Attorney General's News Release

March 10, 2008

2007 annual report from Attorney General Nixon highlights $20.84 generated or saved for every dollar office received

Pictured above: Front cover of the 2007 Attorney General's Office Annual Report

Jefferson City, Mo. — The newly released annual report from Attorney General Jay Nixon highlights his office’s achievements for 2007, including saving or generating $20.84 for Missouri taxpayers for every dollar appropriated to the office. That savings figure is the highest since the office began determining the ratio of dollars saved to dollars received for its annual report in 2001.

“We’ve worked diligently to make government more effective and more efficient, and our annual report reflects many of those accomplishments in 2007 on behalf of the people of Missouri,” Nixon said.

The theme of the annual report, “A Strong Voice for Missouri,” emphasizes how the Attorney General’s Office is the voice for protecting Missourians and the state in many venues. The theme is repeated in sections that demonstrate how the Attorney General’s Office has been a strong voice for consumers, for the environment, for safety, for taxpayers, for public and nonprofit interests, for families, and for good and open government.

Among the accomplishments of the office featured in the 2007 annual report are:

• The recovery of a record $9.3 million for consumers through informal mediation efforts, along with an additional $8.95 million obtained for consumers through court judgments;
• The historic settlement of more than $175 million with Ameren that resolved Nixon’s lawsuit over the collapse of the Taum Sauk reservoir;
• The successful defense of the state’s school funding formula against a three-year long challenge;
• The recovery of more than $14 million for taxpayers from individuals and businesses that defrauded the Medicaid program;
• The $138 million brought in to state coffers in 2007 from the nation’s tobacco companies through the 1998 agreement that Nixon obtained;
• The $853,000 recovered from inmates who have the resources to pay for the cost of their upkeep;
• The successful efforts to give new life to the Black Archives of Mid-America, one of the nation’s premier collections of documents and artifacts chronicling African-American history;

The annual report can be viewed online at ago.mo.gov and also is available in a printed format from the Attorney General’s Office.

Read 2007 annual report

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818