East St. Louis mayor gets new chance
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - When former Mayor Carl Officer was voted out of office
in 1991, uncollected garbage cluttered the streets and city finances were so bad
that a judge gave away City Hall to settle a lawsuit.
East St. Louis' manufacturing base was already crumbling when Officer was first
elected in 1979, but the population shrank by 25 percent during his tenure. The
city had the highest murder rate in the nation at one point. There was no
money to pay for trash collection or police radios. A judge gave the deed to
City Hall to a plaintiff in a lawsuit because the city couldn't pay a $3.4 million
damage award to the man, who was disabled in a jail beating.
While bills went unpaid, Officer made headlines. He used a City Hall phone to
call a 900-number dating service. One of his bodyguards pulled a machine gun
on a man in a bar who tried to enter a restroom occupied by the mayor.
Many residents rejoiced at the ouster of the brash-talking mayor and his
machine-gun toting bodyguards, who was once pulled over for driving 105 mph
in a Jaguar owned by an imprisoned drug dealer.
Things got better after that in this impoverished city of 30,000 near St. Louis -
but not a lot better. Now voters have apparently decided to give Officer another
chance.
Officer, 51, said he wasn't surprised that voters returned him to the job he held
from 1979 to 1991.
Why? "Because I did a good job," he said. Full Story
Posted by Sparky at April 4, 2003 04:45 PM