UPDATE: Nixon aide takes the fall for cover up in E. coli report flap
UPDATE: Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, said Nixon’s announcement today will not slow his committee’s investigation: “There’s a whole bunch of questions that still need to be answered,” he said. Check the Mother Ship tomorrow for a complete story.
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Jay Nixon fired a longtime aide this morning for his role in withholding a report about damaging E. coli levels at the Lake of the Ozarks.
“He has been a trusted aide to me,” Nixon said of Joe Bindbeutel, who was deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources when he decided to keep the testing results from the public in late May and early June.
Bindbeutel had been appointed to a six-figure quasi-judicial job in the administration in June, but this morning, after months of pressure over the cover-up, Nixon withdrew Bindbeutel’s appointment, ending his career with state government.
Nixon also announced that DNR director Mark Templeton, who had been suspended for two weeks without pay, would be back on the job on Monday.
At a news conference in his office, Nixon released portions of an investigation he had asked DNR’s deputy director, Bill Bryan, to conduct into why a beach at Lake of the Ozarks wasn’t closed in late May and early June despite high E. coli tests. The bacteria can be harmful if swallowed and is seen as an indicator of other, possibly dangerous bacteria.
Bryan’s investigation determined that various beaches in the state should have been closed 10 different times because of bad testing results, but they weren’t. The tests go back to April 2005. Nixon also noted that Bryan determined that there were multiple times since 2005 that wastewater was discharged into the Lake of the Ozarks in dangerous amounts and yet the public wasn’t informed.
“DNR’s internal procedures are fundamentally flawed,” Nixon said, saying that the controversial failure to close Public Beach 1 in May and June was “not an isolated event.”
Nixon said he had no plans to suspend or punish members of his staff, even though he admitted they made “communication failures” during the E. coli investigation that has brewed all summer and early fall. But he said additional personnel actions might be taken at DNR.
Public Service Rule #1: Bad news does not get better with age.
Harry Truman: “The buck stops here.”
Jay Nixon: “The buck never got here.”
Okay, so why is none of his staff being punished if he admits they knew about this and did nothing?
Of course the investigation being conducted by yet another gubernatorial appointee would waste our time looking for fault outside this administration. They’ve got to try to discredit someone, anyone other than the sitting Governor and his boys. And like a good (former AG’s staffer and) political appointee, Bindbeutel will take the bullet for his long-time boss, while the Gov., Chief of Staff Watson and others continue their shenanigans. Talk about sewage on the beaches: just look wherever senior members of this current administration walk! You’ll find it!
Next in line for punishment on Nixon staff are Jeff Mazur and Jeff Harris. Coverups smell like ecoli.
Bindbeutel did release the information…he released it to Nixon’s office…
Matt Blunt, I LOVE BUCKS!!
This sounds like a good decision. All it takes is one person in charge to miscommunicate, which sends the rest of an office into a tailspin. I think most governors would do the same thing. If they don’t fire their high level staff who publicly embarrass them, then what’s to say it won’t happen again? Sometimes those you entrust to high office just aren’t cut out for the job, have axes to grind, or develop drinking problems or depression. It doesn’t mean they are bad people, just means they aren’t the right person for the job, regardless of who they are friends with. Matt Blunt drowned in the unprofessional and embarrassing conduct of his high level staff, and it ruined his chance at being governor. There are political lessons to be learned here, and it’s good to see that the current governor isn’t going to make the same mistakes. Dog Doo - don’t ever go into politics. You sound like a complete shmuck.
Maybe the Department of Health should make the decisions on whether beaches, or other public venues should be closed or not rather than an agency that has a vested interest in keeping them open.
I know that when the Department of Corrections has influenza or other contagious diseases in one of their institutions they always coordinate with the Health Department and follow their protocols.
Looks like this guy is the poster boy for “taking one for the team”.