JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is taking heat over deciding his own reimbursement to the state for his use of state cars and security while campaigning.

Nixon told local media Friday he would repay $47,000 for his use of cars and security detail at political campaign events over the past three years. Nixon is the only Democratic candidate for Missouri Governor next year against Republican incumbent Matt Blunt.

The AG had originally defended the use of vehicles and personnel at rallies but reversed course earlier this month and agreed to pay their expenses, LNL reported. Nixon's office calculated mileage at $19,939 and security-employees' salaries at $27,082, the Kansas City Star reported.

A Blunt campaign spokesman said Nixon's setting his own reimbursement figure was the equivalent of a speeder offering a trooper $25 to cover the fine. Blogger John Hancock of Missouri Pulse called Nixon's $47,000 figure an "arbitrary conclusion," the Springfield News-Leader reported yesterday.

"If State Auditor Susan Montee took her job seriously, she would immediately intervene on behalf of Missouri taxpayers and hold Nixon to account," Hancock wrote. "Anything less will result in an unseemly spectacle whereby the state's top law-enforcement official is cleared to act as his own judge, jury and executioner."