ST. LOUIS COUNTY 鈥 Steve Stenger says he wasn鈥檛 elected to 鈥済et along with people.鈥 He was elected to 鈥渇ight for residents and taxpayers.鈥
But the fighting gets all the attention, the county executive laments, as he pages through a three-ring binder of his accomplishments and makes his case that he deserves a second term.
Under Stenger鈥檚 leadership, the county launched a prescription drug monitoring program, and he recently unveiled a plan to improve access to treatment for opioid addictions. He spearheaded Proposition P, a sales tax approved by county voters in 2017 that helped fund raises for police officers and will help the county police hire more than 100 officers. He has a diverse Cabinet with African-Americans and women in leadership positions. The county has a balanced budget. It has a AAA bond rating.
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Stenger, 46, insists that 最新杏吧原创 County government is 鈥渇ully functional鈥 and 鈥減roviding all the basic services that government provides.鈥 He says he is a better choice than his challenger in the Democratic primary, Ladue businessman Mark Mantovani, 64.
But people who are watching see a government gripped by dysfunction, and a county executive constantly engaged in struggle.
The council passes an ordinance, Stenger vetoes it. The council overrides a veto, Stenger claims the ordinance can鈥檛 be enforced anyway. The council cuts $31 million from Stenger鈥檚 spending plan, he transfers money out of the council鈥檚 account. The council asks Stenger to report on his meeting with the governor and Stenger sips water and leafs through papers for 30 seconds, ignoring them. Bi-State Development Agency recommends the county refinance a bond, Stenger doesn鈥檛 respond.
Mantovani attributes the toxic atmosphere in 最新杏吧原创 County government to 鈥渕alevolent鈥 leadership. 鈥淚f you 鈥 look at the way this government was set up, we鈥檝e been lucky that this didn鈥檛 happen before. The charter really treats the county executive as a bit of a dictator, and the County Council has essentially existed as kind of a very mild advice and consent body. And I think we鈥檝e been lucky because we鈥檝e had a lot of benevolent people in the county executive鈥檚 office until now.鈥
Despite his accomplishments, could Stenger鈥檚 poor relationships with some officials become an election issue? Dave Robertson, chairman of the political science department at the University of Missouri-最新杏吧原创, thinks it could be, although he said Stenger鈥檚 position is strong.
People in unions, which have endorsed Stenger across the board, will be motivated to come to the polls to defeat the 鈥渞ight to work鈥 bill on the Aug. 7 ballot. That will help Stenger, he said.
Mantovani will attract Democrats who don鈥檛 like Stenger, he said. And he might appeal to some Republican voters who want to take advantage of Missouri鈥檚 open primary format and vote against Stenger, he said. But Republican voters may feel a stronger pull toward the GOP ballot to support U.S. Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is facing Austin Petersen for the right to challenge Democrat Claire McCaskill in November.
That leaves the people in the middle.
鈥淭he rancor and conflict between members of (the) County Council and (the) executive continue to raise questions among the more independent-minded voters 鈥 about the ethics and the activities of Steve Stenger,鈥 Robertson said. 鈥淭he question is those swing voters. Are they influenced by this? They might be, and you see those questions being raised by the Mantovani campaign. The question is if there are enough of them to make a difference.鈥
Stenger said he took some of the blame for the poor relationships in county government, and said he would try to do better. But he said most of it was 鈥渋nside baseball,鈥 that the tension and strife in county government do not affect the lives of county residents. He said on most of his quarrels with the council, he has been defending the county charter from attempts by the legislative branch to exceed its power. For instance, he said, the charter does not allow the council to hire its own lawyers if it is not satisfied by the county鈥檚 legal staff.
鈥淥ne branch of government, including me, is unable by our charter to ever take full control over the government and not have checks and balances that our charter founders wanted to see,鈥 he said.
Mantovani, of Ladue, retired CEO and chairman of the marketing firm Ansira, has taken every opportunity to paint himself as a congenial collaborator who has worked with a board of directors. In a five-minute video addressed to county employees, Mantovani said county employees wanted him to save them from a nightmare boss. He shared a note he said was slipped to him by a county employee at a restaurant. It said, 鈥淪ave us.鈥
Mantovani said it was 鈥減reposterous鈥 that Stenger was opposing the council on its authority to hire a lawyer. 鈥淗ow can you be a legislative forum from a community of a million people and not have the ability to get your own lawyer?鈥
Mantovani鈥檚 campaign has largely targeted Stenger鈥檚 ethics. His ads frequently use Post-Dispatch headlines from stories exposing county real estate deals and contracts that have helped major Stenger donors. One of his more biting ads likens the Stenger campaign to a vending machine 鈥 money in, contract out.
Meanwhile, Stenger claims he is the only real Democrat in the race.
Mantovani supported the GOP in early stages of the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, giving $1,000 to Rudy Giuliani in 2007 and $1,000 to Jon Huntsman in 2011. He then gave $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in July 2016.
Stenger hopes Mantovani鈥檚 support in 2015-16 for disgraced former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will turn off Democrats.
In September 2015 after announcing his candidacy for Missouri governor, Greitens released a pamphlet outlining some of his political positions: 鈥渄efund Planned Parenthood,鈥 鈥渟tand up to federal overreach,鈥 鈥減rotect our religious liberties鈥 and 鈥渟ign right-to-work legislation.鈥
A week after that pamphlet, Mantovani sent an email to about 120 people inviting them to a party at his house in Ladue in October. It said, 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to introduce as many of you as possible to our friend, Eric Greitens, who announced his candidacy for Missouri Governor on Saturday.鈥
All told, Mantovani and his wife gave Greitens more than $20,000.
Now Mantovani says he opposes right to work. Asked why he supported Greitens, he says he was looking at the whole candidate more closely than any specific issue. He said he thought Greitens would be more of a moderate after the election.
鈥淢y opinion of Greitens was that he had the potential to be a transformative leader, based on his resume and achievements,鈥 he said. 鈥淢ost attractive to me was his Rhodes scholarship and his humanitarian work 鈥 I obviously missed it, and I regret it.鈥
Republican voters will choose Aug. 7 between Paul Berry III and Daniel Sampson. The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will be joined on the November ballot by Libertarian candidate Nick Kasoff and Constitution Party candidate Andrew Ostrowski.
