Daily Journal reports Easley still listed as candidate for both court seats

Easley still candidate for two slots

Northern District Supreme Court Justice Charles “Chuck” Easley remained listed as a candidate for two posts on the state’s highest court, according to information provided late Friday by the office of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.

Friday was the deadline to qualify with the Secretary of State’s office to run in the November judicial elections.

Easley had said Thursday he was withdrawing from the race for his current spot on the Supreme Court and instead challenging fellow Northern District incumbent Supreme Court Justice Ann Hannaford Lamar of Senatobia.

But according to information from the Secretary of State’s office, Easley still was qualified for two posts: his Place 2 slot, where he is being challenged by Court of Appeals Judge David Chandler of Ackerman, and in Place 1, against Lamar and Gene Barton of Okolona, a former Tupelo alderman and unsuccessful candidate for Tupelo mayor.

Easley could not be reached for comment late Friday. It was not clear whether he had changed his mind and was pursuing both posts or that his paperwork to withdraw from one race had not reached the Secretary of State’s office.

On Thursday, Reese Partridge, an attorney with the Attorney General’s office, said it was his preliminary opinion – but not an official opinion from the office – that Easley could not run for both posts.

Easley admitted Thursday that the Secretary of State’s office also told him he could not run for two spots. Under that scenario, the state Election Commission, consisting of the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, would place him on the ballot for the last office he qualified to pursue, Partridge said.

The last office Easley qualified for was against Lamar.

Daily Journal
5/10/8