Editorial: Instead of learning from Stenger’s abuses, Sam Page draws from that playbook | Editorial

By the Editorial Board

The state law governing St. Louis County appointments to the Regional Convention and Sports Authority couldn’t be more straightforward. The county executive may appoint up to three members to the board, provided the County Council consents. In other words, the county executive doesn’t get to do whatever he wants. This is how American democracy works. Checks and balances are designed to prevent tyranny and corrupt practices.

County Executive Sam Page should understand this concept better than anyone. Back when he chaired the County Council, Page sat helplessly as then-County Executive Steve Stenger abused his authority, funneled taxpayer money to his political cronies and mocked Page for raising objections. The county counselor’s office provided seemingly authoritative opinions and legal justifications that helped Stenger carry out some abuses.

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Stenger is now an ex-convict, and Page is the one in charge. Instead of welcoming rigorous oversight by the council he once led, Page apparently now sees the merits in Stenger’s power-grabbing methodology. One example was last year’s ham-handed bid to install a Page-friendly crony as County Council chair — with the legal justification provided by County Counselor Beth Orwick. A court rejected the ploy.

Page is at it again with his appointment of former County Executive Charlie Dooley to the regional board that governs the Dome at America’s Center. Dooley’s appointment comes at a key moment as the board helps decide how to distribute part of the $790 million settlement with the National Football League and Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

Page, like Stenger, seems more than happy to set ethics aside when big dollars come into the picture. The County Council last week rejected Dooley’s nomination in a 3-2 vote, with two members absent. But Page decided to proceed with the appointment anyway, ignoring the council vote while citing a legal justification provided by Orwick.

Despite a state statute requiring “the advice and consent of the county council” to perfect an appointment to the regional board, Orwick wrote a letter to the council effectively saying that Page isn’t bound by that language in this instance. How convenient.

We can’t help recalling all the ink this Editorial Board spent helping Page make his case against the abuse of the county counselor’s office to do Stenger’s bidding. Page warned of corrupt practices back in 2017, telling the Post-Dispatch that “there’s a lot of stories about the exchange of campaign contributions for county contracts, and we need to get to the bottom of it.” His big complaint was that then-County Counselor Peter Krane was helping Stenger sidestep County Council oversight.

Now, instead of championing greater council oversight, Page is using the counselor’s office to justify sidestepping the law. Apparently, acute blindness to hypocrisy is a serious problem in the county executive’s office. As a physician, Page might consider launching a medical study to correct the problem.

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