Maureen Saunders Wins First Ward in Giant Turnout

A huge turnout in Brentwood’s first ward gave accountant more votes than either Anthony Harper or Barbara Clements got in previous years running uncontested in the ward.

Uncertified returns from The St. Louis County Board of Elections Tuesday night show Saunders defeating 366 votes to 186. That’s more than 66 percent of the votes cast.

“It’s a big win for the residents,” she said. “Everybody that signed that petition, everybody that made their concerns known. It’s a team effort and we are all taking that seat.”

Saunders is known in Brentwood for that initiated a state audit of the city of Brentwood last August, following the resignation of city administrator .

When no one from her group of volunteers stepped up to run, she decided to. She said she wanted to be on the board of aldermen when the results of the audit come back to the city to help implement the state’s suggestions.

“I really do believe we can work for a consensus, and I’m good at working with people,” she said.

“I do ask tough questions, but the idea is to come up with the better or best solution. It’s not adversarial in any way.”

Saunders said the election day spent with her opponent, Jim Bischoff couldn’t have been better.

“I enjoyed standing with him for the entire day,” she said. “I feel bad that we can’t both be on the board at the same time.” She said she thought that might be a possibility in the future.

Bischoff said he wanted to win and serve the residents, and he thought had had a shot.

“Up until the last week of the race I was feeling pretty confident, until the letters came out,” he said.

Three anonymous mailings went to the first ward residents that threw mud on Saunders’ character.

“Maureen ran a great race,” he said. “I can’t take anything away from her. It’s a long hard road. I have a newfound respect for people who run for political office.”

And he’s not ruling out another run either.

“Tonight I’ll tell you no, but never say never,” Bischoff said.