ST. LOUIS — St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said he was just as shocked as everyone else by the sudden resignation of Kim Gardner on Tuesday—even though he was the one she was planning to put in charge of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.
5 On Your Side obtained a copy of the email Gardner wrote to her staff at 12:17 p.m. Tuesday – less than an hour after she sent emails to Gov. Mike Parson telling him she was resigning from her office effective immediately.
It read, “It has been an honor and a pleasure to have worked with such dedicated and committed individuals. I thank you for taking this journey with me. I have worked (sic) with St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and his office to ensure a comprehensive transition plan to handle cases that prioritizes public safety is in place. Effective today, I will end my service as the City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney. I have done all I can to ensure a smooth transition.”
5 On Your Side obtained a handwritten order via a Sunshine request that Gardner wrote to a judge hoping to appoint Bell as the "transition manager" who would "exercise all powers granted to the circuit attorney."
Bell gave it to the Presiding Judge Elizabeth Hogan Tuesday moments before Gardner emailed her resignation to the governor stating she was resigning immediately and not June 1 as she had planned.
Hogan never signed the order, and currently, Bell is not in charge.
Instead, Parson put his General Counsel Evan Rodriguez in charge as the acting circuit attorney with assistant attorneys general alongside him to assist.
Parson kicked off the first day of a new administration—albeit a temporary one— with a staff meeting with what’s left of Gardner’s staff. From there, Parson headed to interview the three finalists vying for his appointment to serve in the position until next year’s election.
In an interview with 5 On Your Side Wednesday, Bell said the governor’s office and attorney general’s office asked him and several prosecutors in surrounding jurisdictions to help get the office back up and running.
“Our office stands ready to help in any way that we can,” he said. “We understand that the viability of the Circuit Attorney’s Office is invariably tied with the county prosecutor's office because public safety in St. Louis City is important to public safety in St. Louis County and vice-versa.”
Bell also shared how he had planned to help Gardner until June 1 came together.
He said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones asked him to offer his assistance to Gardner. He said Gardner was receptive to his offer, and he began making plans to temporarily close satellite offices his administration that were recently opened in north St. Louis County and elsewhere so officers, victims and witnesses don’t have to travel to Clayton to interact with his staff. He said two of his attorneys also aren’t assigned to a division now that a judge recently resigned, so he was going to make them available, too.
Bell has been in the news recently asking the St. Louis County Council for more resources and money, but told 5 On Your Side his office would have been able to “manage” the cost of sending help to the city prosecutor’s office for what was supposed to be about 10 days.
“I could understand if we were talking about doing something on a more permanent basis, but this was less than two weeks,” he said. “We're not here to do this forever, but what we're here to do is help in a crisis."
He said his focus was going to be on reopening the warrant office where police officers go to apply for charges against suspects.
“We wanted to help stabilize this office and so those conversations were nothing but supported by the mayor, who understands the gravity of the situation in the City and she has an obligation to make certain that office is running smoothly because that impacts the residents in the city and that impacts all of us,” he said.
St. Louis County Republicans criticized Bell for spending county tax dollars on a city problem—with one introducing a bill that would block it from happening.
“A Democratic mayor made a call for aide, a Republican governor asked for a call to aide, every jurisdiction in this region as far as Kansas City is answering this call and I don't think the St. Louis County wants to be the only people that aren't helping,” Bell said.