Posts Tagged ‘Gene McNary’

L to R - Tim Drury, Ed Martin, Gene McNary

Give Gene McNary a pat on his ego!  The yesteryear St. Louis county exec, INS chief and Missouri lottery czar told the columnist, “My wife has encouraged me to run for a statewide office.  Perhaps I might consider that.”  McNary appeared Wednesday night at Bartolino’s South for an Ed Martin for Congress fundraiser billed as, “Welcome Home, Gene McNary.” (Read that as a welcome to McNary’s roots in south county.)  Jabs by  McNary  toward incumbent Cong. Russ Carnahan prevailed.  “Maybe Jeff Smith’s friends will not be happy with Carnahan.  Ed is not going to get a Post-Dispatch endorsement, but he will get Bill McClellan’s (as Martin stared at the skilled P-D columnist). This is a Republican year. The coalition Obama put together will sit on their hands.”  Martin said free trade with China is not working.  Turning again to Carnahan, Martin noted, “He and his wife have traveled the world on tax payer-funded dollars to study climate change and watch fireworks in New Zealand as well as evidence of ocean acidification.”

Yes, yes. The columnist has heard all of the arguments being offered about why Charlie Dooley elected to drive a stake through the heart of a proposed North County casino near the Confluence of the Rivers.  He is an environmentalist. He is protecting the county’s revenue from its existing casinos.  He is getting back at retiring Gaming Commissioner Gene McNary, a Dooley critic who seemed to support the project.  He is making a deal with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay whose city is losing a gaming license.  Blah, blah.  The real reason is that St. Louis County Economic Council topper Denny Coleman advised his boss that quantitative analysis shows that a new casino in north county lacked the popular public support to make it a strong success, while its mere existence would siphon dollars from existing county restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. Hats off to Chaz!

It is St. Louis County Exec Charlie Dooley‘s lot – and advantage – to be underestimated by his opponents.  With his wife, Susan at Chez Leon, Gene McNary, exec director of the Missouri Gaming Commish and a former St. Louis county exec himself, took a few shots at Dooley.  “He’s a nice guy,” McNary began.  “But, it’s embarrassing that he’s running the county.  I’d like to beat him!”  McNary, who will leave his current post in July, last won an election in 1986.  Still, some county stalwarts think that the feisty McNary would have been a stronger opponent to Dooley than Ladue attorney Bill Corrigan. . .So, you’re wondering where some of the money goes here from the federal stimulus funding, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?  Ask dad. Dad knows. How about $45 million for Metro Arts in Transit (AIT) for a number of new public art projects?  Metro Arts has received that much and is currently on the prowl for artists.

As the mainstream media begins to turn its harsh spotlight on North County Development’s 377-acre casino site plan, the columnist is rooting for the underdogs.  No, not for the dozen or so conservation groups hoping to avoid the blighting of the land around the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers Confluence by new construction.  Nor for the thousands of residents who have signed petitions complaining about the likely traffic, noise and trash of a new casino.  The columnist is cheering for the *bold face *names that have graced his column for decades: for Gene McNary, former St. Louis county exec and current Gaming Commission director, who has so far left no last legacy in either place.  And for Floyd Warmann,  who  lost millions of dollars in the early 1990s when his plans to flip a mooring lease on the city riverfront to a casino thwarted by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.  And for Brad Lakin and Julie McDonald, whose fathers are both in the federal pen.  Is it unreasonable to hope that the era of good government relaxes for just a little while in order to let some of the old guard enjoy a final chance to score?