This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 30, 2011 - A smoldering feud between St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and County Council Chairman Steve Stenger flared up Tuesday during a budgetary hearing.
Stenger, D-Affton, has for weeks harshly criticized Dooley for a budget proposal that would close 23 parks. He and nearly every other council member have vowed to fight Dooley's plan that could shutter such popular parks as Lone Elk in western St. Louis County and lay off 133 of the department's employees.
While Dooley contends the county must make hard decisions in the wake of economic decline, Stenger has questioned Dooley's revenue estimates and whether other cuts could be made. Last week, Stenger called the plan "perhaps the most ill-conceived proposal I have ever heard of, read about or even thought about."
Generally, Dooley has steered clear of directly criticizing the council, instead stating that he wants to work together to produce compromise. But Dooley's tone changed Tuesday during a meeting of a special committee analyzing the budget.
"We're talking about a $26 million deficit. We need to start thinking about that right now," Dooley said. "It's something that cannot be delayed. We've got to start working on it. People of St. Louis County expect us to make those hard decisions. And for anyone to say that there is no deficit, there is no crisis, we're not going to do anything right now is not being responsible."
Dooley later directly criticized Stenger, stating "being the chairman of the county council does not give you the knowledge of the county budget in any one year. It's impossible. I've been a chairman before. You can't know what you need to know. You just can't."
Later, Dooley criticized Stenger directly for not providing alternatives to his budget plan. "I have not received anything from the chair about what we need to do, but I have presented a plan about where we could go or we could continue some talks about where we could be," Dooley said.
That prompted Stenger to interrupt Dooley's speech, asking Dooley to elaborate on what information he hadn't turned over.
After a bit of back and forth, Dooley responded: "I have not received a plan from the chair about anything."
To which Stenger shot back: "Right, but it's not my responsibility to provide you with information." Raising his voice and talking over Dooley, Stenger added "it's your responsibility to provide a budget. And you provided us with a budget that had half of the parks in St. Louis County closed."
Councilman Mike O'Mara, D-Florissant, interjected, asking Dooley to finish his statement. After Dooley finished speaking, he left the chamber, leaving Garry Earls, the county's chief operating officer, to answer specific questions.
The verbal scuffle between the two Democrats may be a glimpse into the political future. Stenger -- who is up for re-election next year -- has been bandied about as a possible rival to Dooley's potential re-election effort in 2014. In addition to his outspokenness on the parks issue, Stenger criticized Dooley for a proposal raising property taxes to pay for employee raises.
Dooley wasn't the only person who sparred with Stenger on Tuesday. Councilwoman Kathleen Burkett, D-Overland, has not been as critical of the budget proposal as other members of the council. She's repeatedly asked Stenger "to show her the money" that could be used to fend off cuts.
Burkett reiterated that Tuesday afternoon, saying "Councilman Stenger said he would show me where the money was. I didn't realize that his thought was, in essence as my favorite saying is, rob Peter to pay Paul."
"That doesn't satisfy me," Burkett said. "That doesn't satisfy me at all. I hate the thought of doing away with any parks, doing away with any service that the county has been providing. I hate to see that happen. But I'm also a realist. And I appreciate what County Executive Dooley has to say about that. I mean, we can live so long in this big fluffy cloud and then we come plummeting down. And apparently that's what's happening in this point in time."
Stenger asked Burkett who suggested that he wanted "rob Peter to pay Paul." Burkett then brought up transferring money out of the health department, which Stenger said he never proposed.
Stenger said the county had a number of funded unfilled positions -- which he said equated to $21 million. "We're in the middle of the process, which is my point," Stenger said. "I just don't appreciate your comment."
Jason Rosenbaum regularly reports for the Beacon.
