Just over a decade ago, the same kind of sparring took place between Gov. Kirk Fordice and Attorney General Mike Moore.

Much of the fighting was partisan politics. Fordice was a Republican and Moore was a Democrat. It came to a head, though, when Moore filed what would become a landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Moore, a charismatic lawyer who made his name rooting out public corruption as a district attorney on the Gulf Coast, wanted to force cigarette makers to pay the tab for Mississippians who became sick from their products.

Moore used a stable of private attorneys, including some of his campaign contributors, to file the suit in 1994. The move elicited a rebuke from Fordice.

“Any idiot can see it’s all about lawyers’ fees,” Fordice said during one of his more famous tirades.

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