Lawmaker says he may block Bindbeutel nomination

A Republican state senator says he will block for now the nomination of one of Gov. Jay Nixon’s longtime aides to the Administrative Hearing Commission.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a Columbia senator who is also an attorney for Lathrop & Gage, said he was putting a ‘hold’ on Joe Bindbeutel’s nomination. Gubernatorial appointees traditionally must have the support of their hometown senator for the approval process to go forward. Both Schaefer and Bindbeutel are from Columbia.

Bindbeutel served in Nixon’s attorney general administration as the senior chief counsel for the Agriculture and Environment Division. He followed Nixon into the executive branch by taking a position as deputy director and general counsel at the Department of Natural Resources.

But Bindbeutel and DNR have been under fire for the handling of reports of high E. coli levels at the Lake of the Ozarks. He told the Kansas City Star in September that he made the decision to delay the release of a report showing higher-than-normal levels of the bacteria in the popular tourist destination.

Read more on this story in Friday’s papers.