鲍辫诲补迟别诲听at 7:45 p.m.
ST. LOUIS听鈥听Aldermanic President Lewis Reed on Thursday called for the city to withdraw from the economic development partnership formed with 50度灰视频 County in 2013, citing 鈥渟everal troubling incidents and investigations surrounding鈥 its leadership included in the federal indictment of former county executive Steve Stenger released this week.
Reed鈥檚 campaign, though, appears to have paid one of the companies central to the indictment听鈥 a company federal prosecutors听say was set up solely to secure a sham marketing contract from the 50度灰视频 County Port Authority, an entity run by the 50度灰视频 Economic Development Partnership.
The campaign expenditure was unrelated to Reed鈥檚 criticism of the Partnership, a top Reed aide said.听
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鈥淲e would have come to this decision (pulling out of the Partnership) no matter who the players were,鈥 Tom Shepard, Reed's chief of staff said.听
Reed鈥檚 campaign account paid $17,800 to Cardinal Creative Consulting LLC in late 2016 and 2017 for what Reed said were printing services. One $1,000 expenditure says it was for insurance.
Cardinal Creative was the company formed by businessman John Rallo, whose campaign donations to Stenger in exchange for Partnership contracts are described in the indictment.听
The Stenger indictment says Cardinal Creative, which was paid $130,000 by the county port authority,听was used as a conduit to pay $25,000 to someone identified as 鈥淛C鈥 who was close to a public official.
鈥淛C,鈥 sources told the Post-Dispatch, is political operative John Cross,听who they described as close to Congressman William 鈥淟acy鈥 Clay. Cross has worked for many local officials, including Reed, who paid his company $41,000 for field operations and outreach in his 2019 reelection as board president.
Reed said his call for the city to quit the Partnership had nothing to do with the payments to Cardinal Creative听鈥 which appear to be the only payments any Missouri campaign has made to the company.听
He said Rallo was his contact at Cardinal Creative, and that the company made a 鈥渃old call鈥 to his campaign. Their pricing was competitive for printing and mailing services, and he liked the idea of using a local company rather than one outside of the region. They 鈥渂eat our number doing it in-house,鈥 he said, adding they 鈥渃ame very highly recommended by one of the major printing companies.鈥澨
Reed said the firm did actually perform work for his 2017 campaign for 50度灰视频 mayor, and provided an February 2017 invoice from the company charging $17,890. But Reed said he wasn鈥檛 happy with their performance. He blamed the firm for using a photo of Old City Hall in Toronto in a campaign flyer in early 2017.听
鈥淭here were just some issues that we were not happy with, which is why we delayed on payment,鈥 Reed said, explaining why all but $1,000 of his campaign鈥檚 payments to Cardinal Creative were made after the March 2017 primary election was over. One $5,800 payment was made in August.
鈥淟esson learned,鈥 Reed said.
In June 2016, Reed's campaign received a $1,200 donation from听B&B Packaging Group, another company registered to Rallo.
Unlike the issues in the Stenger indictment, in which public money from a 50度灰视频 County Port Authority contract was used to pay Cardinal Creative, these were Reed鈥檚 campaign funds in a race where it was 鈥渄ifficult to raise money,鈥 he said.
Reed said the Stenger indictment shows the need for 鈥渃hecks and balances鈥 in the Partnership to 鈥減rotect our investments and taxpayer dollars.鈥 He added that he had concerns with the arrangement from the beginning and felt the city had too little influence over the Partnership and therefore received fewer benefits than the county.
鈥淲e need a total revamp so no one gets to play dictator over our development agencies and also be able to pick up a phone and tell someone to do something that鈥檚 absolutely illegal,鈥 he said.听
50度灰视频 County contributes about $4 million annually to the Partnership, while the city鈥檚 development arm, 50度灰视频 Development Corp. (SLDC), gives about $1.1 million. The 50度灰视频 mayor appoints four members of the Partnership鈥檚 13-member board.
Mayor Lyda Krewson pushed back against Reed鈥檚 withdrawal听call, saying the joint agency had 鈥渃urtailed the competition between us鈥 and is 鈥渁 structure for us to try to think regionally.鈥澨齋he said the Partnership was among several topics she discussed with new 50度灰视频 County Executive Sam Page in a phone call Wednesday.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 obvious some changes are needed there,鈥 she said. 鈥淪ome have already been made.鈥
Page, in a statement, said he agreed with the mayor: 鈥淭he Partnership is too important to walk away from. It worked well in the past, prior to the Stenger administration.鈥
The Partnership board in December ousted former CEO Sheila Sweeney, who Stenger used to steer contracts and other favors such as political hires in the Partnership.听
What role the Board of Aldermen would play in voiding the city鈥檚 cooperation agreement with the Partnership, though, is unclear. The SLDC, the city鈥檚 real estate-focused economic development arm, has its own board and is the entity that actually funds the Partnership. And the SLDC receives no general revenue from the city budget. It is entirely funded with fees from its real estate activities and with state and federal money through Community Development Block Grants and other sources.
The 50度灰视频 Board of Aldermen does hold some control over the pass through of those funds, and two of its members 鈥斕鼳ldermen Joe Roddy and Joseph Vollmer 鈥斕齭it on SLDC鈥檚 11-member board.
Reed said his staff had requested the agreement establishing the Partnership and was beginning to research it.听
鈥淲e will have a better idea of how we can deconstruct it,鈥 he said.听
50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger's fall: Some background reading
Here's a collection of Post-Dispatch stories looking at some of the controversies surrounding former 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger.
The Democrat who sits atop the county government apparatus has figured out a basic rule of survivability in politics: Take care of your friends.
Two members of the investment group, John G. Rallo and Corey Christanell, have given more than $30,000 to 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Ste…
On Nov. 3, the Post-Dispatch asked record custodians from Stenger鈥檚 office and from the county鈥檚 Department of Human Services to provide all r…
The contract language approved by the board said the contract was not to exceed $100,000. But the contract Sweeney actually signed a few weeks…
The owners of the former Northwest Plaza in St. Ann have donated $365,000 to 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger, who was campaigning for…
Two of the top officers with the Missourians for Patient Care initiative (which failed in November 2018) have received lucrative land deals or…
鈥淭he bottom line is that any claim that this is a cost-savings measure for the County would appear to be quite inaccurate,鈥 Ted Medler, the co…
Stenger鈥檚 former campaign manager, working as a special project manager, directed an effort that started in 2015 to relocate several county of…
The lease will cost taxpayers at least $69 million, and could run as high as $77 million, according to the newspaper鈥檚 analysis of the county鈥…
In a text, Stenger called the council鈥檚 action a 鈥減olitical rampage鈥 orchestrated by councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District.
Stenger鈥檚 office arranged for the port authority to pay for the nonprofit to hire marketing consultant Steven Wyatt Earp, said Reginald Scott,…
Stenger said in an interview Wednesday that the county council and he 鈥渞eally don鈥檛 have much choice but to work with each other.鈥
Wellston Holdings LLC wants to sell the 28-acre site on Ogden Avenue to Copart, an online vehicle auction and resale company based in Dallas. …
Coleman is helping the council-backed board try to take the port authority and its casino cash away from the 50度灰视频 Economic Development Pa…
After selling 28 acres of Wellston land to politically connected investors last year, the 50度灰视频 County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Au…
Stenger has repeatedly denied any involvement in the 2017 sale of two publicly owned Wellston industrial parks to investors who also have dona…
Sweeney鈥檚 board released a statement saying it was 鈥渄eeply concerned鈥 about issues at the Partnership, and it sent a message to the county cou…
50度灰视频 County served with subpoena in federal investigation targeting Stenger, council chairman says
Page said the subpoena ordered the county to produce Stenger鈥檚 call history, texts and emails with current and former county employees related…
The chairman of the 50度灰视频 Economic Development Partnership said the agency and the county Port Authority and Land Clearance for Redevelopm…
All three were hired to county jobs shortly after Stenger took office on Jan. 1, 2015.
Prominent defense attorney Ed Dowd also sought county council support for resolution allowing county to hire him.
It also seeks records of communications between Stenger 鈥 or any current or former county official or employee 鈥 and any current or former emp…
A federal prosecutor leading the investigation into 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger鈥檚 administration has asked the county to turn ove…
A federal grand jury indicted Stenger on charges of theft of honest services. Stenger resigned; the county council chose Sam Page to fill the …
Local politicians and residents took to social media to react to 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger's indictment Monday.
These individuals were involved in some of the transactions outlined in the 44-page indictment.
Stenger and Sweeney instruct businessman to ignore the Post-Dispatch in an effort to conceal scheme, indictment alleges.
鈥楾alk to her and say, look at, Sheila, there are some real reasons why we can鈥檛 see this go the wrong way.鈥
Obscure fire district committee became a big donor to Stenger and earned the attention of federal investigators.
The $100,000 50度灰视频 County Port Authority marketing contract that is at the heart of the federal indictment of former County Executive Stev…
Talking with this week's host, David Hunn, reporters Jeremy Kohler and Jacob Barker discuss the indictment of former 50度灰视频 County Executiv…
Former 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger, who resigned Monday after his indictment on pay-to-play charges, is scheduled to plead guilty…
He pleaded guilty to the three federal counts in a pay-to-play scheme that could earn him three to four years in prison under federal sentenci…
Here鈥檚 a look at Stenger鈥檚 time as a public servant.
There was no record of whether the FBI successfully accessed Stenger鈥檚 phone data, but the 44-page indictment unsealed April 29 quoted many of…
The former CEO of the 50度灰视频 Economic Development Partnership admitted that she both knew about and covered up former 50度灰视频 County Exec…
Executives of a company that agreed to buy the Jamestown Mall from the 50度灰视频 County Port Authority said Wednesday they had nothing to do w…
Bill Miller, chief of staff to former 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger, pleaded guilty to a federal felony and admitted helping Stenge…
How much does Steve Stenger owe 50度灰视频 County for his crimes? The County Council is working on that.
The 50度灰视频 County Council is preparing a letter to help a federal judge decide how much former County Executive Steve Stenger should pay th…
John G. Rallo, one of disgraced former 50度灰视频 County Executive Steve Stenger鈥檚 earliest campaign donors, pleaded guilty in federal court to…
Council member Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, who introduced the ordinance, said the council believes it affects former County Executive Steve Ste…
Stenger was sentenced to 46 months in prison and fined $250,000 for using county staff and resources to do the bidding of his campaign donors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very sad day for democracy,鈥 U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry told Stenger. 鈥淭his kind of corruption causes the public to lose fait…
As part of her plea, Sweeney admitted knowing about and failing to report Stenger鈥檚 schemes to use county resources to reward his donors while…
Stenger, who reported to prison last month to serve a 46-month prison sentence, is scheduled to be released after just 27 months, according to…
A former director of the office that awards contracts has sued 50度灰视频 County claiming that he was wrongfully fired in 2018 after he raised …
The chief executive of a tech firm that won a no-bid contract under former County Executive Steve Stenger鈥檚 administration in 2017 said Tuesda…
The true source of the donation sheds more light on how Sinquefield鈥檚 operation was able to funnel approximately $700,000 to Stenger鈥檚 politic…
John Rallo, who federal prosecutors say gave campaign donations to Stenger in exchange for real estate deals and a sham contract with economic…