Nixon to pay back state
Attorney General Jay Nixon will repay taxpayer money he used for campaigning.
Published Oct. 12, 2007
State officials on the campaign trail can have state vehicles pick them up, but it's going to cost them.
Attorney General Jay Nixon's campaign announced last week that it would reimburse Missouri taxpayers for the use of state vehicles in Nixon's campaign for governor and has challenged Gov. Matt Blunt's campaign to do the same, prompting heated reprisals from Blunt's campaign and Republican party officials.
Nixon campaign manager Ken Morley stated in a news release that Nixon, a Democrat challenging Blunt in 2008, will assess his travel and security expenditures from the current campaign and voluntarily repay the costs to the state.
"We take his security and transport needs very seriously, and political attacks from our opponents will not change that," Morley stated.
According to state law, public officials are prohibited from using state equipment or personnel for political or personal uses.
Morley said Nixon's use of state equipment, even for politicking, was justified by the fact that Nixon is always on the job.
"As one of the toughest attorneys general in the nation, the reality is that there are some bad people who don't like him very much," Morley stated.
Morley stated in the release that Blunt should also reimburse the state, not only for using state-funded equipment and security for his campaign, but also for the cost of transport and security accrued from his daily commute from his home in Springfield to Jefferson City.
According to state law, the governor and his immediate family are entitled to receive transport and security from the highway patrol.
This procedure was signed into law in 2005.
But state Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloca said the practice of using the patrolmen to offer an escort the governor and his family has been common in the state for almost 70 years.
Following Nixon's announcement, some GOP officials noted that Nixon had been in violation of the law before he announced he would reimburse the state.
Blunt campaign spokesman John Hancock said Nixon, by shifting the focus to Blunt's use of state equipment, was trying to divert attention from his own violations.
"We're following the law," Hancock said. "We're happy he's going to stop breaking the law."
State Democratic party spokesman Jack Cardetti said Blunt's decision to continue to use state equipment for his campaign puts taxpayers at a disadvantage.
"The clear fact of the matter is that there is one statewide official campaigning on the taxpayers dime," Cardetti said.
Sloca said the GOP would push for State Auditor Susan Montee to audit Nixon's reimbursements of funds he used for his campaign.
State Auditor's office spokesman Sean Spence said Nixon's office will be audited in January 2009 when his current term as attorney general ends.
This is the normal procedure for an audit of the attorney general's office.