JEFFERSON CITY - In a supreme act of political hypocrisy, Jay Nixon will be in Springfield touting prescription drug grants for seniors even though Nixon led a legal effort to prevent hundreds of thousands of elderly Missourians from having access to affordable prescription drugs under the Medicare Part D Program.

Despite his politically-motivated trip to southwest Missouri today, the fact is that in February, 2006, Nixon was one of five attorneys general to sue the federal government in a challenge to the Medicare Part D program which more than 500,000 Missourians have enrolled in, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nixon bragged to The Associated Press on February 6, 2006, that “we expect other states to follow” his lead in the lawsuit, but by the time the case was actually filed no other states had joined the original five in the legal challenge. The AP reported on March 3, 2006, that a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said states were going to save billions of dollars under the new program which is why so few states had joined the lawsuit.

And with Nixon leading the way – which is rare — the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his arguments in what amounted to a victory for Missouri seniors.

“It is ridiculous for Jay Nixon to act like he supports Missouri seniors when the facts clearly show that he went to court to block those very same seniors from having access to affordable prescription drugs,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Hundreds of thousands of Missouri seniors are benefitting from the program Nixon sought to block and he should be called onto the carpet for trying to mislead Missourians on this very important issue.”