CLAYTON — St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Monday attacked two political opponents in a blistering letter to a federal prosecutor who has handled several high-profile public corruption cases, including that of Page’s predecessor, Steve Stenger.
Page accused Republican Councilman Tim Fitch, a former county police chief, of “attempting to interfere with a federal investigation” and his Democratic challenger, attorney Jane Dueker, of being “a key player” in the Stenger administration and a Fitch ally.
St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch (left) and County Executive Sam Page.
Page’s letter followed Fitch’s request on Saturday that the county release copies of any federal subpoenas seeking information and records of investigations of county employees.
Fitch sought the records in the wake of the indictment last week of Tony Weaver Sr., a Page appointee accused attempting to defraud a small business grant program. County Counselor Beth Orwick denied Fitch’s request, saying the records were confidential. Weaver has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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Instead of responding to Fitch, Page sent a two-page letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith in which he leveled a number of accusations at the councilman and Dueker, seeking to tie both to Stenger.
While admitting he had no “first-hand knowledge,” Page asserted for the first time that Stenger “offered to order” county employees to pay Fitch his police pension “in exchange for the councilman’s loyalty,” saying “a county employee recently reported to their boss” that the councilman was “a frequent presence” in Stenger’s office leading up to his indictment in April 2019.
The county suspended Fitch’s pension when he joined the council in 2019; Fitch sued the county earlier this year to try to compel the county to backpay the pension, plus interest.
Fitch, in response Monday to Page’s letter, said the county executive was repeating unfounded allegations to deflect from his demand for information the public has a right to know.
Page, in his letter to Goldsmith, also said Dueker was “a close advisor (to) and financial supporter of” both former St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed and former Alderman Jeffrey Boyd — two of three members of the Board of Aldermen who were charged in an indictment unsealed on June 2.
Dueker made campaign donations to Boyd and to then-Alderman John Collins-Muhammad, who also was named in the indictment. She gave $250 to Collins-Muhammad on Feb. 16, the date of a reelection campaign fundraiser. And in 2020, she donated a total of $1,000 to Boyd.
Her campaign spokesman, Ed Rhode — a former Stenger campaign organizer — said Monday that Dueker, a longtime attorney for St. Louis and St. Louis County police unions, donated to the aldermen because they supported police.
Political consultants Ed Rhode and Jane Dueker (file photos)
Reed, Boyd and Collins-Muhammad have all entered not guilty pleas.
Dueker, in a statement Monday, said she would be “happy to discuss all these false allegations at a public debate.” Page, so far, has declined to attend any candidate forums at which Dueker appeared.
Dueker also alleged Page had hired a criminal defense lawyer in the wake of the indictment against Weaver: “This letter confirms that Sam Page’s government is under FBI investigation and that’s no one’s fault but his own.”
Asked for response, Page spokesman Doug Moore said, “Jane will say anything for attention. Case in point.”
Page, in his letter to Goldsmith, indicated he would defer to the U.S. Attorney’s office on the matter of disclosing the subpoenas.
“I will defer to you concerning whether and how to address the councilmember’s inquiry appropriately,” he wrote.
Asked about Page’s letter, Goldsmith declined to comment.
‘What has changed since then?’
In his letter to Page on Saturday, Fitch quoted from an article published by the Post-Dispatch on March 15, 2019, in which Page said he agreed to tell reporters about the scope and contents of a Stenger-related federal subpoena in the interest of “transparency,” after getting legal advice from an attorney that he wasn’t bound to confidentiality.
At the time, Page was chairman of a County Council battling Stenger following Post-Dispatch reports scrutinizing favorable deals Stenger made with top campaign donors.
“The County Council has been demanding accountability and transparency for two years,” Page told the Post-Dispatch at the time. “This latest development indicates the council’s concerns were not misplaced. … I hope the Stenger administration takes this matter seriously and cooperates fully.”
Fitch asked Page what “has changed since then?”
Fitch said Monday that Page “still has not responded to my letter” and that the county executive “is getting desperate.”
“Desperation is present in his response of, ‘I don’t know this to be true’ as he goes on to write about what ‘others’ have told him in an attempt to get the reader to believe what he wrote. Classic Page political spin,” Fitch said in a statement.
Fitch said his cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI “are a matter of record and I’m proud of it,” and he vowed to “check the power of the county executive’s office … no matter who holds that office and what fantasies this County Executive and his taxpayer-funded marketing people write.”
