UPDATE, 4:35 p.m., May 1 — The Missouri Times received copies of multiple letters this afternoon from the Department of Revenue that were addressed to executive leaders from Idaho, Maine, Oregon and Virginia the same day that Gov. Jay Nixon received the exact same letter from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
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10:45 a.m., May 1
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Representatives from the Missouri Department of Revenue began the process of promulgating rules to present to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules Wednesday morning.
During the discussion, Sen. Eric Schmitt, chairman of JCAR, presented a letter that was acquired through a subpoena. It was addressed to Gov. Jay Nixon from Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, that thanked Nixon’s administration for their “efforts to comply with the REAL ID Act of 2005 and its implementing regulations.” The letter was dated March 17, 2010.
The letter explained that the Department of Homeland Security understands many states have issues with the REAL ID Act, but stated that all states had made “substantial progress in improving the security of their drivers license programs.” Other than being addressed to Nixon, the letter stated nothing specifically about Missouri.
When Schmitt presented the letter during the committee meeting, Trevor Bossert, general counsel for the Department of Revenue, said he doubted the decision to begin scanning source documents was made by the time the letter was issued.
Schmitt acknowledged at the beginning of the meeting that of the two representatives from the department present — Bossert and Legislative Director Paul Harper — neither were the Acting Director John Mollenkamp. Harper said Mollenkamp has previously scheduled meetings that required his attention in preparation for his 12 p.m. meeting Wednesday with the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“It’s disturbing the acting director didn’t decide to show up today,” Schmitt told The Missouri Times. “We specifically asked for him.”
After looking at the timing of the letter and hearing from Bossert and Harper that the decision to implement the new rules occurred during 2010, Schmitt expressed concern that 2.5 years went by with the “major policy change” without the department promulgating a rule through JCAR, which he said the department “should have done.”
“It’s disturbing, the lack of or avoidance of legislative oversight,” Schmitt said. “They should have done it and they basically admitted that.”
During the committee meeting, Bossert said when asked by Schmitt that he thinks it would have been “beneficial” to go through the procedure change, and said at the time the thought was that this was an internal procedure change.
Schmitt said he thinks the letter is another fact involved in the case, but emphasized that it could help draw the attention back to 2010 and the decisions that were made then, and who made those decisions.
“This is just further evidence that my petition is appropriate,” Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, said. Emery announced yesterday that he filed a Senate Remonstration petition against Nixon for his potential involvement in the document-scanning issue. “We need the governor to take responsibility and this petition asks him to do that because clearly there have been some violations.”
House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said he he is shocked to see the “obvious lack of transparency and accountability to the people of Missouri,” in response to the Homeland Security letter.
“The executive branch has shaken the public trust and confidence in the highest levels of our state government,” Jones added. “It appears that the General Assembly has been misled as to the goal to implement REAL ID in our state. This is the smoking gun.”
To contact Ashley Jost, email ashley@themissouritimes.com, or via Twitter at @ajost.
Ashley Jost is no longer with The Missouri Times. She worked as the executive editor for several months, and a reporter before that.
