JEFFERSON CITY _ A desperate Jay Nixon continues to drag his feet in federal court regarding a proposed settlement with a quadriplegic state attorney he fired because of her disability that already has cost Missouri taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Even though nearly three months have passed since documents were filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicating that a settlement had been reached in attorney Marla Grothoff’s action, there are indications that Nixon is seeking to have the settlement sealed to prevent Missourians from knowing how much they paid to defend Nixon’s despicable actions.

And make no mistake; the three-year-old case has also been an expensive one for Missouri taxpayers since taxpayer-financed Nixon attorneys James McAdams, Carolyn Vasterling and Karen Mitchell have been defending their boss. McAdams pulls down a $96,622 state salary while Vasterling and Mitchell make a whopping $92,000 and $113,044 respectively. The case is clearly being paid for by taxpayers since Nixon’s campaign reports for legal fees show no expenditures for the Grothoff case even though he is also being sued as a private individual.

The mere fact that the case was filed against Nixon is staggering in light of a Nixon news release on March 1, 2001 in which he said: “State government should be a leader, not a shirker, on issues of discrimination and should not be allowed to treat its employees as second-class citizens.”

“Jay Nixon has been exposed as a hypocrite when it comes to his treatment of the disabled and now he is desperately trying to delay having to explain why taxpayer dollars have been used over the last three years to defend his despicable behavior. Nixon may in fact be fighting to require that the settlement to be sealed so he doesn’t have to explain a thing to Missourians which is no surprise,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Nixon spent years abusing taxpayer dollars by using state vehicles to promote his political ambitions so one has to wonder if Nixon is really that concerned that he used taxpayer dollars to defend this lawsuit.”

Click here to view the notice of a tentative settlement.

Comments

comments