When a Lewis Reed press release slamming Mayor Francis Slay arrived in Daily RFT's inbox earlier this week, we had a serious sense of déjà vu -- especially because it was sent out by Glenn Burleigh, Reed's former campaign manager. Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, lost his mayoral bid in March, and Slay's historic fourth term is now underway.
So why is he still sending out campaign-like press releases two months after the fact?
"One thing Lewis learned from his last race is he needs to have some kind of media operation going all the time," Burleigh tells Daily RFT. "The mayor does."
And what will that new press strategy look like?
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For one thing, this media effort adds some weight to Reed's statements that he will run again for mayor in 2017. Reed has also publicly stated that he will run for reelection as president of the Board of Aldermen in 2015.
And as he looks ahead to these races, it seems he'd like to have a more consistent, well-oiled press machine to support him.
"One of the things that Lewis faced a lot in the race was that the generally accepted version of events differed drastically than Lewis's," Burleigh says.
Burleigh will now now be functioning as a regular spokesman for Reed, who typically has not had a dedicated communications director other than his staff members who help him respond to press inquiries.
Burleigh, who stepped up as his campaign manager in January after Reed dropped his former manager, says he'll help get Reed's message out when there are conflicts.
As we chronicled here, the primary race was fairly contentious at times with both sides bickering about issues far removed from policy discussions and reporters caught in the middle.
That tension, it would appear, will become more regular in the day-to-day politics of the mayor's office and the board of aldermen.
Continue for more on Lewis Reed's revamped media operation.
