香港三级片

The new year came in like a lion for Sam Page, and a hungry one at that.

With the addition Tuesday of two new St. 香港三级片 County Council members, the County Executive finds himself in an uncomfortable position 鈥� working with a council, controlled by Page鈥檚 own Democratic party no less, which seems to have embraced opposition to Page as its default position.

With such veto-proof power available, the new council already is considering several legislative initiatives aimed at dulling Page鈥檚 powers, political sources said.

The most strident one, by far, would be a proposed change in the County Charter that would allow a super-majority (5 of 7 members) of the council to remove a county executive, county counselor or department head from office.

With the new County Council seated, votes of 6-1 in opposition to Page are entirely possible.

In short, that鈥檚 no way for a politician to start off a new year.

But technically, Page鈥檚 run of notable political losses began in late 2024.

In a two-week run starting Dec. 20, the state circuit courts delivered a three-punch flurry that knocked out Page鈥檚 attempt to appoint his favored Cort VanOstran to replace Wesley Bell as St. 香港三级片 County鈥檚 prosecuting attorney.

Rulings in the circuit and appeals courts, and then the state Supreme Court鈥檚 refusal to hear the case, handed the victory to Gov. Mike Parson and his pick of Melissa Price Smith.

But the court losses were not the only damages sustained by Page in regard to his upcoming relationship with the prosecutor鈥檚 office.

Somehow, Page鈥檚 camp decided that VanOstran was a better choice than any of three women, all veteran prosecutors, who were considered by most to be the best candidates until VanOstran surfaced later in the process.

That alone could leave Page with some wobble in his working relationship with the prosecutor鈥檚 office.

(It also leaves VanOstran, who had to quit his job at the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office, unemployed. Snarkier political wags already have wondered how long it would be before VanOstran lands a job in Page鈥檚 office.)

And as far as working relationships go, the county鈥檚 Central Democratic Committee certainly did not issue the most welcoming of welcomes to Price Smith, who also happens to be a Democrat.

On Friday morning, about three hours before Price Smith was sworn into office, the committee sent an email to its members that also threw a challenge at Price Smith in regard to the pending nepotism case against Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-3rd District.

Hancock has been charged with hiring his stepdaughter as his administrative assistant. He claims that when he found out about the conflict, she quit immediately and declined to accept money for the job.

鈥淭he first act of the new county prosecutor replacing the Honorable Wesley Bell must not be to set aside a corruption case of the highest order,鈥� the committee鈥檚 email said.

But if the needle hadn鈥檛 been pegged hard enough, the email then encouraged party faithful to call Price Smith鈥檚 office 鈥� and was helpful enough to provide a phone number and email address.

It urged Democrats to 鈥渄emand the first act of the county prosecutor to execute the order of law and not protect political cronies.鈥�

So much for good luck and best wishes.

But truth be told, if any group should have a good nose for political cronyism, it would be a political party鈥檚 central committee.

The committee鈥檚 executive director is Jon Boesch, who once worked for County Executive Charlie Dooley, after having worked on campaigns for Dooley and county Assessor Jake Zimmerman.

The committee board鈥檚 secretary is Nicole Greer, whose daughter, Sydni Jackson, also worked for the committee last year as a field director.

A former Creve Coeur councilwoman, Greer was Page鈥檚 favored candidate in a County Council primary race in August. Jackson served as her mother鈥檚 campaign treasurer.

Greer lost the primary to Gretchen Bangert, who on Tuesday becomes one of the two new County Council members.

Bangert filed a complaint concerning that race with the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office, saying Page offered her a job with the county administration in exchange for not running against Greer. At the time, Page said he made the same offer to Greer in an effort to avoid a primary battle.

Alas, the Democratic committee鈥檚 email didn鈥檛 seem to land well.

Within hours after she was sworn in, Price Smith鈥檚 office dismissed charges against Diann Valenti, the county council鈥檚 clerk.

The charges involved Valenti鈥檚 changing of the work status of Hancock鈥檚 stepdaughter, to show that she was a volunteer instead of an employee.

Some County Council members and other politicos viewed the move against Valenti as a heavy-handed, politically motivated attempt to pressure Valenti into helping oust Hancock.

Concurrently, some in the prosecuting attorney鈥檚 office were irked that to secure the charges, hearings on several violent felonies were delayed for two hours while two prosecutors, Jessica Hathaway and Rachel Smith, pursued the charges.

While the charges against Valenti have been dropped, the case to remove Hancock remains alive, as possibly Page鈥檚 best chance to notch a win.

But now missing from the case are its former prosecutors, Hathaway and Rachel Smith. It is now being handled by Andrea Harrington, who had been Bell鈥檚 chief of staff.

Who knows? Maybe digging deeper is a viable way to get out of a hole, and hope the picture is rosier when you come out the other end.