© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

No plans to scale back air travel for Nixon

Despite a campaign ad attacking the practice, Governor Jay Nixon says he has no plans to scale back his air travel.

Earlier this week the Missouri Republican State Committee began airing radio spots criticizing the Democratic governor’s air travel, dubbing him “Air Jay.”

Governor Nixon also has come under fire from the legislature and the state’s auditor, for billing state agencies for his trips on state planes, about $400,000 over two years.

At a press conference in St. Louis the governor said he’s not going to sit “cloistered in his office in Jefferson City.”

“I hear from people out here, it’s a chance to talk to these workers… it gives me a much more realistic flavor of what I need to do to succeed as the leader of this state, what I need to do to turn this economy around, to get out here," Nixon said. "Governors have always done this.”

Asked whether a state agency would be picking up the tab for his trip to St. Louis, the governor said the allocations are done by someone other than him.

Maria is the newscast, business and education editor for St. Louis Public Radio.