Parson blames journalism for his own sorry failures. He should apologize.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson opened a morning press appearance Thursday with this: “Good afternoon, and thanks everybody for coming in this morning.”

The rest of Parson’s statement was equally incoherent.

In a rambling diatribe, the Republican governor accused the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a crime. The newspaper had published a story exposing a privacy vulnerability in a public database maintained by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The story said anyone with a basic understanding of computer technology could uncover the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of the state’s teachers.

You’d think the governor would be concerned about that kind of digital flaw. You’d think he would thank the newspaper for its reporting, and its decision to notify the state of the computer problem before it published its story, so the vulnerability could be addressed.

No. Parson decided instead to criminalize journalism by referring the case to prosecutors for allegedly stealing online information.

“This matter is a serious matter,” Parson said. “The state is committing to bringing to justice anyone who hacked our system, and anyone who aided or encouraged them to do so.”

The Kremlin is blushing.

More level-headed politicians pounced, and quickly. “It’s clear the Governor’s office has a fundamental misunderstanding of both web technology and industry standard procedures for reporting security vulnerabilities,” tweeted state Rep. Tony Lovasco, a Republican.

“Journalists responsibly sounding an alarm on data privacy is not criminal hacking,” he said.

“It’s a weak man who blames others for their own failures,” the House Democratic Caucus said. “Abusing the legal system to attack a reporter who was trying to do the right thing is utterly shameful and frighteningly totalitarian.”

In his remarks, Parson said fixing the potential breach might cost taxpayers $50 million. It isn’t clear where the governor got that number — perhaps, like much of what he says, he made it up.

But if it costs $50 million to protect the identities of thousands of Missouri teachers, it is money that must be spent. And it’s a devastating indictment of Parson’s administration that an expensive problem in its DESE database went unnoticed and uncorrected for months.

What might have happened had the Post-Dispatch not discovered the vulnerability? Someone with different motives might have stolen thousands of Social Security numbers before the state discovered the mistake.

It’s possible the newspaper saved the state millions of dollars by reporting on the problem before someone else discovered it.

Pursuing a criminal case against reporters and editors is absurd. While we expect prosecutors to decline the case, even the threat of legal action deprives the Post-Dispatch of important revenue for other work, and chills the efforts of every journalist in the state.

Parson should withdraw his remarks and apologize. Then he should fix the state’s computers.

Is he up to the job? He botched the state’s COVID-19 response. He’s allowed unregulated, abusive teen homes to operate in Missouri with impunity. He’s kept innocent people in jail.

He’s turned the state university system into a patronage plum. He’s ignored ongoing violence in Missouri’s urban areas. He’s signed blatantly unconstitutional legislation.

Now this. Does Mike Parson know the difference between day and night? Thursday, the answer was no.

This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.