Ferguson: Where was the National Guard?
FERGUSON, Mo. — The smoke has cleared in this riot-battered city, but the answer to one burning question remains hazy: Where was the National Guard on the night of the riots?
Gov. Jay Nixon had called up 700 members of the Missouri National Guard in advance of the grand jury decision. His order and the accompanying press release made it clear the primary mission of the soldiers was to secure "command posts, fire stations, and other locations" to "free up law enforcement." In short, they were there in a support role.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay made it even clearer. "The Guard is not going to be confronting protesters and is not going to be on the front lines interacting directly with the demonstrators," Slay said in the days before the decision.
Slay had asked for 400 Guard members, and he got them. They could be seen protecting empty buildings and landmarks in the downtown area at the same time rioters faced no resistance lighting fires in a dozen buildings in Ferguson and Dellwood.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles was clearly upset when he assessed the situation the next morning. "It was my understanding they would be deployed when needed to maintain order and protect businesses. They were not," Knowles said.
The question remains: Why call up the National Guard and then keep them garrisoned outside Ferguson, the prime target of demonstrators?
The person to answer is the commander in chief of the Missouri National Guard, Gov. Nixon. Gannett investigators filed public records requests with the Guard and the governor's office. The Guard responded that all of its records are exempt from disclosure under Missouri law. The governor's deputy chief of staff responded that his officer was working on the request, "you should expect to hear back about the status of your request by no later than December 23, 2014."
Gannett reporters requested an interview with Nixon, driving to Jefferson City after giving his staff a day's notice. "The governor won't be available tomorrow, but we're also not scheduling any interviews at the current time," his spokesperson replied.
Gannett reporters did find one person at the state capital willing to talk about the deployment. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, is a political rival of the governor, a Democrat. Kinder supported using the National Guard, but not the way Nixon deployed the soldiers.
"Missourians are asking what intervening event caused the governor to withhold them," Kinder said, "and we don't have an answer to that question."
Nixon confirmed his own criticism by reversing the decision the morning after the Ferguson riots. "The violence we saw in the areas of Ferguson last night can not be repeated," he told the media. "That is why to protect lives and property, we are bringing more resources to Ferguson and other parts of the region to prevent a repetition of the lawlessness experienced overnight," the governor added.
Nixon tripled the number of soldiers to more than 2,200. They were deployed to Ferguson and Dellwood, where a stunning image developed — armed soldiers guarding the smoldering remnants of buildings no longer in need of saving.
"I have another question for the governor," Kinder said. "Where were you Monday night? Were you at the command center? Were you back in the mansion in Jefferson City? Where were you?"
When Gannett asked the National Guard for numbers to confirm the deployments, the Department of Public Safety responded with a governor's press release from two weeks earlier. Kinder said his staff was also given a press release when he wanted more information before appearing on a national TV news network.
Kinder is calling for public hearings at the state capitol. "There's no question the governor can not hide forever," Kinder said. "The legislature convenes the first week of January with subpoena power, and there will be all his department heads brought to the table, and they will be put under oath. They can appear voluntarily, or they can appear pursuant to a subpoena."