JEFFERSON CITY - Despite his desperate attempt to “get right” on illegal immigration, Jay Nixon cannot escape his support of using of taxpayer dollars to provide benefits to illegal immigrants and a legislative vote opposing English as the official language of Missouri.

As pointed out by Republicans just yesterday, a 1998 Project Vote Smart survey completed by Nixon showed his support for thefollowing immigration issue included in the survey: “Prohibit states from passing laws that deny human services (medical care, education) to illegal immigrants or their children.” A copy of the Vote Smart Survey is available at http://www.mogop.org/media/votesmart.pdf.

Meanwhile, as a state senator on April 18, 1991, Nixon was one of eight senators that voted against SB374 that stated: “The English language is the official language of the state of Missouri.” And more recently, Nixon laughed off Gov. Matt Blunt’s proposal to crack down on illegal immigrants seeking to obtain a Missouri driver’s license.

“Jay Nixon is a fraud on immigration reform because the public record clearly shows that he supported using taxpayer dollars to provide public assistance to illegal immigrants and even voted against making English the official language of Missouri. Nixon’s latest proposal is nothing more than a blatant political ploy designed to mask his poor, 15-year record of not fighting illegal immigration,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “This is Jay Nixon’s latest attempt at revisionist history that he hopes will fool Missourians, but Missourians aren’t that easily fooled.”