Missouri health director Randall Williams is gone, and he won’t be missed

We don’t know why Missouri’s Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams stepped down this week, because neither he nor the governor will say. But we dare to hope that his replacement will do a better job for Missourians than Williams did.

On Thursday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said this about the decision: “I thought it was the best thing for the cabinet, the best thing for the governor’s office that we go in different directions.”

We’ve been thinking that since former Gov. Eric Greitens appointed Williams to the job in 2017. But Parson makes it sound as though he’s just decided to take a different artistic tack for now. And of course, without saying so, he makes it clear that you bet, there was a problem.

Here’s one: Like Parson himself, Williams bungled Missouri’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with a weak response to the virus over the last year.

But then, Williams’ tenure was controversial from the beginning. Even before it began, actually, because in his previous post in North Carolina he was accused by state health and environmental officials of trying to play down the risk of coal ash contamination of drinking wells. He said he rescinded a do-not-drink order in 2016 because it was stirring up unwarranted fears.

That’s how he treated COVID-19 warnings, too, by underplaying the dangers.

Williams “unethically tracked the menstrual cycles of Missouri women without their knowledge or consent, bungled the implementation of legalized medical marijuana, led the state’s failed response to COVID-19 and routinely refused to answer basic questions from lawmakers,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat. “With his sudden and unexplained resignation, one can’t help but wonder what finally convinced the governor to show him the door.”

We’re wondering the same thing and we shouldn’t have to. The state’s top health leader mysteriously walks out on Missouri residents in the midst of a pandemic that has killed more than 9,000 here, and state officials don’t think people deserve to know why? That’s unacceptable.

Parson’s office declined to share Williams’s resignation letter. “Dr. Randall Williams’ resignation letter is a closed personnel document. Thanks,” said Kelli Jones, a state spokesman.

In a statement, Parson said “Dr. Williams has been a huge asset to Missouri, especially this past year in dealing with COVID-19.”

From the onset of the pandemic, Parson and Williams, who was the state’s main spokesman on all things COVID, have said they were leaving most public health and closure decisions up to officials at the local level.

So where was the leadership in that?

During the first few months of the vaccine distribution, rural parts of the state were getting more vaccine doses per person than cities. A lot of the vaccine went unused in those rural communities, in part because of an unclear state distribution process.

And last year, lawmakers investigated Williams’ department over hundreds of license denials for the state’s medical marijuana program, accusations of conflicts of interest, and questions about the vendor hired to score applications. Lawmakers called the process “frustrating” and “a disaster.”

So with only about a third of people in the state vaccinated and COVID-19 still spreading — Wednesday the state reported seeing an average of 323 new cases a day — Williams makes a quiet backdoor exit.

All we know is that Deputy Chief of Staff Robert Knodell, who has played a part in the state’s COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout, is named as acting director of the department “effective immediately.” And no one is saying how soon it will be before a permanent replacement is named.

Whatever the reason you asked Williams to go, governor, you owe the public an explanation.