| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: Politix | |
| Democrat pays her taxes so she can be candidate | |
| 2009-11-17 | |
| A day before she clinched the nomination to fill a vacancy in the Missouri House of Representatives on Saturday, St. Louis Democrat Hope Whitehead paid a visit to City Hall. Not to mobilize supporters, but to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes. Her trip downtown was more than just civic duty. Under state law, candidates with overdue tax bills are ineligible for the ballot. When her obligations were met, a panel of city Democratic leaders gathered Saturday to nominate Whitehead, 50, to fill the vacancy created by former state Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, who submitted his resignation in September after pleading guilty to federal bribery charges.
Whitehead battled fellow Democrat Karla May, 39, for the party's nomination. While May had a family connection -- her mother is a former alderman and current City Hall official -- Whitehead had the thicker résumé. An attorney, Whitehead served previously in the city prosecutor's office and was head of the state Division of Liquor Control under former Gov. Mel Carnahan. In special elections, party leaders, not primary voters, select the party's nominee. As the Democratic nominee, Whitehead is virtually assured of winning the Feb. 2 contest; Republicans generally do not compete in the district, which covers a section of northwestern St. Louis. Even so, Whitehead will be under close scrutiny. She'll have only a few months in Jefferson City before gearing up to run again in 2010. A top priority, she said, will be wresting the St. Louis Police Department from state control. Whitehead also said on Saturday that she would do a better job of paying her taxes on time -- city records show she owed $1,155 in personal property taxes and related fees. Whitehead acknowledged paying her vehicle taxes only when her two-year registration expired, not each year as required. "I've got to do that different now," she said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Now we know what it takes to get a Democrat to pay their taxes. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-11-17 19:36 |
| #1 "I've got to do that different now," she said. But only if I get re-elected. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2009-11-17 05:48 |