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Brian Long Resigns As Director Of Mo. Dept. Of Revenue

Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has announced that Brian Long has resigned as Director of the Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR).The resignation is effective immediately.

“I want to thank Brian [Long] for his service to the state of Missouri in heading up this department, and wish him well in his future endeavors,” Nixon said in a statement regarding the resignation.  In addition, Nixon's Press Secretary, Scott Holste, said that Long voluntarily stepped down and that he was neither asked nor encouraged to resign.

Long's departure follows weeks of controversy surrounding the agency’s handling of documents for driver’s license and conceal-carry-weapons (CCW) applicants.  He had testified at a number of hearings that the Department of Revenue was scanning source documents as a means of combatting fraud, and that no one’s information was being stored in a database for the Department of Homeland Security or otherwise being sent to the federal government.  Then news broke last week that the agency had compiled the entire list of the state’s 163,000 CCW holders for theMissouri State Highway Patrol.  The Patrol then provided it to the Social Security Administration for an investigation it was conducting.

Kurt Schaefer(R, Columbia) chairs the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee, which has been examining the Department of Revenue’s actions.

“Simply throwing the Director under the bus isn’t gonna be a fix for the policy problems that raised all this in the first place," Schaefer said.  "I hope (the Nixon Administration doesn't think) that...this is gonna end it, because it doesn’t end anything.  It doesn’t change the policy, (and) it still doesn’t answer the questions that are still out there on why this happened in the first place.”  

Long had only been on the job for about three months, having been named DOR Director last December.  Deputy Director John Mollenkamp will serve as Acting Director until a permanent replacement is named.

Nixon has also denied that the department was sending the documents and a lawsuit was filed on the issue.

Follow Marshall Griffin and Kelsey Proud on Twitter:  @MarshallGReport @KelseyProud

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Kelsey Proud is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she earned a Convergence (Multimedia) Journalism degree. She has worked at PBS Interactive in Washington, D.C., MSN UK News in London and is a social media enthusiast. Kelsey feels journalism is truly a public service and hopes her work enhances community and reaches those who need information most. Though she's "from" Chicago, Kelsey has also lived in several different regions of the United States, including periods of time in North Carolina, Ohio, New Mexico and Illinois. Her extended family has roots in Boone and Audrain counties in Missouri, too. She is a wannabe chef and globe trekker, former competitive golfer and band-ie (trumpet), and honorary Missourian.
Marshall Griffin
St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.