Better Together, the nonprofit advocating for the consolidation of St. Louis and St. Louis County, is tackling problems as would businessmen, who might be good at making money but don't know politics, said former city and county official Mike Jones, in an interview on the Inside the Post-Dispatch podcast.

"For me, going to the business community for political guidance is like going to a goat for wool," said Jones, a columnist and member of the editorial board for the African-American paper the St. Louis American. "Every now and again you'll find somebody who knows how to do something besides vote. But that's not usual."

Better Together's proposal, Jones said, could "structurally wipe out all black representation" in the city and county.