Jim Hood
From Ballotpedia
| Jim Hood | ||
 | ||
| Attorney General of Mississippi | ||
| Incumbent | ||
| In office | ||
| 2003 - Present | ||
| Term ends | ||
| 2011 | ||
| Years in position | 9 | |
| Party | Democratic | |
| Education | ||
| J.D. | University of Mississippi (1988) | |
| Personal | ||
| Place of birth | New Houlka, Mississippi | |
| Websites | ||
| Office website | ||
Contents |
Biography
A fifth generation Mississippian born in New Houlka, Mississippi, Hood is an avid outdoorsman and hunter. He attended law school at the University of Mississippi and has worked in the public sector ever since.
After earning his J.D. in December of 1998, Hood clerked for Mississippi State Supreme Court Justice Armis Hawkins. He then spent eight years as a District Attorney for the Third Circuit Court District in North Mississippi. Most recently, Hood served for five years under former Attorney General Mike Moore as a special assistant attorney general in the Drug Asset Forfeiture Unit.[1]
Hood brings a substantial amount of trial experience to the Attorney General's office, having tried more than 100 jury cases during his tenure as a District Attorney. One of his better-known trial victories came in 2005 when he successfully prosecuted Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.[2]
Education
- The University of Mississippi: J.D., 1988
- Chickasaw County Public Schools
Political Career
Attorney General (2003-present)
As Attorney General, Hood has carved out a niche for himself as an advocate for the rights of crime victims and worked to develop initiatives that are specifically targeted at "Mississippi's most vulnerable citizens" -- children and the elderly. He and his staff founded the Cyber Crime Unit and Fusion Center, housed within the Public Integrity Divisions of the office of the Secretary of State. The unit serves as a hub from which state, federal, and local agencies can utilize in order to investigate and prosecute internet predators who target children and vulnerable adults. They also created two other units within the division of public integrity - a vulnerable adults unit, and a domestic violence unit - and a separate Crime Prevention and Victims Services division.[2]
Healthcare reform
The day after the United States House of Representatives narrowly passed the Senate reconciliation bill on health care reform, Republican Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour called upon the state's attorney general to "challenge the federal government over the constitutionality of requiring individuals to purchase health insurance." He threatened that if Hood refused to do so then he would act on the state's behalf in his stead. [3]
Despite Barbour setting noon on Thursday, March 25, 2010, as the deadline for Hood to decide whether or not to pursue litigation against the federal government on the issue of health care reform, the Mississippi Attorney General's office stated that it needed more time to review the legislation before reaching a decision. Furthermore, Hood argued, the governor "is not authorized to file suit while the attorney general's office completes its review." [4] [5]
While promising not to interfere with the governor's suit, Hood did, however, argue that he believed it would be "cheaper for Mississippi to join the lawsuit once it gets to the U.S. Supreme Court, if some viable cause of action arises during the years of litigation." [6]
ACORN
The June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by the embattled liberal political organization, ACORN, gave Hood an A letter grade. The report was published to shine the spotlight on state attorneys general "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," so says the group. [7] The grade distributed to the individual attorneys general "generally broke down along party lines," with the exception of Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell. [8]
Pay-to-sue
American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), a non-profit political action committee formed in 1986 for the express purpose of advocating in favor of tort reform, has, for the past eight years, published a report called Judicial Hellholes that identifies "areas of the country where the scales of justice are radically out of balance" and provides "solutions for restoring balance, accuracy, and predictability to the American civil justice system." [9] While the report has primarily focused on state judicial figures such as judges, a subsection entitled Dangerous Liaisons: Some State Attorneys General Offer Contingency Fee Contracts to Politically Supportive Outside Counsel shifts attention to state attorneys general who have also contributed "to growing concerns in the business community about the ability of defendants to receive fair trials."
One of the individuals highlighted in the 2008/2009 edition of the annual report was Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. It was his ethically questionable practice of "pay-to-play" or "pay-to-sue," whereby "lawyers who contribute to the campaigns of the state’s highest ranking attorney can then get a contract for a piece of the action and, in some cases, develop the action themselves and get a go-ahead to pursue it in the state’s name," that drew the ire of the ATRA. Within a period of five years, Hood's office hired twenty-seven law firms to represent the state of Mississippi in twenty separate lawsuits. The private legal practices selected by Hood himself contributed nearly $535,000 in his two campaigns for the state's AG office. The list of these individuals includes Richard Scraggs (contributed $30,000) who "has since been disbarred and is serving a federal prison sentence for an unrelated conspiracy to bribe a Mississippi judge" and plantiff counsel Joey Langston (contributed $130,000), who, prior to pleading guilty to bribing a judge, received $14 million in legal fees from the $100 million settlement with MCI/WorldCom in 2005. [10]
Elections
2011
On March 21, 2010, Hood announced his intention to run again in 2011, quieting rumors that he might run for governor.[11] He claimed the Democratic nomination unopposed on August 2, 2011 and defeated former state public safety commissioner, Steve Simpson, in November.
| 2011 State Executive elections |
| Kentucky • Louisiana Mississippi • West Virginia |
| Gubernatorial • Lt. Governor Attorney General • Secretary of State Down ballot offices: (KY, LA, MS) |
| News • Calendar |
2007
- Jim Hood ran unopposed in the 2007 Democratic primary election
- 2007 Race for Attorney General - General Election
| 2007 Race for Attorney General - General Election [12] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party |  a Jim Hood
| 59.8% | |
| Republican Party | Al Hopkins | 40.2% | |
| Total Votes | 735,533 | ||
2003
- Jim Hood ran unopposed in 2003 Democratic primary election
- 2003 Race for Attorney General - General Election
| 2003 Race for Attorney General - General Election [13] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | a Jim Hood
| 62.7% | |
| Republican Party | Scott Newton | 37.3% | |
| Total Votes | 873,988 | ||
Campaign contributions
Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Jim Hood's donors each year.[14] Click [show] for more information.
| Jim Hood's Campaign Contributions | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 Attorney General of Mississippi | 2007 Attorney General of Mississippi | 2011 Attorney General of Mississippi | |||||||||||||||||
| Total Raised | $1,453,642 | $1,804,877 | $1,786,598 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Raised by General Election Opponent | $979,327 (Republican) | $1,666,826 (Republican) | $789,856 (Republican) | ||||||||||||||||
| Top 5 contributors | Jim Hood | $426,982 | DAGA Mississippi | $850,000 | Magnolia Democratic Attorneys General Association | $400,000 | |||||||||||||
| Democratic Attorneys General Association | $300,000 | Democratic Attorneys General Association | $300,000 | Democratic Attorneys General Association | $150,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Lynn Davis | $21,000 | Kenneth F Bailey | $50,000 | Labaton Sucharow LLP | $55,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Beverly Enterprises | $16,000 | Richard Scruggs | $33,000 | Kenneth F Bailey, Jr. | $50,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Joey Langston | $10,875 | Alice McInerney | $30,000 | Morgan & Morgan | $50,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Individuals | $354,704 | $972,992 | $651,039 | ||||||||||||||||
| Institutions | $407,100 | $1,033,400 | $1,093,868 | ||||||||||||||||
| In-state donations | $1,117,642 | $39,865 | $620,647 | ||||||||||||||||
| Out-of-state donations | $336,000 | $1,765,012 | $1,140,424 | ||||||||||||||||
Personal
Hood currently resides in Mississippi with his wife, Debbie, and their three children - Rebecca, Matthew, and Annabelle.
Contact Information
Mailing address:
MS Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, MS 39205
Street address:
MS Attorney General's Office
Walter Sillers Building
550 High Street, Suite 1200
Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: 601-359-3680
E-mail: msag05@ago.state.ms.us
See also
- Attorney General of Mississippi
- Attorney General
- Governor of Mississippi
- Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
- [[Mississippi Secretary of State
External links
- Official Mississippi Attorney General website
- Official campaign website for Jim Hood
- Project Vote Smart - Jim Hood biography
References
- ↑ National Association of Attorneys General, "Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood," May 11, 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mississippi Attorney General, "About your attorney general," May 11, 2011
- ↑ The Clarion Ledger "Bill draws praise, fire" 23 March, 2010
- ↑ The Dispatch "AG wants more time to study health care law before filing suit" 25 March, 2010
- ↑ The Commercial Appeal "State AG still considering federal health care lawsuit" 28 March, 2010
- ↑ The Mississippi Link "Attorney general won't stop health care lawsuit" 12 April, 2010
- ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures" June 2008
- ↑ Majority in Mississippi "Jim Hood Received An “A” From ACORN In 2008" 17 Sept. 2009
- ↑ ATR Foundation - Judicial Hellholes 2009/2010
- ↑ Respond Mississippi "Mississippi's Dangerous Liason: Jim Hood" 12 Jan. 2009
- ↑ Mississippi Business Journal', "Hood going for another term," March 21, 2010
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Certification of vote for state office of attorney general (page 11), Dec 13, 2007
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Certification of votes for state officers (page 8), Dec 2003
- ↑ Follow the Money.org
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Moore | Mississippi Attorney General 2004–present | Succeeded by NA |
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