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This St. Louisan Has a Front Row Seat to the George Santos Debacle | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

January 25, 2023

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click to enlarge Courtesy Jacob Long Jacob Long outside his boss, U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres’s office.
On his second day at work in Washington, D.C., Jacob Long found himself accompanying his boss, U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-New York), to the office of a fellow congressman who has quickly become an infamous household name: George Santos. Torres, with Long in tow, was there to hand deliver an ethics complaint to Santos. All the major media outlets covered the event, and in the Associated Press’ video, you can see Long behind Torres as Torres explains that he’s required by the ethics complaint process to deliver the paperwork to Santos in person. The specifics of the complaint concern whether Santos filed “timely, accurate and complete financial disclosure reports,” which, although important, is among the more banal things the Republican congressman newly elected to represent Long Island has been accused of. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Santos has lied about his background in finance, his marriage, his college education, his college volleyball career, his criminal history in Brazil, his criminal history in the United States, his mother being in the Twin Towers on 9/11, his employees being among the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, and his Jewish ancestry. (Found to have none, he later clarified that he said he was “Jew-ish.”) In the past week he’s been impersonated on late night TV by Bowen Yang, Jon Lovitz and others. “You can take all this stuff about his biography and put that aside. There are still concrete questions about whether the law has been broken,” Long says. “There are questions about where some of his campaign financing has come from.” Before going to work for Torres, Long worked on Trudy Busch Valentine’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in Missouri and served as the spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. Before getting into political communications he was a news reporter and anchor at TV stations across the country, including at KSDK in St. Louis. Born in Granite City, the 35-year-old Long says that while D.C. is a really great city, “St. Louis will always be home.” Long says that working on Capitol Hill is “a whole different ball game,” and that he’s honored to work for Torres. The congressman grew up in public housing in the Bronx, went on to be the youngest person ever elected to the New York City Council and the first openly gay Black man elected to the House of Representatives. Given that Torres represents a district not far from Long Island, he feels a duty to hold the fraudster Santos to account and in recent weeks has emerged as one of the embattled congressman’s chief antagonists. In Long’s first week on the job, Torres introduced the Stop Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker (SANTOS) Act. He’s held press conferences and done interviews on cable news, all of which is in part his communications director’s job to arrange. ✍️NEW op-ed from @RepRitchie for @NBCNews about the threat Santos poses to American democracy.”He is a master manipulator and liar whose presence among us is beneath the dignity of the offices we’re privileged to hold and the people we’re here to serve.”https://t.co/5ppn5gkoiX— Jacob Long (@JacobLongDC) January 17, 2023
“Every time you see your elected representative on television, it doesn’t just sort of happen. There’s some finagling behind the scenes that I’m responsible for,” Long says. “It’s a lot of coordinating interviews, amplifying Ritchie’s message to make sure that people know that the members of the New York delegation are not going to sit idly by and let this fraud continue.” He adds, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the first big thing I would be doing communications on would be the hottest political story of the year so far.” Long’s office is in the same building as Santos, who earned more headlines yesterday by saying that someone once tried to assassinate him (and stole his shoes) outside Trump Tower. When asked about the general mood among congressional staffers, Long says, “It does kind of feel embarrassing. Not for us but, you know, for the institution. He’s a running joke on Capitol Hill.” However, there have been some brief Santos-free respites. A few days ago, Long was with Torres walking back from the Capitol when they bumped into Nancy Pelosi, who stopped to have a quick chat with Torres. “All I managed to get in was a ‘Good morning, Madam Speaker,'” Long says. “I know she’s not the speaker any more, but I was so awestruck, that’s about all I could get out. The first woman speaker, the most successful speaker in American history. I told her good morning. That was a really awesome moment.” We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

10 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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