Author Archive

Governor Jay Nixon is accepting applications for a two-year appointment to be Missouri’s next poet laureate. The incumbent is David Clewell, Professor of English at Webster University. One of the panel members reviewing applications for the next poet laureate will be Kris Kleindienst, owner of Left Bank Books. In his statement soliciting poetic applications , the Gov noted that the Show-Me State “has a long tradition of poets and authors whose words have moved and inspired generations of people around the world.” Our own nominee would be the Gov’s own chief speech writer, former Grey Old Lady editorial page editor Christy Bertelson, whose deft touch has definitely stepped up Nixon’s rhetorical game with inspiring flourishes. But there are others who could offer a few verses to qualify as Missouri’s official poet. The love letters that brought together Mr. and Mrs. WashU Chancellor Mark Wrighton are the stuff of legend. The private diaries of SLU Prexy Rev. Larry Biondi would surely move him to the head of the pack, though his remembrances of Haulover Beach might be lost on Missourians more knowledgeable about Lake of the Ozarks’ Party Cove. The various public pronouncements by former St. Louis Circuit Clerk Mariano Favazza were always vivid, if not poetic. Because the poet laureate is expected to visit schools and lecture students, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder’s memoirs of going Eastside to court a Penthouse Pet are probably a disqualifier. No one will confuse the Tweets of Mayor Francis Slay with Shakespeare, witty though they may be. at times Former First Lady and United States Senator Jean Carnahan prefers to devote her books to essays on fun subjects such as the lives of families who lived in the Governors Mansion. And, of course, Ed Martin is always looking to switch his mission – first the race for U.S. Senate, then 2nd Congress and as of Thursday, attorney general - so maybe the poet laureate will be Unsteady Eddie’s next target for employment.

It would be naïve to think authorship of a lovely volume of poetry is the sole qualification to be Missouri’s poet laureate. The stringent application form provided by Governor Jay Nixon’s appointments assistant Deborah Price office would likely disqualify hard-living poetry luminaries Allen Ginsberg, Shel Silverstein and Oscar Wilde, among others. In addition to the applicant’s Social Security Number, Drivers License Number and marital status and spouse’s full name, it asks whether the poet laureate prospect has ever been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation. And this: “Is there anything in your or your spouse’s background that might become an embarrassment to you if it were to become public? Please consider
carefully any letters to the editor, blog posts, etc., which you or your spouse may have authored, even anonymously.” So much for the Bergermeister’s army of confidential tipsters who might be poetically inclined. Here’s the kicker that gets to the real point of the inquisition with the last two words: “Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, which could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, the Board/Commission for which you are applying, or the Governor.”

Dead at 74, a living legend has gone to join the immortals. Benefactor to many charities and a successful businessman, Jerry Clinton was wise, witty and wonderful – and all the other glowing adjectives in the lexicon. Most of all, he had humor. During an interview with him, the columnist recalled one of his anecdotes. He said that during a hunting trip with August Busch, III., he had tremendous success outscoring Busch. The brewer asked Clinton,  “Where did you learn to shoot so well?” Clinton shot back, “In the projects, August, where I was raised.”  He often spoke of his humble childhood. I knew Jerry throughout his years of joy and despair, hope and tragedy with the untimely death of a son. His days in car racing brought him close to the late actor Paul Newman. Clinton enjoyed introducing Newman to all within sight including the columnist. (Newman was never pleased to have interaction with strangers.)  As is too often the case, the true stature of a person emerges when it’s too late in the outpouring of feeling. Our town is truly diminished by the death of Jerry Clinton, who epitomized what they call “a generous guy.”  St. Peter is due a fat tip.

From Bryan Cave, Greg Willard and John Boyle have joined Carmody MacDonald,  From the Gallop law firm: Richard Yawitz has jumped to Stinson, Morrison Hecker and Thomas Mug to Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale and Robert Carthwell and Mike Adrian to Lathrop & Gage.

Seventeen businesses and organizations have opened in The Grove since 2010 and at least five more are on the way in 2012.  “I’ve never seen the Grove that crowded before, the sidewalks were filled like people moving from venue to venue,” cited the Atomic Cowboy’s Chip Schloss. “It felt like the quarter in New Orleans.”  Beginning the New Year right – nothing like curing a hangover with yoga – at the new Urban Breath Yoga on Manchester Road. New also are No Coast Skateboards, Sameem Afghan Restaurant and Catering and soon – O’Shay’s Irish Pub and Soho Restaurant & Lounge.

If you’re curious how petty the conflicts can sink on college campuses, consider some of the childish grievances called into the University of Missouri’s anonymous complaint and compliance hotline last year. Such as this one, which is still pending in the ivory towers: “Allegation that a UM System employee sent negative information to an external party about an individual’s spouse at the time when the external party was considering the spouse for a volunteer position.” Meee-OW! The Columbia Daily Tribune’s higher education reporter Janese Silvey got records of the anonymous hotline complaint reports and resolutions through a Missouri Sunshine Law request, which is probably like pulling teeth with the secretive university culture.

No action was deemed necessary on a February 2011 complaint that a UMSL employee was taking time off without accounting for it, supposedly with a supervisor’s knowledge. Nor was action deemed necessary on an April 2011 complaint that “a senior UM official regularly placed Bible quotes on email signatures, which were inappropriate given the individual’s position.” Still pending is a complaint lodged anonymously last November that “a UMSL supervisory employee made inappropriate comments and treated employees unfairly.” No names or departments are listed, so the university’s paranoid trucation of the information sadly ends up raising suspicions about all superviors at UMSL.

Politicians are scrambling and head-scratching over dual Missouri Supreme Court rulings Tuesday that shook up 2012’s elections. Filing officially opens February 28^th for the August party primaries. But where are the candidates supposed to run? In one ruling Tuesday afternoon, the black robes on the state’s highest court reversing a lower court decision throwing out legal challenges to Missouri’s new congressional boundaries. That means the challengers will get a day in trial court to argue that the districts – particularly the new 3^rd that touches suburban St. Louis and the new 5^th in the KC area – are compact enough to pass legal muster. The new lines for the congressional and state legislative districts are drawn every decade following the census to reflect population changes. As if that isn’t enough Jeff City sausage-grinding, the Supremes also struck down the new state Senate district boundaries, declaring a plan submitted by a special commission of appeals court judges violates the Missouri Constitution. You read that right – judges were deemed to have violated the constitution! What was unconstitutional? Jackson County (around Kansas City) and Greene County (around Springfield) were carved into too many separate senatorial districts. And, the Supremes added, the special commission of appeals judges violated the Constitution a second time when it tried to substitute a later map with some changes to its earlier boundaries. This means the process of drawing up new Missouri Senate districts must start all over again from scratch. Guv. Jay Nixon, who was on deck to deliver his State of the State address and budget message on Tuesday evening, is again required to name a bipartisan commission to work up new Senate boundaries. Such a bipartisan commission failed to get the job done last fall, which threw the work to the panel of judges that unconstitutionally erred.