Irene's Letter to Governor Nixon

January 13, 2009


Dear Governor Nixon:

Congratulations on your inauguration. As you assume the office of the Governor of Missouri, you are inheriting many challenges and responsibilities for this great state. However, there is continued misconduct and mismanagement of our police department that is damaging our city. Our new Chief of Police, Colonel Daniel Isom, deserves the full support of St. Louis in order to do an outstanding job. He cannot turn around a department working under the shadows of a board that lacks accountability and oversight. Underreported rape statistics, money missing from police evidence vaults, misuse of seized evidence, a towing scandal and possible criminal behavior within the police department are only some of the reasons why I am advocating that local control be established. Additionally, more than a third of the City's annual budget is allocated to the police department, yet we do not have the powers of direct governance.

The year the Civil War began, 1861, is the same year that the current configuration of the Board was put in place. This country and the people of the City of St. Louis voted for change on November 4, 2008. This gubernatorial appointee system is not addressing the needs of the people in 2009 and is grossly outdated. We cannot continue to uphold outdated policies while the people have called for new leadership and change. This antiquated policy has contributed to cronyism, the abuse of power, and a lack of transparency within our police department.
Unfortunately, the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners doesn't represent the demographics of the city. Presently, there aren't any women members of the Board, yet 52% of the City's population is female. Additionally, none of the Police Commissioners live north of Delmar Boulevard. The Board should be representative of the entire city. Our men and women in blue work extremely hard and deserve the full support of the city. The future of this metropolitan area is at hand.

As asked in previous correspondence with other residents of this city, I urge you as the new Governor of Missouri to take a stand in favor of local control. Please request the resignation of the current Police Commissioners. We need local control that will give St. Louis the opportunity to structure our own police department. Every other governmental entity in the state of Missouri, except for St. Louis City and Kansas City, has local control of its police department.
Today, I am requesting that you ask for the resignation of the four members of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, all of whom were appointed to their present position by your predecessor, Governor Matt Blunt. The current members of the Board are Colonel Chris Goodson, Colonel Julius K. Hunter, Colonel Todd Epsten, and Colonel Vincent J. Bommarito. The citizens of St. Louis and I will take responsibility for removing the sole elected member, Mayor Francis G. Slay.

We look forward to you putting your campaign slogan, "Independent. Experienced. The Change We Need.", into effect. The change we need in St. Louis is local control of the Police Department and a Board of Police Commissioners that better represents the city that it serves. Once elected the new mayor of St. Louis, I will work with you to make St. Louis a city for all.
I thank you for your attention and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,



Irene J. Smith
Democratic Candidate for Mayor
St. Louis City

cc: St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners
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