Missouri’s next director of the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) shouldn’t criticize state law and refrain from promoting any public health mandates, according to one Republican senator that opposed the current director’s confirmation.
The Senate on Tuesday didn’t confirm the nomination of Don Kauerauf, who was named director of DHSS in July by Republican Gov. Mike Parson. On Monday, Gov. Parson criticized Senate leaders in a media release supporting Kauerauf’s nomination and “refuting the misinformation surrounding” his confirmation hearing.
On Tuesday, Parson announced he accepted Kauerauf’s resignation and appointed Richard Moore, general counsel for DHSS, as the organization’s interim director. Gov. Parson once again criticized Senate leaders.
“It’s unfortunate that we now have to disrupt state operations and the leadership at an entire department because the Missouri Senate chose to indulge a few mens’ egos,” Gov. Parson said in a statement.
With a $2.9 billion budget in the governor’s 2023 fiscal year proposal, DHSS continues to provide COVID-19 vaccinations and testing throughout the state.
“The services of the DHSS will not go interrupted during this transition,” Kelli Jones, communications director for Gov. Parson, wrote in an email on Wednesday to The Center Square.
On Wednesday, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, told The Center Square that past affiliations of the next director nominee must be thoroughly reviewed.
“One thing we want to make sure is, given how public health authorities have taken it upon themselves to assume power they’ve never had before during the last year, we’re going to be on the lookout for anyone who comes from a background that might be suspect,” Onder said. “Certainly, serving in the Illinois Department of Health under (Gov.) J.B. Pritzker’s COVID reign of terror made Mr. Kauerauf suspect from the beginning.”
Onder didn’t hold Parson accountable for Kauerauf’s remarks and actions.
“The governor did his best appointing him, and he thought he was a good guy,” Sen. Onder said. “I think Mr. Kauerauf pulled the wool over the governor’s eyes. A lot of things that caused me and my fellow Senators in the conservative caucus to pause happened after the appointment.
“You know, a lot of times we make decisions and we stick with them to the bitter end. I think that’s what Gov. Parson did and I don’t fault him for his disappointment.”
Kauerauf was the assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health from 2016 to 2018. Kauerauf served in various leadership positions in public health and emergency management during the last 30 years.
During a videoconference with reporters in September 2021, Kauerauf said his focus would be on health, not politics.
“Public health is not political,” Kaueraf said. “It has never been and it never should be. Going back over my 30 years in the sector, public health has always been about the science. It’s looking at the greater good and helping people. That’s what public health is.
“This has been quite an eye opener during the last 18 or 19 months. They’re taking a process that is about people – caring about people – and they politicize it. And that’s a shock to me because that’s not what we’re about. That’s not what I bring to the table. It’s about following the science. It’s following the rules and making sure we do our best to protect the citizens of Missouri.”
The Senate’s failure to confirm Kauerauf led to criticism from many Democrats.
“Missouri is in the middle of a health crisis and now the state is without a health director because a small but loud group of extremist Republicans are against fighting a disease that has killed 17,000 of our fellow Missourians,” Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo said in a statement on Tuesday. “Misinformation and lies have defeated professionalism and integrity.”
Sen. Onder said Kauerauf’s remarks on House Bill 271 troubled fellow Republicans. The law, passed last year, limits public health orders to close or restrict businesses, churches and schools. When a Cole County Circuit Judge in November nullified much of Missouri’s public health regulations after a lawsuit, Kauerauf reportedly wanted the ruling appealed. Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt reportedly declined to appeal and is using the ruling to sue 45 public school districts with mask mandates.
“(Kauerauf) urged the AG to appeal what I thought was a big victory over some of the public health tyrants,” Sen. Onder said. “On Monday, he sealed his fate during his condescending, evasive and possibly untruthful testimony before the Senate gubernatorial appointments committee.”
Sen. Onder also said Kauerauf’s answers regarding Missouri’s abortion law led him and others to question whether the leader of the department regulating the state’s abortion clinics would follow regulations.
Sen. Onder, a medical doctor certified in allergy, immunology and internal medicine and a law school graduate, is in the last year of Senate service due to term limits. He admitted he possesses the credentials to serve as the DHSS director, but would decline if asked by Gov. Parson to leave the Senate.
“I’d be flattered,” Sen. Onder said. “I’m a citizen legislator, which was the ideal our founding fathers believed in. I think anyone who knows me will tell you that my political service hasn’t been aimed at getting a political appointment when leaving the Senate.”
