600 Missouri workers received an early Christmas present from Governor-elect Jay Nixon this week.

Intro: 600 Missouri workers received an unwanted early Christmas present from Governor-elect Jay Nixon this week.

Brenda Martens has more from Jefferson City.

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Governor-elect Jay Nixon sent a letter to 600 state employees asking them to justify their positions.

The director of the Department of Revenue Omar Davis says he's already hearing concerns from people in his office.

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Description: "A lot of people were shaken because they've never received anything like this through any other transition, to be honest. And like I said, for the most part the people that received the letters are career employees, they've been here 15, 20 plus years."

Nixon's office did not return phone calls asking why the letters were sent.

His top budget adviser has said the state faces a 340 million dollar budget shortfall.

Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Brenda Martens.

Intro: With two weeks left until Christmas, Missouri's next Governor sent out a startling letter to 600 state employees.

Brenda Martens has more from the State Capitol.

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OutCue: SOC It wasn't exactly Merry Christmas you're fired, but it was Merry Christmas justify your jobs.

According to the Director of Revenue Omar Davis some employees are confused as to why they recieved the letter.

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Description: There, there was quite a bit of concern that hey, you know, we're not in political positions, we don't, we've never considered ourselves to be political people and so why are we being asked to do this.

Employees ranging from clerical assistants to department managers received the letter.

Nixon's office did not return our phone calls Thursday, but his budget advisor has predicted a budget shortfall of 1/3 of a billion dollars.

Reporting from the State Capitol, I'm Brenda Martens.

Intro: A few days after Jay Nixon expressed sympathy towards workers laid off by Anheiser Busch, he sent a notice to 600 Missouri state workers asking them justify their jobs.

Brenda Martens has more from the State Capitol.

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OutCue: SOC Governor-elect Jay Nixon's office was unavailable for comment on why the letters were sent.

Director of Missouri's Revenue Departement Omar Davis says the lawyers who work in his department are especially concerned with the motivation behind the letters.

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Description: Several of them have expressed some concern about it, especially given the fact that the incoming governor is the outgoing Attorney General and has a lot of lawyers on staff, who may be looking for other jobs, and some of our jobs pay better than the assistant AG jobs.

Davis hopes the letters were issued because of budget difficulties rather than politics.

The Governr-elect's bugdet advisor says Missouri faces a 340 million dollar budget shortfall.

From Jefferson City, I'm Brenda Martens.