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Dash to the polls
(by Kara Krekeler - October 28, 2009)
On Nov. 3, voters across Missouri will be asked to weigh in on local propositions for school district levies, sales tax increases and various municipal or county ordinances. But in the whole state, just two races for public office are on the ballot, both in the St. Louis area and both brought on by the same scandal.
Democrat Stacey Newman and Republican Daniel O’Sullivan are facing off in the race for the state’s 73rd House District, which includes Clayton, Richmond Heights and Maplewood. Meanwhile Democrat and longtime 28th Ward Committeeman Joe Keaveny seeks election to the state’s 4th Senate District, which encompasses the western half of St. Louis city.
Both races are short notice, with no primary taking place before the general election. On Aug. 25, State Sen. Jeff Smith and State Rep. Steve Brown resigned from their seats, due to their roles in a campaign finance scandal surrounding Smith’s 2004 run at the U.S. Congress. Keaveny and whoever wins in the 73rd District will finish out Smith and Brown’s unexpired terms, and be up for re-election in November 2010.
Smith and Brown’s resignations left the 4th Senate District and 73rd House District vacant, just two months shy of the November general election, giving candidates just one month to meet the deadline for filing to run, which some were unable to accomplish. Independent Mike Hathaway and Constitution Party member Howard Hampton had both announced their intention to run against Keaveny, although neither received enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.
For both races, the candidates who were able to make it on the ballot noted that the biggest challenges of this race are getting their names out there and informing voters about the race.
“A lot of the challenge in a special election is letting [voters] know that it’s happening,” Newman said, adding that even some of the frequent voters she’s talked to were unaware of the election date. “They’re aware of the media [surrounding Brown’s resignation] but that’s as far as it goes. They’re not aware of the election for filling the seat.”
O’Sullivan agreed, noting that because of the expected low voter turnout in this election, the pressure is on for each candidate to speak to as many voters as possible. “If the only people who turn out are the people you talk to…I’m out trying to talk to more voters than [Newman] does, and she’s trying to talk to more voters than I do,” he said.
Even though he doesn’t have an opponent, Keaveny said he’s been campaigning hard to get his name out there, attending neighborhood association and ward meetings throughout the 4th District. Among the many potential candidates considered to replace Smith — which included State Reps. Rachel Storch and Jamilah Nasheed — Keaveny was one of the least-known, yet had the support of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay to help seal the nomination.
“The people who nominated me — most of whom are extremely experienced people who have been on the central Democratic committee for more than 10 years — it was their decision to choose the candidate they were most comfortable with,” Keaveny said.
He said that once in office, he’ll continue to get to know his constituents and plans on working with the Republican majority to pass laws that will address their concerns about jobs, quality education opportunities and safe neighborhoods.
“They’re the things that are very challenging to provide right now,” Keaveny said.
In the 73rd District race, the candidates aren’t having as hard a time with name recognition — both Newman and O’Sullivan ran for the seat in 2008 against Brown; O’Sullivan in the general election and Newman in the hard-fought Democratic primary.
In the year since that race, Newman helped found Harriett’s List, a political action committee that works to get progressive women elected into local and statewide offices.
“I’d been recruiting women all year and when this position came open, I’d already laid the groundwork and thought it was natural” to pursue the office, Newman said.
In addition to simply getting the election date out, Newman said she’s focused on the same socially progressive platform that she’s always promoted, including increasing access to health care and jobs, and outlawing discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.
While Newman admitted that such a progressive platform may not be the easiest to promote in the Republican-led House of Representatives, she said she thought she’d still be able to work across the aisle.
“There’s a way to find common ground without losing your ideals,” she said, explaining that focusing on the common goals is important in creating “policy that doesn’t hurt people.” “Some issues shouldn’t be political. Health care shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican.”
To some degree, O’Sullivan agreed with that sentiment, noting that the state’s government is based on the idea of compromise; no bill will pass without the majority of legislators behind it, he said.
But O’Sullivan said he hopes to approach health care and eminent domain — the biggest issues he’s found while campaigning — with a critical eye, making sure legislation works the way it’s meant to by not providing unintentional incentives for businesses to drop employee health care or for cities to use eminent domain for private developments.
“I don’t always look at the best effects. What if [legislation] doesn’t do what we want it to do?” he said.
O’Sullivan admitted that the history of the district is against him — the 73rd District has long been represented by a Democrat — but said he hoped that the fact that this is the only contested race in the state would be beneficial to a non-Democratic candidate.
“One of the downsides in House races is that it often gets lost in bigger races” with voters ticking off ballots along party lines. “There’s nothing else to guide them this time, there are no other races,” he said. “If I thought this was a foregone conclusion, I wouldn’t waste my time.”
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