The St. Louis Sports Commission summoned the candidates for St. Louis mayor to its quarterly meeting yesterday, promising each candidate ten minutes "to interact individually" with some of the region's most powerful businessmen and CEOs — five minutes to talk, and five minutes to answer questions."There will be no media coverage of the meeting," the email invitation promised.
At least three candidates — Alderwoman Lyda Krewson, President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed and Alderman Jeffrey Boyd — attended, trekking out to the Missouri Athletic Club West in Town & Country in the hours before the workday began to meet with roughly 70 members for their ten-minute session. (The candidates did not get to hear each other's remarks.)
But two refused the invite — and neither Treasurer Tishaura Jones nor Alderman Antonio French bothered to send a surrogate, as the commission offered in its invitation.…