The showdown over who gets to pick St. Louis County’s next prosecutor is about more than just competing legal arguments. It’s also yet another demonstration that the once-sacrosanct Republican principle of respecting local control no longer exists — at least not in situations where it would benefit Democrats.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s congressional electoral victory on Nov. 5 means he will be headed for Washington, D.C., in January, opening a mid-term vacancy for the job of top county cop. The county’s charter says County Executive Sam Page, a Democrat, must appoint a replacement. But Republican Gov. Mike Parson claims the Missouri Constitution gives him superseding authority to make the appointment.
There appear to be rational legal arguments on both sides, but one very clear precedent: When St. Charles County was in an identical situation last year, and its Republican county executive moved to appoint a prosecutor to fill a vacancy, Parson stayed out of it. It’s a reasonable precedent that he should adhere to now.
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Section 4 of the Missouri Constitution says: “The governor shall fill all vacancies in public offices unless otherwise provided by law …” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, argues that passage lets Parson step in and appoint Bell’s replacement.
Page’s office counters that there is an “otherwise provided by law” exception here: the county charter, which specifies that the county executive must fill vacant county posts.
Bailey and Parson have tried to muddy the issue by noting that when former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner was forced to resign, Parson appointed her replacement, Gabe Gore. That’s an irrelevant red herring, because the city doesn’t have the same charter language as the county, and city leaders supported Parson’s involvement.
A better comparison is St. Charles County, whose charter contains the same language regarding appointments as St. Louis County’s. When St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar resigned last year, Republican County Executive Steve Ehlmann appointed his replacement, Joseph McCulloch.
“We didn’t contact the governor’s office,” Ehlmann told the Post-Dispatch’s Joe Holleman, “and we never heard from them either.” Go figure.
Bailey and Parson may claim that it’s their prerogative to decide whether to bigfoot into a local appointment decision, but the very constitutional passage they cite doesn’t indicate that: “The governor shall (emphasis added) fill all vacancies in public offices unless otherwise provided by law,” it says.
That would seem to mean that either the governor must intervene in all cases, or must stay completely out of the ones covered by other laws — one or the other.
If there’s a constitutional provision that says Parson gets to decide which part of that passage to ignore based on partisan politics, let him cite it. Otherwise, he should get his meddling nose out of this local decision.
