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The Wright Stuff

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Metts' account of the incident, which she says occurred several years ago, when her son was 9, has never been substantiated. The reason, Metts says, is that the city conspired to keep it quiet. "I found out [a minister's] son-in-law knew somebody who was connected to the FBI, and they rigged up something to prove that this wasn't true," she says. "We was at the point we couldn't sue and couldn't file criminal charges, either, because it was Daniel's [her son's] word against the mayor." She adds, in a whisper, "But one of the citizens who just passed away says he overhead them all in Wright's office talking about Daniel. They thought they had scared Daniel enough so he wouldn't talk, but he did."

Metts also suggests that the conspiracy to protect the mayor stretches to the county prosecutor's office. "The day we turned our complaints over to Bob McCulloch, the mayor ended up with a copy," Metts says. "Now, how did he get a copy, unless McCulloch gave it to him? I'm telling you, they are all in this together." (Our efforts to reach McCulloch's spokesman for comment were unsuccessful.)

Wright, for his part, suggests that Metts is a few peas short of a casserole. "She tried to get everyone involved in her craziness. These are reputable people, and they never heard such a crazy tale. She is accusing all of us of being in on this," the mayor says. "Can you believe that? I don't know Daniel from anybody else. All that was investigated and was unfounded because it's a lie. It never happened."

Of course, if a majority of Pine Lawn residents are truly "disgrumbled" at the mayor and his cronies, they would have tossed the bums out by now, right?

Easier said than done, say Wright's political opponents, especially considering that the person who registers candidates in Pine Lawn happens to be Wright's biggest political ally -- his wife, Janet.

Janet Wright has served as city clerk since 1990, almost three years before her husband was elected mayor. "When she became city clerk, I started coming to meetings," Wright says. "I saw how things were being run and decided I could make a difference. Now, all these years later, people are crying nepotism. These are the same ones who voted for her to be reappointed as city clerk."

There is no denying that politics are at play. Wright encouraged Griffin to run, and Griffin voted for Janet Wright to be reappointed as city clerk. But when Griffin's relationship with Adrian Wright soured (Griffin says it was because her husband put a political sign for an opposing mayoral candidate in their yard), Janet Wright refused to put her on the ballot for re-election. "She said I hadn't paid my trash bill, but I knew I had and even had the receipt," Griffin fumes. "By the time I took it down there to prove it, [Janet] said she was sorry but that the deadline had already passed."

Metts was also denied a place on the ballot last April because she had an unpaid trash bill. Metts says the bill is under the name of her husband and his first wife, who died several years back. "I don't care if her name isn't on the bill," Janet Wright says. "Everybody knows she lives there and hasn't paid her trash bill for years." So Metts had to go through the county and register as a write-in candidate. "When you are a write-in candidate," she says, "right from the beginning you are already at a disadvantage."

At the same time, Janet Wright certified candidate John O'Kain, even though he didn't live in Pine Lawn. According to personal-property-tax records, O'Kain lived at 3437 St. Olaf Dr. in Berkeley as late as May 22. And even though O'Kain ran for Ward 3 alderman, the county's voter-registration records show he lived at 3743 Sylvan Pl., which is in Ward 2.

Mayor Wright says the conflicting addresses were just technicalities, but assistant St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bart Calhoun didn't agree. Calhoun told Pine Lawn's city attorney, in a letter dated March 13, that O'Kain didn't meet the residency requirement to be a legitimate candidate in Pine Lawn. But Janet Wright left O'Kain on the ballot after he signed a sworn affidavit saying he lived in Pine Lawn. The mayor, who swore O'Kain into office, explains: "Now, he is a single young man -- I don't know where he sleeps, but he has been registered to vote well over a year. If he says Pine Lawn is where he lives, then I believe him."

So familiar are the political antics in Pine Lawn that the mere mention of the city's name is enough to elicit an audible groan at the St. Louis County Election Commission. "We were just saying we hadn't heard from Pine Lawn in about two weeks," says Judy Taylor, commission director. "I guess we spoke too soon. You can count on every April there will be a few people coming in here because the city clerk won't take their filings. The last two years, it seems like it has gotten worse."

Even when they manage to get on the ballot, it seems, Wright's opponents are not satisfied. Horskins, Metts and Griffin all charge that election irregularities sway the vote in Wright's favor, even though the election commission has never found any evidence supporting this claim. "Oh, I know there was voter fraud," Griffin says. "I called the Board of Elections seven times during the election, telling them people were tampering with the write-in ballots. I saw them doing it, but nobody from the election board ever came."

"The election judges are picked by the mayor's wife," Metts says. "I was a write-in candidate, and a number of people voted for me and the judges told them, 'You can't do that,' and wouldn't put the ballots with my name on it in the box."

Horskins says that more than 130 ballots weren't counted: "We had our own Florida here, I am telling you. If they had counted those ballots, I know I would have won. I never got a really good reason why they didn't count them."

Taylor groans at the exaggeration. She has explained this before but patiently goes over it once again: Of the 499 ballots cast in the mayoral race, 475 were tabulated. The other 24 ballots were disqualified. Even then, Wright was the clear winner, with 283 votes to Horskins' 192. Metts had 24 votes to O'Kain's 83 -- so even if the 42 disqualified ballots had been counted, she would have lost. Taylor says, "Some people in Pine Lawn get it in their minds that something is going on and nothing can sway them from that, not even the facts."

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