Mobilize Missouri forms action team in Maplewood-Richmond Heights; endorses candidate in Maplewood Council Race

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Mobilize Missouri, a member-driven, grassroots activist organization, has expanded its mission of supporting progressive candidates and initiatives to St. Louis County. We are excited to announce the first County action team: MoMO Maplewood-Richmond Heights.

Currently, our action team’s primary focus is the Maplewood City Council Ward 3 race with our endorsement of Jenny Schmidt. This is a special election that will be held August 8.

In activating behind Jenny in this race, we are proud to support a strong, progressive mother and lawyer who we believe will help steer Maplewood in a forward-thinking direction. We believe that Jenny’s longstanding ties to the community, volunteerism in the MRH PTO, experience as a local business owner and social justice background will benefit Maplewood. In addition to being a practicing lawyer, Jenny has experience in the field of social work, has served as a substitute teacher and was a VISTA volunteer with AmeriCorps. You can find our full endorsement announcement of Jenny here: https://www.mobilizemo.org/2017/06/25/jenny-schmidt-maplewood-city-councilor/

Previously our action team lobbied the city council to use CDBG grant funds to affect a wider range of Maplewood residents, including supporting a walking path proposed by Parks Board member, Adelina Mart. In the end, though the council did not support the walking path proposal, they did vote to use the money in ways that might affect a wider variety of local residents, including Maplewood renters.

Our aim is to be a home for progressives in Maplewood and Richmond Heights. If you are interested in working with your neighbors to support progressive candidates and issues, learn more about us on our FB page (https://www.facebook.com/momomrh/) and attend our meeting July 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Maplewood Public Library.

Owen Skoler is a member of Mobilize Missouri and Maplewood resident.

13 COMMENTS

  1. Maplewood elections have traditionally been non-partisan. The Democratic club needs to back off and the candidate needs to distance herself from it. We don’t need the added mix of political parties in Maplewood council/mayorial races. As in national politics, voters would tend to vote along party lines rather than listening to what a candidate, their neighbor, stands for.

    • Dave: You raise a good point. I see the value of non-partisan elections, too. After extensive discussion, we ultimately decided to host the forum and endorsement meeting because we were hearing from our members that this was an important opportunity, and we were not aware of any other forums being planned. The meeting is open to the public, and all candidates were invited. It is the candidate’s choice whether or not they wish to participate or even accept an endorsement, but we thought that if we didn’t host a forum then we were missing a chance to engage our members and neighbors in an important local race.

      Lisa Clancy
      President, Hadley Township Democrats

  2. Hi all, I appreciate the responses and extra info. Being a ward 2 resident, I have not been aggressively following the candidates but merely observing from what I have seen on 40South.

    While it is good to have a platform that people can reference on facebook and that Ms Schmidt has an initial article on 40South capturing some of those main points, I would want to see the (potential) council members reaching out more publicly on the site every couple of weeks speaking to specific issues in detail. From the info linked, it does seem that Jenny is very active in trying to reach community members in person which is often needed to clarify points. However this amount of effort can’t be sustained in the long term after the election.

    Also, while I am supportive of community members participating in groups like the Hadley Township Democratic Club and Mobilize Missouri MRH team, I don’t find their endorsements to be the most significant factors in deciding a candidate. At this hyper-local level, the candidate should be the one at the forefront.

    Best wishes to the candidates and I hope they continue to reach out to the public post-election.

  3. Hi Joe. I’m the Vice Captain for the Mobilize Missouri MRH team and I actually asked Owen (a member of our team, as stated at the end of the article) to write this up as an introduction to our team and subsequently, our endorsement of Jenny. I can assure you it was an unpaid ask. None of us involved with this action team are paid to do this work – we are just passionate about active participation in community involvement.
    We are very excited to hit the ground running with this endorsement and it would be unusual for the candidate rather than the endorsing organization to make the initial announcement. A search for Jenny Schmidt on this site would be a good place to start if you are looking for a statement from Jenny. She submitted one in April.

  4. who cares about progressive agenda. doesnt create jobs and widends income equality issue. Manage a P&L for once under these formerly extreme regulations than you might have an ounce of credability.

    • Yes, becasue tax cuts and eliminating regulations have done such a good job lowering that income inequality that you care so much about.

      • The strongest most powerful individuals and businesses hire all the attorneys and accountants they need to get through the red tape, plus the army of lobbyist hireds to crush competition through federal legislation and agency rulings. This puts small business out and raises costs of products and services to consumers, hurting those most unable to perform in our society. Little guys and gals suffer most as a result, and yes, this is “progressivism!” Take a look at Venezuela for the left’s answers to social and economic issues.

  5. Does Jenny Schmidt pay Owen Skoler to write articles and submit them to 40south? Has Ms. Schmidt written anything on 40South regarding her own candidacy? I’m not opposed to people seeking professional advice, but if I was a Ward 3 resident, I would want the person representing me on the council to be the one that is speaking or writing.

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