Connecting Kitchens and Diaz

Jim Kitchens and Oliver Diaz are both running for the Mississippi Supreme Court. Diaz was acquitted of charges involving a judicial bribery scheme in which trial lawyer Paul Minor, former chancery court judge Walter W. Teel, and former circuit judge John H. Whitfield were convicted. Also wrapped up in that trial was Oliver's wife Jennifer Diaz. He is proud to have been acquitted, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of tax evasion. Her attorney was Jim Kitchens who said she, "did what she did for her family.” Just an interesting connection.

Gene Barton's Team: Bennie Thompson, NAACP, Barack Obama

Gene Barton already announced he is pro-choice. We don't need to wait till he is on the bench to find out that opinion. Now we know how liberal he really is. In Greenwood, Gene Barton said he had been endorsed by the U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson and the Mississippi Democratic Party. He said the NAACP has not endorsed him but is helping his campaign with resources. And Obama?

Barton also linked his campaign to that of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

“In fact — this was before I got in the race — I was going to put all of my energy into Obama’s campaign,” he told the Democratic crowd to sustained applause.

He said his support for Obama early on had his neighbors talking.

“They said, ‘Gene Barton, he’s got an Obama sign in his yard. Nobody else has one in the whole county,’” Barton said.

Barton then said Obama was “very worthy of the office” of president before adding, “But I’m not supposed to endorse anybody. I still have an opinion. It is hard to shut me up.”

Ronnie Mus-go Away Again

No Friend of the Coast



Where in the World Is Ronnie Musgrove?



Musgrove's Bad Road: Dead Ends, Wrong Turns

Kitchens Negative Attacks

Used to before the election, desperate campaigns would circulate a scandal sheet with false or scurrilous allegations against their opponents. They'd end up on cars or in your yard or handed out right before the election. The Jim Kitchens Campaign has done the online version (which they are free to do). I won't bother linking it, but in their news release the Kitchens campaign says "We have said from day one that this race should be about the issues, about a person’s record and not about personal attacks." Except none of the Kitchens false allegations are about Jim Smith's record. None. They don't show where he ruled incorrectly in a single case. They are all personal attacks. Desperation.

The Kitchens campaign did have the courage to sign their name to the attacks. So they also deserve the credit for their negativity.

Today the Neshoba County Democrat endorsed Jim Smith. The endorsement says in part:

Smith has run a strictly positive campaign and worked to earn every vote, visiting every cabin and camper at the Neshoba County Fair....Kitchens' campaign has festered with negativity and attacks against Smith.

The endorsement also says:

Chief Justice Jim Smith has a proven record of fairness on the Mississippi Supreme Court. Under his leadership, the Court has cleared all its backlogs and is current for the first time in decades. He administers the Court with professionalism and respect for the dignity of the law that is sorely needed in Mississippi's legal profession today...Smith is known in his community as an intelligent jurist and a humble man of faith...Mississippi will benefit from the re-election of an honest and fair man of integrity like Jim Smith.

Honor. Fairness. Professionalism. Dignity. Not negative attacks.

(Truth is, RespondMississippi enjoys watching campaigns get rough and tumble. We like the attack ads and the quips and the partisan rhetoric. We want more, not less. We don't believe the press does its job at exposing records, and so the opposition campaigns must do it instead. And Smith may need to respond to Kitchens aggressively. But let it be known the first shots were fired by Kitchens.)

Statesmanship

Senator Thad Cochran
(Responding Via Y'all Politics)

Litigation Addiction

It is clear that plaintiff attorneys around the country are pumping in money to change the Mississippi Supreme Court. They are funding Jim Kitchens in hopes to defeat Chief Justice Jim Smith.

But litigation addicts in Mississippi are helping, too. Just looking at the big names on his most recent report. David Baria, former Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association president gave $1000. Shane Langston sent him $1200. The Mike Moore Firm gave $1000. Ed Williamson of Philadelphia and Isaac Byrd of Jackson each gave $1000.

But of course trial lawyers will fund his campaign. The funny part is the litigation addiction mindset. Ole Kitch's campaign is upset at people exercising their free speech. An organization apparently took photographs off of Jim Smith's web site and used them. Kitch's campaign said, "Surely Mr. Smith, a judge, knows that he could file suit against those groups for stealing or copyright infringement."

Like an addict facing his drug of choice he can't believe someone else would turn down the opportunity. Look! You can sue! Why don't you sue? For the love of man, don't you see you can sue!

I'm sure Jim Smith knows anyone can sue anyone for just about anything. But his first reaction is different from Kitchens. But then, that is what Kitchens does for a living.

Patsy, Please Call The Secret Service

It is with horror that I have heard some people at recent televised political rallies shout "Kill him!" when one of our major presidential candidates raised questions about his opponent. We cannot be that shining beacon on the hill, if we keep silent to hate. We must turn to that person who suggests the unthinkable and say, "That is unacceptable! Go home and pray for your very soul. We don't do that in America." - Patsy Brumfield, Notheast Mississippi Daily, October 16, 2008

The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded. Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment. He said the agency conducted an investigation Wednesday, after seeing the story, and could not find one person to corroborate the allegation other than Singleton. Slavoski said more than 20 non-security agents were interviewed Wednesday, from news media to ordinary citizens in attendance at the rally for the Republican vice presidential candidate held at the Riverfront Sports Complex. “We have yet to find someone to back up the story,” Slavoski said. “We had people all over and we have yet to find anyone who said they heard it.” Slavoski said the agents take such threats or comments seriously and immediately opened an investigation but after due diligence “as far as we’re concerned it’s closed unless someone comes forward.” He urged anyone with knowledge of the alleged incident to call him at 346-5781. “We’ll run at all leads,” he said. - Andrew M. Seder, Scranton Times Leader, October 15, 2008