PACs: Supreme Court race pricey!
Supreme Court races are supposed to be nonpartisan, and above the fray, with issues limited to who has the experience and temperament to fill the job, not hot-button slugfests and innuendo and attacks on character.
But for the past several weeks, Chief Justice Jim Smith, among others, has increasingly been featured in TV advertisements by third parties.
Smith says his campaign has nothing to do with them.
Smith has raised more than $460,000; his opponent, Crystal Springs lawyer Jim Kitchens, has raised $450,000; in a race that will easily exceed $1 million in reported expenses. The third party ads will not be included in that total, as products of Political Action Committees.
Since 2000, judicial elections in Mississippi have degenerated into spending contests between the state’s business/ medical community and trial lawyers – with hefty national special interest groups joining in.
Clarion Ledger
10/19/8
Magnolia Tribune
