News Release 281

NIXON'S OFFICE USED STATE E-MAIL
FOR POLITICS ON BOONVILLE BRIDGE LAWSUIT

Director Childers Seeks Answers from Nixon on Political E-mails

Volume 36-281

Contact: Connie Patterson

(For immediate release)

573-751-1010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, May 19, 2008 -- Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wants answers from Attorney General Jay Nixon on political e-mails sent to interest groups and political supporters by Nixon's top aides prior to his filing a lawsuit on the ownership of the Boonville Bridge.  The e-mails reveal that a former and current Nixon aide, with the knowledge of Nixon's chief of staff, used state resources to communicate with interest groups and supporters of Nixon's campaign about plans to file a lawsuit against the Department of Natural Resources.

"I have received some very troubling e-mails that involve your official staff using state government computers and their state e-mail for political work and which show your office violated its ethical responsibility to its client by contacting interest groups and political supporters about your intention to file a lawsuit involving the Boonville Bridge," Childers wrote in a letter to Nixon.  "These actions by your office were inappropriate and demonstrate a clear conflict of interest between your official responsibilities as Attorney General and the political support you seek for your campaign."

E-mail records show that on May 25, 2005, the day before Nixon filed the Boonville Bridge lawsuit, two of Nixon's top aides, Mary Still and Scott Holste, used their state e-mail to contact Trailnet, Greenway Network, Audubon Society and Dave Bedan, a political supporter and contributor to Nixon's campaign, to inform them of Nixon's intention to file the lawsuit. The aides also requested the recipients build political support for the effort by getting "the word out" about the lawsuit before Nixon even filed it.

Childers said the department believes these e-mails shed some light on why, despite his strong objections, Nixon ignored basic facts and pursued a reckless, frivolous lawsuit that he ultimately lost at every level of court in the state, costing Missouri taxpayers nearly $300,000.

"On May 25, 2005, the day before you announced this frivolous lawsuit, your official staff were using official state government equipment and their state e-mail to notify interest groups and political supporters about your intention to file the lawsuit," wrote Childers.  "These actions by your office were inappropriate and demonstrate a clear conflict of interest between your official responsibilities as Attorney General and the political support you seek for your campaign."

Childers wants to know why Nixon's staff used official state government resources to communicate with interest groups and political supporters from a state e-mail account.  He also wants to know if Nixon's office routinely contacts interest groups and political supporters about official state business before official actions are announced.

Childers says he expects an answer from Nixon's office no later than May 27.

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