A newly-formed commission charged with evaluating the City of St. Louis charter and recommending changes to voters is potentially a power grab, according to a former candidate for U.S. Senate.
“The city is definitely trying to bypass the need to make charter amendments the way the Constitution says in requiring approval by 2% of the voter population,” said Mark McCloskey, a personal injury attorney who lectures nationwide about constitutional freedom and individual liberty.
McCloskey was reacting to a lawsuit filed by former police officer Charlie Lane who alleges in his complaint that the special panel hijacks the power the state constitution allocates to the Board of Aldermen.
“The way Charlie Lane interprets the Constitution would be consistent with the way I would,” McCloskey told the St. Louis Record.
McCloskey campaigned for Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat after being arrested for waving guns at Black Lives Matter protesters who were marching along their private street toward former Mayor Lyda Krewson's home nearby.
McCloskey and his wife Patty subsequently were tapped to present a pre-recorded video that was televised on the opening night of the 2020 Republican National Convention.
"I'm not currently running for any office," he said. "I've got a radio program in St. Louis now and we're continuing to speak around the country but other than that, I continue to practice law and am trying to decide whether I'm more effective as a pundit or as a politician."
St. Louis voters approved Proposition C earlier in the year, which created the commission.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the panel has the authority to review the city charter, which includes guidelines for municipal operations.
The commission, according to the lawsuit, is unconstitutional, invalid and a nullity.
A Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor is also skeptical of the commission.
“The whole thing is corrupt,” said Paul Berry. “They set these commissions up to take the heat off from themselves in making real decisions. When you have a commission it’s because you need investigative work or a sense of fairness.”
Lane’s attorney, Elkin Kistner, did not respond to requests for comment.
The commission is made up of nine members and Jones appointed all of them. They began meeting this week, according to media reports, and are required to present proposals for voters to consider next year by September 2024.
The nine commissioners include Management Consultant Jazzmine Nolan-Echols, Development Company Executive Travis Sheridan, City Treasurer Financial Coach Reginald Garth, Labor Attorney Christopher Grant, HVAC company CEO Scott Intagliata, and Forward Through Ferguson Executive Director Emeritus David Dwight IV.
"We haven't had a Republican mayor since 1949 and the one party rule in the city of St. Louis has transformed St. Louis from a major metropolitan city with a population of about a million citizens to a wasteland of 300,000," McCloskey added. "North of Delmar is no longer a ghetto. There is just empty fields, falling down houses and closed businesses."
The City of St. Louis did not respond to requests for comment.