Attorney General Jim Hood’s office has begun to investigate dirty political tricks in the state Supreme Court races.
Bogus telephone opinion polls – “push polls” – have cropped up in at least three of the judicial races.
“We are looking into these sleazy, bogus calls to determine if they violate our criminal and/or civil laws,” Hood said Monday. “We call on any person who has recorded one of these calls to call our office at 1-800-281-4418 or e-mail us at agjimhood.com.”
Push polls pretend to be legitimate opinion polls, but they’re actually nothing more than a way to spread lies or negative propaganda regarding candidates, said Joe Parker, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In another push poll, voters were asked if they’d be more likely or less likely to vote for Justice Chuck Easley if they knew he took contributions from trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs.
Easley responded this push poll is an effort by “another sleaze organization that wants to buy a seat on the Supreme Court.”
Easley has accused his opponent, Appeals Court Judge David Chandler, of being “a deadbeat dad” and has distributed copies of court documents.
Chandler called such a claim “absolutely unfortunate and completely unfounded,” saying Easley is guilty of “the same sleazy tactics” he used eight years ago to defeat then-Chief Justice Lenore Prather.
On the campaign trail in 2000, Easley ran ads claiming Prather reversed 400 criminal convictions. After losing to Easley, Prather said if the number were true, it was a small fraction of the 13,000 cases in which she had taken part. She also said any reversal is made by the majority of the court.
Clarion Ledger
9/23/8
Magnolia Tribune
