This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 28, 2013 - Thanks to some New Orleans businessmen, St. Louis mayoral candidate Lewis Reed has succeeded in reducing – just a little – the financial edge that Mayor Francis Slay now enjoys.
Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, reported four donations over the weekend of more than $5,000 apiece -- all from Louisiana. Reed had traveled there last week to raise campaign cash.
The $35,000 that he has collected so far from that visit is close to the entire amount that he previously had raised since early December. Reed is Slay's best known challenger in the March 5 Democratic primary.
The two are to face off at a forum Tuesday night in the St. Louis Public Library.
Three of the donations were of $10,000 apiece and came from:
- The law firm of Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams in Metairie, La.;
- Law office of Bernard L. Charbonnet Jr., of New Orleans;
- Manning Architects, APAC, of New Orleans.
The fourth donation was $5,001 from ETI, Inc. of New Orleans, which specializes in facility maintenance.
(Only donations of more than $5,000 need to be reported within 48 hours to the Missouri Ethics Commission, indicating that Reed or ETI intentionally added that dollar so that the contribution would become public sooner.)
(UPDATE) Democratic sleuths note that Charbonnet and Manning Architects were donors 12 years ago to former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., who sought to regain his office during the spirited 2001 Democratic primary that also featured Slay and then-Mayor Clarence Harmon. Slay won.
Lawyer John Houghtaling, managing partner of the Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams firm, has attracted national coverage for his Lamborghini collection and his business ties
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