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Of all the posts to be filled in the coming elections, the one that will have the most direct effect on our area is that of Alderman. Whoever is elected must have as a primary goal the good of our immediate community.
In the primary elections next week, we are faced with the task of picking the best man of each party for the job. And in doing so, we must remember that there are essential differences in the viewpoints and goals among the candidates. On other pages of this issue of The Paper you will find the stated beliefs of the candidates who chose to respond to the questionaire sent out several weeks ago. Incumbant Larry Costello, John Roach and Will Smith are the choices offered to the Democrats. Ed Walsh and Will Franklin are on the Republican ticket.
For many years, the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis had a well-earned reputation for being merely a rubber stamp for those higher up. It has only been within the last few years that the Board of Aldermen has become a more active, more important group. New aldermen with no ties to party leaders, unions or big business have brought about this change, a change which bodes well for St. Louis. Although “new” in the sense of time served as alderman, Larry Costello has, we believe, been anything but “new” in terms of providing the type of dynamic, forceful and innovative aldermanic service necessary to stem the decay of the City of St. Louis and the 28th Ward. We therefore feel a strong obligation to make some observations about him and his service to our ward.
Costello’s appointment as alderman last year reeked of the “old school” practice of nepotism, an ill which has long been practiced in the St. Louis Democratic Party. It has taken him only a short time to establish himself not as a public servant of the 28th Ward, but rather a pawn of union interests, most often the Steamfitters Union. He has repeatedly failed to serve the ward in things large and small. It required over a month of reminders to get his approval and support of our request for city trucks for the traditional spring alley clean-up, ten days just to get his permission for the street permit for this year’s Art Fair. More importantly when the city budget for housing code enforcement was cut, Mr. Costello silently rubber stamped the cut despite the addition of $15 million or so in next year’s city budget. When Operation Breakthrough was first defeated in the Board of Aldermen, Mr. Costello opposed it “because of questions over union jurisdiction.” The second time it came up for vote, he left the chambers rather than exercise his responsibility to vote for or against this vitally important bill.
As the primary election approaches, Costello has used his position almost ruthlessly to advance his candidacy and in the process has virtually disregarded democratic processes. He reportedly went to the Board of Election Commissioners and attempted to have the present elected judges in the 28th Ward removed and replaced with some of his cronies. He was not allowed to do so, fortunately, but the fact remains that he tried. Then, more recently he used political influence with the Office of Economic Opportunity to force the cancellation of a meeting, scheduled and approved in advance, which would have allowed all candidates to meet with the public in an open forum to express their views on the issues relevant to the coming elections. As was well publicized in other local newspapers, the meeting was held on a parking lot…with all the aldermanic candidates except Costello appearing.
In all fairness to Mr. Costello, we must say that he has been cooperative with THE PAPER and has decided, after some initial reluctance, to respond to our questionaire and to therefore afford our readers an opportunity to compare his position on several of the more important issues to those of his opponents.
This publication has intended to refrain from endorsing candidates in any of the primary races, and we stand by that original intention. We do, however, feel an obligation to keep our readers informed. We do not think that the 28th Ward should tolerate Larry Costello for another term as Alderman. The office should be used for the betterment of the citizens, and we believe that one of the other candidates can better do the job.
Originally published in The Paper, August 1970.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1970_08.pdf, printed page(s) 5.
