MS Not the Last in Something, Federal Judicial Inefficiency

I found this article interesting as it talks about the slow pace of cases winding their way through the federal judiciary. The article also reports on some of the slowest of the slow, 2 of which are Mississippi's own, Henry Wingate, Chief Judge of the Mississippi Southern District, and Glen Davidson, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Mississippi. Wingate made the list because of backed up motions and Davidson made the list based on case backlog. I've actually Judge Wingate a couple of times and sat in the audience in his courtroom and he seems like a nice enough guy and he runs a tight courtroom, which I prefer, but he is known for his sloth-like pace in ruling. I've never been before Davidson, if anyone has please let us know your take in the comments.

One thing I would like to include is that how the system works in Mississippi might contribute to the Chief Judges being on the list while others are not. I believe the way it works is that all cases and motions are filed and the Chief Judge distributes them to the other judges and keeps some for himself. One thing that might skew theses listings is a judge who holds back extra cases or wants "all the hard one's for himself" which naturally take longer to rule on and to right good, tight opinions. I'm not sure if that is the case here but it might be.

Legislative Round-up

Time to look at a couple of bills that are still alive that are generating interest in this years Mississippi Legislature.

• SB 2622 - a bill to strengthen the penalty on "home invasion" to 10 years from 3 years. What is happening here is they are creating a different standard from simple burglary and what can be considered home invasion. This bill has already passed the Senate and has been sent to the House.
• HB 1013 - a bill to increase the cigarette tax in Mississippi from 18 cents per pack to $1.18 per pack. The bill passed the House 74-42 and has been sent to the Senate
• SB 2468 - voter i.d. bill that would require the presenting of an i.d. at the polling place, This bill has passed the Senate and has been sent to the House.
• HB 609 - a bill to freeze hiring by state agency in this budget restricted year. The bill has passed the House and been submitted to the Senate.
  
• SB 2793 - a bill that will allow utility companies to raise rates before construction actually begins on building certain types of new plants. This bill has passed the Senate 38-11 and there is a companion version working its way through the House, HB 1274.
• HB 1089 - a bill that will allow hunters to hunt deer over bait. This bill has passed the House and been submitted to the Senate
  
• HB 342 - a bill to allow municipalities to seize drug houses is still alive but has not passed either chamber as of yet.
  
• HB 1148 - was an interesting bill that died in committee last week. The bill would have expanded the authority of the A.G. to ask a judge to approve a wire-tap in cases beyond just drug cases (which is the current law). Hood is alleging partisanship as the reason this bill has been killed.
  

Mississippi Lottery ???

Some mornings I listen to local talk radio as I drive into Jackson in the mornings (that is until I get mad at the over generalizations and rhetoric). Today's topic, however, was interesting to me as it concerned the yearly talk about Mississippi considering a lottery.

For those looking for historical context Mississippi is squarely in the bible belt politically and, in general, seems to pride itself on abstaining from "sinfulness" with regards to things like alcohol (which wasn't repealed in Mississippi until the late 50's I believe), gaming (which passed in a very contentious manner in the mid-90's but the gambling houses had to be on the water and then there was another big fight after Hurricane Katrina when some of the establishments wanted off of the water and onto dry land) and sex toys (which are banned from sale and it has repeatedly been taken to court).

I love to hear the arguments between the "tax on the poor" people and the "it would save education" people as there points don't really go against each other in philosophy but they definitely differ on passage of the bill. I'll keep my opinions on this too myself unless someone wants to hear them in the comments.

The bill in question in HB 1043 which is reportedly going to die in Committee according to Chairman of the Gaming Committee Bobby Moak. The bill was offered by Reps. Clarke, Mayo, Thomas, and Hines. For the status of HB 1043 see here. There is also a lottery bill in the Senate, SB 2029, offered by Senator Butler. For the status of SB 2029 see here.

Hood's Statement

As most people who read this blog probably know Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has had close ties with several attorneys who have recently been indicted / disbarred / accused of judicial (and executive) bribery. Yesterday Hood sat down with the Clarion Ledger, Mississippi's largest paper, and made the statement: "It would be like prosecuting relatives" if he were to bring charges against the attorney's in question. When I read the statement from A.G. Hood yesterday my first thought was, "Wow, I bet he wishes he could take that back and say it differently."

There is a system in place Hood is relying on, namely local state D.A. prosecutors, to cover the state crimes and quite honestly he is probably doing exactly what he should be but he certainly didn't help himself with this latest interview as all the details are buried at the tail of the story just like any newspaper would do. It is statements like this that get people run out of office, not that I can advocating that, but historically Hood will never be viewed in the same light as before he made the family comment.

Mississippi Congressmen and their earmarks

I am ashamed as a Mississippian that our representation in D.C. has not only the worst earmarking Senator in Thad Cochran but also had the worst earmarking Representative in Roger Wicker.

Cochran collected $837 million in earmarks this number was almost double any other Senator
while Wicker led the House with $178 million, many shared with Cochran
Here is the link to the OMB earmark page if you want to do further research

Also, if you have forgotten Wicker is now Mississippi's interim Senator following Trent Lott's resignation and is in the special election to be held in November.

I understand that it might be considered by some good to bring money back to your state but I am opposed to sticking "earmarks" into bills after they have been voted on. If Mississippi is to get money then it should be voted, as should ever other state's chance to get money from the Feds. Maybe I should try and strengthen my Republican ties because they obviously know the folks who get government contracts.

Watch the Mississippi Legislature Online

Courtesy of Mississippi Public Broadcasting online

Columbia Training School to close

The much discussed Columbia Training School in Marion County, Mississippi is finally going to be closed after years of law suits and troubles dealing with administrating the once welcomed center. The idea behind Columbia was to provide a place for troubled female juveniles to have a program to go to when their parents feel they could no longer control the child and needed help. This was the alternative to some purely juvenile jail or constant run-ins with the law with a boot camp type idea. Unfortunately, the Department of Human Services (DHS), run by Col. Don Taylor, couldn't keep the employee's of the school from acting inappropriately and according to reports regarding a 2003 Federal Department of Justice lawsuit against the state of Mississippi regarding conditions at Columbia and the male school (Oakley). This suit ended up with an extensive consent decree in which the State agreed to fix conditions and the treatment of the juveniles to avoid money damages or the pulling of federal funding for related programs. (I'm fairly sure no federal money actually went directly to these two schools.) Unfortunately the State continued to have issues including a claim of sexual abuse by one of the employees that was investigated and dismissed but the accusation still stands. Additionally, there have been other more recent reports of shackling of juveniles and denial of mental health treatment. All of this had led to to the closing of Columbia, something that has been called for for years, one example here.

Lawmaker Pay Raises passes in the House

In a closer than expected vote, at least to me, House Bill 859 passed in the House 61 to 60 to support giving legislators a pay raise. It is now on the to state Senate and I'm interested to see if the same bill will be passed seeing as how the Senate is more of a Republican controlled body and I can only assume the 61 - 60 vote fell along the same lines as the McCoy - Smith Speakers race. For the record this bill in its original form was offered by Rep. Coleman from Mound Bayou.

It's Official: Senate Special Election will be in November

In a decision that was of little surprise to most the MS Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Governor Barbour's interpretation of Miss Code Sec. 23-15-855 was more correct than the interpretation of A.G. Hood. We had a bit of discussion of the events leading up to this decision here, here and here.

Looking at this politically I really don't know if this would have been the best overall outcome for the Governor as if Obama wins the Democratic nomination for President and if McCain is the Republican nominee you may see a great push in democrats, mainly thinking minorities, while a great apathy of Republicans can be projected in Mississippi. I'm not willing to say a state that voted 60 - 40 for the Republican candidate in 2004 will go Blue but I think an election with those 2 candidates would be much, much closer than the last Presidential election, and if it is close the Dem candidate, most likely Musgrove might have a chance against Roger Wicker.

State Farm v. Jim Hood comes to a quick conclusion

Just a day after the Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood, took the stand to testify to his office's role in what may best be described as overlapping criminal and civil suits against State Farm with regards to Hurricane Katrina suits the case is over. See here for a fairly good recap of the events by the Clarion Ledger. Apparently a decision was reached last night and no one is really talking about what the settlement contains. I have a feeling both parties just want this to go away at this point and that is probably what will happen.