Search Results
MS: Judge Says AG Hood Must Testify
Last Updated on Friday, 25 January 2008 01:54 Written by rslcpol Friday, 25 January 2008 01:03
“State Farm claims Hood improperly worked with Scruggs and blurred the legal lines separating criminal and civil cases.” That’s a devastating line of copy to read if you’re an attorney, much less an attorney general. You gotta wonder if these guys, Scruggs, Hood, and Co really think that the road really goes on forever and the party never ends.
JACKSON (AP) — Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood must testify in a lawsuit filed by State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. that accuses him of violating an agreement to end a criminal investigation of the insurer’s handling of Hurricane Katrina claims, a federal judge ruled Thursday.State Farm sued Hood last September, accusing him of violating his part of a January 2007 agreement that also called for State Farm to pay millions more to victims of the August 2005 storm.
Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
MS: AG Hood Says Wiretaps Will Help ‘Clean Up Image’
Last Updated on Thursday, 24 January 2008 11:34 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 24 January 2008 11:34
Giving the state authority to conduct wiretaps and amending Mississippi’s obstruction-of-justice-statute to include bribing a judge are among items on Attorney General Jim Hood’s legislative wish list.
Hood told a group of state senators Wednesday the legislation, it passed, could help clean up the image of Mississippi’s judicial system and help the state prosecute public corruption cases.
The suggestions come at a time when the scandal involving Oxford lawyer Dickie Scruggs is widening.
But some experts are skeptical about how wiretapping would affect privacy issues, and wonder how it can be carried out without a bigger budget and staff.
Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
MS: Dem AG Hood Thinks Katrina Lawyers Bribery Charges Won’t Affect The Katrina Suits
Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 December 2007 12:35 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 12 December 2007 12:16
Nor will the bribery investigation in any way taint, or impact Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood’s chances at future elected office. Those boys just happened to get a heck of a deal, that’s all.
Jackson — Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says the bribery charges against the prominent lawyer he used as a “confidential informant” in a Hurricane Katrina investigation won’t affect the state’s lawsuits over storm damages.Richard “Dickie” Scruggs was indicted Nov. 28 on charges claiming Scruggs and several associates tried to bribe a state court judge in a case involving disputed legal fees.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
MS: Dem AG Hood Tries To Distance Himself From Indicted Lawyer
Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 December 2007 02:26 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 12 December 2007 10:20
It’s critical to highlight as well Langston and Co have been huge donors to Jim Hood and some national Democrat A.G. organizations he supports, and has been supported by in the last two elections.
According to Federal records, Joey Langston himself has given at least $150,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association. And according to state records, he have over $30,000 to Mr. Hood in 2003. In 2007 Dickie Scruggs gave at least $33,000 to Hood, Joey Langston gave over $20,000 to Hood, and Steve Patterson of Balducci and Patterson gave $10,000 to Hood. This road is going to go on forever…
State voters were flooded with information about Attorney General Jim Hood’s personal and political relationship with famed Booneville attorney Joey Langston and his former legal associate Tim Balducci during the Hood’s recent general election showdown with Republican nominee Al Hopkins.Hopkins and the state Republican Party told the voters often and in great detail about Hood’s decision to award an outside counsel contingency fee contract to Langston’s law firm and the Lundy and Davis law firm in Louisiana that ultimately led to the state’s 2005 $100 million settlement MCI for alleged tax fraud.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
MS: Judge Denies Scruggs Use Of Jet
Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 December 2007 02:28 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 11 December 2007 11:27
Troubles of AG Jim Hood’s good buddy, Dickie Scruggs, keep on keeping on:
No jet-setting for famed trial lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, even if it’s just work.
U.S. Magistrate S. Allan Alexander on Monday said Scruggs will have to pay for commercial travel to talk with his California lawyers and other out-of-state interests.
The Wall Street Journal blog has the Judges order
When does this one end? It appears the Feds have the big pinch on the Scruggs clan – under that kind of pressure, father and son relationships run much deeper than political and professional relationships.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
MS: GOP LG May Run for Governor in 2011
Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 December 2008 11:38 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 2 December 2008 11:08
Republicans do have a deep bench in Mississippi…and Democrats have a damaged splintered bench. Remember Jamie Franks? What about Jim Hood? Mike Moore anyone? Yes, it will be interesting to watch just who Mississippi Democrats dredge up to run for Governor in 2011. From the North East Mississippi Daily Journal:
Still, there is considerable talk about who will run for governor. Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant said recently in Hattiesburg that he might consider a run for the state’s top post in 2011 to succeed Haley Barbour, who is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third term. There has also been speculation that Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Treasurer Tate Reeves, former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and outgoing U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering might vie for the open seat.
There is a pattern with all of the above-mentioned candidates. They are all Republicans and there are others who would be legitimate candidates, such as Auditor Stacey Pickering.
It takes a little imagination and creativity to ascertain the names of potential Democratic candidates for governor.
Posted under Lieutenant Governor News | No Comments
Biden’s Looking to Move Up
Last Updated on Monday, 25 August 2008 01:02 Written by rslcpol Monday, 25 August 2008 12:53
Has it been the plan all along? There’s some talk of Attorney General Beau Biden taking his dad’s job in the U.S. Senate if the older Biden becomes the next Vice President.
Now we all know the ties between the famous imprisoned trial Lawyer Dickie Scruggs, Jim Hood, Joe Biden and the Democratic Attorneys General Association. Y’all Politics in Mississippi reminds us of this whole Biden/Scruggs/Hood connection, pointing us to the Wall Street Journal post titled – The Mess in Mississippi: The Joe Biden Connection.
Amazingly, Joe Biden has been the only one so far to really distance himself from Dickie Scruggs. DAGA has somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 Scruggs and Co. money that it still won’t cough up. And Attorney General Jim Hood is of the “out of site (in jail) out of mind” set, hoping people forget about that whole prosecuting “Scruggs would be like prosecuting a member of the family” statement.
Why is it that the others won’t return the cash? Well, Biden of course returned the money before the text message read round the… well, read by whoever signed up to find out at 3:45AM.
So here’s our question: If it was prudent to return the Dirty Scruggs money before running as the Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee, isn’t it prudent that DAGA return its Scruggs cash? Does the “like father, like son” Attorney General only apply to the office the Son seeks?
From the Washington Post Capitol Briefing:
It has long been assumed in the Delaware political world that Sen. Joe Biden (D) wanted his son, Beau Biden, to succeed him in the Senate. The speculation increased when the younger Biden was elected state attorney general in 2006, giving him an attractive resume; and some needed experience for a potential Senate campaign or appointment.
Beau Biden has been in that post for less than two years, and the dominoes are starting to fall. As you may have heard via text message, Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee for vice president. Biden is up for reelection this year to the Senate, but Delaware law allows him to run for both offices at the same time. It is possible that he will now quit the Senate, or at least leave his reelection race, to focus on the presidential race, but there’s no indication yet that he will do so, especially with Congress only scheduled to be in session a few more weeks this year. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in 2000 both stayed in the chamber as they ran on the presidential ticket, and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) don’t appear likely to leave their day jobs, either.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | 3 Comments
Wall Street Jornal and the Lawsuit, Inc.
Last Updated on Monday, 25 February 2008 01:24 Written by rslcpol Monday, 25 February 2008 01:24
Should state Attorneys General be able to outsource their legal work to for-profit tort lawyers, who then funnel a share of their winnings back to the AGs? That’s become a sleazy practice in many states, and it is finally coming under scrutiny — notably in Mississippi, home of Dickie Scruggs, Attorney General Jim Hood, and other legal pillars.
The Mississippi Senate recently passed a bill requiring Mr. Hood to pursue competitive bidding before signing contracts of more than $500,000 with private lawyers. The legislation also requires a review board to examine contracts, and limits contingency fees to $1 million. Mr. Hood is trying to block the law in the state House, and no wonder considering how sweet this business has been for him and his legal pals.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
Legal Super Heroes?
Last Updated on Friday, 28 September 2007 03:32 Written by rslcpol Friday, 31 August 2007 04:30
Are super trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs and not so super Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood the new Dynamic Duo?
David Rossmiller over at ICLB talks about Jim Hood’s latest claim that his buddy political pal Scruggs is confidential informant. So that would make Scruggs a secret agent? Is Dickie Scruggs the new Jason Bourne?
This is just to rich for you not to read.
Posted under Blog | No Comments
Mississippi Legal Fees
Last Updated on Thursday, 21 June 2007 06:15 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 21 June 2007 06:15
Mississippi columnist Sid Salter shines a little light on Democrat A.G.’s
Jim Hood’s belief that his friends should be paid much better for state
legal work than lawyers who aren’t his friends. That seems to be Salter’s
take. Check out this lead in:
One interesting sideline to the
state Supreme Court's near-unanimous rejection of the unconstitutional and
illegal diversion of $20 million a year to the Partnership for a Healthy
Mississippi was the revelation that Attorney General Jim Hood thinks outside
counsel legal fees should be $150 per hour.
Uh, $150 per hour? Is that really
what Hood believes the going rate should be for outside counsel hirings by
state officials? Seems so.
Too bad Hood didn't use that figure
when he hired his longtime friend and largest campaign contributor Joey
Langston of Booneville and another firm to split $14 million in legal fees in
the $100 million MCI/WorldCom case. Langston ended up with about $7 million of
those fees.
Too bad former attorney general Mike
Moore didn't use that figure back when he hired his longtime friend and largest
campaign contributor Dickie Scruggs to handle the state's tobacco litigation
that Moore used to create the Partnership diversion.
Scruggs and a hand-picked group of
trial lawyers reportedly split more than $1.4 billion in legal fees from the
state's tobacco litigation.
And this little gem:
Apparently, when the governor or
state treasurer of Mississippi wants to hire outside counsel to represent him,
the going rate is $150 per hour. But when the state's attorney general – at
least when Moore or Hood hold that position – hires outside counsel, the going
rate is a contingency fee negotiated by the attorney general with no oversight
from anyone.
Read all about
it here.
Posted under Attorney General News, Lieutenant Governor News, State Legislature News | No Comments