JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday said it was “problematic” when asked about the state and taxpayers footing the legal bills for three state senators accused of defamation in a federal lawsuit.
“We’ll be making a statement on that before long,” Parson told reporters gathered in his office on Thursday. “But I’m gonna tell you this: we are not gonna target innocent people in this state.
“There’ll be more to be said on that in the near future,” Parson said. “But I’m telling you it’s problematic.”
Kansas resident Denton Loudermill sued the three state senators — Sens. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg, Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, and Nick Schroer of Defiance — in federal court in Kansas in April.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican Parson appointed to the job after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate, said last week the attorney general’s office was representing the three senators, all members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus.
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The three elected officials all shared false information online in February that claimed a man detained by police at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade was the shooter at the event and an “illegal” immigrant.
Hoskins and Brattin also shared a post on X claiming the shooter was 44-year-old migrant named Sahil Omar.
But Loudermill, the man pictured, is actually from Olathe, Kansas, KMBC-TV in Kansas City reported after the posts.
Loudermill’s attorney told the station that he had been detained for being intoxicated and failing to leave a crime scene. She told the news station he was eventually released without being cited or arrested.
“This gentleman did nothing wrong whatsoever other than he went to a parade and he drank beer and he was Hispanic,” Parson said. (Loudermill is Black, previous news reports.)
Asked if he was saying the attorney general might not actually represent the three state senators, Parson said: “I don’t know what the AG’s gonna do. I’m gonna just tell you what I’m gonna do. You know, but I don’t agree.”
Parson went on to say “there’s a jurisdiction issue that I do believe needs to be addressed — you know, whether you go to Kansas or whether you don’t.”
But Parson said “politicians have to be responsible and have to be held to a higher standard, when you start attacking citizens in our state. And you know, you don’t get a free pass just because you’re a politician.”
A motion to dismiss the attorney general’s office filed last week in Brattin’s case argues the lawsuit “is barred by absolute legislative immunity.”
Brattin’s post sharing the false information was directed at President Joe Biden and said “CLOSE THE BORDER!”
“State officials asserting their constituents’ views to an executive power is possibly the oldest legislative function in our nation’s history,” said the deputy attorney general representing Brattin.