JEFFERSON CITY - In what appears to be a case of political favoritism over justice, Jay Nixon has suddenly dropped a consumer protection lawsuit against a business operated by Jackson County Democrat committeeman and attorney Edward L. Pendleton.

The Kansas City Star reported yesterday that Pendleton-run Equity Recovery Co. was the only one of four businesses that Nixon decided not to continue suing for allegedly misleading and taking advantage of people whose property Jackson County sold for back taxes. The newspaper reported that the lawsuits against the other businesses are pending. According to an August 2006 news release, Nixon’s office claimed the victims in the case lost at least $375,000 in the deals.

“Nixon is clearly putting his political ambitions ahead of justice by suddenly dropping a lawsuit against a prominent Democrat committeeman from a county that could prove problematic in Nixon’s 2008 gubernatorial bid,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Nixon isn’t shy about issuing press releases about consumer protection lawsuits but for some reason he chose not to issue a release about this lawsuit being dropped. The fact of the matter is that Nixon has pardoned a Democrat committeeman from legal scrutiny and he should explain to Missourians exactly why that is. If it is because the case had no merit, why did he waste taxpayer dollars filing it in the first place? If it’s because he needs support from Jackson County to be governor, Missourians should realize that pay-to-play in the Attorney General’s Office is just as rampant as ever.”

According to The Star, the lawsuits stemmed from the fact that the businesses knew something that former property owners did not: The former owners can petition to get all sales proceeds not taken for taxes. The businesses allegedly approached the former owners, paid them a few hundred dollars to sign away rights to the property and then used those rights to collect many thousands of dollars.