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Jane Dueker, a Democrat running for county executive against Page, publicized the complaints by Deputy Jail Director Darby Howard on Wednesday and accused Page of failing to investigate.

Weaver was indicted last week on federal bribery charges unrelated to his work at the county jail. He has pleaded not guilty.

Howard, who sued the county in January alleging employment discrimination, could not be reached for comment. An attorney representing Howard could not be reached.

Dueker’s campaign issued a press release late Tuesday announcing a press conference to air complaints against Weaver the next day. Page, asked by reporters for a response during a separate press conference Wednesday morning, denied the allegation.

Dueker then held a press conference detailing the complaints; Page spokesman Doug Moore declined further comment.

A county jail employee since 1989, Howard last year sent two lengthy letters to Personnel Director Sue Daniels in which he accused Weaver of unfairly soliciting “negative information” from jail staff and “defaming” corrections officers by accusing them of opposing jail reforms.

Howard called for Weaver’s removal, alleging he had undermined the jail’s chain of command. Weaver, Howard wrote in a letter dated April 2, 2021, used his position as a direct report to Page to wield authority at the jail, giving “the impression that he alone can promote, demote, and terminate staff at will.”

Howard filed another complaint Dec. 6 after Weaver told him that he himself was the subject of an investigation for alleged “harassment and retaliation.”

Howard, in a Dec. 9 email to Daniels, wrote “no one from your office or the County Executive’s office has reached out to me to seek a resolution to what I consider a serious issue.”

Daniels, in response, told Howard that she had forwarded his complaints to “the 9th floor,” Jail Director Scott Anders, and County Counselor Beth Orwick because she could only respond to grievances involving merit employees and not political appointees: “Frankly, my hands have always been tied when it comes to a grievance regarding a non-merit employee.”

Weaver did not return requests for comment. An attorney representing Weaver did not return a request for comment. Daniels did not return a phone call requesting comment.

The newly publicized allegations against Weaver, whom Page appointed in December 2019 as a “change” coordinator at the jail, came a week after he was indicted on federal bribery charges alleging he attempted to defraud a county small business grant program. Page fired Weaver when the indictment was unsealed June 7.

Dueker on Wednesday characterized Page’s hiring of Weaver — a former aide to then-Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray and a longtime associate of Walton Gray’s father, north St. Louis county politico Elbert Walton Jr. — as a political move.

“Tony Weaver had power in the jail because Sam Page gave it to him and he enabled him and encouraged him,” Dueker said. “������Ƶ were aware of the complaints. ������Ƶ were aware of the abuse of power, and they let him stay there.”

Dueker, asked whether she had spoken with Howard about publicizing the letters, said she had spoken to “multiple whistleblowers” at the jail and insisted the letters showed “there’s never been an investigation of these complaints.”

“We have no idea how many of the complaints against Tony Weaver are true or not true because they’ve never been investigated,” she said in comments to reporters outside the county seat of government in downtown Clayton. “It’s completely outside the personnel system. That’s inappropriate.”

Page, asked about allegations generally during an earlier news conference, said his administration “always take these sort of charges seriously and when we hear about them, we’ll look at them. There is a process in county government to look at these kinds of complaints and I expect that to happen.”

Page said “there was no unusual, alarming behavior that was brought to my attention” about Weaver.

“This person isn’t an employee anymore, and I can’t fire him twice,” he said.

Page also said Dueker’s allegations were political.

“This is the season where we’re going to hear a lot of accusations … and occasionally there is something that we need to react to, and whenever there’s something we can do better, we’ll do it better.”

Page had appointed Weaver to act as a liaison to a jail reeling from five inmate deaths from medical complications in 2019. Three of the deaths occurred under the administration of Steve Stenger, who resigned after he was indicted in April 2019.

Dueker, a former lobbyist, police union attorney and Stenger adviser, is running to unseat Page in the Aug. 2 primary.

Howard’s complaints released Wednesday implied a long-running disagreement with Weaver over how much of a role he could have in talking to jail employees and raising concerns to jail directors.

“Other administrators and I have continued to witness Mr. Weaver give misleading information to both staff and inmates by having them report to him personnel and operational decisions they do not agree with,” Howard wrote in the latest letter, dated Dec. 6.

“Such actions have broken down the chain of command and process that ensure all complaints by staff and inmates are properly documented and addressed.”

Howard alleged he had first made a formal complaint Sept. 15, 2020, to then-county Chief Operating Officer Michael Chapman about “Weaver’s inappropriate, harassing and defaming behavior,” but continued to work with Weaver “in spite of his ongoing defaming and misrepresentation of myself and leadership staff at Justice Services.”

That 2020 complaint came the same day the County Council held a hearing to discuss problems at the jail following the resignation of then-Jail Director Raul Banasco amid allegations of misconduct. Page had hired Banasco from a national search to reform the facility.

Weaver had told the council the jail was in “total chaos,” at Banasco’s departure and that a possible sickout by officers could leave the facility dangerously understaffed. He asked officials to put an outsider in charge.

Howard, in his complaint on April 2, 2021, said Weaver had made “a false narrative” and undermined leadership. He alleged Weaver “came into my office the very next morning and made the statement, ‘You know that I’m political don’t you.’”

The letter goes on to detail comments Weaver made criticizing certain senior corrections staff and jail operations, including accusations that Howard and others were part of the cabal, known as “The Family,” that opposed reform efforts.

Howard said a sergeant, Anthony Thompson, told him March 25, 2021, that Weaver told a jail hiring committee “that it is time to replace the Family the old leadership Darby Howard and them with some new blood.” 

Originally posted at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 14.