Ex-Dunklin County prosecutor appointed to Mo. department of public safety

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed former Dunklin County prosecuting attorney Steve Sokoloff of Kennett, Missouri, as the new deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

Sokoloff assumes his new responsibilities in Jefferson City, Missouri, on Sunday, and will serve under department acting director and Nixon's deputy chief of staff Peter Lyskowski. Sokoloff's duties will include overseeing the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Division of Liquor Control, the Missouri State Fire Marshal's Office, the Missouri Gaming Commission, the state's Police Officers' Standards and Training Administration, the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard. Sokoloff follows Andrea Spillars, who will stay on as a deputy director within the department.

"I appreciate the governor's confidence in appointing me to this position," Sokoloff said. "I look forward to taking the responsibilities of the position and to facing new challenges. I think it will be interesting and challenging, in today's environment."

Sokoloff's appointment will run for the duration of Nixon's administration, which ends Jan. 1, 2017.

His office will be in the Lewis and Clark State Office Building.

Sokoloff graduated from the University of Missouri Law School in Columbia and served as the county's prosecuting attorney from 1990 until August, when he was defeated in the primary election by challenger Jeff McCormick, who ran unopposed in November.

Kennett's Public Safety Department director, John Mallott, said he was glad to hear news of Sokoloff's appointment.

"I think it will be good for Southeast Missouri and for us as a community," Mallott said. "He knows a lot of key people in law enforcement across the state, and other prosecutors. Anytime you get a local guy at the state level, it's going to benefit us."

Sokoloff's wife, Kennett City Councilwoman Freddi Sokoloff, has filed for re-election as a Ward One representative, facing challenger James Wayrick. She will not be moving immediately and plans to continue her campaign, saying she would like to continue working certain projects in the near future.

Sokoloff joins the gubernatorial cabinet amidst some shake-up. He was to have served under department of public safety director Dan Isom, the former St. Louis police chief, whose nomination was confirmed last month by the Missouri Senate.

However, Isom abruptly announced Wednesday he was stepping down, to return to the University of Missouri-St. Louis teaching position from which Nixon had recruited him six months ago.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, who was Senate sponsor of Isom's nomination, said she believed there had been friction between Nixon's office and Isom over how unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, was handled in the aftermath following the shooting of Michael Brown in August.