JEFFERSON CITY - A new media report details Jay Nixon’s outsourcing of legal efforts to defend Missouri’s education funding formula to a law firm that cost New York taxpayers millions in a losing effort in a similar case while the same firm has so far cost Missouri taxpayers nearly $1 million.

The Associated Press today reports that an attorney for Sutherland Asbill & Brennan of Atlanta have been paid more than $965,000 to defend Missouri’s funding formula since being hired by Nixon, even though the law firm lost a similar education funding case that bilked New York taxpayers out of $10 million.

“Jay Nixon obviously has no confidence in his ability to perform his duties on behalf of Missouri’s education system so he decided to spend our taxpayer dollars on a law firm with a losing record in a similar case,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Jay Nixon outsourced this case because he knew he couldn’t do the job taxpayers hired him for and now it’s those same taxpayers that are paying for his legal cowardice.”

In an attempt to pass the buck, Nixon’s office told The AP that lawmakers were consulted about hiring the Atlanta firm, but what Nixon’s office fails to mention is that it was his office that proposed Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in the first place.

“Jay Nixon is making excuses for his poor decision making,” Sloca said. “It was his idea to promote hiring an outside firm so the responsibility for the situation rests solely in his lap.”