Posts Tagged ‘Charlie Dooley’

Roberto Gallardo is this close to opening a downtown iteration of Westport’s once-popular Ozzie’s.  Every day last week prospective managers, bar tenders, and servers mingled with construction workers and picketing electricians on the sidewalk of the 1500 block of Washington Avenue.  Gallardo will miss the NCAA basketball crowd, but should be open in time for most of baseball season. Meanwhile, St. Louis County executive Charlie Dooley slipped onto Washington Avenue last week to raise money for his reelection from big crowd of movers and shakers at trendy Smokin’ Joe’s BBQ.

The Missouri Ethics Commission has dismissed as “unsubstantiated” a complaint against attorney (and Charlie Dooley‘s adviser) John Temporiti filed by the campaign of fellow attorney Bill Corrigan.  The columnist is now waiting to see if Temporiti files a lawsuit against political pro Lloyd Smith, the new exec director of the state Republican Party, who signed the complaint against Temporiti under oath.

While Jim Buford, honcho of the St. Louis Metropolitan Urban League (UL) held the
attention of the 1,200-member audience at the Millenium Hotel, Marc Morial, the UL’s  national prez, took a shot at the U.S. Congress.  Morial pushed President Obama‘s concept of a vote up or vote down on the Health Care Reform bill and then called the lack of action by Congress “troubling.”  Meanwhile, local pols lined up to glad-hand Morial on the 100th anniversary of the New York-based UL. Hizzoner Slay spoke of Morial’s insightful leadership skills, when the two were colleagues with the Conference of Mayors. Morial was then mayor of New Orleans. Slay proclaimed the month of March as “The National Urban League’s Empowering Communities and Changing Lives” month.  Not to be outdone, Charlie Dooley and Alvin Parks did their ceremonial pitches after which Mark A. Kern, chairman, St. Clair County, mused, “I will proclaim it the national Urban League of the Century,” which got a rousing cheer.  Awards were presented for accomplishments in helping people in the African-American community to:  the Rev. Michael T. Jones; Cheryl Heard of Racial Harmony; Citi Corp., Faye Robinson and Habitat for Humanity.  The city unit of the league welcomed to its board Thomas Irwin of Civic Progress at which time some hisses were heard.  On hand for the gambol were:  Col. Bill and Cheryl Young; Susan Buford; U.L. chairman and former Veiled Prophet Stephen C. Jones; Emily Pitts; Melanie DeLeo; Frankie M. Freeman; the Rev. E.D. Shields; Katherine Osborn; Johnny Furr; Dr. Karl Wilson; John and Emma Moten, Jr.,; Henry Givens; Zelema Harris; Dennis Golden; Debra Denham; Christine Chadwick; the Rev. Sammie Jones; Metro Evening Whirl’s Gentry Trotter and St. Louis American’s Donald Suggs. After he was introed to revenue collector Greg F.X. Daly, Morial joshed, “Hey, I don’t owe any taxes.  I’m all paid up!”  And, head table guests eyeballed what some described as a 5-carat diamond ring on St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green‘s finger.  Word was that she recently got hitched to businessman Melvin Hayes.

Although it is still months away from the November election between County Exec Dooley and his Republican challenger, lawyer Bill Corrigan, the two campaigns have already made some “important” decisions.  Dooley has selected blue and gold, while Corrigan has opted for red, white and blue on parchment.

Missing from St. Louis county exec Charlie Dooley‘s meeting with Prez Obama’s “car czar” Ed Montgomery in Fenton on Thursday
to announce a new joint effort to find new uses for empty auto plants (and new jobs for former auto workers) was Gov. Jay Nixon, who opted to arrive in our town a day earlier to announce a tax credit award in St.Louis City.  The state of Missouri matched funds with the feds, the county and the City of Fenton to make the auto effort possible.

State economic development officials and St.Louis county exec Charlie Dooley are poised to announce a joint federal/local program to identify new users and uses for the  region’s shuttered auto assembly plants.  Meanwhile, the St. Louis Tea Party folks have likely done both Dooley, a popular Democrat seeking reelection, and Chesterfield Mayor John Nations, a rising star in the Republican party, an inadvertent favor.  They have published an announcement of a Feb. 27 gathering at the Gateway Arch that features a mocking image of the duo.

Somewhere in her family, Alexis Tucci had to have inherited the genes of Cecil B. DeMille or David O. Selznick.  Only they and Tucci could produce a spectacular such as the Mayor’s Ball in City Hall t’other eve, crafted by Tucci.  Usually the corridors are as empty as an Elaine Viets book signing, but Friday night they were wall-to-wall, costumed party-goers as well as those in formal attire.  Why not? It was the eve of Mardi Gras festivities around town and the guests partied and jammed beyond belief. The aforementioned Dooley and Hizzoner Francis Slay were hugging and recalling how earlier in the day, Dooley pulled off his best joke yet. While Slay and others were at a Hardee’s launching of Heat Up St. Louis, they looked in vain for Dooley, whose presence was expected. Finally, someone caught a side-splitting Dooley at a drive-up window.

Speaking of attending functions, Guv. Jay Nixon was invited to the ball, but was a no-show much to the anger of some power brokers. “He doesn’t even care about St. Louis”, said one of them.  Another Dem chimed in about county exec hopeful Bill Corrigan and pointed out, “He’s been elected to Pulaski Bank’s board.  You know, the bank that has not yet paid back the TARP funds?”

With his wife, Gienne, at  his side,  Parks & Rec. chief Gary Best tipped that a conservancy is being formed to raise money for the Gateway Mall park. Nearby, St. Louis Sheriff Jim Murphy lamented about his nephew, Judge Joe Murphy, another victim of lung cancer. “It’s treatable – he’s now on chemotherapy,” said Murphy. Affable 25th Ward Alderman Shane Cohen enthused over having gotten a grant from the Justice Dept. for his district to cover police and prosecutorial services as well as the neighborhood watch program. Taking it all in were Deb and Cong. Russ Carnahan, who admitted he enjoys listening to Rush Limbaugh whenever possible. Getting admirable stares were the stunning duo of Teresa and broadcaster John Brown, while nearby were Michelle and St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, who expressed comfort about what he described as a “coming together of all factions in the department, but several forces don’t want that.”  A few toasts were raised to Brian Wahby, chairman of the city Democratic Central committee for having pioneered the Mayor’s Ball way back then.

The odd couple of Mayor Francis Slay and County Exec Charlie Dooley seemed to be auditioning for prme time.  They joined Cong. Lacy Clay and United Way prez Gary Dollar and members of the Gateway Earned Income Credit Community Coalition (GECC) at the Metropolitan, Education and Training Center (MET Center) to alert the public on the availability of earned income tax credit (EITC) and free tax preparation services. After they were introduced by Clay, Dooley began presenting the county proclamation. “Unlike my good friend Mayor Slay, I am not going to bore you by reading this long document, but he will,” joshed Dooley.  Slay then thanked Clay and Dooley and said, “Thanks Charlie and by the way, I have no plans to read this proclamation. I’m just going to proclaim it EITC Day in the city. . .and the county. And, if you’ve noticed, my proc is not only bigger than Charlie’s, but it has a nice decorative frame.”