Greitens chooses new director for Department of Corrections

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republican Gov.-elect Eric Greitens made his first Cabinet appointment Wednesday, choosing a North Carolina corrections official to lead Missouri's highly scrutinized Department of Corrections.

If confirmed by the state Senate, North Carolina community-supervision director Anne Precythe will inherit an agency Greitens described in a statement as "broken."

The current director, George Lombardi, was asked to resign after a report from the Kansas City alternative weekly paper The Pitch showed the state spent more than $7.5 million on settlements and judgments between 2012 and 2016 related to allegations of harassment and retaliation.

State House Speaker Todd Richardson also called for an investigation.

"Our corrections officers struggle in a culture of harassment and neglect, in a department with low morale and shockingly high turnover," Greitens said.

"These men and women do important work. They need our help."

He said he's honored to appoint Precythe.

"We pledged in the campaign to 'do different,' and with Anne at the helm of the Department of Corrections, that's what we're going to do," he said.

Precythe is Greitens' first announced Cabinet appointment since his election Nov. 8. Lombardi was appointed by outgoing Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and had applied to stay on when Greitens takes office Jan. 9. But he later withdrew his application, citing in an email to Greitens' general counsel the loss of "complete support from both sides of the aisle."

Nixon, who is term-limited, said in an interview Tuesday he has "basically no knowledge" of issues with the agency, which he said were at a level that did not involve him.

Lombardi declined an interview request, but a department spokesman has said employees receive mandatory training that covers sexual harassment every year, and supervisors must take training on preventing harassment every three years.