JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri Republican Party’s Sunshine Law requests for a complete record of office emails for Nixon’s No. 2 man over the last three years has been stifled by legal interpretations of Missouri’s Sunshine Law by the same attorney general who claims to be a champion of open records.

When asked to provide all emails sent by Nixon Chief of Staff John Watson dating back to 2004, Nixon’s office supplied about 200 mostly innocuous Watson missives and the following excuse for why more information was not forthcoming: “There are documents that may be responsive to your current request but are not being produced because they fall under Section 610.021.” In fact, Nixon’s office handed over just 19 pieces of paper with Watson emails from 2004.

The Missouri Republican Party also received no emails from Watson to Nixon and only a handful of emails from Watson to Nixon spokesman Scott Holste, who The Associated Press reported on September 24 “deletes many of the e-mails he receives.” Despite the fact that many of the documents were suspiciously sanitized by Nixon’s legal eagles, there are some eye-opening interactions that call Nixon’s credibility into question including:

In an attempt to cook the books, Nixon’s office reported that $598,832.97 it had charged the former Division of Professional Registration was rounded down to $500,000.

• In a blatant case of political chicanery, a Watson email containing a link to a January 19 Missouri Republican Party press release criticizing Nixon for comments insulting law enforcement was sent to Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt, who later publicly supported Nixon on the issue.
• In an example of influence peddling, Nixon political guru and courtroom conspirator Chuck Hatfield took issue with question 86 submitted by the governor’s office to candidates for the Missouri Supreme Court: “What the hell is this and what does it have to do with whether someone is qualified to be a judge,” he wrote to Watson, who responded: “I’m assuming this is a fishing expedition but I’m not sure they have their hook baited.”
• In a case raising questions about partisanship within the Supreme Court, the communications counsel for the high court sent an advance copy of the Appellate Judicial Commission’s public statement about the court system to Nixon’s office.

The documents are available at:  http://www.mogop.org/media/agemails.pdf

“Jay Nixon’s commitment to openness is a fraud because he abuses the Sunshine Law to justify not releasing public documents then goes around touting his commitment to the law while hypocritically attacking others on the issue,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Nixon’s office admits that it regularly deletes emails although some of the emails provided to Missouri Republicans offer a tantalizing glimpse into the kind of political games that go on in Nixon’s office.”