JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s admission that his office was hiring outside counsel to handle certain “complex†cases has ignited criticism from his political opponents.
Madeline Sieren, spokeswoman for Bailey, told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday in an email that “we are outsourcing more complex cases to employment law attorneys†as the office worked to form a new employment law unit to handle the cases.
Three candidates looking to unseat the incumbent attorney general, who took office in January and is running for a full term in 2024, took aim at that statement.
“I think it speaks to a startling decline in capacity in that office†since Bailey took over, Will Scharf, a Republican running against the incumbent in the GOP primary, said Monday. “They just don’t have enough lawyers to staff all these cases anymore.â€
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Elad Gross, a Democrat running for attorney general, said the incumbent was failing taxpayers. Gross said if he became attorney general, he wouldn’t “mismanage the office so badly that we don’t even get the most basic services from the office we’re all paying for.â€
State Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, who is also running for attorney general, also took a swing at the Bailey piñata.
“Taxpayers pay for a state law office. But is the job you do of the quality that they need to hire contractors to do your work?†she asked.
Sieren, in response to the criticism, said Monday “the attorney general’s office is firing on all cylinders,†pointing to Bailey’s court win last week affirming the state’s new law restricting transgender medical care and a court order barring the Biden administration from “colluding with Big Tech social media companies.â€
Bailey also is taking credit for ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s resignation in May.
“He also managed to single-handedly pressure Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner into resigning,†Sieren said.
But Gross tied the outsourcing of employment law cases to a list of other perceived failures since Bailey assumed office.
Among them:
• Bailey’s office has so far not announced any plans related to human trafficking after an office official told the Post-Dispatch on July 6 the agency was “close to resetting the statewide anti-human trafficking efforts†and promised more information in “the coming weeks.†On Monday, asked for an update, Sieren said Clifton Davis, recently hired as deputy attorney for special projects, “will be heading up†anti-human trafficking efforts.
• Citing a conflict of interest, Bailey’s office withdrew from a case in which two unregulated slot machine operators had sued the Highway Patrol in an attempt to end the state police’s scrutiny of its games. Bailey’s campaign committee in March accepted $14,125 from groups tied to the operators’ lobbyist. Presented with similar conflict-of-interest concerns in 2021, former attorney general and current U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt said he was returning the money — and stayed on to represent the state.
• Bailey’s refusal to sign off on an estimate by state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick on an abortion referendum’s possible cost to the state if voters approved it. Bailey’s stance prompted a monthslong legal battle that delayed signature collection for the referendum by months.
Bailey defends office
The latter action the Democrat cited may not be a political loser: Bailey could earn plaudits from conservative Republican primary voters as the current attorney general faces off against Scharf in the August 2024 GOP primary.
Bailey, appointed after Schmitt’s election to the U.S. Senate last year, only approved the fiscal estimate after losing a case unanimously at the Missouri Supreme Court, forcing him to sign off.
“No, certainly not,†Bailey said Aug. 17 at the Missouri State Fair when asked if he knew he was overstepping his authority when he stalled the petition.
“I read that statute, and it says that I have to approve as to ‘content,’†he said. “The word ‘content’ has to mean something.â€
Questions about office operations have extended to Sunshine Law requests.
In response to a Post-Dispatch request for office organization charts, the attorney general’s office’s custodian of records said in a June 2 letter that the earliest possible date the records would be available is Dec. 5, 2023.
The letter said the office was processing 560 open requests and that it was processing them in the order received.
“Yeah, we are processing Sunshine requests,†Bailey said at the state fair.
“My predecessors have left behind a legacy of excellence,†he said of Schmitt and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, elected attorney general in 2016. “Because of the great work that they did, there’s a lot of attention on our office,†Bailey said. “And that resulted in a lot of Sunshine requests being filed.â€
Bailey also faced questions about his recent letter urging the U.S. House to hold a hearing on the federal government’s role in radioactive waste pollution in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area.
Bailey said in addition to the letter, he was standing with Hawley in pushing for legislation to compensate ºüÀêÊÓƵans exposed to radioactive waste. But he promised no lawsuit against the Department of Energy, as some advocates had suggested he do.
“All options are on the table,†Bailey said. “There needs to be a federal solution to that issue.â€
Scharf, Bailey’s Republican opponent, said “the lack of a proactive stance from that office is a serious black mark on Andrew Bailey’s tenure.â€
Departures
Departures in the office have also generated questions.
Since Bailey took over in January, the attorney general’s office has seen several high-profile resignations, including Solicitor General John Sauer, Deputy Solicitor General Michael Talent and Deputy Solicitor General Charles Capps.
“It is disappointing and worrying that so many good conservatives have left that office in just a few short months,†Scharf said in May.
But Sieren, the attorney general’s office spokeswoman, said in May all three had made the decision to leave before Bailey was sworn in.
Since then, the office has logged more high-profile departures.
Former ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Judge Bill Corrigan, who left the bench to help run Bailey’s office, lasted seven full months in the office in a paid capacity. He is joining a private law firm’s ºüÀêÊÓƵ office in September but would continue to help Bailey in a volunteer capacity, the attorney general’s office said last month.
Also departing is Maddie Green, a deputy attorney general for public policy who had worked on anti-human trafficking efforts for the office. (Crystal Atkinson, the former anti-human trafficking coordinator, was last paid in April.)
“It was a privilege to serve alongside him (Bailey) as he worked relentlessly for all six million Missourians,†Green said Monday in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to serve as an unofficial adviser to General Bailey.
Sieren on Monday pointed to several recent hires, including “four seasoned trial and appellate lawyers†who have joined the solicitor team. She said each had several clerkships and had graduated from top legal schools.
In addition to Davis, the former deputy general counsel for Gov. Mike Parson, the office also recruited Jared Hankinson, another official with the governor’s office, to serve as deputy policy director, Sieren said.
Publicly available data indicates a long-term decrease in assistant attorneys general, the lawyers who make up much of the office’s rank-and-file.
As of Nov. 1, there were 133 employees classified as assistant attorneys general, according to data provided by the Office of Administration.
That number of assistant attorneys general had fallen to 120 by May of this year, months after Bailey took office.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said that “four seasoned trial and appellate lawyers†were hired “just last week.†Sieren clarified that those staff additions were made earlier.Â