"Fishing Expedition, Witch Hunt or Inquisition"

OUT OF AFRICA

BRAY CRITIQUES DNR INQUIRY

LAGER CAN'T SAY WHETHER BIEDENBEUTEL MADE DECISION

St. Louis Senator Joan Bray says a Senate committee looking into the way E-Coli reports are released at the Department of Natural Resources has turned its inquiry into "a fishing expedition, a witch hunt or an inquisition."

Bray penned her letter from South Africa to committee chairman Brad Lager and released it to the news media Thursday.

"I would like to see the committee focus on helping DNR meet the goal of disclosing the data in a timely manner that will aid the public. The committee’s process has yet to do that," Bray wrote in a letter. The fact that a former deputy director of DNR, Joe Biedenbeutel, has taken responsibility for the slow disclosure from the beginning of this controversy, and the director, Mark Templeton, has expressed an eagerness to reach an accord with the Senate on making sure the disclosure process is more transparent and timely should make our originally stated goal easily and quickly attained," she added.

"I would assert that the gathering of information from the past would be as absurd as what the committee has already done in requiring DNR employees to spend hundreds – perhaps a thousand -- of people hours compiling the information already requested. And to what end? The Senate doesn’t have the time or staff – and certainly not the taxpayers’ money – to sift through hundreds of thousands of documents. And I have yet to be told exactly what is being sought," Sen. Bray said.

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LAGER RESPONSE:

"This is a public policy review," said committee Chair Brad Lager in an interview with The Notebook Thursday night. "Part of the review is whether public policy needs to be changed. For me, it's about understanding why this particular report wasn't sent, why the press release wasn't sent, while other reports were," Lager said.

"I believe we have a responsibility to understand the process and where the process broke down," he added.

When asked about Joe Biedenbeutel's interview with the Kansas City Star, and whether his revelations would help Lager reach his intended goal, he said Biedenbeutel's remarks just raised more questions: "I don't have enough factual information in front of me to say Biedenbeutel did or didn't make those decisions. There are all kinds of e-mails from lifetime staffers that say, 'this needs to be public, it can't be sat on.,'" said Lager.

"Karen Dillon's article underscores exactly the reason why we need to be very methodical in this process," he added.

Lager's committee is charged with looking into the Department of Natural Resources' delay of E-coli results before the Memorial Day weekend.

Dems Fear Ecoli Inquiry Is Becoming "Investigation"

SHOW ABOUT NOTHING?

A Senate committee looking into the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) handling of E.coli test results made little progress during their second public hearing Friday, with Democratic members questioning the scope of the inquiry and Republicans expressing frustration with the agency's cooperation.

Democratic Sen. Joan Bray dominated much of the hour long hearing, asking Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy & Environment Chair Brad Lager about the goal of the inquiry and suggesting it has become a full-blown investigation.

"I think we've really gone off the deep end in terms of making this look like an investigation," Sen. Bray said. "This has all the markings of a criminal investigation and I want to hear the justifications for that," she went on, noting that no laws have been broken.

Lager repeatedly stressed that an investigation is "not what this committee is here for."

A major sticking point is the committee's efforts to interview DNR staffers. The department has blocked interviews by the committee thus far because of a dispute over whether workers can have attorneys present.

Senator Tim Green, another Democrat, strongly suggested that Lager call a public hearing so that elected Senators could do the questioning, rather than committee staffers. But he also said the committee is heading towards a "fishing expedition," and has made little progress towards its goal of a "policy review."

"It's starting to drag on a little too long," Green said.

To which Lager replied, "I want to do it right, not do it fast."

Sen. Matt Bartle, a Jackson County Republican, suggested that DNR is making the inquiry more like an investigation, taking it to "def con 4" by "insisting lawyers be present."

Bartle urged committee members to work together and show unity towards their effort, rather than Republicans trying to investigate Gov. Jay Nixon and Democrats attempting to protect him.

"I think this needs to be bi-partisan -- let's get to the bottom of this and see if we need policy changes," Sen. Bartle said.

The committee said it was in the middle of reviewing 200,000 pages of documents obtained from DNR, including agency protocols, testing procedures, press releases and e-mails. A Senate staffer said he could not estimate how long it would take to go through the material.

The committee is expected to meet again in mid-September.