Sam Page offered job to St. Louis County council candidate, asked her to weigh quitting race (2024)

In a move that would have strengthened his political position, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page repeatedly offered a full-time jobto state Rep. Gretchen Bangert, a Florissant Democrat, and encouraged her to consider abandoning her run for the County Council.

Bangert — who told the Post-Dispatch she had three conversations with Page in recent months, including one she recorded — declined Page’s offer. She remains a candidate in the 2nd District Democratic primary.

“Taxpayer dollars should not be usedfor politics, and it sounded like he was going to use government money to buy me off,”Bangert said in an interview.

“I’m not doing this to find a job. I want St. Louis County to prosper,” Bangert added.

Had Bangert accepted Page’s offer, Nicole Greer, a former Creve Coeur council member, would have become the clear favorite to win the Aug. 6 Democratic primary, and also the likely winner of the Nov. 5 general election.

Both Bangert and Greer filed their candidacies on Feb. 27. A third candidate,Lequeshiah Young of Maryland Heights, filed for the race in late March.

While Page, a Democrat, has not endorsed a candidate in the 2nd District, Greer’s campaign has ties to the county executive’s political camp. That could ensure Page an ally in the 2nd District, which has been represented since 2019 by the departing Kelli Dunaway, a staunch Page supporter.

Page has sparred with the council for nearly four years, ever since Rochelle Walton Gray’s reelection loss in 2020 left him with only three allies on the seven-member council.

On Thursday, Page spokesperson Doug Moore said the county executive spoke with both Bangert and Greer to “try to work it out,”and avoid a contested primary. Moore said Page “did not ask anyone to drop out of the race.”

“He told both Nicole and Gretchen that if they were unsuccessful, there were job opportunities in the county, and they should consider applying.But no one has a job offer,” Moore said.

First meeting with Page

Bangert has been elected to four two-year terms in the Missouri House. She is barred from seeking reelection to the House by the state’s term limits law.

She said the first offer she received from Page came inNovember, when she met with him at his office in Clayton.

Bangert said she asked for the meeting, partly as a courtesy call but also to see if he would back her council campaign.

At that time, filings for the 2nd District seat were not yet open, but it was clear in political circles that Dunaway was not seeking reelection and that Bangert and Greer were interested in running.

At the November meeting, Bangert said Page told her he would not support her bid for the council seat but that she would make a good addition to his administration.

“He mentioned a job with the auditor’s office,” said Bangert, who worked as an auditor for the county before joining the state Legislature.

Moore said Page only mentioned specific jobs to Bangert, such as in the auditor’s office, because Bangert previously had worked in that capacity before joining the state Legislature.

Bangert said she declined a county job and told Page she was going to run for the council seat.

The two met again in December at Page’s office, at Page’s request. Bangert said he again mentioned the possibility of her taking a job with the county.

“This time, he mentioned the auditor’s office and also the recorder of deeds” office, she said.

Again, Bangert said she declined the offer and repeated her desire to serve on the County Council.

After about five months of silence, Bangert said she thought the matter “was a done deal” and that both she and Greer would vie for the council seat.

So when Page reached out to her in May, she said, “I was surprised. But those (previous) meetings made me feel uneasy, so I decided to record” the discussion.

‘Lots of opportunities’

During the call, Page framed his efforts as a form of party unity — eliminating the need for Bangert and Greer to oppose each other in the Democratic primary.

“I know you can spend all your time out campaigning, but you know, you may not have to,” Page says in the conversation.

Page goes on to say that he wants to “see if we can make this a little less complicated, which means less opportunity for conflict.”

He continues, “What I’d like to do is to see if there’s a way that you and Nicole could have one more conversation before the deadline to drop off the ballot passes and see if a primarycould still be avoided if that’s possible.”

The deadline for withdrawing from the race without having to go to court was May 28.

Page also says in the conversation that “there’s lots of opportunities in county government for talented folks.”

Later, he tells Bangert, “You could do a lot for us in a position of responsibility in county government.”

Bangert at one point replies, “I feel that I would probably be the most effective in the role as a County Council person ... I think that I would be able to be most effective in the role of being on the County Council.”

Page responds by saying, “You’re qualified, and you’ve got a good style that would work well, and I think you do a good job. You know, it’s just I think Nicole could do a good job, too.”

“What I like to do, I like to find people who could do the job well, and then I would like to avoid escalation of conflict,” Page adds.

He also says that if Bangert truly is not interested, “I can go talk to Nicole again, and I’ll do that. She said she’s open to listening.”

Greer did not return requests for comment.

Although Page appears in the conversation to have no problem with Greer dropping out of the race, Page has ties to Greer’s campaign.

Page’s two most consistent allies on the council, Dunaway and Lisa Clancy, a Maplewood Democrat who represents the 5th District, have endorsed Greer.

Also,Angela Bingaman, a prominent Democratic fundraiser who works with Page’s campaign, is doing work for Greer, whose daughter, Sydni Jackson, was Dunaway’s campaign treasurer.

A key race

The 2nd District race is especially crucial to Page’s position in relation to the County Council.

In his five years as county executive, Page has had the consistent support of Dunaway and Clancy, both Democrats.

But the council’s other two Democrats — Shalonda Webb, 4th District, and Rita Heard Days, 1st District— oppose Page with regularity and have endorsed Bangert in the upcoming race.

That leaves Page with a Republican as his third ally on the council —Ernie Trakas, 6th District, who usually votes for Page’s proposals.

But Trakas’ reelection is not a given, as he has picked up an opponent in the GOP primary: George Michael “Mike” Archer.

Archer’s challenge is supported by several prominent Republicans, including former councilman and police chief Tim Fitch, who has donated to Archer’s campaign.

Three reliable votes on the council — Dunaway, Clancy and Trakas — does not give Page a majority, but it does make him veto-proof. It takes five council members’ votes to overturn any legislation Page might reject.

To be reasonably guaranteed of regaining majority control of the council, Page likely would need Greer to win in the 2nd District and Webb to lose her rematch against Gray.

Dunaway’s 2nd District seat represents northwest St. Louis County, including all or part of Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, Hazelwood, St. Ann, Overland, Florissant, Olivette, Creve Coeur and Chesterfield.

Bangert’s current House district also includesHazelwood and Bridgeton.

She is currently serving as secretary to the House Democratic Caucus. She also is a past president of the bipartisan Women Legislators of Missouri and currently is the regional director of Women in Government.

In her eight years in Jefferson City, as a member of the minority party, Bangert has proposed legislation involving vehicle safety, as well as several measures that would have toughened state firearms laws.

In 2023, she proposed legislation that would have made it a criminal offense toimproperly transport or store a firearm in a motor vehicle. And she introduced a bill that would have made it illegal to use a cellphone while driving, unless by a “hands-free” option.

She also has gone to bat for animal protectors, by introducing a bill that would have provided immunity from civil liability for people who help animals trapped in motor vehicles.

Greer, a councilwoman in Creve Coeurfrom 2020 until April, is a data analyst for AT&T. She also serves as vice president of candidate recruitment for the St. Louis chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus.