ST. LOUIS, Missouri — The race to represent the new 14th Ward at St. Louis City Hall intensified this weekend as Rasheen Aldridge and Ebony Washington traded barbs and accused each other of skipping out on work or their taxes.
Washington cornered Aldridge, a state representative, as he sat in his car in St. Louis last Tuesday, a day when the Missouri House was in session, and began recording video while she confronted him.
"Aren't you supposed to be in Jeff City right now working?" she said.
Aldridge shot back, "You paid your taxes today?"
The hostile exchange showed an escalating feud between the two candidates who knocked off incumbent aldermen James Page and Brandon Bosley in last month's primary to represent the north side's newly drawn 14th Ward.
"Yelling out the window, videotaping and yelling. I mean, that's just uncalled for," Aldridge said. "Those tactics of harassment and bullying, which I'm used to with the Hubbard family, doesn't benefit the community."
Washington, who has never run for elected office, comes from a family with political pedigree. Her grandparents Penny and Rodney Hubbard Sr. and her aunt Tammika Hubbard represented St. Louis in Jefferson City and City Hall for years.
Lawyers representing the Aldridge campaign recently tried to boot Washington from the April ballot after records from the St. Louis Assessor's Office showed she had not paid any real estate property taxes or personal property taxes at any time in the last seven years.
Washington swiftly filed paperwork last week to declare ownership of a vehicle. She said she paid around $1,300 in back taxes and satisfied the requirement to appear on the ballot, but blamed the initial miscue on the city government.
"Someone down there dropped the ball," she said. "They had to generate a bill. Once they generated a bill, I paid it."
Aldridge admitted his time on the campaign trail has kept him from fulfilling all of his part-time duties in the Missouri House over the last several weeks.
"The last few weeks I haven't been there because I've been out campaigning, but I've been showing up to work," Aldridge told 5 On Your Side.
Attendance records filed with the Missouri House Clerk show Aldridge was present at the state legislature for 24 out of 42 days since the session began in January and missed 60% of the votes on the House floor or in his assigned committees.
In letters to the Clerk, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade removed him from his posts on the Rules and Regulatory Oversight Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee for Public Safety, Corrections, Transportation and Revenue.
"With the possibility Rasheen won't be here through the end of session, we put other caucus members in his committee slots to ensure they're up to speed for the crucial final weeks," Quade said. "If he loses, we'll reassign him."
If Aldridge wins his race for alderman, his seat will remain vacant until a new legislator can be sworn in next January following a special election.
Missouri legislators earn an annual salary of $37,711, and can claim an additional $121 per diem for each day they show up to work. Washington alleged that by skipping votes and floor debate, Aldridge had short-changed his constituents.
"We elected him to do a job and he committed to the people of his district that he will be their advocating and representing us, and he hasn't been there," Washington said.
Aldridge downplayed the impact of his absence in a Republican-controlled chamber.
"One vote won't be the make-or-break, especially in the super minority," he said.
"He definitely should be in Jeff City," Washington repeated. "You have a job that you already committed to. We just reelected you in November and you committed to be the state rep and advocate for us. And I know some important bills were voted on and he wasn't there."
"That's interesting coming from somebody who has property tax issues and shouldn't even been on the ballot anyway to begin with," Aldridge parried.
Some of the top politicians in the city, including Mayor Tishaura Jones and Board of Aldermen President Megan Green, have endorsed Aldridge, while the St. Louis Police Officers Association has endorsed Washington's bid.
Aldridge said he wouldn't have accepted an endorsement from the police union if they offered one. Washington said she accepted it without a second thought.
"For them to endorse me, you know, it was a really big deal," she said.
"That's our safety net," she said. "Everyone is not bad. So we need to just meet each other where we are, get to some common ground so we can move forward.
"You have to have that trust, work with the police in our neighborhoods," she said. "We want to be safe and everyone calls them when they need them, so, you know, why not make sure they're funded and just have the proper resources so we are able to live safe."
St. Louis voters head to the polls on April 4.
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