Press

Release
For Immediate Release: 4/18/19
Mayor Reggie Jones 314-503-2070


Mayor Reggie Jones of the City of Dellwood, has called for the resignation of John Gaskin III, President of
the St. Louis County NAACP following revelations that Gaskin was being paid by Unite STL to push
consolidation of St. Louis City and County by a statewide vote. Gaskin was influential in getting the local
board of the NAACP to support the Better Together consolidation plan pushed by billionaire Rex
Sinquefield.

“Mr. Gaskin does not represent the interests of the people the NAACP was created to serve,” charged
Mayor Jones.

“Mr. Gaskin's statements today; claiming the St. Louis County Chapter of the NAACP supports the forced
merger of the city and county, as well as dissolving municipalities and stealing their revenues to fund the
consolidation, clearly indicates that he has sold out the very people he is supposed to be representing
and the very people who have supported him with his rise in the NAACP organization,” said Jones.

Jones, an African American Mayor representing a predominantly African American community,
explained, “We have worked for decades to bring African-American leadership and voice to this region
and have succeeded. We have created and instituted more municipal government reform, municipal
police reform and municipal court reform over the past half-decade than any other region has
nationwide. It appears Mr. Gaskin has sold a civil rights organization to the 'Better Together' movement
and has betrayal everything the NAACP represents.”

Jones continued in his statement, explaining that the mission of the NAACP is “to secure the political,
educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and
ensure the health and well-being of all persons.” Mayor Jones says that the proposed city-county
merger would dilute the voice of the very people which the NAACP was formed to represent.

The proposed consolidation plan would silence the voices of African Americans, especially in the City of
St. Louis according to Jones. “As it stands today, a proposed 33-member regional council will be at least
70% Caucasian, even though the residents of color in the city make up at least 50% of the population.
The same dilution of representation would also take representation away from majority African
American communities in St. louis County. People have worked years to be heard. Now Mr. Gaskin
wants to silence those voices and have them give up their seats at the tables in the very municipalities
where they have chosen to lead and live.”

“Mr. Gaskin should have revealed his conflict of interest to everyone prior to any vote by the board and
have allowed public input. The process was not transparent and not fair. It has stained the reputation of
an organization whose historic role was the protection of the rights of the African American Community.
As a result of the above, we are demanding that Mr. John Gaskin, III, resign from his position with the
NAACP. Mr. Gaskin chose to ignore the membership's voice of the St. Louis County NAACP and failed to
discuss his own actions with any community leaders, for the sole purpose of ingratiating himself with his
new employer and financial benefactors. His actions go against all that its members have worked for
years to achieve and are a reflection on the type of campaign being waged by Unite STL in attempting to
buy the St. Louis County NAACP,” Jones concluded.

Mayor Reggie Jones will be joining other African American Elected Officials for a press conference at
Cool Valley City Hall 1pm April 19, 2019. The address is 100 Signal Hill Drive 63121.