GOP release: Another fee office goes to Nixon contributor

A news release just issued by the Missouri GOP says Gov. Jay Nixon has awarded another fee office to one of his contributors. The release is printed below:

Despite his pledge to remove politics from the selection process, Gov. Nixon continues awarding lucrative fee offices to prominent Democrat donors. The latest example of Nixon’s broken promise is the Sugar Creek license office, which was awarded to Paul Wrabec. Wrabec, a member of the Jackson County Democratic Central Committee, owns Vinograd Winery and is linked to more than $11,000 in contributions to Nixon during the past election cycle.

“This is yet another example of Jay Nixon saying one thing and doing another,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “Nixon’s pledge to bid out the license offices has turned out to be nothing more than a cheap magician’s trick: a sleight-of-hand to disguise politics-as-usual as official procedure. The process may be different, but the outcome is the same—Nixon continues to reward his wealthy donors with plum positions and lucrative fee offices.”

To date, license office recipients are linked to more than $60,000 in campaign donations to Nixon during the 2008 cycle. The total is much higher when you include donations to other Democrat causes.

Nixon’s selection of another Democrat insider drew the attention of the St. Joseph News-Press, which recently criticized him for his failure to remove politics from the selection process: “And to say that appearances do not count in this process is to miss much of the point about patronage. Detractors — virtually all of them Republicans — have ample ammunition in criticizing the selection of St. Joseph attorney James Montee to run the Lee’s Summit office with a partner.”