MOGOP press release:

JEFFERSON CITY _ With Jay Nixon poised to use his office to launch a politically-motivated legal attack against the governor, the Missouri Republican Party today called on officials outside Nixon’s political sphere of influence to launch investigations into his illegal use of state resources for political purposes, the failure of his office to honestly respond to Sunshine Law requests and his acceptance of campaign contributions from Ameren while he was investigating the utility. The Kansas City Star’s call today for Nixon to appoint a special prosecutor in a political witch hunt would constitute a scurrilous conflict of interest and ignores the three-year abuse by Nixon of state resources for political purposes, his failure to fully respond to Sunshine Law requests and his decision to take $19,100 from Ameren while he was supposedly investigating the Taum Sauk Reservoir collapse. In the car and Ameren cases, Nixon tried to obscure the actual crimes by allegedly making restitution, even though there was no independent review of the money he returned for illegally using state resources and Ameren donations he claimed he gave back actually were recycled back into his campaign accounts through Democrat Party committees. In the Sunshine Law response case, there is clearly a double standard in the liberal media regarding what Nixon must produce and what Republicans must produce.

And who can forget Nixon’s staff telling The Associated Press on September 24 that they delete many of their emails. Nixon spokesman Scott Holste told The AP that much of what the attorney general’s office does “would not have to be retained.”

“There is no state official in Missouri more deserving of a special prosecutor than Jay Nixon, who has broken the law repeatedly but has not been held accountable for his actions. Missourians deserve answers from Jay Nixon and special prosecutors know how to ask the questions the media refuses to ask and that Nixon won’t answer,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Jay Nixon must be held to the same standard as other statewide officials and when he is not, our system of justice becomes merely a political tool for the liberal media and politicians like Nixon.”

A summary of MRP’s actions to obtain records from Democrats follows and clearly demonstrates that Gov. Blunt has saved and produced far more records than hypocritical Democrats in this state:

TOBACCO ATTORNEYS

June 1: Missouri Republican Party requested all documents regarding billing related to private attorneys hired to pursue Missouri’s share of the national tobacco settlement.

June 6: MRP receives a response from AG with non-responsive documents that include a copy of the master settlement agreement and the contract with private attorneys.

June 12: MRP follows up with a request again seeking detailed billing records not provided in the June 6 request from Nixon’s office.

June 15: MRP receives a response from AG saying they have no documents like those requested by MRP but offered us the opportunity to review already-public materials.

June 19: MRP again requests the tobacco attorney billing records. We receive no response from Nixon’s office.

July 19: MRP requests the private tobacco attorneys billing record, this time citing Section III of their agreement with the attorneys specifically requiring that billing records be kept.

July 24: AG responds to request with a series of 1999 letters from Republican state senators seeking similar information and Nixon’s response to them at the time including letters between Strong and Nixon regarding the requests. No bill records are ever provided to MRP.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

September 4: MRP seeks all documents relating to the Trout v. Missouri case including communications involving Chuck Hatfield and between Nixon and the Missouri Ethics Commission.

September 7: MRP receives a response that contains pleadings already publicly available but does not include documents between the MEC and Nixon because they constitute “attorney client communications.” Nixon’s office also claims other documents are also covered in Section 610.021 (1) as “relating to legal actions, cause of action, or litigation involving a public governmental body.”

WATSON EMAILS

September 18: MRP requests all emails for a three year period written by Nixon chief of staff John Watson and the email retention policy of Nixon’s office.

September 21: AG’s office say they need more time to process Watson request but provide a copy of 2001 State of Missouri retention policy and a records disposition schedule.

September 24: Attorney General’s office tells The Associated Press they delete many emails. Nixon spokesman Scott Holste tells the AP much of what the AG’s office does “would not have to be retained.”

September 26: AG’s office provides approximately 250 innocuous Watson emails that contain not a single correspondence with Nixon over a three-year period. There are significant gaps in times in the Watson emails as detailed in MRP press release.

EMAIL RETENTION

September 25: MRP requests all emails about AG’s retention policies written by Assistant Attorney General Bill Bryan over the previous 15 months.

September 28: AG responds to Bill Bryan request by seeking additional time to compile emails.

October 5: AG provides 30 innocuous pages of email from Bryan to others discussing technical issues that are non-responsive to our requests.

NIXON FLEET REQUEST

October 2: MRP seeks electronic correspondence about Nixon’s fleet budget increase request.

October 5: AG’s office seeks additional time to respond.

October 8: AG provides single memo discussing fleet request.

NIXON TRAVEL LOGS

October 16: MRP requests detailed Nixon travel logs by ground and air.

October 19: Nixon’s office seeks more time on air and ground travel logs and says it will not waive fees.

October 24: MRP asks that we be notified if the travel and ground log request will exceed $500. There is no response from AG.

November 2: AG’s office seeks six additional days to respond to MRP’s logs request.

RECORDS RETENTION EMAILS FROM AUG 1

November 6: MRP seeks all documents related to records retention within the AG’s office from August 1 through the date of the request. Also requested were any and all emails written or received, deleted or undeleted, by Nixon on his official state email account or any private email account from August 1, 2007 through the date of the request. Response not yet received.

November 13: AG’s office seeks ten additional days to respond to MRP’s request and says it won’t waive fees.

MCCASKILL EMAILS

November 13: MRP requests from Claire McCaskill all emails from her last 60 days as state auditor and all email since she took office as senator. Request pending.

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Related:

KY3 Political Notebook: LeVota Asks Lampe, Others to Comply with G.O.P. Sunshine Request

CDT Politics Blog: Nixon: Action coming in record retention case

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