Michael Butler isn’t the only candidate in the race for St. Louis mayor running on a platform of improving basic services.
But he says he’s the only one of the four with the skills to implement that platform.
“I'm most excited about doing that unsexy stuff if I become mayor,” he said recently on Politically Speaking. “I don’t want to be a ceremonial mayor. I want to dive deep into our city government and use my experience to improve it.”
Butler has a business degree from Alabama A&M University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Missouri. In his six years as recorder of deeds, he said he expanded the office’s online services and centralized the pickup of vital records like birth certificates.
“I've increased revenue in that office by $700,000 a year. I've increased staff productivity by 25%, all while decreasing the number of full-time employees in that office,” he said. “I want to spread that to the rest of City Hall, and I know I can.”
In addition to his political career – he was a state representative for six years and chair of the Missouri Democratic Party for a little more than two years – Butler spent five years as the part-owner of Open Concept, a bar in the Grove that made headlines for its all-you-can-drink pricing structure.
Though he knew the process as an elected official, Butler said, it still took him nine months and visiting three different buildings to secure a liquor license.
“I believe in 2025 you shouldn't have to go to City Hall to access city government,” Butler said. All of those health department and liquor license business license processes should be brought online so that people can access their government from the comfort of their home.”
Butler closed the bar late last year to focus on the run for mayor. He said he also learned other lessons from his time as a business owner.
“People do want to come to St. Louis,” he said. “They do want to move back to St. Louis. And we can do that if they satisfy what they need.”
The needs are concentrated in three key areas, Butler said – better schools, better housing options and public safety.
To address housing, Butler would boost the marketing of consumer incentives such as help with down payments or closing costs that the city already offers. He would also look to incentivize contractors to build infill housing in parts of north and southeast St. Louis.
In the public safety sphere, Butler would use funding from the settlement over the departure of the Rams to Los Angeles to get the department needed basic equipment. He would also push for enforcement of traffic laws and keep many of the programs in the Office of Violence Prevention that address the root causes of crime such as poverty but move them in-house rather than contract them out.
And while the mayor’s office does not have any control over the schools, Butler said the city can provide funding for wraparound services like full-time nurses and social workers.
Butler says the city should take on these roles despite not meeting the basic needs of its residents like street paving, trash pickup or snow removal.
“The city government is not efficient, [but] it could be with the right leadership,” he said. “We have to do more than one thing. We can’t make excuses as to why we can’t get things done for our citizens.”
Rams dollars
Earlier this week, a compromise plan to spend the $290 million in Rams settlement money fell apart in spectacular fashion – something Butler attributes to a mayoral administration “that is excited about press conferences and announcing things without having confirmed the work.”
“In order to have a big legislative priority, you've got to include all stakeholders and all voices,” he said.
Butler agrees in general that some of the funding should go to the city’s central business district. But he would focus instead on housing. The deal that collapsed included $74 million for downtown. While the money could be spent on housing, it was not required, though there was a dedicated funding stream for sidewalks and street repair.
That doesn’t really address the population loss, Butler said.
“While we absolutely want the retail vacancy and the graffiti to go away, we have to build a customer base of folks that want to come downtown,” he said.
Entering the race
Voters in the March primary can choose none, some or all of the four candidates in the race under a system known as approval voting. The top two advance to the general election in April.
Butler was a big supporter of Proposition D, which implemented nonpartisan approval voting in the city. He said he would not have run for mayor without it passing.
“It allows you to talk about your plan and that policy stuff and not about the personalities or the individuals in the race,” Butler said.
He added that his successful 2018 race against a popular incumbent, Sharon Carpenter, taught him to “attack the policy and not the person.”
“In this current race, there’s some easy negative talking points that people want you to lean in on,” he said. “But I’m more interested in what people are interested in, which is what are you going to do differently, and what are the policies and plans you have for our city.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the number of candidates that advance to the general election.
Editor’s note: Tishaura Jones, Andrew Jones, and Cara Spencer have all previously appeared on Politically Speaking, which is available at stlpr.org.
