- Francis G. Slay
Infobox Mayor
name = Francis G. Slay
caption =
order = 45th Mayor ofSt. Louis, Missouri
term_start =April 17 2001
term_end =
predecessor =Clarence Harmon
successor =
birth_date = birth date and age|1955|3|18|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =
party = Democratic
spouse = Kim Slay
children =
profession =
religion =
footnotes =Francis G. Slay (born
March 18 ,1955 inSt. Louis, Missouri ) is the forty-fifth [http://www.mayorslay.com/about/]mayor of St. Louis (from2001 to present).Education and early career
Slay graduated from
St. Mary's High School (St. Louis, Missouri) in1973 . He received a degree inpolitical science from Quincy College and alaw degree fromSaint Louis University School of Law [http://www.mayorslay.com/about/] . After graduating fromlaw school , Slay served as alaw clerk for Judge Paul J. Simon of theMissouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District. In1981 , he joined thelaw firm of Guilfoil, Petzall, and Shoemake where he specialized in business law and commercial litigation. Slay was elected to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen in1985 , representing the 23rd ward. In1995 , he was elected President of the Board of Aldermen, in a contested Democratic Party primary race with seven candidates. In1999 , he was re-elected without opposition.Term as Mayor
Slay was successful in his first campaign for mayor in 2000, defeating
incumbent mayorClarence Harmon and former mayorFreeman Bosley, Jr. in the Democratic Primary. A great deal of residential re-development took place within the city during Slay's first term in office, including increased redevelopment in theWashington Avenue Loft District . During his first term in office, Slay was also involved with a number of controversial proposals, including construction of a newSt. Louis Cardinals baseball stadium in downtown St. Louis and the redistricting ofalderman ic wards required after the2000 census . Slay also supported a controversial plan to redevelop the historic Old Post Office, which included thedemolition of an adjacent historic office building, the [http://www.builtstlouis.net/century00.html Century Building] for aparking garage . Slay was re-elected to a second term as mayor in2005 . He is a member of theMayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition , abi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired byBoston MayorThomas Menino andNew York City MayorMichael Bloomberg . On April 19, 2007 he endorsedHillary Clinton for President. On June 9, 2008, however, after Clinton ended her campaign, Slay announced his endorsement of Barack Obama. [http://www.mayorslay.com/desk/display.asp?deskID=992]Family
Slay comes from a family that has long been active in St. Louis politics. His father,
Francis R. Slay , is the longtime Democratic Committeeman in the 23rd Ward and once served as Recorder of Deeds. Slay and his wife Kim have twochild ren. They also are in relations to the Webbe and Simon families of St. Louis, Missouri.External links
* [http://www.mayorslay.com The official website of Mayor Francis Slay]
* [http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/mayor/ The mayor's page on the city of St. Louis website]
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