Petition drive is next…

A push metformin side effects acne to give St. Louis local control of its police department collapsed Friday, moving Missourians closer than ever to a vote on police governance there — and in Kansas City.

Missouri lawmakers failed to pass a measure that would have given St. Louis full control of its police department for the first time since the Civil War.

Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis and others had mounted an intense lobbying campaign for the bill, claiming the current system — in which the police are governed by a state-appointed board — is unfair to taxpayers and residents.

The bill failed partly because lawmakers could not reach a compromise on an unrelated tax and spending bill by Friday’s 6 p.m. adjournment. The measure would not have affected Kansas City’s police board, which is also appointed by the state.

But the death of the bills means multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield will now proceed with a petition drive aimed at requiring local police control in St. Louis and Kansas City.

“We’ll absolutely go with a ballot initiative,” said Nancy Rice, the spokeswoman for A Safer Missouri, the committee leading the local control petition effort. “We already have about 10,000 signatures.”

The committee has raised $300,000 for its petition drive, all of it from Sinquefield. His ability to subsidize statewide petition efforts and campaigns is not in doubt. Last year he spent more than $11 million to pay for a petition drive that led to the April earnings tax referendums here and in St. Louis.

Kansas City officials say they fully expect a similar commitment from Sinquefield on the police control petition, putting state control of the police in play.

They also say they’re frustrated that police control in Kansas City will be linked with the bitter dispute over local control on the other side of the state.

Kansas Citians, they argue, are quite happy with a state-appointed police board and the department it operates.

“We do a good job,” Deputy Chief Cy Ritter told the police board last week. “I can’t tell you what would happen if St. Louis goes under local control, but we’d be the only one left in the nation (with state control). And we’re the best in the nation.”

Police board president Pat McInerney noted that “the concerns in St. Louis are different than they are in Kansas City.”

The bill’s failure means the petition drive will go forward with both cities.

“We have to get this right if we’re going to change the constitution,” Rice said. “And right means local control for everyone.”

Whatever frustrations may exist in Kansas City, they’re mild compared with the anger among the leadership in St. Louis.

Slay — a close ally of Sinquefield — said he, too, wants to pursue the local control referendum.

“This is a disappointing moment, but not the last moment,” the St. Louis mayor said in a statement.

“Fortunately, we have another option. We will pursue it with as much energy and vigor as we can.”

Success of the Sinquefield petition drive is not assured. The effort seeks to change the state’s constitution, which will require roughly 25,000 valid signatures from each of six congressional districts to be eligible for the ballot.

If enough signatures are gathered, a simple majority of the state’s voters will decide the issue.

Unlike the earnings tax measure, there would be no local vote on police control.

Last November, nearly 70 percent of St. Louis voters said in a nonbinding referendum that they wanted local control.

There also is a chance state lawmakers could revisit local control next year, although Rice said the signature-gathering effort would be far advanced by then.

Mayor Sly James of Kansas City, a member of the police board, said he will study the issue carefully if it moves closer to the ballot.

“I have reasons I think local control might be good,” James said. “And reasons that I don’t. … It’s one thing to say you want local control, but what exactly are we talking about?”

To reach Dave Helling, call 816-234-4656 or send email to dhelling@kcstar.com.