No, no Maida Coleman. Rather, I’m talking about Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman, the surprise candidate challenging incumbent mayor Francis Slay in the Democratic primary. As some of you already know, there are some suspicions that the last-minute entering in the race by a woman with the last name of Coleman was a shifty attempt to hurt Maida Coleman’s chances in the race.
(unsolicited advice below the fold)
So the Post-Dispatch yesterday penned an editorial basically suggesting that Denise Coleman seems like a genuine and earnest candidate. I ran into Denise Coleman and one of her supporters at the rally for jobs and economic recovery yesterday (which, BTW, was a great rally) and I have to say that she seems very earnest to me as well. I spoke mostly with her supporter who was getting information from rally participants, but while I was talking to her I thought of a way to test whether she was really a “stalking horse” working for Slay or a legitimate candidate.
So here is my suggestion. Denise Coleman decided to enter the race against a well-funded Democratic incumbent who clearly is the pick of the local establishment. For her to legitimately decide to do this, she must think that Mayor Slay is failing to fulfill his obligations as the mayor. So, for Denise Coleman to show that she is a serious candidate and not merely a “stalking horse”, she needs to explain exactly why she thinks Francis Slay should not continue to be the mayor of St. Louis. The more forcefully and effectively she criticizes Slay, the more she can dispel the perception that she is part of a plot to undermine Maida. For example, if she continuously repeats on record that she thinks Slay’s handling of the public schools has been a disaster, this IMO decreases the odds that she is actually working for Slay. At the very least, it would decrease the perception that she is working for Slay.
Denise’s supporter who I talked to yesterday was willing to criticize Slay’s handling of the public schools and the corruption on the police force. But, of course, politicians can say anything to Joe Rally-Attender. What the campaign really should do if they want to convince people they they’re not working for Slay is to issue repeated critical press releases explaining why Denise Coleman thinks Slay needs to go. This would show that she really is inspired to bring change to St. Louis City Hall.
She needs to make it clear what she would bring to the table as mayor more than anything else. If her campaign revolves around criticizing Slay, she’s toast.
And if she supposedly was a stalking horse to knock Maida Coleman down a few notches, that doesn’t matter any more. Maida Coleman isn’t in the Democratic primary.
If Maida was in the primary she’d be one of many Democrats and she would be expected to lose so she wouldn’t get much coverage – but this gives her an extra month to raise money and campaign for the actual election because she doesn’t have to run a primary campaign AND it will put some interest in the general election which is NEVER interesting.
On Denise – I agree with Clark. If she is a real candidate she needs to talk about what she brings to the table. She can criticize Slay while she does this but if she doesn’t say why anyone should vote for HER then she isn’t a real candidate.
And this: “Denise’s supporter who I talked to yesterday was willing to criticize Slay’s handling of the public schools and the corruption on the police force.”
I find it frustrating beyond belief that when people talk about the Mayor’s office they insist on talking about the 2 functions that the Mayor (ANY mayor) can’t control = the school board and the police board. I agree those are two big issues for the city of st. louis but the mayor (ANY mayor) is hamstrung in dealing with those issues. At some point can we focus on things that the mayor actually CAN do something about?
Because if you can’t come up with a criticism of Slay on something that he has FULL power to control – then I guess he really isn’t that bad a mayor is he?