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E. coli-gate: You know it’s bad when Nixon uses lobbyists as political cover

July 31, 2009

MOGOP’s Smith: “It’s time for Nixon to stop pointing fingers”

JEFFERSON CITY—Since becoming governor, Jay Nixon has become increasingly secretive and unwilling to take responsibility for his administration’s serious lapses in judgment.

The Kansas City Star noted this shift in an editorial after it was revealed that his administration kept secret a report showing dangerous levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks: “If he were still attorney general, Nixon likely would have roared into action when confronted with such gross negligence on the DNR’s part. Come to think of it, Nixon did exactly that on several occasions.” But as Governor, Nixon is dodging questions, concealing the truth, and refusing to hold anyone accountable.

The evidence is so compelling that his office was involved in withholding the test results that Jay Nixon has turned to an energy lobbyist for political cover. According to the Springfield News-Leader, Nixon’s office is claiming that the now-infamous meeting (for which a DNR Deputy Director requested the E. coli report) was actually conducted to discuss energy policy with a lobbyist—an explanation that seems flimsy at best.

But it is a strange defense. After all, this is the same Jay Nixon who once made a sport out of bashing “special interests.”

In his 2009 State of the State address, Nixon cited “special access for the special interests” as one of the reasons that “the people of Missouri have had reason to be skeptical of their government in recent years.” In another press release still available on his campaign website, Nixon said, “Throughout my career, I’ve stood up to the special interests on behalf of working Missourians and I’ll continue doing that as our next Governor. Missouri’s working families deserve a Governor who will fight for them, not against them.”

“Jay Nixon has apparently concluded that it’s better to admit giving ‘special access’ to special interests than to confess what role he really played in withholding vital information about dangerous levels of E. coli from Missourians,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “Internal correspondence suggests that Nixon himself was made aware of the dangerous levels of the potentially-deadly bacteria in the Lake of the Ozarks, but Nixon still refuses to publicly provide answers, make his staff available for comment, or hold anyone accountable. It’s time for Nixon to stop pointing fingers and come clean about what he knew and when he knew it.”