St. Louis native Elad Gross is currently running as the Democratic candidate for Missouri Attorney General.
Photo sent by Elad Gross.
Elad Gross is running as the Democratic candidate for Attorney General (AG) with the goal of making the position more familiar and “receptive” to the people of Missouri. Gross is running against Republican incumbent Andrew Bailey and Republican challenger Will Scharf.
Gross, a St. Louis native, received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and went to Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He served as deputy attorney general to former Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and ran for office in 2020.
Gross describes much of his legal work as having to do with civil cases and representing workers’ rights.
“I do several Sunshine Law cases to defend our right to see what our government is doing and that has probably been the most prominent matter I have done since coming to the Missouri Supreme Court,” he said.
Gross said one of the main things he wants people to learn from his campaign is who their Attorney General is and responding to their problems. He said that after speaking with many Missourians he realized that “most people” don’t know who their attorney general is.
“If you don’t know the name of your attorney (general), that’s a big red flag,” Gross said. “One thing we can change is just make that office much more responsive to the people of Missouri, whether it’s scammers or issues in our community. When it comes to crime, violence or anything else.”
He said a big issue he would like to address as Attorney General is problems with scammers and getting the “Consumer Protection Division (of the Attorney General’s office) back up and running.”
Gross said the AG should address things like a person or their family being defrauded. He said they also need to enforce the Do Not Call list more as an office.
Gross said he would also like to start a Civil Rights division and bring back its agriculture and conservation division. He said the current office staffing level is “much lower now than it was before.”
“So over the last three administrations the office has become more populated with senior officials. So there are more people at the top who are making a lot of money. And then there are fewer specialized lawyers, who are doing most of the work,” Gross said.
He said on day one the elected AG could quickly change the structure of the office. Gross said hiring more people wouldn’t cost Missourians more.
Gross said a lot of money has been budgeted for the position and the governor asked for “millions of dollars more for it.”
“I think certainly hiring more people to do the work is really imperative. It’s extremely important, but it’s an office that can actually make more money. For Missourians, if we’re a lot more proactive there as well,” he said.
Gross said his proposed civil rights division would also have a Public Corruption Unit. He said the unit would make sure tax money goes where it’s supposed to go.
Gross said he would like to see an attorney general intervene with the state in addressing violence in communities, not only after but before crimes are committed. He said they would intervene when people commit crimes to make sure they know what is expected of them, but also to offer them services.
“Many people fall into the trap of violence or committing crimes because they don’t believe there are other opportunities,” Gross said. “What do you need to be successful? How can we put him in a better position? Maybe that’s housing, maybe that’s educational opportunities, maybe connections to a job. Transportation is also very important throughout Missouri. But if we coordinate both the prosecution side and the prevention side of diversion before it gets to the judicial system, then we’re really solving a lot of these problems.”
He said local communities can do a lot on their own, but not everything because they are “so stretched.”
Gross said he would also like to create a Missouri Attorney General app for people to see warnings about their area.
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