Via Flickr
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
By Paloma Sifuentes
ST. LOUIS, MO – The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office released a statement this week responding to the actions of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who has filed a quo warranto against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and is seeking removal of Gardner from office.
A trial is scheduled in September.
Bailey first filed suit to have Gardner removed from office in February, following the downtown crash that resulted in a Nashville teen losing her legs. A controversy ensued over why the driver was out of jail on bond, even though he allegedly violated the terms of his bond several times, reported Fox2 News.
The AG filed a “lengthy amended motion last month, pointing to numerous reasons why he believes Gardner is failing to do her job and should be removed from office. The circuit attorney fired back, saying Bailey’s allegations and the suit are a political stunt,” Fox2 News said.
According to Gardner’s statement “the AG has picked apart every case and every decision her staff makes, taking delight in any mistake he imagines attorneys have made.”
Gardner is a twice-elected Black female who represents a minority-majority city, and with this quo warranto the AG “does not care about public safety, because if he did, he would push for investments into St. Louis City and leave Kim Gardner alone to do the job voters elected her to do—seeking justice and prosecuting cases on behalf of the residents of the City of St. Louis.”
Gardner added, “No other office in America is the subject of such scrutiny, and any staff that experienced this, no matter their leader, would feel demoralized and broken. That is, of course, the Attorney General’s goal—to break down the office until people quit, even if it means cases cannot be prosecuted.”
“But to the Attorney General, it is worth sacrificing safety and the vote of the people to win political points with his base,” Gardner said.
