In note written before death, former Schweich spokesman says he feared being unemployed

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – When Matt Blunt did not seek reelection and Jay Nixon became Missouri’s governor, Spence Jackson, a former Blunt staffer who was then a spokesman at the Missouri Department of Economic Development, lost his job with the state and became unemployed.

Last month, Jackson lost another boss, State Auditor Tom Schweich, this time due to the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s suicide at his home in Clayton, Mo.

Jackson, police say, was still employed by the auditor’s office, now being led by Gov. Jay Nixon’s appointee John Watson when he took his own life last Friday. But, in a note found in his home, he said he was haunted of losing his employment again, not mentioning political whispers or anything else.

Police in Jefferson City released a note that they say was written on Friday, around the same time they expect he fatally shot himself at his apartment.

“I am so sorry. I just can’t take being unemployed again,” Jackson apparently wrote, according to Captain Doug Shoemaker of the Jefferson City Police Department.

David Luther, a spokesman for John Watson, Nixon’s temporary appointee as auditor as he seeks a full time replacement to fill out Schweich’s term though 2018, told reporters on Tuesday that senior staff had been told last week that, “if there was a change in the interim auditor, that might impact them.”

Jeff Layman, a longtime friend of Jackson’s, in a statement on the family’s behalf, said it is a difficult time for the former Republican communicator’s family.

“We also encourage anyone who might need help to seek it and for anyone who might know someone who needs help to encourage them to find it,” Layman said.

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