Former County Executive is just another in a long line of corrupt politicians:
By: JACOB POLITTE STAFF WRITER:
On Monday, April 29, the hammer finally dropped.
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger announced his resignation from the office he’d held since January 2015. His departure comes at the end of a yearlong investigation that found him indicted on counts of bribery, mail fraud, and depriving citizens of the honest services of a public official. He pled guilty to all three counts on May 3.
Stenger’s corruption isn’t surprising; many public officials in these times get caught up in a scandal or two. Our nation’s President is engulfed in scandal practically every week and hardly anyone bats an eye or acts surprised.
Something about Stenger’s corruption sure is disappointing to me on a personal level. Perhaps that’s because I’ve actually met the man.
For the sake of full transparency, I have to tell you that I have only met Stenger once, when he was just a councilman. It was a very long time ago; I was in seventh grade at Bayless Junior High giving a presentation with a group of three others on the dangers of smoking in April 2009, and he was in the audience. The Post Dispatch ran a piece on it, titled “Bronchos Want To Stub Out Public Smoking,” and I was interviewed for the piece by reporter Steve Birmingham, as was Stenger.
In the presentation, I specifically talked about my father, who succumbed to lung cancer from smoking and other health issues in 2005; my other classmates talked about their experiences as well. In his quote for the article, Stenger said, “Their stories are similar to my own, since I have a mother with cancer. I think any legislator would be moved by their stories.”
I read that and always held Stenger in high regard. I thought that he would turn out to be a good politician that fought for the people, and hoped he would ascend the political ladder. He did, but as it turns out, he wasn’t the noble guy I thought he was.
Even as evidence of his corruption mounted, I willingly chose to ignore it. That was wrong. With news of his indictments, however, I can no longer be ignorant. The Steve Stenger that was in the audience at my presentation 10 years ago is not the same man that now faces possible prison time.
I doubt Stenger remembers me, or that day in April 2009, but I do remember him, and I’m very disappointed that he didn’t turn out to be one of the good ones.
