Nixon: Mo. failed to close beach despite bacteria

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Jay Nixon suspended Missouri's environmental chief Wednesday while disclosing that the state had allowed swimmers to use a bacteria-infested beach earlier this year at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Nixon said he learned only recently that the beach had not been closed by the Department of Natural Resources after water samples taken May 18 and May 27 showed high levels of E. coli. He said there had been "abysmal failures" in the water quality program.

"This is quite simply unconscionable," Nixon said during a conference call with the media. "It is nothing short of an outrage, and my reaction is sheer disappointment and disgust."

E. coli can cause influenza-like illnesses and even death in people infected through open cuts or when it is swallowed. The state health department said Wednesday that it is unaware of anyone sickened after swimming in the lake.

The Democratic governor said the department had previously provided him with false information indicating that a beach at the popular tourist lake was closed before the Memorial Day weekend that began Friday, May 22. He said he "unwittingly" passed that along to the media.

On Monday, Nixon told reporters that beach closings at the lake had been well publicized before Memorial Day. But DNR spokeswoman Sue Holst said Monday that the Parks Division didn't close any state-operated beach until June 5.

Nixon's administration has been under fire since July, when media reports revealed the Department of Natural Resources had waited until late June to release the results of a different set of tests taken May 26 showing high E. coli levels at numerous other locations in the lake.

DNR director Mark Templeton, who was placed on unpaid administrative leave for two weeks, said his suspension was appropriate and concurred that the failure to close the beach was "unconscionable." He listened to Nixon's sharply worded statement over a speaker phone, occasionally nodding and staring at a blank grid-lined notebook while fiddling with a pen.

Templeton said he had supplied Nixon with information compiled by his staff that wrongly indicated a beach was closed after the May 18 and May 27 tests.

"At this moment, I have no reason to believe this information was presented to me with bad intentions or misleading intentions," Templeton said.

Nixon appointed the DNR's deputy director Bill Bryan as the agency's temporary leader and gave him authority to discipline employees. The inspector general for the Department of Corrections is to assist in an internal investigation.

The Senate environment committee already is looking into the department's delayed release of the other water quality tests. Committee chairman Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, said the probe has been hindered by Nixon's administration, adding he is "grateful that the governor has finally decided to join the committee's efforts in getting to the truth."

The governor's office initially said it did not learn of the May 26 test results until June 23, when it said it immediately directed the results to be released. But that timeline has been questioned. Former DNR communications director Susanne Medley told Senate investigators last week that she told Nixon aide Jeff Mazur about high bacteria levels on May 29.

Mazur confirmed that to reporters Wednesday, but said he did not share the information with others in the governor's office then because the department was still looking into the matter. Mazur said he should have initially asked more questions and did not see the actual test results until late June.

Nixon's spokesman Jack Cardetti has said throughout the summer that no one from the governor's office knew about the E. coli tests until June 23. Cardetti acknowledged Wednesday that he knew Mazur had spoken with Medley earlier.

"I didn't know Jeff Mazur and her exact contact and the exact nature of that, and so I should have fleshed that out more clearly first -- what exactly did they or did they not talk about," Cardetti said.

Nixon's chief of staff John Watson, who also spoke to reporters Wednesday, said he became aware of the E. coli sampling during a June 23 meeting with Templeton and a former DNR deputy director. Watson said he did not notify the governor then, and that he believes Nixon first learned about the problems in mid-July when reading The Kansas City Star.