COLUMBIA, Mo. — Gov. Jay Nixon shrugged off criticism from lawmakers that his administration has been evasive in their investigation into privacy concerns raised by the Department of Revenue’s document scanning process.
During an interview in Columbia, just hours after lawmakers in Jefferson City wrapped up their first day of interim committee hearings concerning the issue, Nixon said he had “no idea” what lawmakers are talking about in terms of his office not cooperating with their investigation, but added that he felt they were focused on the wrong thing.
“They’re busy raising taxes, we’ve got to keep the fiscal conservatism moving forward,” he said, criticizing legislation he vetoed that would have included a $200 million tax increase on prescription drugs and increased fees for driver licenses. “They ought to focus on their duty of being fiscally responsible rather than this sort of stuff.”
The issue emerged after a Stoddard County man sought to renew his conceal carry weapons permit earlier this year. When he refused to let a fee office employee scan his personal documents, he was unable to get his permit renewed, and subsequently launched a lawsuit against the state.
Republicans, who were at the time facing significant pressure from Nixon and business groups to expand Medicaid with federal funds, used the issue to successfully place Nixon on the defensive. Nixon’s director of the Department of Revenue resigned, and Nixon ordered that the scanning be stopped.
But that has not stopped lawmakers, who will continue hearings on the issue throughout the summer. One of the chief concerns of lawmakers is that the Nixon administration may be implementing parts of the federal REAL ID Act (a charge Nixon has flatly denied), which is banned by state law.
On Monday, officials from Nixon’s administration had been set to testify before a House committee on Monday regarding the document scanning controversy — an issue that sucked the oxygen from other issues during much of the second half of the legislative session. The committee moved unanimously to subpoena several members of Nixon’s administration close to the process.
House Speaker Tim Jones said Monday he would seek legal action against Nixon for “obstruction” of the legislature’s investigation. His office set a 10:30 a.m. press conference on Thursday for him to further discuss his action with reporters.