is doing in the Democratic primary.
Posted by jill on Wed., May 31, 2006 at 5:08 PMIn a jurisdiction like this where one party is dominant, people from other parties often file as candidates of the dominant party, because it is their only realistic chance of winning. For example, one of Roy Blunt's challengers in the Republican primary in the 7th District is actually a Green. Think the dominant party would never accept an interloper from the other side? Alderman Fred Wessels, former Alderman Mike Sheehan and former State Rep Ben Misbauer (that one goes back a few years) are just three examples of Republicans who ran as Democrats and won.
And this is just those seeking partisan elective office. You should see the parade of Democrat lawyers who pose as Republicans when seeking appointment to judgeships while a Republican is governor (and vice versa).
Posted by St Louis Oracle on Wed., May 31, 2006 at 5:44 PMFair enough. Does not mean that Democrats should vote for them in a democratic primary. Governor Blunt already has enough Republican senators in Jefferson City and fortunately George Bush doesn't have nearly enough supporters of his social security privatization plan to push it through. Frankly I would like to keep it that way!
Posted by Jill on Wed., May 31, 2006 at 6:06 PMAll of the candidates handled themselves well. Even Jone's last-minute stand-in spoke well. It is too bad that Rep. El-Amin and Jones chose not to attend. I would have liked to hear how they would have addressed the questions of medicare, education, crime, and working with the majority party to accomplish their agendas. It is good that Rep. Boykins made the event, eventhough she was late.
All-in-all, Jeff Smith came off as the most professional, followed by Gambaro, until he went off the deep-end with his animated denial of his support for privatizing social security. But, they all spoke well.
I was at the 24th ward Dem Organization mtg where they all actually spoke. Besides Kenny Jones, the stump speeches were all well done and practiced. However depending on your point of view no one really came out a "winner".
Here's my quick take on it
Kenny Jones- not sure why I should elect him but he was damn funny
Derio Gambaro- much more confident on his plan and came across as a smooth poltician- I dont mean that in a mean way either, he just had his speech and ideas down
Amber Boykins- good ideas but not the most direct speech to appeal to the room, though the fact that she has 8 yrs experience definently helps now
Yaphett El Amin- Longest five minutes I've ever heard- she came across as the ball buster who will standup to the Republicans and fight the good fight. She definetly surprised some in the room including a friend who is going to vote for her now
Jeff Smith- Jeff gave the same speech he always gives but was so monotone that it came across as though he was talking at us versus talking to us. Jeff gave a real good speech to the group months ago that got peoples attention so a bad night wont kill him
Guess who gave the best speech of the night? Greg Daly- told us who he was, what he's running for, and why we should vote for him- thank you and good night! Brilliant I tell ya
All in all not the best night for any of them. Ive seen and heard them all give better speeches.
Want to hear them speak again? Come by the Clifton Heights Neighborhood Association meeting on Monday June 26th at 7pm at Mason Elementary School in the cafeteria
Posted by josh wiese on Wed., May 31, 2006 at 8:37 PMWhy isn't 'more police' and 'longer sentences' going to solve the problem?
In 'Freakonomics', the statistician's look at the crime problem, there were three main factors that led to the decrease in the crime rate. 1) Availability of abortion eighteen years previous, 2) longer sentences and 3) more police patrolling the streets.
The longer sentences prevent the criminals from committing more crimes. A small percentage of the people commit a large percentage of the crime.
There is the problem that you don't know which criminals are going to go on and commit murder, but isn't a lesser crime, like burglary, enough to put them away long enough so we don't have to find out.
Posted by Butler Miller on Tue., Jun 6, 2006 at 8:38 AM
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