Story ran on March 25, 1995
Keith Mandell got an early exposure to politics. When he was as young as 6,
his mother would take him to nuclear energy protests in the Chicago area.
Over the years, they traveled to peace rallies and protests in places like New
York and Washington, D.C. Sandra Mandell Thiher, a self-described child of the
1960s, said her son was interested and always willing to go.
At age 12, Keith Mandell worked on Walter Mondale's presidential campaign and
he's worked for candidates ever since--most recently as a volunteer for
Democrat Alan Wheat, who lost a bid for the U.S. Senate to John Ashcroft.
He's run a few of his own campaigns, too. In sixth grade, he lost a bid for
class president, coming in second in a three-way race. He said he ran an
issues-oriented campaign.
Unfortunately, the outcome--he recalled the candidates' vote totals were 10, 6
and 5--had more to do with popularity than issues. The next year, he won a
seat as room representative to the student council.
Mandell, 23, characterizes his political philosophy as liberal and
progressive. His role models in politics are late Chicago mayor Harold
Washington and President Franklin Roosevelt.
An MU graduate student in history, Mandell said he admired Washington,
Chicago's first black mayor, because he opened up city government. Roosevelt
is a favorite because of his compassion, commitment and ability to restore
people's confidence in government.
"I'm an idealist. When it comes to government, I still actually believe that
government can improve things for people," Mandell said.
His close friend Hieu Nguyen, who lives in Chicago, counts Thiher as Mandell's
biggest influence. Thiher helped her son gather the l00 signatures needed to
file for the mayor's race, and Mandell calls her his strategist.
"His mother's been a major influence in his life," Nguyen said.
Thiher said she never pushed her son into politics. Rather, he was drawn to
political events. Mandell would tape campaign events and coverage on TV and
watch them over and over.
Mandell has focused his campaign on the issues of the underclass. Poverty,
transportation and crime are three primary planks in his platform. He has made
a point to mention at candidate forums that 22 percent of Columbians live in
poverty --more than in any other city in the state except Kansas City--a
figure he culled from l990 census data.
Public transportation is among the services Mandell would like to improve for
Columbians. Getting around by bus is inconvenient here, Mandell said.
His knowledge of the bus system is firsthand. For about six months, after
their truck broke down, his family did not have an automobile.
"We used to go to the grocery store on our bikes, and that was something to
see," Thiher said.
Today the family has one car. Mandell and his stepfather, Gary Thiher, rely on
bicycles much of the time. In Chicago, Mandell and his mother didn't have
driver's licenses and depended on public transportation.
Mandell would like to see more bus routes, extended hours and service on
Sundays and holidays. Mandell finds the routes themselves inconvenient because
all buses converge on the Wabash Station terminal at the same time, which
means riders who miss a wave of buses face long waits.
Staggering the bus routes makes more sense to Mandell. Public works director
Lowell Patterson, however, said the buses arrive at the station at the same
time to make transfers quicker, otherwise a passenger would have to wait to
change buses.
Sunday service and expanded routes were considered by the city council when
the bus routes were revamped in 1993, Patterson said but the cost could not be
justified.
Mandell has also noticed deficiencies in city sidewalks. He would like to see
sidewalks extended further along west Broadway and Paris Road.
Prevention would be Mandell's watchword for fighting crime. He favors
Neighborhood Watch programs and would encourage neighborhood festivals so
people could meet one another in a relaxed setting.
He envisions food and fun along with informal discussions of current events.
Town meetings have been a trademark of his campaign. No matter what the topic,
Mandell has said he would recommend an open meeting where residents could
debate and vent.
"Perhaps I've overemphasized the town meeting thing," Mandell said. "My point
was I wanted to see more public involvement. I wasn't suggesting ruling by
town meeting."
While he knows winning the mayoral race is a long shot, Mandell said he ran to
get what he sees as important ideas on the table.
"I know my chances for winning are not the best, because of a lack of name
recognition, lack of money, but I'm going all out," Mandell said.
Mandell's sole contribution of $25 came from his 84-year-old great aunt in
Alabama. He plans to focus on door-to-door campaigning and has enlisted his
mother to help.
"If you can go door to door in Chicago, you can go door to door just about
anywhere," Sandra Thiher said.
Win or lose, Nguyen guessed that this race won't be Mandell's last.
By LESLIE WRIGHT
PHOTO FILED UNDER MANDELL, KEITH (Terry Barner photo)
CORRECTION
The profile of mayoral candidate Keith Mandell on Saturday referred to a 22
percent poverty rate in Columbia, a figure Mandell drew from 1990 census data.
The story should have said that rate is higher than anywhere in the state
other than St. Louis.
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