JEFFERSON CITY • A Cole County judge has blocked efforts to force some of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s top aides into testifying before a House committee.
The Investigative Committee on Privacy Protection – created by Republican House Speaker Tim Jones amid an ongoing controversy over Missouri’s new driver’s licenses – had subpoenaed five current members of Nixon’s administration and one former after the committee was notified that they wouldn’t be attending a hearing today.
But Circuit Judge Dan Green issued a preliminary order this afternoon blocking the committee from moving forward with efforts to compel them to testify.
Republicans have spent months crying foul over Missouri’s new drivers license system, which requires the scanning and retention of personal documents, including birth certificates, marriage licenses and — up until recently — concealed gun permits.
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The new license system was the topic of several hearings at the Capitol this session, and Jones created the investigative panel to continue looking into the issue.
“After four months we have more questions than answers,” Jones told reporters today. “We’re just trying to come up with the truth and various solutions.”
The committee had expected the six Nixon allies — Jeff Harris, Peter Lyskowski, Chris Pieper, Kristy Manning, Doug Nelson and Alana Barrigan-Scott — to be at today’s hearing but they didn’t come, said Rep. Stanley Cox, a Republican from Sedalia who is chairing the investigative panel.
“The ultimate goal is to get these people to come testify,” Cox said.
The investigative committee, which includes House members, county sheriffs and prosecutors, has spent the past two days hearing from Department of Revenue employees.
At issue is whether the new driver’s license system is tied to the 2005 federal REAL ID Act. The Missouri Legislature passed a law in 2009 requiring the state to opt out of the anti-terrorism initiative.
Nixon’s administration has repeatedly denied that it’s trying to implement Real ID, but Republicans remain skeptical.
“Our state government is attempting to implement the Real ID program, despite the fact that we have a law in our state against the program that Gov. Nixon signed,” Jones said today.
Stoddard County prosecutor Russ Oliver, a member of the committee who is also privately representing a man who has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new policy of scanning personal documents used to obtain driver’s licenses, said he thinks the administration is trying to block access to those closest to the governor.
“Anyone who would have had access to Nixon can’t testify,” he said. “This raises a great deal of suspicion in my mind.”
Elizabeth Crisp covers Missouri politics and state government for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter at @elizabethcrisp.
