Yesterday Kim Gardner unexpectedly resigned effective immediately. My guess is that she really didn’t want records of her activities related to her pursuit of an advanced nursing degree to come to light. The Attorney General (AG) had subpoenaed records from St. Louis University’s nursing program to use in his quo warranto suit to remove her from office. She had also just been caught by an AG investigator doing nursing clinicals while a show-cause hearing was underway to determine whether to proceed on indirect contempt of court charges for her failure to appear at a scheduled trial date. When she resigned, the quo warranto suit became moot and will be dismissed (you can’t remove someone from office who is no longer there), and the subpoenas will be voided.
Gardner was being paid by the City to do the work of the Circuit Attorney. And if it turns out that the City was paying her for the time she was attending classes or doing practicums she might face criminal liability. It’s very similar to all those police she charged for double-dipping (getting paid for secondary work while still on the clock with the City). It might be interesting if the new Circuit Attorney decides to take a look at that anyway.
The Post-Dispatch ran a story asking “Where did it all go wrong?” It all went wrong from the moment Kim Gardner was elected. As I told Chris Hinkley, the CAO warrant officer and one of her executive staff yesterday in the hallway outside Division 22, she is one of the worst things to ever happen to the City. She destroyed the best prosecuting attorney’s office in the state. She is a toxic manager, dishonest and unethical, a dreadful lawyer, and she had no idea how to run a prosecutor’s office. Kim Gardner could only recite reform prosecution talking points and claim all criticism of her actions and policy were the product of some vague racist and misogynistic conspiracy (remember her crazy federal lawsuit?). Everyone who supported her should hang their head in shame.
One of her last acts was apparently to work out some scheme for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to take over running the CAO until the governor could appoint a replacement. Bell, for his part, seemed complicit — “Bell spokesman Chris King revealed that Bell was given security access to Gardner’s office, two county attorneys were training in the city warrant office, and Bell’s office expected to begin charging cases in the city on Tuesday.” The only problem is that neither Gardner or Bell have any legal authority to do this! This is what happens when two great legal minds like Bell and Gardner get together.
Fortunately, the governor and AG are on the ball. The AG said in a statement Tuesday evening he would send ex-Judge William Corrigan, the attorney who led the lawsuit seeking Gardner’s removal, and several others to St. Louis to receive charging referrals from police and “start the process of clearing the backlog of cases.”