St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger resigned last month after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of corruption. Stenger, who was the subject of an undercover federal investigation led by U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith involving him and several of his campaign donors, pleaded guilty and now faces up to twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Goldsmith’s 44-page indictment revealed that during Stenger’s five years as county executive, he operated a “pay-to-play” scheme, accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from developers and lobbyists in exchange for political favors.
“Pay-to-play is where you pay money to politicians in order to get what you want done,” JBS history teacher Jamie Wagner explained. “It’s bribery is what it is.”
Most notably, Stenger admitted to directing county officials to award a $130,000 marketing contract to businessman John Rallo, who donated tens of thousands of dollars to Stenger’s campaigns.  Stenger also steered insurance contracts to Rallo’s company and helped him obtain two large pieces of property in Wellston that were previously held by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, both valued at over a quarter-million dollars. Stenger was additionally accused of directing a state lobbying contract from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership to an unnamed company, also led by campaign contributors.
Goldsmith told reporters that his year-long undercover investigation included support from the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, the IRS, and several cooperating witnesses; investigators reviewed thousands of emails, text messages, and recorded phone calls as part of the probe.  Even prior to the indictment, Stenger’s tenure as county executive had been clouded by ethics investigations. In 2016, Stenger authorized a 20-year lease of the recently-closed Northwest Plaza for county offices; it was later revealed that the owners of the location had donated at least $365,000 to his campaigns.
Stenger, a former county council member, was first elected county executive in 2014, defeating longtime incumbent Charlie Dooley in the Democratic primary. He was re-elected in November 2018, after dispensing a primary challenge from well-funded businessman Mark Mantovani and defeating Republican Paul Berry III in the general election.
Wagner told The World that he believes the political implications of Stenger’s exit will extend to the proposed city-county “Better Together” merger plan.  “I think it was already an uphill battle, but I think [Stenger’s resignation] just killed it,” Wagner said. Stenger had endorsed the “Better Together” plan, unlike his interim successor as county executive, Democrat Sam Page. Still, “the movement will continue,” Wagner added, although he cautioned a new plan would likely be necessary now that Stenger is gone.
With Stenger no longer at the helm, the future of St. Louis County seems more uncertain now than ever before. While the county has struggled in recent years to keep jobs, population, and money in the St. Louis region, it’s unclear what changes the Page Administration will be able to bring, and the looming question of whether the city and county will unify once again remains unanswered.