Nixon Settles

While journalists and bloggers statewide worry about whether an employee in the Treasurer's office filed his vacation paperwork correctly, they all but ignore the news that Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon quietly settled an important discrimination lawsuit filed against his office.

When the Attorney General’s office absorbed lawyers from the Department of Social Services, Jay Nixon hired all but one of the existing lawyers. That lawyer, a quadriplegic, sued first in state court, then in federal court under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

While the Attorney General’s office will say there is “no admission of wrongdoing” in the settlement, it is hard to imagine why they would settle such a critical lawsuit unless they had done something wrong. The AG’s office, of all places, should not want to set a precedent of being easy to “sue and settle.

This is yet one more example of mismanagement, or worse, in the Attorney General’s office under Jay Nixon. While the press focus may be on the Republican primary right now, eventually the press, and the voters, will have to know Nixon’s record.