Municipal Election Recap:  Smoke-Free Edition

There were lots of candidates and issues on the ballot yesterday in the St. Louis and St. Charles region - a very exciting election.  We'd like to highlight a few races of note for smoke-free supporters.

Lake Saint Louis
If you'll remember, just a few weeks ago, the Lake Saint Louis Board of Aldermen passed a comprehensive smoke-free law by a 4-2 vote.  We're pleased to announce that the ordinance sponsor and smoke-free supporter, Alderman John Pellerito won his re-election bid last night with 57% of the vote.  Alderman Ralph Sidebottom, a "yes" vote on smoke-free also won re-election with 80% of the vote.  However, their colleague, smoke-free opponent and a "no" vote on the ordinance, Alderwoman Charlotte Norton was not so lucky.  Norton lost her re-election bid to challenger Karen Vennard by a vote of 59% to 41%.

Kirkwood
There were 3 spots open for Kirkwood City Council in yesterday's at-large election.  One of five candidates running for a spot was Joe Toenjes, aka "Joe Kirkwood".  Toenjes was an adamant and vehement opponent of both the Kirkwood and St. Louis County smoke-free initiatives - even attempting a failed effort to place a competing proposal on the ballot in Kirkwood.  Yesterday's election results yielded a defeat for Toenjes' City Council bid with a 5th place finish and 11% of the vote.