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Two local state reps look to step up to the Senate
(by Tim Woodcock - July 30, 2008)
Two state representatives are seeking the 5th District State Senate seat — but it could easily have been three.
State Rep. Connie Johnson also filed to run against Robin Wright-Jones and Rodney Hubbard, but her name was struck off the ballot in May after a bitterly contested lawsuit. The lawsuit argued that Johnson was not a resident in the 5th District, having purchased a home elsewhere. The new house was near her sick mother’s, Johnson argued in court, and having access to it allowed her to look after her mother better, but it was not her primary residence. The lawsuit was filed by Wright-Jones.
The 5th District, broadly speaking, is the eastern half of the city of St. Louis and it includes the Central West End east of Kingshighway Boulevard.
Hubbard and Wright-Jones have both been state representatives since 2002.
The 5th District is currently represented by Maida Coleman but she is not eligible to defend her seat, having been term-limited out after eight years in the seat.
Wright-Jones describes herself as a mainline Democrat who wants to shore up public education and the state’s transportation infrastructure through government investment.
She said that when talking to voters on doorsteps throughout the city, she hears about the need for a stable public-school system. Wright-Jones said the administrative board that is currently overseeing the schools was not legitimately appointed, and she would like to see the elected board put back in charge. The district needs to be led by a licensed superintendent, not someone from a business background, she said.
The state also needs to do more to invest in higher education, she argued. If the life-science districts being developed in St. Louis and Kansas City really take off, those well-paying jobs should go to locals not outsiders, she said.
Wright-Jones argued that the state of Missouri is missing out on possible federal match dollars for transportation, because increasingly this money is available for targeted initiatives that promote, for example, telecommuting and the use of hybrid vehicles.
On the subject of eminent domain, Wright-Jones said that she is backing two proposals that could be on the ballot in November that would restrict how the controversial land-acquisition technique is used. In recent years the legal understanding of eminent domain has been expanded, in some cases allowing the property of one private landowner to be taken and sold to another, if the proposed redevelopment will bring in more tax dollars. Wright-Jones said eminent domain should be strictly limited to supporting infrastructure projects, such as building new roads, bridges, hospitals and schools.
Her opponent, Hubbard, has argued for the potential need for eminent domain in redeveloping North St. Louis. Hubbard voted for the Land Assemblage Tax Credit — statewide legislation that was written with the city of St. Louis in mind — but successfully sponsored an amendment stating that any plan for major redevelopment for north city needs approval of the Board of Aldermen, not just a state commission.
Like Wright-Jones, Hubbard said he has been hearing a lot about citizens’ dissatisfaction with the school system. Hubbard has been supportive of charter schools and tax-credit-supported scholarships — not traditional Democrat positions — because they give more opportunities to urban children.
However, Hubbard is insistent that he does not support vouchers, which would earmark a certain amount of public money per child that could used by families on public education or to help fund a private education.
As a state representative, Hubbard did support a bill that would have created a state-sponsored scholarship fund that would use tax credits as an incentive to attract donors; the number of students the fund would benefit depends on the level of the state subsidy, but it would likely be focused on distressed areas such as St. Louis.
Hubbard also backed other unorthodox ideas relating to education. In the last session he sponsored a bill, which did not pass, that would have made high-school attendance a requirement for teenagers to get a driver’s license.
Hubbard said he is supportive of the Special Administrative Board that has overseen St. Louis Public Schools since last year. “I believe the system is broken,” Hubbard writes in his campaign literature. “While I support local control of the public schools, I also believe that the state has a responsibility to fix this broken system.”
In many other regards, Hubbard’s politics falls more into line with conventional Democratic thinking. He backs expanded programs that support prisoners reentering the community; he also wants the state to reinstate those people cut from Medicaid rolls in 2005.
Both candidates agree that there is a severe urban-rural Democrat-Republican divide in Jefferson City.
“The more we can convey our stories and show our development,” the more support urban legislators can expect from their rural counterparts, Hubbard said. The cities are the economic engines of the state, he said. “If the city of St. Louis is not doing well, the state of Missouri is not doing well.”
Wright-Jones said if there is a tilt toward the Democrats in November, the State Senate is likely to remain Republican controlled. While much of her time in the House was spent “standing my ground” and blocking Republican legislation, in the Senate there is a better track record of the two sides working together, she said.
Hubbard said his six years in the House have shown he is a hard-working and productive politician and one who is willing to cross party lines when necessary.
Typically politicians spend “too much [time] talking at the people” and not enough time “talking to the people,” he said.
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