When a reporter asked Harder after the meeting why the council released the subpoena, he said, “Because I think you guys need to know, as well as the residents of St. Louis County, what this is all about. This is serious information, these are serious allegations. We’ve always been a very transparent council, and we want to make sure that everybody knows what their government, what they’re paying for, is involved in.”

The subpoena asks for specific records on a single deal that has been the focus of a Post-Dispatch investigation. It seeks all communications between Stenger — or any current or former county official or employee — and any member of Wellston Holdings LLC, including John Rallo, Doug LeClair and Corey Christanell.

The group, which donated around $40,000 to Stenger’s political campaign, bought two Wellston industrial parks from the St. Louis County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority for a little more than $525,000.