ST. LOUIS — In a candid compilation of colorful text messages obtained by 5 On Your Side, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones spoke with several members of her inner circle about a strategy to foil State Sen. Steve Roberts' political ambitions for higher citywide office.
Roberts, an attorney by trade, was named in a "voter survey" conducted on May 6, just two days after former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced her resignation. The results listed Roberts at the top of the pack with 47% of support to become the city's next prosecutor, far higher than the second-highest placing person with 11%.
The video above is prior reporting.
The poll summary appeared in a group chat with the mayor, her father Virvus Jones, and her longtime political advisor Richard Callow.
Callow sent the document to the other two. Mayor Jones asked where it came from. He said he didn't know.
"Somebody has been busy," Virvus Jones remarked. "Is it being distributed to the press?"
"Yes," Callow replied.
"The Gov ain't picking him," the mayor responded. "And we mobilize to make sure his ass gets dragged."
"Yes," the mayor's dad agreed.
Mayor Jones’ spokesman Nick Desideri said in a statement, "This shouldn’t be news or a surprise to anyone. Mayor Jones has been open and honest about her thoughts regarding him for years."
“Clearly, these messages are the embodiment of what is wrong with city politics," Roberts responded to 5 On Your Side. "The mayor’s felon father who was convicted for embezzling money from the city. Her political operatives who run the elections for the mayor’s supporters on the Board. Who’s really in charge here?”
Roberts’ claim isn’t quite right. Federal courts convicted Jones on tax fraud charges after prosecutors indicted him for laundering stolen life insurance funds through his campaign account and using the money for personal benefit. No allegation was made that Jones, the former city comptroller, ever embezzled government funds.
He claimed the mayor's reason to oppose him stemmed from a family feud from 15 years ago.
“After the Mayor’s father got out of federal prison, my family gave her father a second chance when no one would hire him. He was fired in 2008 and they’ve had a vendetta against us ever since.”
Days before the mayor was discussing Roberts' poll numbers with her father and advisor, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he would look to Jones and other city leaders for input as he set out to appoint Gardner's replacement as the top prosecutor in a city riddled with high crime and courts backlogged with thousands of cases.
The day after her conversation with her dad and advisor, Jones appeared on KMOX Radio on Wednesday, May 10, to respond to questions about the governor's effort to replace Gardner.
Jones said her phone was "blowing up" from people who wanted her blessing to seek the position, and joked that she hoped no one pursued her phone records under the Sunshine Act.
"Please don't sunshine my phone," the mayor said with a laugh.
5 On Your Side submitted an open records request seeking those records that same day. When the city turned them over, the text messages appear to show prospective appointees were lobbying the mayor for her support within a few minutes of Parson's news conference describing his next steps in the appointment process.
"Why are people blowing me up with replacement suggestions?" Mayor Jones asked in a group chat with her Chief of Staff Jared Boyd and campaign manager Rosetta Okohson-Reb. "The ink is barely dry on her letter!"
"The worst part is this rumor that SR [Steve Roberts] is going to be appointed as his replacement."
"Anyone noteworthy," Boyd asked.
"Nicolle Barton mentioned Judge Mullen," Jones replied. "Hmmm...."
Then, the group started poking fun at a tweet posted by former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, who faces federal indictment for perjury and mortgage fraud charges.
"Absolutely ridiculous! Another example of the targeting of Progressive Black women prosecutors," Mosby said about Gardner's resignation in a since-deleted tweet.
"Like Baltimore Marilyn Mosby?" Okohson-Reb replies.
"Yes. THAT Marilyn Mosby," Jones replied. "Girl bye."
"FED inditement (sic) Marilyn gotta chill," Okohson-Reb responded.
"Prosecutors with extracurricular activities," Boyd chimed in.
"Is that how you phrase it on the resume nowadays," Okohson-Reb asked. "With extracurriculars?"
The next day, Jones replied to the group chat to tell them, "The MO Leg Black Caucus is about to send a letter to the Governor asking [him] to appoint F---Boy to CA."
The vulgar remark was in reference to Roberts, who signed, and later published, confidential settlement agreements with two women who accused him of sexual assault and rape. Roberts has denied the allegations.
Former State Representative Cora Faith Walker, one of Jones’ closest friends, accused Roberts of rape before her sudden and untimely death in April of 2022.
"Of course they are," Okohson-Reb replied. "Have you talked to Karla May TJ? Can we squash this?"
Senator May (D-St. Louis) said the mayor's message never reached her.
"A lot of people do call me and look to me to get things done," May said. "I never would have gotten involved in that, though."
She also seemed dismayed at the mayor's disparaging remark about him.
"Steve Roberts is a professional, an attorney, and a Senator," May said. "It grieves me that it happened."
Roberts did ultimately apply for the job, but was not selected.
“The Circuit Attorney’s Office is a critical position to the city," Roberts said. "I had a lot of colleagues and friends pushing me towards it. The Black Caucus did submit a letter of support to the Governor. The health and safety of the city is my number one concern, and it was something I had to consider.”
At another point in the mayor's group chat, her political advisor claimed the former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce had confided in him that she would intervene on their behalf to persuade Parson not to appoint Roberts.
"Jennifer Joyce called me," Callow wrote to Virvus and Tishaura Jones. "She will do anything necessary to stop Steve Roberts. There is a personnel file."
"She is calling through her Rolodex of Republican prosecutors right now and is having them ask the governor to take her call," Callow claimed. "She is past president of the MO Prosecutors. She has 1 message: no Steve."
The mayor seemed convinced it would work.
"Bet!" she responded.
“The Joyce administration was well known for treating black defendants different from white ones," Roberts wrote. "It would not surprise me if she had files on all the black attorneys as well.”
Reached by phone on Wednesday evening, Joyce would not confirm the accuracy of Callow's claims or her involvement in lobbying Parson to oppose Roberts.
Later, when presented with screenshots of the text messages, Joyce replied, "Callow..." and added an eyeroll emoji.
On Tuesday, May 9, David Steward, the billionaire founder of WorldWide Technologies, sent the mayor a text message with a link to Gabe Gore's professional profile on the Dowd Bennett website.
"Your interest??? Let's review," Steward wrote. "God Bless."
"Gabe's a great guy! He'd bring a level of professionalism to the office," Jones responded.
"Thank you!!! Will recommend to the Gov," Steward wrote back. "Bless you for all you do."