ST. LOUIS • The troubled Northeast Fire District is no longer under court supervision, but the bitter aftertaste of intervention remains.
Normandy Mayor Patrick B. Green -- whose city is patrolled by the district --- is the latest north St. Louis County official seeking to stymie the career of the judge in the case, John Ross, who has been nominated for a seat on the federal bench.
Previously, U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay accused Ross of "judicial activism and blatant unfairness" in a letter to the White House. Ross, Clay wrote, "prevented officials from exercising powers granted to them by Missouri law, thus, engaging in racial and discriminatory practices in a district that consists of 85 percent African American population."
Clay forwarded to the president a meandering letter from deposed fire district attorney Elbert Walton Jr., a veteran North County powerbroker, who identified himself as chairman of the "Citizens for Fairness in the Appointment of Judges."
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Green has entered the fray on behalf of fellow mayors in the fire district jurisdiction, according to a letter he sent recently to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and others, including new U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.
"We should have confidence in the fairness and objectivity of the next member of the federal bench," Green wrote. "Our constituents desire assurance that the next federal judge will not demonstrate the kinds of abuses of power that we have seen by Judge John A. Ross in the St. Louis County Circuit Court."
Green goes on to cite a litany of concerns over Ross' supervision of the district, including the decision to lower the salary of the new fire chief and remove an ambulance from service.
Left out of Green's missive is the political discord and financial disarray that preceded Ross' involvement. Earlier this month, Ross, presiding judge in St. Louis County, ended more nearly 16 months of supervision prompted by allegations that board members were violating open meetings laws and spending large sums inappropriately.
For example, the fire district board -- before it was dismantled by the court -- attempted to give more than $700,000 in severance packages to a trio of former officials.
Many, if not all, of Ross' rulings in the case were from recommendations made by Booker T. Shaw, a retired state appeals court judge who was appointed "special master" of the district.
Either way, the political backlash stemming from the fire district is unlikely to derail Ross' path to a higher court. That Ross has been nominated to fill the vacancy on the U.S. District Court in St. Louis means that's he's likely already been thoroughly vetted by the administration.
And because federal jurists are appointed for a lifetime tenure, if he gets the post, Ross won't have to worry about politics -- firehouse or otherwise -- again in his judicial career.
