St. Louis County Executive Sam Page is a familiar, but uncomfortable, stage in his tenure.
For the first time since Page took on his post in 2019, the St. Louis County Council has enough members who can regularly override his vetoes. It’s familiar to Page because he served on the council at points when county executives Charlie Dooley and Steve Stenger were in similar predicaments. In fact, he was the leader of the bipartisan opposition coalition that united against Stenger before he resigned.
During an episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, Page said he wasn’t giving up hope that he can work together with a council that’s regularly criticized his leadership.
But he added he’s not going to go along with some of its ideas that would chip away at the county executive’s power.
“If you look at government in general … there's a lot of conflict in the air,” Page said. “There's a lot of frustration. But you have to look past that and focus on your goals and get your work done.”
One test of whether Page can navigate this treacherous political environment will likely come in April. That’s when voters could decide on a measure making it possible for the council to fire department directors and the county counselor.
And that election will take place amid uncertainty about the county’s budgetary future, especially if those same voters decline to approve new sources of revenue — such as a tax on online purchases.
An increasing adversarial relationship
Unlike in state or federal politics, party affiliations generally don’t usually play a significant role in St. Louis County governmental factionalism. Rather, the dividing line, especially on the council, is whether someone is friendly or antagonistic toward the county executive, since the Democratic leader’s adversaries are from both parties.
After the council appointed Page to succeed Stenger in 2019, Page enjoyed support from a healthy majority of the seven-person body. But that shifted away from Page during the COVID-19 pandemic, when his advocacy of mask mandates and occupancy restrictions prompted pushback.
Councilman Mark Harder was a Page supporter at the beginning of his tenure. But he cites lackluster communication from Page as a reason things went south.
“He also has, I think, an issue with his personality when it comes to dealing with people, which is unusual for a politician,” Harder said. “Because politics is about relationships. It's about trust. It's about working with people. It's about reaching across party lines. It's about coming up with compromises when necessary. It's moving the agenda forward to a vision in the future. And he doesn't seem to have any of that.”
Even some of Page’s allies have chided him for how he’s dealt with the council. Former Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway told St. Louis Public Radio last year, “I consider him a friend, and he leaves me out of the loop.”
“And sometimes I find out about things that affect my district in the paper, or when a reporter is calling me,” she said. “And I'm like, 'I couldn't even get a heads-up?’”
While Page acknowledges his communication with the council could be better, he said, “It's difficult to tell our council members everything that's always going on, and it's certainly frustrating for them to hear something in the news.”
“We do the best we can to keep them informed. I would love to be able to have more frequent meetings and more frequent conversations,” Page said. “But I think the way this has evolved is it's difficult to get folks to agree to sit down and talk. I think we're in a little better place now. But we’ll keep pushing on areas of agreement.”
Budget challenges ahead
Page said one reason there could be heightened tensions now is the county’s budget situation.
“I think that this is all driven by a very difficult point in history where budgets are tight and folks have expectations for things that they want to see happen, things that they want to do,” Page said. “Some of those are new programs. But we have to focus first on providing the core services in St Louis County that people have come to expect, and difficult conversations around the budget really create a lot of frustration.”
Within two or three years, Page said the county’s budgetary reserves will sink to an “uncomfortable level.” He said one way to help is for county voters to adopt a tax on out-of-state online purchases.
County voters rejected an online sales tax proposal in 2022. Page said in order for there to be a different outcome, county leaders need to make an effective case to the public.
“I think when push comes to shove, and we have these hard discussions, folks want to make sure that our county resources have the funds they need to be successful,” Page said.
Council presents a big test
Up until this year, Page still had three members who typically declined to override his vetoes — Dunaway, Lisa Clancy and Ernie Trakas. But Dunaway retired and was replaced by Gretchen Bangert. And Trakas lost a primary election to Michael Archer.
Both Archer and Bangert have often sided with four longer-tenured Page critics: Harder, Chairwoman Rita Days, Shalonda Webb and Dennis Hancock. All six voted to place the measure on the ballot that would allow the council to fire members of Page’s administration with five out of seven votes.
Supporters of the measure, like Hancock, said it provides his colleagues with a serious power check during financial uncertainty.
“We’re getting ready to make some hard choices. And we need to make sure the people who are going to be entrusted with making those decisions are trustworthy.”
Page said he’ll veto the proposal, but the council will likely override it.
“It's a very clear effort to gain authority over department heads, and that is going to be difficult for our department heads who have to make tough decisions,” Page said.
Clancy, Page’s sole ally on the council, also said the plan tips the scales too far toward the council.
“I believe in the separation of powers between our branches of government. I think that this is an overreach and puts a lot of executive authority into what is the legislative branch of government,” Clancy said. “Our department directors, even though we see things differently, are ultimately public servants, just like we are. Many of them have come out of the private sector or out of the civil servant system to serve us.”
“I think that this inappropriately puts our department directors into the crosshairs of an ongoing conflict between the council and the county executive's office,” she added.
The council could soon give voters another chance to place a check on Page’s power. They’ve considered placing a county manager in charge of some aspects of government. That won’t be on the April ballot, but it could reemerge in 2026.
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