When he was first appointed as Missouri’s 44th attorney general in January, Andrew Bailey knew he wanted to tackle crime in St. Louis. Not just for St. Louis, but to make the entirety of the state of Missouri more attractive to outsiders.
His efforts to bring change became clear with his attempt to forcibly remove St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who eventually resigned following months of criticism and an exodus of her office’s staff.
Her exit from office was one of several “wins” Bailey, a Republican, touted at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s Public Policy Speaker Series event on July 6.
“We've already notched a lot of wins on those issues,” Bailey said. “We haven't hit our ceiling yet, and we continue to push forward.”
In addition to her exit from office, he also named the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, in a case in which the state of Missouri was one of the plaintiffs, as one of his “wins” in his short time in office.
Bailey also has become well-known for his attempt to put restrictions on trans health care for children and adults through an emergency rule that he eventually withdrew and his stalling of abortion petitions by failing to certify fiscal notes, which are prepared by the state auditor.
Bailey emphasizes need to support law enforcement
Bailey was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson on Jan. 3, following the election of his predecessor Eric Schmitt to the U.S. Senate. Bailey is an Army veteran and a graduate of law school at the University of Missouri.
Prior to becoming attorney general, Bailey worked as an assistant attorney general, an assistant prosecuting attorney, general counsel for the Missouri Department of Corrections, and deputy counsel and general counsel for the Governor’s office.
Bailey and his wife have four children, three of whom are adopted after he developed a “passion” for the state’s juvenile code. Bailey praised the juvenile justice system in Greene County, saying that it's taking care of kids “the right way.”
“That's one of the other kinds of missed pieces of the crime prevention strategy is that if we can get kids who are in a bad situation and fix the problems earlier, address those problems earlier, we're less likely to see them in adult court,” Bailey said.
While helping kids in foster care is one crime prevention strategy Bailey supports, he heavily emphasized the need for better enforcement.
“I understand there's a role for rehabilitation, there's a role for crime prevention, there's a role for diversionary programs, but we can't do those things to the detriment or do those things and ignore enforcement,” he said. “We've got to go to work, hold wrongdoers accountable and that means starting with supporting our local law enforcement officials and our county prosecutors who have tough decisions to make every day and workloads that exceed sometimes the capacity of their offices and being there to support them in whatever way that's appropriate is going to be really critical going forward.”
On multiple occasions throughout his discussion July 6 with Springfield Chamber President Matt Morrow, Bailey made multiple references to crime, not just in St. Louis, but around the state, using the death of a Hermann, Missouri, police officer as an example.
Bailey added that crime’s impact on a community can only be partially gauged by the business leaving a community, but that doesn’t encapsulate the full picture, which he said includes the business that never comes.
In addition, Bailey sees federal regulatory agencies “exceeding the scope of their statutory authority” as an inhibitor to progress.
Bailey looks to fight federal overreach and ‘make bold change'
“When I see administrative agencies at the federal level, trying to outlaw gas stoves or tell you where you can and can't use the bathroom, or what you can and can't drive and making those kinds of decisions for us, clearly that there's no sanction in the United States Constitution for that kind of authority and unelected federal bureaucrats,” he said, citing some popular Republican talking points about purported proposals. “So using the power of the court system to roll that back to keep that in check, to fight back against that federal overreach is really critical.”
Bailey also touched on labor issues facing the state government, local jurisdictions and individuals coming out of prison looking to reenter the workforce.
To address these challenges in the attorney general’s office, he said they’ve hired a full-time staff member dedicated to recruitment and retention, started a law school practicum and deputized senior attorneys around the state to assistant attorneys general to help mentor junior attorneys and prepare cases for trial.
These steps are helping him build a “new generation of service-minded attorneys” to “jettison the status quo and make bold change.”
“As we look out across the structure of our government, and statutes that have been on the books, and structure that's been on the books for close to a century or more, we’ve got to start looking at how do we change the status quo,” he said.
“The old way of doing things isn't always the best way of doing things. If we look at other states that we're competing with — Tennessee, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas — we can't let these other states get ahead of us, if it means we have to take uncomfortable bold steps to change the status quo in the state of Missouri, we have to have the courage and the audacity to do that, to keep pace, advance forward.”
Bailey, who is in his first election campaign seeking voter support in 2024 for a full term for attorney general, emphasized the need for longevity “at the top” to help populate the state government with staff that shares the values of “keeping the marketplace free and uninhibited from government intrusion.”
Because labor shortages are not unique to the attorney general’s office or the state government, he also emphasized the need to support law enforcement and prosecutor’s offices, and “put the ‘corrections’ back in the Department of Corrections,” referencing the need to eliminate barriers to employment for people leaving prison.
“We need to make sure that they have some kind of skill set, that they're trained and ready to reenter the workplace,” he said. “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”
