Archive for October 2020

Back in early March, we were collecting stories from first generation college students about their experiences on campus. Since then, COVID-19 hit college campuses across the country and we’re seeing a rising number of cases since students have returned for in-person classes. So in this episode, we hear from a first generation college student about navigating post-grad life during a pandemic, a health reporter will share what it’s like to report about the virus at a university, and a student activist will tell us about how they are fighting to uplift the demands of Black students on campus.

Brent Benjamin had never set foot in St. Louis when he showed up on a snowy day in 1999 to interview for a job running its namesake art museum.

He got the job, and made his impact over more than two decades at the helm of St. Louis Art Museum. He led a $160 million capital campaign, at the time the largest ever for a St. Louis arts organization, to fund construction of the museum’s East Building and creation of an endowment to pay for future upkeep. Notable exhibitions during his tenure include “Vincent van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard” in 2001 and “Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost World” in 2018.

Benjamin announced in September that he plans to retire next summer. In January, the organization will begin its search for his successor in earnest.

He is also president of the American Association of Museum Directors, and from that seat maintains a deep understanding of the relationships among different institutions and the state of the field today. Benjamin said the tax funds the St. Louis Art Museum receives as a part of the Zoo Museum District largely insulate it from the budgetary mayhem created by pandemic-related closures earlier in the year. But the ongoing struggles of other museums could affect simple things like the ability to borrow artwork for new exhibitions.

“I am very worried about what the exhibition dynamic looks like, in particular,” he said, “because these organizations are not going to have the capacity to operate as they have.”

In this episode of Cut & Paste, Benjamin reflects on his time at St. Louis Art Museum and looks to the future. He also reveals some of the behind-the-scenes challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic — including the nerve wracking ordeal of sending a painting by Monet halfway around the world with no one to keep an eye on it.

Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @jeremydgoodwin

Sean Soendker Nicholson, who is leading the campaign to defeat Amendment 3 on the Nov. 3 ballot, is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. Nicholson talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about why voters should reject the measure that overhauls Missouri’s state legislative redistricting system.

Nicholson is a Democratic political consultant who was part of the successful 2018 campaign to pass Clean Missouri. If Amendment 3 fails to repeal Clean Missouri, a demographer will hold much of the power to draw House and Senate maps with an emphasis on competitiveness and partisan fairness.

Opponents of Clean Missouri believe that the system will cause all sorts of unintended consequences. The primarily Republican detractors contend that the plan wasn’t about fairness, but instead was meant to give Democrats an advantage in a state that’s becoming more Republican.

Missouri Farm Bureau Chairman Blake Hurst recorded an episode of Politically Speaking about why voters should back Amendment 3. You can hear that episode here.

Here’s what Nicholson had to say on the show:

• He responded to mainly Republican contentions that Clean Missouri was inherently deceptive, since it paired popular ideas like curtailing lobbyist gifts and making it harder for lawmakers and staff to become lobbyists with a wholesale change of state legislative redistricting.
• Nicholson talked about some of the consequences of emphasizing compactness over competitiveness and partisan fairness, which is one of the biggest changes brought about by Amendment 3.
• He discussed why it was a bad idea to only count eligible voters, as opposed to the total population of voters. He said that the “eligible voter standard” wasn’t required under Amendment 3, but added having it as an option could mean that children aren’t counted during the redistricting process.
• He talked about why the state auditor’s office, as opposed to the governor or secretary of state, is involved in forwarding demographer candidates to the Senate’s majority and minority leaders. The involvement of the auditor has been a source of contention, since the current officeholder, Nicole Galloway, is the only Democratic statewide official in office right now in Missouri.

Amendment 3 is easily the most contentious ballot initiative up for a vote this November. Most of the money and organizational power has gone to defeat the measure, which has helped Nicholson’s side run television ads criticizing the proposal.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Sean Soendker Nicholson on Twitter: @ssnich

Music: “In The Meantime” by Spacehog

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. Hurst spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his organization’s support for Amendment 3, which would repeal and replace a state legislative redistricting system voters approved in 2018.

Amendment 3 would transfer redistricting responsibility from a demographer to either bipartisan commissioners or, more likely, appellate judges. It also changes the criteria for drawing House and Senate maps. For instance, compactness would go up on the priority list and substantially altered competitiveness and partisan fairness standards would go down.

During the program, Hurst talked about:

• His organization’s support of Amendment 3, primarily driven by fears the existing plan would lessen the influence of rural communities in the Missouri General Assembly.
• His response to contentions from Amendment 3 foes that moving up the compactness standards and moving down the changed competitiveness and partisan fairness formulas will result in less competitive state legislative maps.
• Arguments, even from several Republicans, that it’s premature to repeal the 2018 state legislative redistricting plan, widely known as Clean Missouri, before it actually goes into effect.
• The campaign to pass Amendment 3, which is being vastly outspent by a well-funded and well-organized campaign trying to persuade Missourians to vote down the initiative.

Hurst has served as president of the Missouri Farm Bureau since 2010. The Atchison County native runs a greenhouse business and also raises corn and soybeans with his family.

Sean Soendker Nicholson, one of the leaders of the opposition to Amendment 3, recorded an episode of Politically Speaking that will be posted in the coming days.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Blake Hurst on Twitter: @BlakeHurst

Music: “Jumper” by Third Eye Blind

Democrat Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. She spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid and Jaclyn Driscoll about her race against U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, which includes a portion of the Metro East.

Dirksen-Londrigan ran against Davis in 2018, narrowly losing to the incumbent Republican by 2,058 votes. The race is again expected to be close on Nov. 3. Davis won reelection in 2014 and 2016 by nearly 20 percentage points each time.

Here’s what Dirksen-Londrigan talked about during the program.

• Why she’s running for a second time to unseat Davis.
• The status of the Affordable Care Act and her support of “Medicare-X,” which would add a public option to the health care marketplaces.
• The national response to the coronavirus pandemic and her vision for how the federal government can help Americans make it to the other side of the pandemic.
• College costs and her ideas for how to make higher education more affordable.

Dirksen-Londrigan was born and raised in Springfield. She was formerly a teacher and the director of Alumni Affairs at the University of Illinois in Springfield. She also worked on downstate fundraising for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Davis appeared on Politically Speaking earlier this month.

Follow Jaclyn Driscoll on Twitter: @DriscollNPR

Follow Eric Schmid on Twitter: @EricDSchmid

Follow Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan on Twitter: @BetsyforIL

Music: “On the Loose” by Europe