Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has so far dodged questioning and responsibility for the Department of Revenue/CCW list/privacy breach scandal which made national headlines—but surfaced quickly today to complain about the DOR’s budget.
Gov. Jay Nixon said today he will lay off staff in the motor vehicle division of the Department of Revenue after a legislative budget agreement announced Tuesday cut division funding by a third.
The layoffs, which will be proportional to the cut, will go into effect on July 1, Nixon said. On Tuesday, representatives and senators announced a budget deal that they say funds the motor vehicle division, which issues drivers licenses, for eight months.
The funds were cut in response to ongoing concern from lawmakers about the department’s decision last year to begin scanning documents used in the licensing process, such as birth certificates or in some cases concealed carry weapons permits.
Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaefer, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has led the investigation into the scandal, an investigation with which the DOR refused to cooperate. Schaefer told me on air weeks ago that the DOR repeatedly lied to him about their involvement in the scandal and the committee was forced to subpoena documents—documents which showed DHS’s Janet Napolitano thanking Nixon for violating Missouri’s law prohibiting full compliance with the Real ID act. As a punitive measure, Schaefer dropped the DOR’s budget down to zero since it was indiscernible whether they were spending taxpayer dollars to comply or not to comply with Missouri law. Nearly four million dollars was eliminated with partial year funding reliant upon whether or not the DOR would stop violating Missouri law with Real ID compliance.
Where was Nixon when the DOR was flirting with disaster by refusing to comply with a serious investigation—or for that matter, where was Nixon when the DOR was violating Missouri law? These are departments he oversees, so where does the buck stop?
