Jefferson City - At a St. Charles County fundraiser last weekend, Jay Nixon explained his start in politics. It all began because DeSoto lacked a sewage treatment plant. Nixon’s father ran for mayor on that issue, won, got a sewage plant built, presumably cleaned up the stream, and sometimes ate fish for dinner that was caught in that stream.  If only that were the end of the story.

“For the last 17 years, Nixon has failed to lift a hand to help Jefferson County homeowners who have been hammered by a flood of sludge emanating from the Nixon family sewage treatment plant,” said Tina Hervey, communications director of the Missouri Republican Party. “When exalting his political heritage, Nixon does not share that some residents of Jefferson County have spent upwards of $27,000 to clean and repair property damaged caused by the severe pollution problems of his family’s sewage treatment plant. Nor does he mention that he has failed to live up to his pledge to `prosecute polluters who are threatening the health and safety of our children and families.’”

According to a 2005 Post-Dispatch story, Nixon’s father is the director of Central Jefferson County Utility Company (CJCUC) which services one of the largest residential subdivisions in Jefferson County. CJCUC has become the focus of state and federal environmental regulators, who have gone as far as to deem the plant’s compliance problems “one of the worst in the state.” Nixon’s ties to the polluting plant go beyond his father’s alleged failure to abide by state and federal pollution standards. In the 1992 primary campaign for Attorney General, it was revealed that Nixon had worked for the operating company of the sewage treatment plant and accepted over $30,000 in affiliated corporate donations.

Missourians are tired of waiting for Nixon to finally come clean, and understand that being a public servant means putting the needs of Missourians before the family business.