Scratch that Story on Mayoral Candidate and Contract with Red-Light Camera Vendor

Earlier this week I posted a tidbit taken from the St. Louis American's Political Eye column.

The Political Eye reported how dark horse mayoral candidate Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman entered a lucrative, $160,000 contract back in 2006 to do debt collection work for the city's red-light camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions (ATS).

As it turns out, even though Coleman's name appears on a contract forged between the city and ATS, the provision between ATS and Coleman was never actually tendered. That is, Coleman never did work for ATS and the company never paid her for collection services.

Yesterday the Political Eye wrote an article explaining last week's mishap:

• stinson.com
• Jane Dueker

On Friday, a lawyer representing ATS named Jane E. Dueker contacted the American claiming the company had never paid Watson-Wesley (Coleman) a dime. Dueker said Watson-Wesley (Coleman) had in fact agreed to be a part of ATS' bid with the City (filed June 9, 2006) as provider of collection services. However, Dueker wrote, "when the City selected ATS for its services on October 19, 2006, it declined the collection option offered by ATS."

Dueker is an attorney with downtown law firm Stinson Morrison Hecker and once served as chief of staff to former Missouri Governor Bob Holden. Dueker, working on behalf of ATS, helped several Missouri cities draft legislation allowing for the use of the controversial red-light cameras.

Meanwhile, as I wrote last month, the city has since contracted with San Antonio law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson to collect on unpaid red-light camera tickets.