That the state of Mississippi’s own law-enforcement bodies lacked the capability to wiretap a judicial office helped turn Scruggs into a Federal case. Well, yesterday Jim Hood said he’ll try again next year to convince the state lege to allow his office wiretapping authority in not just drug cases (as it has now) but in jury tampering and white-collar-crime cases too. According to the AP’s coverage of a luncheon in Jackson,
“You get ‘em by their own words,” Hood said.
Some lawmakers worried that an attorney general could prosecute political enemies if given wiretap authority.
“It’s unfortunate that I think politics got involved in the decision of whether or not our state law enforcement ought to be able to do it,” Hood said. “Of course, you’ve got to go through a judge, just like your search warrant.”
(There’s that pesky politico-legal snarl-up again, ha? Once partisanship has worked its nose under law-enforcement’s tent, how in the world to run it out of there again?)
Sez here, Hood also discussed the practice of the AG’s hiring private firms to represent the state:
“We have a system that if someone brings us a case and they’ve got the money to back it and they’ve got the ability to handle it and it’s a good case, then they get the case,” he said.
He said there are only eight or 10 law firms in Mississippi that are large enough and wealthy enough to pay the upfront costs of handling massive litigation on behalf of the state. Private attorneys get paid only after a case is finished.
And of course, one of — well, THE — way a law firm becomes that major in a state is by working the politicians’ strings right, huh? Gah . . .
Lotus// You damn right thats the way it has been with Jim Hood. It would not have mattered one IOTA if the lawyers were to the L or R if he had been fair and out front with what he was doing. Now to jump on the bloggers he needs wire tapping authority, that’s telephone lines right. Without the internet most of S/M/H/L would have been GLOSSED over and We would have never been the WISER.
‘Twasn’t the politics of the Legislature but the politics that HE (Hood) has been playing that upset the wiretap ‘apple cart.’
Nobody trusts the guy.
Right after Hood gave his spiel at the Capitol and lost I spoke to a R-lawyer-legislator who was on the committee.
Me: “Look, I think he has a reasonable proposal. The AG should have that capability.”
Legislator: “Yeah. The proposal was reasonable. If Hood were reasonable and trustworthy he would have gotten it. But he is not either one. We would have been doing sweeps of Haley’s office every day.”