6 I OPINION I May <strong>18</strong>, 20<strong>22</strong> MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE EDITORIAL We need to talk about Kim Gardner @MIDRIVERSNEWS MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM We generally stay away from discussing St. Louis City. O’Fallon, Wentzville and Weldon Spring are all a good way from downtown. That said, when we travel to Chicago, or Nashville, or Indianapolis, and people ask where we are from, we generally respond with “St. Louis.” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is doing as much as anybody to make that answer embarrassing. Gardner took office in January 2017. She campaigned on a progressive, reformoriented platform. That is perfectly fine, the criminal justice system could benefit from some fresh ideas. Reform, however, is not enough for Kim Gardner. She joined four other female, Black prosecutors in penning a 2020 opinion piece for Politico. In the essay, Gardner and her colleagues stated, “Unless we stop trying to reform the system and instead work to transform it, we will never achieve the kind of change needed to upend a system rooted in slavery.” Gardner has indeed transformed her office. She has overseen a 100% staff turnover. Prior to Gardner, the circuit attorney’s office included a staff of 60 attorneys with an average tenure of around eight years. Today, the office has just 30 attorneys with an average tenure of around four years. With fewer attorneys comes fewer cases. In 2019, Gardner’s office prosecuted just 1,641 of the 7,045 felony charges sought by the St. Louis Police Department. Last summer, Gardner’s office had to dismiss three murder cases in a single week due largely to unprepared prosecutors. That is not reformation or transformation; that is an abomination. These were murder cases, not parking tickets. Gardner did find the time to sue the city of St. Louis, a.k.a. her employer, in federal court. In 2020, Gardner alleged a “racist conspiracy” among “entrenched interests” that was impeding her ability to reform her office. Her suit alleged violations of the Ku Klux Klan act of <strong>18</strong>71. A federal judge quickly dismissed the case. U.S. District Judge John Ross described her suit as “a conglomeration of unrelated claims and conclusory statements supported by very few facts, which do not plead any recognizable cause of action.” Then, there is the recent reprimand that Gardner received for her office’s handling of the Eric Greitens case. She admitted to withholding documents from the defense in the case. The public reprimand feels like a slap on the wrist. Seven members of a grand jury that indicted an investigator from Gardner’s office in relation to the Greitens case clearly hoped for stronger punishment. They sent the disciplinary panel looking into Gardner a letter that described her actions as “calculated deceit and/or outright incompetence; neither of which is acceptable behavior for a person holding this public office.” Kim Gardner is the city of St. Louis’ first Black circuit attorney. She is an intelligent, ambitious woman with innovative ideas around criminal justice reform. She is also a terrible prosecutor, who has brought disgrace to the office. Does this or should this matter to residents of St. Peters, St. Charles and Lake Saint Louis? Yes, it should and yes, it does. We are all residents of the St. Louis metro area just as we are residents of the state of Missouri and the United States of America. A recent City Journal article listed Gardner as one of the five worst prosecutors in the country. Jeff Roorda, business manager from the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association, described Gardner as “the worst prosecutor in the United States.” That brings shame down on all of us. The virtue of progress must be weighed against the costs, and Gardner’s receipts are way too high. Founder Publisher Emeritus Publisher Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Features Editor Proofreader Business Manager Graphic Designer Graphic Layout Admin. Assistant Vice President - Direct Sales Vicky Czapla Advertising Account Executives Nancy Anderson Ellen Hartbeck Linda Joyce Writers Doug Huber Sharon Huber Tim Weber Kate Uptergrove Tracey Bruce Madasyn Lee Lisa Russell Jan Nothum Erica Myers Donna Deck Emily Rothermich Melissa Balcer Joe Ritter Sheila Roberts LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bethany Coad Suzanne Corbett Robin S. Jefferson DeAnne LeBlanc John Tremmel Responding to ‘You’re debt to me’ To the editor: The writer of the editorial “You’re debt to me” probably has never incurred a student loan, if the writer can only see a debt cancellation as a bribe. That is both cynical and insensitive. “Debt cancellation is an interesting phrase. Our parents called it bribery.” Yes it could be bribery if the person receiving the $10,000 was not in debt at all, but just added it as a surplus to his or her bank account. But debt cancellation means that the student already has a loan debt to the university of $10,000 or more, and the money is merely lightening a debt load that could be $100,000 or $200,000. It is merely a gesture to cover a few months of payments. The writer already admits that the cost of a college eduction is exorbitant and claims to solve the problem of student debt by lowering college budgets. That is a completely different problem than owing $100,000. Graduating students often do not find entry level jobs with a lot of discretionary funds in their salaries. They struggle to find the funds to pay their loans and may carry them for a decade or more. Meanwhile their parents are warning them to save for their retirement. The writer clearly has not experienced this kind of financial pressure. It is highly cynical to call a college debt cancellation “a bribe.” Walk a mile in the shoes of the indebted college student and experience the pressure of college loans, and you will understand the need for debt cancellation of $10,000, or even $50,000. William Tucker In favor of Star Parker To the editor: First and foremost I thoroughly enjoy Ms. Parker’s columns. Great work. And, like always, she was spot on with her comments on the mischief that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been involved with since its inception. It’s a tool that Washington players will use to no good whenever they can. The Massachusetts Mob headed by Barney Frank and now Elizabeth Warren know that controlling the banking system is the quickest way to control the money and control the donors. But bankers put themselves in this position by not working together to keep government out of their businesses. Pushing up the FDIC minimum to $250,000 from $100,000 during the crisis benefitted the banks – and did they really think that Washington wasn’t going to use that against them? While Frank was using his leverage to ratchet down lending standards it was George Bush that greased the skids with his near-sighted policies designed to get everyone into a home of their own. I agree with Ms. Parker that progressive politics are disastrous to a well functioning banking system, but it takes mixing them with fuzzy brained Republicans and gladhanded bankers to really screw things up. Joe Gallagher 754 Spirit 40 Park Drive Chesterfield, MO 63005 (636) 591-0010 midriversnewsmagazine.com Please send Comments, Letters and Press Releases to: editor@newsmagazinenetwork.com <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong> is published 24 times per year by 21 Publishing LLC. 35,000 distribution (direct mailed and newsstands) in St. Charles County. Products and services advertised are not necessarily endorsed by <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong> and views expressed in editorial copy are not necessarily those of <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong>. No part of <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong> may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong>. All letters addressed to <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong> or its editor are assumed to be intended for publication and are subject to editing for content and length. <strong>Mid</strong> <strong>Rivers</strong> <strong>Newsmagazine</strong> reserves the right to refuse any advertisement or editorial submission. © Copyright 20<strong>22</strong>. Submit your letter to: editor@newsmagazinenetwork.com
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