How closely allied is Jeff Smith with the Mayor's Office? Post Dispatch editorial page is very close to Mayor's Office. If he has been endorsed by 23rd ward committeeman Francis R. Slay, 23rd ward comitteewoman Haggerty, former 23rd ward committeewoman Carpenter, has Jeff Smith sold out to the establishment?

Francis R. Slay distributed "Support Our Troops" signs to most of his block. When Francis R. Slay put up his sign for anti war Jeff Smith, Francis R. no longer had his troops sign in grass, but pulled it out and put it on the side of the house. Is Francis R. quieting down his support for the troops?

I had thought that Jeff Smith represented my views for about 99% of the issues. Now I am afraid to vote for him.

For 3rd Congressional Post endorsed Mark Smith. Is Post endorsement kiss of death or irrelevant?

Being against the war and supporting are troops are not mutually exclusive positions. In fact, if you were truly a Jeff supporter, this would be pretty clear.

Dan and Gina liked Jeff last cycle when the Mayor's father supported Barry. I believe they had a sign in their yard for Jeff.

Maybe we should take Francis Sr. at his word---Jeff outworks everyone else and he seems to respect that.

And let's not forget that Derio has angered a number of people with his previous campaigns. He's known for dirty campaigning and those wary of him are being proven right again. In terms of Yaphett, she's not very friendly to southside electeds--that's a plus for some, but I don't think she made much of an effort to go after their support. Amber tried somewhat, but she hasn't put much work into them. Jeff did. It's kind of a natural choice.

Jeff hasn't changed his positions so it's hard to tell how he's sold out.

Who are "Dan and Gina"?

For a white guy, Jeff is pretty black. He tries to be racially aware and senstive. Race relations in this town were a disaster before Francis Slay became mayor and they have gotten worse with him as mayor. Their perceived alliance is troubling to some of us bobo liberal democrats.

I think that Dan and Gina are the Haggertys. She is current committeewoman for 23rd ward and he was leading pro Irons/Williams protest in front of City hall.

I am pleasantly surprised to see the PD support grass-roots Democrats and endorse Jeff Smith, rather than the big-money conservatives.

Sad: What is really sad is you and these last minute, desperate hail mary's you and all the other bloggers from all the other candidates' campaigns in the 4th District are throwing up praying for a Doug Flutie--Boston College type of miracle that simply isn't going to happen. Once again Jeff has simply outworked, outmessaged, and outcampaigned the field and finally he is getting the endorsements he has earned from expending energy not hot air. The other Sad angle here is that if you are from this town, you would realize the Mark Smith endorsement was fluff and made no difference at all in Mark's campaign loss. Moreover, race relations in this town have gotten worse since Mayor Slay assumed office--ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Remember, a former African American Mayor challenged a sitting African American Mayor in that 2001 race. Come on you gotta do better than that!

Bubba,

This is the time in any election when the candidates who see their hopes slipping away pull out their attacks. Given the fact that in this race, there are a couple of political dynasties that think they get to hand seats from one generation to the next being threatened, we will see some particularly virulent attacks in the next week.

Ultimately, voters see through this nonsense. All it usually does is turn people off to the attackers.

When you see someone raising a personal attack on one of the candidates at this stage, read "DESPERATE POLITICIAN FIGHTING FOR LIFE".

===Their perceived alliance is troubling to some of us bobo liberal democrats.

Who uses bobo to describe themselves? Seriously, trying to pass yourself off as a liberal Democrat is pretty hard to do when you misrepresent the positions of the vast majority of liberal Democrats and then you use an insult that makes fun of liberals to describe yourself--a particularly hysterical insult in some cases, but not one someone would describe themselves with.

Bubba says: Susan and Archpundit AMEN!

Larry,

Maybe you are taking yourself a little too seriously? Bohemian bourgois is not in the same league with some words I won't type here!

Are you slamming people with the last name Bobo, such as the Reverand Bobo?

Jeff is definitely profiting from Catholic support that would otherwise go to Gambaro. Interesting that a lot of south siders that voted for Bush will be voting for him. Will that reduce his ability to be effective on African American issues if he gets to Jeff City?

Also, is the Sam Simon that is working on Jeff's campaign the same Sam Simon that is a high powered person in Slay's administration? Simon is a relatively common name, so this could be a coincidence.

Personally, I was disappointed that he didn't run for a state rep race. He would appear to be less of an elitist opportunist if he had started out with state rep.

4th district should revert back to an African American. Us white folks can't really walk in the shoes...

===Maybe you are taking yourself a little too seriously? Bohemian bourgois is not in the same league with some words I won't type here!

===Are you slamming people with the last name Bobo, such as the Reverand Bobo?

Gee, you are really clueless. Bobo in terms of liberal refers to Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks. The point is that whomever posted the above is pretending to be something he/she is not.

==Jeff is definitely profiting from Catholic support that would otherwise go to Gambaro. Interesting that a lot of south siders that voted for Bush will be voting for him. Will that reduce his ability to be effective on African American issues if he gets to Jeff City?

Really? A lot of people who voted for Bush will vote for Jeff? That's a fascinating theory especially after Jeff's mail piece compared Derio to Bush. Do you have some evidence of this? Bush's vote in the city was about 20%--most of whom were actual Republicans or conservative Catholic Democrats. Now, who fits that description amongst Jeff's supporters? Slay Sr? Not really--he's only conservative on gay rights and abortion. Carpenter? On abortion only. Both were supportive of John Kerry.

Carol Wilson and other Republicans are backing Derio some saying they'll take a Dem ballot. So who are these mysterious Bush voters who are going to vote for Jeff?

==Also, is the Sam Simon that is working on Jeff's campaign the same Sam Simon that is a high powered person in Slay's administration?

L0L--Sam is 22 and just graduated from Harvard. He's also in Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore?

Gambaro's plan to try to eliminate city earning's tax has some southsiders terrified. They are thinking about their pocketbooks. They are worried about city budget. They are worried about city services and their paychecks.

They would like a home rule bill that could pass.

==Gambaro's plan to try to eliminate city earning's tax has some southsiders terrified. They are thinking about their pocketbooks

Plan? What plan is that? The magical money tree plan? Or the pennies from heaven plan? Oh, wait, Rex Sinquefield just released a paper through his little think tank that wants to get rid of the earnings tax. No wonder Derio's so high on the issue---his $20,000 donor wants him to be. The donor who did exactly what Derio criticized in his plan for No More Business As Usual.

But back to the issue, no one likes the earnings tax, but if you promise to limit property tax increases:
http://gambaroforsenate.org/news/newsitem.php?section=ACM&id=3480&showcat=3&seq=4
You want to eliminate the earnings tax
and you want to increase spending:
http://gambaroforsenate.org/news/newsitem.php?section=ACM&id=3480&showcat=3&seq=4

How does this add up? Is Derio Santa Clause after some working out?

Me like Derio's plan for neighborhoods:

Hold down property taxes for seniors.

Funding for more cops.

Sounds like a great neighborhood!

More cops and more seniors.

Yippee!

What's wrong with eliminating the earnings tax? It would be great from a PR perspective. As a city resident, county worker, I hear about the earnings tax all the time. Repeal would at least take on argument against city living away.

However, I realize that you've got to replace it with some revenue. That is where some creativity would help. Sales tax? I would be open to that. Both are pretty regressive.

I do not treat the earnings tax as untouchable, as I believe that on some level, it keeps people out the city.

===What's wrong with eliminating the earnings tax?

Replacing it is what is wrong with it. The City already faces many long term challenges in terms of how to cope with providing services to the region's population while only having a fraction of the population. How does a sales tax improve the situation? Most big ticket shopping is done outside of the City so it penalizes City residents instead of proving a shared burden for everyone in the region who works in the City.

No one likes the tax, but without a realistic way of ending it and replacing the revenue that is less problematic, it's kind of silly to say one is for ending it.

= What's wrong with eliminating the earnings tax? It would be great from a PR perspective

I can see the great PR now....

ST. LOUIS GOES TOTALY BROKE!
PUBLIC SERVICES GRIND TO A HALT!
EVERY ONE MOVES TO CHICAGO...

crosstowner your FREE RIDER mentality is more REGRESSIVE than any tax.

People have choices. I value city living enough to pay the 1%. Some people don't and they will live in Florissant, U City, Richmond Heights and still have use of the many amenities that the city offers. How are they being taxed? They seem to be the free riders, and I haven't a feasible idea as to what to do about it.

I see nothing wrong with at least entertaining the idea of lifting the sales tax, in a revenue neutral way, to cover the earnings tax loss. What would the rate have to be? I would be more than curious to know. It is a moving target, the higher the tax rate, the lower the sales, I know, but a figure would be helpful if anyone has it.

===People have choices. I value city living enough to pay the 1%. Some people don't and they will live in Florissant, U City, Richmond Heights and still have use of the many amenities that the city offers. How are they being taxed? They seem to be the free riders, and I haven't a feasible idea as to what to do about it.

They pay a tax when they work in the City. That's the point above. The problem is that saying it would be nice to get rid of the tax is true, however the costs of doing so would hit City residents harder increasing the incentive to not live in the City. Increase property taxes--the relative cost of the suburbs goes down. Increase sales taxes? City businesses are hurt.

What's rather hard to establish is that regardless of the claims, virtually no one seems to make a personal decision about living in the City based on the earnings tax.

Back to the point, Derio is claiming to have a 'plan' to get rid of the earnings tax, but absolutely no way to replace the money despite his claims. Find a better way to fund city government and I'm pretty sure Slay would listen to you, but so far there aren't any easy answers. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Every candidate would prefer to have the Post endorsement than not, although its endorsement is pretty meaningless in terms of persuading voters. It's the kiss of death in a Republican primary (ask Kurt Odenwald 2004), but merely irrelevant in a Democratic primary.

The Post's lengthy commentary detracted from its credibility by demonstrating how clueless its decision-makers are. They didn't endorse El-Amin, but they bought her "Walnut Park to St Louis Hills" BS hook, line and sinker. El-Amin has run the most race-oriented campaign of them all, and the Post missed it.

Since when can any credibility come out of the Post? All you have to do is read what they say about the school district, and you can't help realizing their just a part of Slay's PR program.

Many on the southside and elsewhere have already decided if the Post endorses someone, that's the person to vote against. After all, it's not a major newspaper; it's just alocal rag.

Oracle--over at Combest the line that got my attention was

PD endorses Parker, Farr, and Jackson

Jackson had to be angry.