From: John Hancock <jhancock@tsgco.

com>
Date: March 11, 2015, 6:15:11 PM CDT
To: Jonathon Prouty <jprouty@mogop.org>
Subject: FW: PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

On 11/15/14, 11:34 AM, "Danforth, John"

<jcdanforth@bryancaveret.com>
wrote:
John. Thank you for our talk yesterday and for your message. I
trust you
and am counting on you to make us proud. Jack
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 14, 2014, at 7:09 PM, John Hancock
<jhancock@tsgco.com> wrote:
Senator Danforth,
Thanks so much for your directness today and for suggesting I
speak
with Tom. We spoke shortly after my conversation with you and,
hopefully, the two of us are in a better place of understanding.
However, I continue to be deeply disturbed by the allegations that I
am
anti-Semitic. I am not.
I got involved in politics as a 13 year-old kid who wanted to save
the Scott Joplin House on Delmar in the Jeff-Vander-Lou
neighborhood.
Joplin was my hero and, by the age of 13, I could play many of his
compositions and knew every last detail of his history. Essentially,

I
injected myself in a dispute between Mayor Conway and the St.
Louis
Board of Aldermen over the preservation of Joplins
house. Working
through my local state representative (Steve Banton), I talked to
the
people at DNRs department of historic preservation and put them
in
touch with Macler Shepard, the president of Jeff-VanderLou. They
worked out an agreement for the state to take over the Joplin
property
and turn it into a museum honoring his musical contributions to
American
Culture. By the time I was 15, I got recognized in the PostDispatch
and Globe-Democrat for having saved the Scott Joplin
House. Today,
the house is part of the states Historic Sites and remains the only
such site in Missouri honoring an African-American. My quote to
the
Post-Dispatch when I was 15 years old was, If the house had been
owned
by George Gershwin or Cole Porter instead of Scott Joplin,
preserving it
would have never been an issue.
I am a flawed person just as we all are! I have many of the
personal
failures shared by many people who enter politics large ego,
insecurity, a touch of narcissism I can be called many things and
recognized for many failings, but most assuredly anti-Semite or
racist is not among them! I am not bothered if some people
consider

me arrogant, lazy, ineffective, or irresponsible. Sometimes I am all

of
these things. But it sickens me to think that ANYONE would
consider me
a bigot. I am the first generation of my family - either side - to
graduate from High School. I do not consider myself to above
anybody
else based on DNA or heritage.
I respect and admire you, Senator and I sincerely hope I have the
opportunity to show you that I am a man of my word ALL of
them!
Thanks for taking time to read this.
Best regards,
JH