The Kansas City Star’s endorsement in the Nov. 5 race for Missouri attorney general | Opinion
Here is the Missouri attorney general candidate we endorse for the general election. For more information about the Nov. 5 election, check out our Voter Guide, a collaboration between The Kansas City Star and the KC Media Collective. See all our published endorsements on our Elections Recommendations page.
On Nov. 5 Missourians will choose their attorney general for the next four years. It’s perhaps the most important race on the ballot: The incumbent, Republican Andrew Bailey, is a disaster in every possible way.
We strongly endorse Democrat Elad Gross for the job.
Gross is well-qualified for the position. Now in private practice, he once served as an assistant attorney general. He is familiar to many Missourians for his tireless work enforcing the Sunshine Law, which is supposed to guarantee citizen access to their government.
He is a skilled and superbly educated lawyer. He knows the law, and he knows whom he would work for.
“You need someone who is going to hold the government accountable,” he told us. “In my view, it should be the person who’s representing the people of the state of Missouri.”
But impeccable qualifications and legal skills aren’t the only reason to support Gross. His agenda includes establishment of a Civil Rights Division in the office, which would help protect the state from discriminatory practices. He is a strong supporter of conservation and would help defend the state’s environment.
He is committed to consumer protection, once considered a major responsibility of the attorney general. He wants a political corruption unit in the office. He would be a partner in reducing violent crime in Kansas City and St. Louis.
And consider this: If Amendment 3 passes, and reproductive rights are constitutionally protected in Missouri, which candidate would better defend those rights? The answer is crystal clear: Elad Gross.
In this, and more, Gross promises to put the attorney general’s office on the side of the people. But let’s be honest: Gross could twiddle his thumbs for the next four years and still be a better attorney general than Bailey, who shames his office and his state by the hour.
Let’s start with the obvious: Andrew Bailey gleefully keeps innocent people in prison. Sandra Hemme was incarcerated for more than four decades; her conviction was overturned with “clear and convincing” evidence that she is innocent.
A court ordered her release. Bailey’s office called jailers to block her freedom — and is still trying to put her back behind bars.
Lamar Johnson’s murder conviction was overturned and he was eventually freed from prison, despite Bailey’s efforts to keep him there. Christopher Dunn? Same.
On the other hand, Bailey is also happy to defend the guilty: He’s tried to overturn the conviction of one-time Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere, who shot and killed Cameron Lamb, a Black man. Bailey’s intervention was unprecedented — and revolting.
Bailey’s outrageous prosecution of the innocent and defense of the guilty should be enough to toss him from the practice of law anywhere, let alone the attorney general’s office. But there’s more: he has filed dozens of frivolous, politically-biased nonsense lawsuits against the Biden administration and other states.
This would be concerning if he actually prevailed in court. With just a few exceptions, he has not: On top of everything else, Bailey is the worst lawyer in the state. “He is so bad at this,” Gross told us, accurately.
Bailey is a 2020 election denier. He’s offered to defend state legislators accused of defamation after the Chiefs parade shooting. He has utterly refused to protect the Sunshine Law and routinely delays requests for documents.
We take no real pleasure in pointing out Andrew Bailey is the least-qualified, least competent major politician in modern Missouri history, and perhaps the nation’s. But he is. He has to go.
We met with Ryan Munro, the Libertarian candidate for this office. Munro is interesting and intelligent. But he’s been mislabeled: “I tell people all the time I’m not a Libertarian,” he told us. “I’m also not a Republican or a Democrat … more choices represent more people.”
We like more choices, too. But the task of sending Bailey into well-deserved oblivion is so urgent we can’t recommend a vote for Munro.
We endorse Elad Gross.
This story was originally published October 22, 2024 at 5:04 AM with the headline "The Kansas City Star’s endorsement in the Nov. 5 race for Missouri attorney general | Opinion."