JEFFERSON CITY— In what has become a disturbing trend in recent years, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon today announced his latest effort to fleece taxpayers, this time by filing a lawsuit seeking to force the state to needlessly spend $8 million to $10 million on an unusable bridge and thousands more in annual maintenance costs.

This comes on the heels of a report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that revealed Nixon is the only statewide elected official who still uses the state’s taxpayer funded airplanes. To date, no journalist has called Nixon on his questionable flights to attend “meetings” within a month of last November’s election. It was also recently revealed in information given to the Associated Press that Nixon spent public funds to outfit his staff with 20 high-tech wireless Blackberry devices.

In rabid disregard to his sworn duty to defend the agency Nixon filed suit today against the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) who he is bound by law to represent, seeking to block their move to return the Boonville Bridge to its rightful owners the Union Pacific Railroad. DNR’s proposed action will not endanger the Katy Trail in any way and will provide a vital link to enhance transportation and commerce in Missouri at no cost to taxpayers.

"Old Way Jay’s extended time in the bureaucracy has clouded his legal judgment," said Missouri Republican Party State spokesman John Hancock. "Missourians have grown accustomed to his Howard Dean like rants and reckless knee-jerk reactions to serious public policy issues but this time even he is going too far.

"His insensitivity to the budget challenges facing our state is offensive to the hardworking men and women of this state who pay his salary and his airplane travel across the state. He is attempting push taxpayers off of a bridge and into a river of debt. For once, Old Way Jay needs to put the needs of Missouri’s taxpayers over his own insatiable appetite for higher political office."