St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where she joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum to talk about efforts to drum up more money for early childhood education programs.

Clancy is a Maplewood Democrat who was elected to represent the St. Louis County Council’s 5th District in 2018. She currently serves as the chairwoman of the council.

Here’s what Clancy discussed during the program:

• A proposal to raise sales taxes to fund early childhood education programs. That measure was shelved after it ran into a wave of bipartisan criticism, including from Councilwoman Rita Days, D-Bel Nor.
• How Page is managing the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the council’s decision to give the Democratic chief executive spending authority over federal coronavirus funds.
• Some big changes to Page’s administration, including the departures of Hazel Erby as the county’s diversity, equity and inclusion director and Raul Banasco as head of the agency that runs the county’s jail.
• With the county council’s alliances and membership shifting, whether the council is about to become more hostile to Page in the coming months.

Clancy has a master’s degree in social work and has worked for about a decade with nonprofit groups. In 2018, Clancy successfully challenged incumbent Pat Dolan, who at the time was then-St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger’s lone ally on the county council.

She was elected as the chairwoman of the council in 2020, and for most of the year has held together a four-member coalition of the council’s four Democratic members. But that coalition is becoming less stable, especially as Days has become more critical of Page’s major initiatives.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Lisa Clancy on Twitter: @lisadclancy

Music: “Better Man” by Pearl Jam