From Legal News Line:

Much like his decision not to file state charges against the attorneys who pleaded guilty to a pair of judicial bribery schemes, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is claiming a conflict of interest prevents him from defending Gov. Haley Barbour in a Medicaid lawsuit.

Hood, a Democrat, told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that he must protect the interests of other branches of the state’s government, a stance Barbour, a Republican, called “absurd.”

A group of hospitals are suing Barbour for attempting to increase the statutory Gross Revenue Assessment they pay. Barbour is trying to fix a $90 million Medicaid shortfall.

“I have to make sure that claims made by one branch of government do not violate the powers of the other two branches,” Hood told the Jackson paper Monday.

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