Kim Gardner, the controversial George Soros-backed St. Louis Circuit Attorney, acted unethically and faced disciplinary actions. That info was revealed in a case list (pdf) posted on a Missouri State website.
Gardner will now face a state panel that will review the allegations with the state’s highest court deciding on punishment she would receive.
It is unclear which allegations the disciplinary proceedings will address, but a statement by Gardner’s office provided to KMOV referenced the allegations against her lodged by former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
“As the Circuit Attorney has repeatedly proven time after time, she has acted in full accordance with the law during the investigation into former Governor Greitens,” the statement says. “Despite several investigations attempting to uncover illegal wrongdoing by her office in this case, none has ever been found. We are confident that a full review of the facts will show that the Circuit Attorney has not violated the ethical standards of the State of Missouri.”
READ: Kim Gardner removed from McCloskey case
Greitens’ team had accused Gardner of failing to correct the record during a deposition from private investigator William Tisaby, whom Gardner had hired to investigate Greitens. Tisaby had conducted interviews with the woman who accused Greitens of misconduct. Tisaby had since been charged with six counts of perjury and one count of tampering with evidence as part of his work on the Greitens case. Gardner was with Tisaby when some of the violations occurred and had an ethical duty to flag his alleged lies, Greitens’ team claims.
Greitens resigned from the governorship amid Gardner’s probe, but all of the charges against him were subsequently dropped.
In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court’s Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel received 1,733 complaints (pdf) of attorney misconduct and opened 763 investigations. The office’s work that year resulted in the disbarment of 22 attorneys and the suspension of 30 others.
Gardner, who was first elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020, was funded by liberal billionaire and activist George Soros. Soros has been at the center of several Missouri election issues including Clean Missouri in 2018, which took power over redistricting away from the legislature and placed it in the hands of one person picked by the Democrat State Auditor.
According to the Washington Examiner, Gardner was part of Soros’s “broader strategy of placing Democrats who vow to reverse “tough on crime” policies in top law enforcement positions.”
She has dramatically overhauled the government’s response to crime in the St. Louis area the newspaper reports. “Her office has seen thousands of fewer prosecutions for various offenses than her predecessor which has resulted in a 50-year high murder rate.
–Metro Voice and wire services
