Tom Bauer
Encyclopedia
Tom Bauer is an American
lawyer
and politician
from St. Louis, Missouri
who served in the Missouri House of Representatives and on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. In 2005 he was recalled
from his position as Alderman after supporting a number of controversial redevelopment proposals, allegedly, only one of which included the use of eminent domain
.
. He attended St. Louis University, graduating in 1969. He received his Juris Doctor
from St. Mary's University
in San Antonio, Texas
in 1979.
. He challenged fellow Democrat
Tony Ribaudo
, a long time incumbent. The district included the predominantly Italian Hill neighborhood
where Ribaudo lived, as well as Bauer's Dogtown
neighborhood. Ribaudo won re-election, beating Bauer by 3200 votes (4851 to 1651).
In 1993, Ribaudo was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Mayor of St. Louis. A number of negative ads and mailings were run by Ribaudo and his opponents attacking one another. 1994, Bauer again challenged Ribaudo for his house seat. This time, Ribaudo beat Bauer by only 254 votes (2753 to 2499). Bauer gained notoriety for campaigning in the district with his pet donkey, Scotty. The 1994 campaign was also marked by negative campaigning on both sides. Both candidates purchased advertising on cable television
and aired spots attacking the other. This level of advertising was highly unusual for a local election.
In 1996, Ribaudo did not run for re-election and Bauer again ran for the State Representative seat. Bauer won the crowded Democratic primary with less than 50% of the vote, and went on to win the general election by a wide margin http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=4&oid=1078&arc=1.
within the public school system.
In 1998, Bauer sought re-election as State Representative. The race was again dominated by the division between Bauer's base of support in the Dogtown neighborhood versus The Hill. Unlike 1996, there was only one candidate from The Hill in this election, Derio Gambaro
. Gambaro defeated Bauer in the Democratic primary, 58% to 42% http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=5&oid=1383&arc=1.
Shortly after his election as Alderman, Bauer had the opportunity to participate in the redistricting
of Aldermanic ward boundaries required after the 2000 Census. The redistricting resulted in the Hill neighborhood being drawn into a new ward, with Bauer's ward consisting mostly of Dogtown.
In 2001 Bauer made a run for Comptroller
one of the many city-wide elected positions in St. Louis. He challenged the incumbent, Darlene Green, an African-American woman. As with many political campaigns in St. Louis, the voting broke down along racial lines. Bauer carried most of the predominantly white wards in South St. Louis, while Green won the election based on strong support in predominantly black North St. Louis and in the racially integrated neighborhoods in the central part of the city. http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/mar01dem.cfm
In 2003, Bauer was re-elected as alderman of the re-districted ward, winning 59% of the vote in the Democratic primary http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/mar03dem.cfm and 71% of the vote in the general election http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/apr03city.cfm. Although he had been elected to office three times, this marked the first time that Bauer had won a majority of the vote in a primary election. Bauer's pet donkey, Scotty, continued to be a fixture in his campaigns. Scotty had died by the time of the 2003 campaign, and had been replaced by a new donkey, named Dan. Although Dan accompanied Bauer on campaign stops, a drawing of a donkey labeled "Scotty" continued to be a fixture on Bauer's campaign signs and billboards.
As Alderman, Bauer was a proponent of efforts to bring residential and commercial redevelopment to the neighborhoods in his ward. The community he represented was traditionally working class, and the housing mostly consisted of modest bungalows. However, the neighborhood's central location and proximity to Forest Park
began attracting more middle and upper class residents. Developers began demolishing some of the older single family homes and building attached luxury townhouses. Bauer consistently supported this type of development, although it generated some controversy.
for these projects. Opposition crystallized around a proposal to use eminent domain to acquire and demolish several homes and small businesses for a new gas station and convenience store. Several residents of the neighborhood began circulating petitions to have Bauer recalled from office.
Bauer lashed out at his opponents. He filed a lawsuit against several leaders of the recall campaign. The lawsuit, which Bauer's opponents characterized as a SLAPP
suit, generated further outrage. The opponents were able to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall election. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Kelo v New London decision, eminent domain was one of the most prominent issues. In the recall election on September 20, 2005, 61% voted to remove Bauer from office. http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/resultDetails.cfm?ElectionKeyId=16&ViewType=Issue&RecordId=7
The recall created a vacancy on the Board of Aldermen, and a special election was called to fill the seat. Both the Democratic and Republican party nominated candidates for the seat. Bauer also collected petiton signatures and filed to run as an independent.
The campaign was again marked by negative campaigning. Bauer ran newspaper and cable television advertising attacking his Democratic opponent for failing to pay his property taxes on time, and noting an arrest for failure to pay a traffic ticket. As in his past campaigns Bauer's pet donkey Scotty appeared on his campaign signs, along with the label "Independent Democrat". Since Bauer was not the Democratic nominee, the city's Democratic party, led by chairman Brian Wahby sued to prevent him from using the term "Democrat" or the Democratic symbol of the donkey in his campaign literature. About a week before the election, a settlement was reached allowing Bauer to continue to use the donkey, but requiring him to remove the word "Democrat" from any of his campaign materials. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C38AA54F19647B3C862570CA0018CBB6?OpenDocument
The special election was held on December 13, 2005. Bill Waterhouse, the Democratic nominee, was elected with 51% of the vote. Bauer received 26.7% of the vote, and the Republican candidate received 22.3%http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/electionresultslist.cfm?electiondate=12/13/2005.
Bauer again challenged Waterhouse in the Democratic Primary of 2007. In the March 6, 2007, Primary Election, Waterhouse handily beat Bauer with nearly 58 percent of the vote in a two-way race http://www.stlelections.com/index.php?view=article&catid=44%3Aelection-results&id=70%3Amarch-6-2007-primary-municipal-election&option=com_content&Itemid=70.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
from St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
who served in the Missouri House of Representatives and on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. In 2005 he was recalled
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
from his position as Alderman after supporting a number of controversial redevelopment proposals, allegedly, only one of which included the use of eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
.
Education and Background
Bauer grew up in St. Louis and attended Chaminade College Preparatory SchoolChaminade College Preparatory School (Missouri)
Founded in 1910, Chaminade College Preparatory School is an independent Catholic Marianist school for boys in grades six through twelve. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The school is located in west St. Louis County, Missouri. Chaminade offers 7-day, 5-day, and...
. He attended St. Louis University, graduating in 1969. He received his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from St. Mary's University
St. Mary's University, Texas
St. Mary's University is a Catholic and Marianist liberal arts institution located on northwest of downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. St. Mary’s is a nationally recognized master’s level school ranked among the top colleges in the west for best value and academic reputation by U.S. News...
in San Antonio, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1979.
Early Political Career
Bauer first ran for public office in 1992, seeking election to the Missouri House of RepresentativesMissouri House of Representatives
The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 31,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections held in even-numbered years.In 1992 Missouri...
. He challenged fellow Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Tony Ribaudo
Tony Ribaudo
Tony Ribaudo is an American politician from Missouri, on the Democratic Party. Ribaudo was born and raised in St. Louis and attended Washington University. In 1993, Ribaudo was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of St. Louis. He finished third in the Democratic primary election behind Freeman...
, a long time incumbent. The district included the predominantly Italian Hill neighborhood
The Hill, St. Louis
The Hill is a mostly Italian-American neighborhood within St. Louis, Missouri, located on high ground south of Forest Park. The official boundaries of the area are Manchester Avenue on the north, Columbia and Southwest Avenues on the south, South Kingshighway Boulevard on the east, and Hampton...
where Ribaudo lived, as well as Bauer's Dogtown
Clayton/Tamm, St. Louis
Clayton-Tamm is a traditionally Irish-American neighborhood located near the western border of St. Louis, Missouri, USA, just south of Forest Park....
neighborhood. Ribaudo won re-election, beating Bauer by 3200 votes (4851 to 1651).
In 1993, Ribaudo was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Mayor of St. Louis. A number of negative ads and mailings were run by Ribaudo and his opponents attacking one another. 1994, Bauer again challenged Ribaudo for his house seat. This time, Ribaudo beat Bauer by only 254 votes (2753 to 2499). Bauer gained notoriety for campaigning in the district with his pet donkey, Scotty. The 1994 campaign was also marked by negative campaigning on both sides. Both candidates purchased advertising on cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and aired spots attacking the other. This level of advertising was highly unusual for a local election.
In 1996, Ribaudo did not run for re-election and Bauer again ran for the State Representative seat. Bauer won the crowded Democratic primary with less than 50% of the vote, and went on to win the general election by a wide margin http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=4&oid=1078&arc=1.
State Representative
As a member of the State Legislature, Bauer was noted for his support of legislation to preserve "neighborhood schools." Bauer advocated a "Student's Bill of Rights" that would have required each district to allow students to attend a K-8 school in their neighborhood. Critics said that this plan would have dismantled middle schools and undermine steps that the St. Louis public schools had made to eliminate historic segregationRacial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
within the public school system.
In 1998, Bauer sought re-election as State Representative. The race was again dominated by the division between Bauer's base of support in the Dogtown neighborhood versus The Hill. Unlike 1996, there was only one candidate from The Hill in this election, Derio Gambaro
Derio Gambaro
Derio L. Gambaro is an American politician. He previously served in the Missouri House of Representatives where he represented a portion of South St. Louis including The Hill and Dogtown neighborhoods. He is a Democrat....
. Gambaro defeated Bauer in the Democratic primary, 58% to 42% http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=5&oid=1383&arc=1.
Alderman
A few months after his unsuccessful bid for re-election as State Representative, Bauer filed to run for a position on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. As with the State Representative seat, the district included both the Hill neighborhood and the Dogtown neighborhood. The long-time incumbent from the Hill neighborhood was not seeking re-election. Two candidates from the Hill filed in the Democratic primary. Bauer was the only candidate from Dogtown. He again won the primary with less than 50% of the vote and won the general election in April 1999.Shortly after his election as Alderman, Bauer had the opportunity to participate in the redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
of Aldermanic ward boundaries required after the 2000 Census. The redistricting resulted in the Hill neighborhood being drawn into a new ward, with Bauer's ward consisting mostly of Dogtown.
In 2001 Bauer made a run for Comptroller
Comptroller
A comptroller is a management level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization.In British government, the Comptroller General or Comptroller and Auditor General is in most countries the external auditor of the budget execution of the...
one of the many city-wide elected positions in St. Louis. He challenged the incumbent, Darlene Green, an African-American woman. As with many political campaigns in St. Louis, the voting broke down along racial lines. Bauer carried most of the predominantly white wards in South St. Louis, while Green won the election based on strong support in predominantly black North St. Louis and in the racially integrated neighborhoods in the central part of the city. http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/mar01dem.cfm
In 2003, Bauer was re-elected as alderman of the re-districted ward, winning 59% of the vote in the Democratic primary http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/mar03dem.cfm and 71% of the vote in the general election http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/elections/apr03city.cfm. Although he had been elected to office three times, this marked the first time that Bauer had won a majority of the vote in a primary election. Bauer's pet donkey, Scotty, continued to be a fixture in his campaigns. Scotty had died by the time of the 2003 campaign, and had been replaced by a new donkey, named Dan. Although Dan accompanied Bauer on campaign stops, a drawing of a donkey labeled "Scotty" continued to be a fixture on Bauer's campaign signs and billboards.
As Alderman, Bauer was a proponent of efforts to bring residential and commercial redevelopment to the neighborhoods in his ward. The community he represented was traditionally working class, and the housing mostly consisted of modest bungalows. However, the neighborhood's central location and proximity to Forest Park
Forest Park (St. Louis)
Forest Park is a public park located in western part of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers . The park, which opened in 1876 more than a decade after its proposal, has hosted several significant events, including the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 and...
began attracting more middle and upper class residents. Developers began demolishing some of the older single family homes and building attached luxury townhouses. Bauer consistently supported this type of development, although it generated some controversy.
Recall
Bauer's support for redevelopment efforts generated significant controversy. Especially controversial was Bauer's occasional support of eminent domainEminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
for these projects. Opposition crystallized around a proposal to use eminent domain to acquire and demolish several homes and small businesses for a new gas station and convenience store. Several residents of the neighborhood began circulating petitions to have Bauer recalled from office.
Bauer lashed out at his opponents. He filed a lawsuit against several leaders of the recall campaign. The lawsuit, which Bauer's opponents characterized as a SLAPP
Strategic lawsuit against public participation
A strategic lawsuit against public participation is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition....
suit, generated further outrage. The opponents were able to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall election. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Kelo v New London decision, eminent domain was one of the most prominent issues. In the recall election on September 20, 2005, 61% voted to remove Bauer from office. http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/resultDetails.cfm?ElectionKeyId=16&ViewType=Issue&RecordId=7
The recall created a vacancy on the Board of Aldermen, and a special election was called to fill the seat. Both the Democratic and Republican party nominated candidates for the seat. Bauer also collected petiton signatures and filed to run as an independent.
The campaign was again marked by negative campaigning. Bauer ran newspaper and cable television advertising attacking his Democratic opponent for failing to pay his property taxes on time, and noting an arrest for failure to pay a traffic ticket. As in his past campaigns Bauer's pet donkey Scotty appeared on his campaign signs, along with the label "Independent Democrat". Since Bauer was not the Democratic nominee, the city's Democratic party, led by chairman Brian Wahby sued to prevent him from using the term "Democrat" or the Democratic symbol of the donkey in his campaign literature. About a week before the election, a settlement was reached allowing Bauer to continue to use the donkey, but requiring him to remove the word "Democrat" from any of his campaign materials. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C38AA54F19647B3C862570CA0018CBB6?OpenDocument
The special election was held on December 13, 2005. Bill Waterhouse, the Democratic nominee, was elected with 51% of the vote. Bauer received 26.7% of the vote, and the Republican candidate received 22.3%http://stlcin.missouri.org/bdelection/electionresultslist.cfm?electiondate=12/13/2005.
Bauer again challenged Waterhouse in the Democratic Primary of 2007. In the March 6, 2007, Primary Election, Waterhouse handily beat Bauer with nearly 58 percent of the vote in a two-way race http://www.stlelections.com/index.php?view=article&catid=44%3Aelection-results&id=70%3Amarch-6-2007-primary-municipal-election&option=com_content&Itemid=70.