Lots of elected officials are asking questions about why the Missouri National Guard wasn’t deployed in Ferguson last night. Governor Jay Nixon called a state of emergency in the St. Louis area last week and Guard members were in place last night at key locations in St. Louis when the grand jury decision not to indict police officer Darrell Wilson was announced.
But no National Guard troops were deployed to Ferguson. Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, a Republican who has often clashed with Democrat Nixon, told Fox News this morning, “A lot of people have to answer for the Guard’s failure to be in Ferguson — including Governor Nixon.” The town’s mayor, James Knowles, told a local TV station late last night that his requests for the guard’s presence fell on deaf ears:
I know I’ve been on the phone in contact with the County Executive’s Office. I know he has requested. I am requesting. I’ve requested the National Guard troops to come out from their command post to help restore order along the business district. We have not seen that. . . . Those calls have gone unheeded at this point. . . .We need to have the governor step up and give us the resources that he’s promised from the beginning. He said he would have a strong response. The resources necessary would be provided. They have not been provided so far.