Community Corner

Spreng Wants to Use Capitol Smarts for Mayor's Seat

Former representative Michael Spreng wants to make some changes in Florissant's administration.

Former state representative Michael Spreng had only jokingly discussed running for the Florissant mayor’s office in past years. He got serious when decided to not to run for another term this past December.

“It was one of those things that the present Mayor Lowery and I did not always see eye to eye. He would say at that time, ‘What are you going to do, run against me?’” Spreng said. “And I would jokingly say, ‘Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to run against you.’ But I really thought about running straight up against him because of our beliefs in politics, or changes in politics.” 

Spreng had no idea he would be thrown into a six-person race for the office, though, and the competition has posed challenges for his campaign.

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“What the six-candidate field does, really, it makes it hard for a person like me to get your name out there because of the money,” Spreng said. “Either you have to raise a lot of money, have a lot of money or you know your campaign is run totally different.” 

His wife, Rep. Churie Spreng, a Democrat representing District 76, said that the road to the mayor’s seat has a different tone than running for statewide office.

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“He’s trying to get by with little to no donations,” Churie Spreng said. “In a representative campaign, you need those donations.”

Michael Spreng acknowledges that he doesn’t have the funding and name recognition some of his opponents have, but he’s focused his campaign on meeting voters in person, going door-to-door,  and speaking at events.

Running for change

Spreng told Florissant Patch he’s focused on making changes to the community that he’s called home for 23 years. 

“You want the city to move on into the next generation,” he said. “You want to see it prosperous. You want to see it where people can live and be safe, and you want to see it where they come back and grow their families and raise their families here.” 

He added that he would like to see more people move from renting to home ownership and believes the mayor can play a role.

“You see too many renters now, and they’re not accountable. The only way you can do it is to run for an office. The mayor is the one I could do it with,” Spreng said.

Headed for the State Capitol

Spreng began thinking about a political career  at the age of 12, when he was a poll collector.

“When you’re from North St. Louis at that time, you were pretty much somewhat Irish, Catholic and involved in politics,” he said. “I guess it was kind of inbred in you, which wasn’t bad.”

After graduating from high school in the late 1960s, Spreng went into the pipe fitting trade, which he retired from in 2009.

His first foray into public service came in the Florissant Planning and Zoning Commission, where he served as a commissioner from 1995 to 2002. 

While serving on the commission, Spreng realized that he wanted to work in a higher position and decided to run for statewide office.

Once Missouri voters decided to limit legislators’ terms in 1992 and amended the law in 2002, Spreng saw an opportunity to seize a seat in the House.

“I looked into running for state rep six years before I ran,” Spreng said.  “And term limits really made that more feasible.” 

In 2002, Spreng was elected as the District 76 state representative.

Former Florissant City Councilwoman Nancy Lubiewski has known Spreng for 15 years and was familiar with his work as a representative. 

“He was good in a number of committees in state Capitol,” Lubiewski said of her friend. “He’s one of many unsung heroes, and he fought hard day-to-day.” 

Knowing that he would be term-limited as a legislator, Spreng sought to mentor and prepare someone for his position. His replacement turned out to be his wife. Churie Spreng won in 2010.

“At that time, she was the only one that showed any interest in the seat itself,” the mayoral candidate said. “She came into the office with the ability to know certain things that a lot of people don’t.”

Churie Spreng said she learned parliamentary procedures, bill processes and how to field questions in the house from her husband.

Returning to his roots

Lubiewski wasn’t surprised  that, after wrapping up his work at the State Capitol, Spreng returned to Florissant with an eye on the mayoral seat.

Because he knew term limits would force him out of office, he always intended to serve the people of Florissant, she said. "It was a natural step to run for mayor."

Spreng said he wants to change the administration and the perception of it for the residents of Florissant.

“What I’d like to bring would be the transparency and availability of city government to the people,” he said. “If they’d like, come up and visit and talk. I don’t want them to be reluctant to let me know a problem. I want to have an open-door policy where it’s their city, utilize it.

“If there’s something they see they need, I want to know about it,” Spreng said. “I want to try and rectify it if at all possible.”

He also has several plans and priorities for the city, which include having Florissant become one of the safest cities in the state, street maintenance, keeping senior citizens in their homes and active as well as ensuring that property values stay up to aid the school district.

Lubiewski said that Spreng is qualified for the position and will be an asset to the city’s administration.

“You need someone who can go to the State Capitol and know their way around up there,” she said. “He’ll have the best interest of the City of Florissant as mayor.”

Despite a hard fight all the way to April 5, Spreng remains optimistic and hopeful about his chances to become the third mayor in 50 years.

“I thought I could be an asset to the city,” Spreng said. “I thought I could be a really good mayor. I still feel that way, and now we just have to see.“


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