Just Released Filings Reveal Scruggs and Langston Appear to have Funneled $400k Through DAGA to Hood’s Campaign
Mississippi Needs the ‘Sunshine’ Bill
Jackson, MS – Citing a recently released IRS filing which reveals that indicted trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs and trial lawyer Joey Langston appear to have funneled $400,000 to Attorney General Jim Hood’s campaign in the final days before the election through the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA), Mississippians for Economic Progress (MFEP) called again for ‘sunshine’ legislation to restore accountability to the office.
“Our biggest concern with Attorney General Jim Hood has been his propensity to appoint his campaign contributors to lucrative legal contracts outside of the public eye,” said MFEP Chairman Lex Taylor. “These campaign finance reports, which appear to show that trial lawyers funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Hood campaign, combined with the Attorney General’s track record of awarding lucrative legal contracts to campaign donors, only serve to reinforce the need for ‘sunshine’ legislation to restore transparency and accountability to the Attorney General’s office.”
MFEP’s review of 2007 DAGA disclosure forms, which were recently made available on the Internal Revenue Service’s web site, revealed Joey Langston, who recently pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a judge, gave $100,000 to DAGA. Dickie Scruggs, who recently was indicted on federal bribery charges, gave $100,000 to DAGA as well as a second contribution of $200,000. After these contributions were made, DAGA gave $150,000 and $250,000 to the Hood campaign. Law firms that received state legal contracts from Attorney General Hood’s office also contributed over $220,000 to DAGA.
As past reports have shown, these DAGA contributions could be an attempt to obscure the sources of the contributions. For example, on October 15, 2003, trial lawyers Joey Langston and David Nutt gave $100,000 and $50,000, respectively, to DAGA. The next day, DAGA gave $150,000 to the Hood campaign. Langston, Hood’s largest campaign contributor at the time, was hired by Hood to represent the state in the WorldCom case—and split $14 million dollars in fees.
“It is unsettling that Hood has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a source that was not required to disclose its contributors until after the election,” Taylor said. “This is yet another example of why we need ‘sunshine’ legislation for the Attorney General’s office.”
There are two bills currently before the Legislature, SB 2188 and HB 1194, which would help ensure an open and accountable hiring process in the Attorney General’s office. Mr. Hood has also introduced a bill through Representative Blackmon to address ‘sunshine’ issues. However, the Attorney General’s proposal does not contain all of the changes needed for transparency and accountability.
Mississippians deserve a process for hiring attorneys in which the people’s interest, and not the interests of trial lawyers, come first. An open process would make the Attorney General’s office transparent and accountable to the people of Mississippi.