In pivotal move, key Missouri senator refuses Gov. Kehoe’s KC police board pick
A Missouri senator on Thursday informed Gov. Mike Kehoe’s office that she will not sponsor his nomination for a position on the powerful Kansas City police board, a remarkable decision that could kill the governor’s appointment.
Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat tasked with sponsoring the appointment, wrote in a letter to Kehoe’s office that he should withdraw the nomination.
The controversy stems from Kehoe’s July appointment of Heather Hall, a former Kansas City Council member, to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners.
“I take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent to the gubernatorial appointments very seriously,” the letter, obtained by The Star, said. “It is not without thorough research and many conversations with community members that I request the withdrawal of her appointment.”
The extraordinary move comes ahead of the looming Feb. 6 deadline for the Missouri Senate to confirm Hall’s appointment. Without Nurrenbern’s backing, Kehoe could be forced to pull the nomination. If he doesn’t — and the deadline expires without the Senate’s confirmation — Hall would be banned from serving on the police board under state law.
Kansas City police board
Hall, who has served in an acting capacity pending the Senate’s confirmation, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on Thursday. Over the past several days, Hall has pleaded with her social media followers to ask Nurrenbern support her nomination.
“Time is of the essence,” Hall said in a video posted on social media. “Reach out today to Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern…and ask her to please consider signing the paper to allow Heather Hall to continue to be a police commissioner for this great city of Kansas City.”
A spokesperson for Kehoe defended his decision to appoint Hall on Thursday, saying in a statement to The Star that “she is a strong, qualified leader who has served the Kansas City community with integrity.”
“Since her appointment to the Board,” said Kehoe spokesperson Gabby Picard, “Heather has received widespread support, including from members of the law enforcement community, and it is unfortunate that Senator Nurrenbern insists on blocking this appointment.”
The letter comes as Hall’s appointment, which Kehoe announced in July, has roiled police accountability advocates who question her objectivity and willingness to hold officers accountable for misconduct. Much of that criticism stems from her marriage to a former Kansas City police sergeant.
“Due to Mrs. Hall’s personal connections to the police department and her voting record while serving on the Kansas City Council, she is not the most qualified to fulfill the duties forementioned,” Nurrenbern wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Keri Stuart, who serves as Kehoe’s head of Boards and Commissions.
Nurrenbern, in the letter, pointed directly at Kansas City’s unusual lack of control over police operations. The police department is controlled by a five-member board, with four members appointed by the governor. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas occupies the fifth spot.
“Kansas City is one of the only major cities in America with a state-run police department,” Nurrenbern wrote. “Therefore, candidates for this important governing body should be well-respected leaders of the community with an unimpeachable reputation.”
Nurrenbern’s letter to Kehoe’s office came a week after a coalition of Black community leaders urged Nurrenbern to oppose Hall’s nomination. The leaders, from the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, Urban Summit of Kansas City, Missouri chapter of the NAACP and SCLC-GKC, said Hall’s track record raised serious concerns about her leadership.
In a letter to the state senator, obtained by The Star, the groups excoriated Hall’s nomination on four counts. They criticized her “unwavering loyalty” to KCPD, her opposition to local control of KCPD, her alleged collaboration with the police board “in opposition to” Kansas City and the lack of representation on the board of members who live east of Troost Avenue, the city’s historic racial dividing line.
“Kansas City does not need commissioners who will serve as defenders of the status quo,” the letter said. “It needs leaders who understand that public safety and civil rights are not competing values, and who recognize that legitimacy in policing is built through accountability, transparency, and community trust.”
Missouri politics, Kansas City policing
Nurrenbern’s refusal also comes amid a separate fight in the Missouri Senate.
Senate Democrats, who hold only 10 seats in the 34-member chamber, have spent the first weeks of the legislative session holding up Kehoe’s appointments. Their goal, leaders say, is to restore the Senate’s role as a deliberative body that takes its time to carefully review decisions.
The stall tactics, however, also serve as a form of retaliation after Senate Republicans invoked a rarely-used maneuver four times last year to shut down debate on a host of hot-button issues. Those votes centered on a new abortion ban, a gerrymandered congressional map, an overhaul of the state’s form of direct democracy and a repeal of a voter-approved paid sick leave law.
For Hall, the clock is ticking.
If the governor makes an appointment outside of the legislative session, the Senate must confirm the appointment without 30 days of the session’s start, according to Missouri law. That deadline will expire on Friday, Feb. 6.
Nurrenbern’s refusal makes Hall’s path forward complicated. As the state senator representing Hall’s district, Nurrenbern is in charge of signing off on her appointment before any confirmation vote, according to Senate tradition and recent comments from the top Republican in the Senate.
“The person has to be sponsored by the senator from their district, so there’s some responsibility for each of the senators who’s signing a sponsor letter to kind of know the person and check into them,” Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, said on the Senate floor earlier this month.
O’Laughlin, who chairs the committee overseeing Kehoe’s appointments, told The Star that it was up to Nurrenbern, Hall and Kehoe’s office to settle their differences. She accused Nurrenbern of “partisan politics,” because Hall is a Republican.
“I have not yet seen a good reason for Heather not to be sponsored,” O’Laughlin said.
As Hall urges her followers to contact Nurrenbern, the Missouri Constitution makes clear what would happen if the Senate does not confirm her appointment.
“If the senate fails to give its advice and consent to any appointee, that person shall not be reappointed by the governor to the same office or position,” the state’s governing document says.
