JEFFERSON CITY _ Jay Nixon must come clean with Missourians about his recent settlement with a quadriplegic state worker who was fired by Nixon because of her disability. Missourians also deserve to hear directly from Nixon about the lawsuit including how much taxpayer money is being used to settle the case.

Documents from the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri in Jefferson City show that after eight hours of negotiation a settlement had been reached between Marla Grothoff and Nixon, who has incredibly not been forced to comment on the case. Copies of the settlement document and the complete lawsuit can be found at:
http://www.mogop.org/media/grothoff_complaint.pdf.

The Grothoff lawsuit says that the veteran state attorney was fired by Nixon after responsibility for staff attorneys within the Department of Social Service Enforcement Division were handed over to the attorney general’s office. Nixon was sued for discriminating against the disabled worker both as the attorney general and as an individual and inexplicably, only one media outlet has chosen to report on the lawsuit.

“Jay Nixon clearly discriminated against a quadriplegic and is doing everything he can to make it go away and to hide his malfeasance from the public. It is unfortunate that Missourians are not being told about the facts in this case and the attorney general’s despicable role in it,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Just as disturbing is the fact that Nixon has tried to make himself a defender of those with disabilities but this case clearly shows he is nothing but a hypocrite on the issue.”

Nixon’s hypocrisy is evident from a March 1, 2001, news release from his office which stated: “State government should be a leader, not a shirker, on issues of discrimination and should not be allowed to treat its employees as second-class citizens.”