With the primary elections in St. Louis past, there's been very little talk about the upcoming general election next week -- especially when it comes to the local board of aldermen races. In the Seventh Ward, however, the long-time incumbent Alderwoman Phyllis Young has a Green Party opponent who is running a real campaign.
Only problem is, he's a Tea Partier in disguise. At least those are the allegations of the Seventh Ward Independent Democrats, which has accused candidate David Brent Gordon of not really being a Green Party guy -- and has also filed ethics complaints against him related to campaign finance.
"I'll put my alderwoman up against anybody when it comes to green issues," Seventh Ward Democratic Committeewoman Marie Ceselski tells Daily RFT. "But there's nothing Green Party about this guy."
Gordon's campaign, however, says the Tea Party accusations are wrong and unfounded -- and says they have responded to and addressed all finance complaints.
Ceselski says she is trying to spread the word about the opponent's Tea Party background, so that voters know the truth about him:
#7thWard alderman candidate David Brent Gordon's Facebook page clearly shows him to be a #TeaParty #Republicanfacebook.com/photo.php?fbid...
— St Louis 7th Ward (@stl7thward) March 25, 2013
Her only concrete proof, however, about his Tea Party ties appears to be a bunch of likes on Gordon's Facebook page, which is private. Those likes, which are visible, include Glen Beck, Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, the St. Louis Tea Party, etc. Here's a screenshot:
"He's flying below the radar," says Ceselski. "But you don't want to underestimate anybody."
She says that his campaign website makes very little mention of Green Party issues, beyond very basic talking points.
"It's word salad," she says.
And Ceselski has also filed complaints against him with the Missouri Ethics Commission, saying his campaign has made a series of errors -- not properly disclosing the treasurer's name on printed materials, failing to file required reports, failing to report receipts and failing to report expenditures.
Continue for the rebuttal from the Gordon campaign.
