How cynical, craven and politically abusive is Andrew Bailey with his authority as Missouriâs attorney general?
Let us count the ways. Literally.
The Post-Dispatch Editorial Board today introduces The Bailey Tally: a running count of the many instances in which the stateâs official lawyer has abused the legal process, has refused to do his job and/or has engaged in blatant conflicts of interest, all in service to an extremist right-wing agenda.
Weâve tried to keep up via individual editorials. Truly, we have. But with the count of Baileyâs more newsworthy outrages now approaching a dozen during his mere 14 months in office, we decided it was time to take a more comprehensive approach.
Space prohibits recounting each of Baileyâs numerous ideological stunts in one editorial. So we will outline some of them here, then list all of them in an running tally on the opinion section of the Post-Dispatchâs website.
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In the latest entry, Bailey last month filed a remarkable suit alleging Planned Parenthood has engaged in human âtraffickingâ of a child to obtain an out-of-state abortion. The suit is based on a staged video from the widely discredited right-wing activist group Project Veritas.
The âvictimâ is (read this part carefully) a non-existent girl.
If that sounds like the kind of case that wonât last a minute before an actual judge ⦠it is. The very premise is so outlandish that itâs clear Bailey â who does, after all, have a law degree â knows full well it will ultimately fail in court.
The point isnât to win on behalf of the taxpayers funding the suit, but to harass Planned Parenthood, while demonstrating Baileyâs political extremism to Republican primary voters as he attempts this year to get elected to the office he was appointed to in late 2022.
This strategy â a textbook example of the legal offense of âabuse of processâ â is a recurring theme with Bailey.
Last year, for example, in a brazen attempt to stall efforts to put an abortion rights referendum on the statewide ballot, Bailey refused to sign off on the state auditorâs modest official cost estimate of the measure. He claimed instead, ludicrously, that it would cost the state billions of dollars in lost tax revenue from unborn Missourians.
As the state Supreme Court would ultimately, unanimously find in a scathing ruling, Bailey never had legal authority to even weigh on the question. But by forcing it into the court system anyway, he managed to stall the referendum process by months, possibly endangering its success. Mission accomplished.
Bailey last year employed a similar strategy to help derail a now-defunct effort to put a gun-safety referendum on the statewide ballot: He sued based on the upside-down argument that fewer guns on the streets would cost Missouri hundreds of millions of dollars in âincreased crime costs.â
There is no reliable data backing that argument. But states with loose laws like Missouriâs generally do have significantly higher gun death rates than states like Illinois, that have stronger gun laws.
Thankfully, not all of Baileyâs strongarm tactics are so successful. Last year, he created an emergency rule to effectively ban transgender hormone therapy not just for kids but also for adults. He withdrew it only after even his fellow Republicans deemed it too extreme.
In addition to lawsuits and emergency rules, Baileyâs arsenal of abuse includes cease-and-desist letters â written threats that can cow jittery targets like school districts to back down even from shaky legal allegations.
The Webster Groves school district alone has fielded at least two such official threats from Bailey so far this year, for teaching sex-education curriculum in which some parents might not have gotten the required opt-out form, and for announcing a goal of hiring a more racially diverse teaching staff to reflect the diversity of its students.
If it seems like the stateâs top legal official should be focused on more urgent matters, Bailey has, in fairness, taken action on criminal cases like the manslaughter conviction of a white Kansas City cop in the shooting death of a Black man in his own driveway.
But in an unusual twist, Bailey â who as attorney general would normally be tasked with defending the copâs conviction â instead filed a motion seeking to overturn it, second-guessing (and infuriating) the local prosecutors who actually handled the case.
Admittedly, not every move Bailey makes is in obvious service to right-wing pandering. Sometimes his official actions look more like traditional pay-to-play politics.
As when he farmed out his officeâs responsibility in a suit involving Missouriâs unregulated, arguably illegal video gaming industry after his campaign had accepted more than $25,000 in donations from that industry or its lobbyists.
Thereâs more â lots of it â but you get the idea.
Bailey has repeatedly, consistently used and abused his office to promote his culture-war agenda while failing to carry out responsibilities that are clearly his. Heâs hoping Republican Missouri voters will reward him in August with nomination to a full term.
Before they do, they should keep an eye on our Bailey Tally. It will be posted at STLToday.com/opinion this Sunday, and will be updated and re-posted as needed to accompany future editorials about Missouriâs chief lawyer. Unfortunately, we are confident he will continue to regularly provide fodder for new entries.
