ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources might ask Attorney General Jay Nixon to remove himself from legal action over the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse.  Nixon’s campaign for governor in 2008 accepted more than $19,000 indirectly from Ameren, the parent company of the utility that owns the reservoir.

  DNR director Doyle Childers says he is losing faith in Nixon's ability to represent the state in its case against Ameren, which delayed repairs to water level monitoring equipment at Taum Sauk before it collapsed.

  Nixon says any contributions from Ameren would not affect his investigation.  Ameren says it won't discuss any specific contributions.

  Four contributions from Ameren were funneled through Democratic committees to Nixon's campaign in March.  Because the contributions were not directly from Ameren, the utility's name does not appear on Nixon's campaign financial disclosures.

  The contributions all came after Nixon launched an investigation of Ameren.  The Taum Sauk reservoir collapse in December devastated Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park and injured the park superintendent’s family of five.

   "It's just such an obvious conflict that I just can't comprehend someone doing that," Childers said.

   Childers said members of DNR's legal staff are considering whether to ask Nixon to recuse himself from the Taum Sauk case.  Childers expects to meet this week with Gov. Matt Blunt's staff to discuss the matter.  Blunt’s chief spokesman, Spence Jackson, said Ameren’s donations call into question Nixon's credibility for handling Taum Sauk litigation.

  The stakes are high for DNR, which incurred millions of dollars in damages because of the Taum Sauk collapse, Childers said.  If Nixon steps off the investigation, Childers said DNR would likely hire an outside attorney to act as special prosecutor on the matter.

   In April, Nixon said he would soon file a lawsuit or criminal charges against the company.  Since then, he said he has backed off litigation and is in "complicated discussions" with Ameren over the accident.

    "Unequivocally, my decisions are based on what's best for the people of Missouri and I have a 20-year record to prove that," Nixon said last week.

   He also said he wouldn't refuse future donations from Ameren because he does not want to run for governor with "one hand tied behind my back."

    Childers said Nixon hasn't shared much information about the Taum Sauk investigation so he doesn't know if Nixon plans to file a lawsuit or settle the case.  Ameren's spokeswoman, Susan Gallagher, said last week that Ameren would not discuss any possible settlement negotiations with Nixon over the Taum Sauk collapse.  She declined to answer questions about the political contributions that eventually went to Nixon's campaign, and would not say if the company intended that the committees pass the money on to the campaign.

   A review of state documents shows Ameren made four payments of $5,000 to separate campaign finance committees between January and March.  None of the groups had that much money on hand at the time, and all gave nearly $5,000 to Nixon's campaign on March 31.  Officials with the four Democratic committees said there is nothing illegal or unethical about their decisions to give the donations to Nixon, and said they were not pressured to do so.