Missouri GOP rips Nixon on e-mail decisions

It doesn't come as a shock that the Missouri GOP has ripped Attorney General Jay Nixon again for his policy on e-mails and for his decision to seek a special assistant attorney general to pursue the e-mail allegations against Gov. Matt Blunt. A news release from the state GOP says:

After Cole County’s Circuit Judge Callahan dismissed the sham of a lawsuit filed by Nixon’s political attack machine, Nixon decided that he has not wasted enough of Missourians’ taxpayer dollars. On Friday, he asked the court to allow him to continue this charade of an independent investigation by appointing a Special Assistant Attorney General.

“Jay Nixon’s actions confirm what we have been saying – this is a politically motivated witch-hunt orchestrated by Nixon,” said Tina Hervey, communications Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “Nixon’s pathetic attempt to use this as a smoke screen to hide from Missourians his lack of a vision to move Missouri forward is disgraceful and unbecoming of someone seeking to be the next governor. It was our hope that when Judge Callahan ruled, Nixon would show some character by allowing this nonsense to end. Unfortunately for the people of Missouri, Nixon is much more interested in playing politics with his office than doing the job people elected him to do.”

Recent press reports present conflicting stories on how Nixon’s office handles e-mails but make it clear that Nixon’s employees continue an office policy that includes the routine destruction of e-mail records. It was reported as recently as May 6, 2008, that Nixon "...has declined to sign on to Blunt’s policy of saving all e-mails forever." And on July 11, 2008, an AP story says, "The attorney general’s office says its e-mails are retained on a separate backup system." However, Nixon’s office continues to hide any information about this system from the public and to keep any details about the system a secret.

Everyone knew that Jay Nixon’s political witch-hunt was being driven from the Attorney General’s office in spite of public claims to the contrary. This proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jay Nixon has been orchestrating every move, wasting taxpayer dollars in the process, and that he will stop at nothing to distract from the massive amount of political baggage that he is carrying.

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Now correct me if I am wrong (and whether I am right or wrong, I know there will be people trying to "correct" me), but haven't specific allegations been made against Gov. Blunt and his use of government e-mails. I can recall no specific allegations being made against Jay Nixon, Jeff Harris, Sam Page, or any of the other people that Matt Blunt and his surrogates have accused of e-mail skullduggery. If Matt Blunt and the Republican Party want to take the high ground on this issue, the governor's e-mails have to be released. Until then, all they do each time they bring up the phrase "e-mail" is to remind Missourians of the many problems facing the Blunt administration.