For birthday, Villa honored for ‘rapier wit,’ loud ties
Rep. Tom Villa, D-St. Louis, received a huge birthday card today from House members, in the form of a clever courtesy resolution celebrating his 63rd birthday Sunday.
Villa, a liberal lion in the House, first served from 1974-1984. After an eight-year stint on the Board of Aldermen, he was elected again to the House in 2000. In an era of term limits, this will be his last year as a state representative.
Incidentally, Villa told our bureau chief, Virginia Young, this morning that he is still mulling a Senate run to replace outgoing Sen. Maida Coleman. He has until March 25 to decide.
Prepared by Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, the resolution extends birthday wishes to Villa on the “thirty-fourth annual twenty-ninth birthday of the perpetual kid.”
When Villa was first elected in ‘74, the resolution says, “laptops” meant having lunch away from a table, “high-tech” meant using an AC converter and a “mobile phone” meant a telephone with a 12-foot cord.
Times have also changed politically. Villa was one of 114 Democrats in his first session, compared with 49 Republicans. This year, the GOP outnumbers Dems 91 to 70.
The resolution notes Villa’s background, “the mean streets of Holly Hills,” and his always-colorful attire: “Villa sets the standard as South St. Louis’s answer to GQ.”
The resolution also jokes that Villa and his “first wife,” Karen, plan to celebrate the birthday with a private concert given by his animated toy collection. Villa has only had one wife.
Cheered by fellow legislators, Villa took the dais and gave yet another one of his oft-quotable remarks.
“I will be brief for one of the few times in my life,” he said. “I will find a place in the bowels of my basement to hang this.”
Reporters enjoy Villa’s concise and often amusing thoughts on issues – according to the resolution, he is well known for his “rapier wit.”
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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just for the record, and I’ve always liked Tom and we’ve been good acquaintances when our paths crossed, this “liberal lion” refused to endorse in the 1991 “Four Candidates for Kids” election for the School Board against the anti-busing conservatives because he didnt want to tick off the conservative (read, sometimes, racist) voters on the south side two years before his anticipated run for mayor. In my view the single most cowardly act in american politics. He knew better. This was the election that put the St. Louis Public Schools back on the right course, a phrase that would appear to have some irony at the moment, but it’s still true. The district did moved forward not at all during the deadlock of the anti-busing rein. And now the conservatives are back in charge; and are doing no better, if you ask me.