Nasheed, Slay’s fierce foe, draws an opponent of her own
State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed - who has emerged as one of Mayor Francis Slay’s most tenacious foes - now has an opponent of her own.
But is it retribution? Or just politics as usual?
After months of rumors, Kimberly Gardner, a young prosecutor in the city Circuit Attorney’s office, filed this week to run against Nasheed, who is looking for her second term.
It makes sense to wonder whether perhaps Slay, exhausted by Nasheed’s constant protests, reached into the courthouse looking for someone to run against her.
And it’s true that Slay and Gardner’s boss, Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce, have strong ties - they both owe their political pedigree to the Democratic establishment in the 23rd Ward.
Of course, that might overestimate Slay’s reach, and also discounts that the mayor - for all the criticism that has been leveled at him - has never been one to meddle in ward politics. (The 2001 redistricting notwithstanding.)
More than anything, though, it helps to remember that Nasheed’s district - anchored by the Penrose and Greater Ville neighborhoods - is not exactly a place for Kumbaya politics.
Just ask Sharon Tyus. Or Melinda Long. Or Committeeman Arthur “Chink” Washington, who may soon have a ward power struggle on his hands.
Gardner is also a compelling candidate in her own right. In addition to her law-and-order résumé, her family owns a funeral home on Natural Bridge, which suggests deep roots in the community.
Nasheed, however - love or hate her - cuts a formidable profile, especially as an incumbent. In her first two years in Jefferson City, she’s been able to convert street smarts into political acumen.
No matter how Gardner got into the race, it should be an interesting one.
A roadblock for the Nasheed machine?
the st. louis post political blogs really suck. Why has this not been reported? Is this the news business or not?
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
McCaskill: Obama the First Black Leader to ‘Come to the American People Not As a Victim But Rather As a Leader’
March 20, 2008 1:02 PM
Perhaps Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can file this under the “defenses I don’t need” column…
Obama-backing Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said at a press conference (watch the video, courtesy of the Kansas City Star, HERE):
“What this man has done, Barack Obama, is, he, for the first time I think, as a black leader in America, has come to the American people not as a victim, but rather as a leader. To say to white people who have legitimate resentments about racial politics in this country and black people who have understanding about bitterness and anger, especially older black Americans who lived through some of those times where they were told that drinking fountain isn’t good enough for them.”
The first black leader to not come to the American people as a victim?