In Mississippi, Three Justices Sent Packing
In the end, Kitchens proved proficient at garnering both money and votes. Kitchens out-raised all candidates in Mississippi, including Chief Justice Jim Smith, whom Kitchens ousted from office Tuesday in a major upset. Kitchens and Smith combined to raise a cumulative total of $1.2 million.
Smith was just one of three Mississippi justices voted out of office. Justice Chuck Easley, who accused challenger David Chandler of being a deadbeat dad, based on a 1989 case, also was ousted. Justice Oliver Diaz, who was targeted by an out-of-state attack ad that was found to be false, also was defeated.
It should be noted that Pearce and Diaz both condemned the ad, aired by the Virginia-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America, saying that it overstepped the boundaries of a Judicial campaign.
There was no obvious pattern to who won and who lost in Mississippi, a state emerging from a scandal in which plaintiffs’ lawyer Dickie Scruggs was convicted on corruption charges. But Mississippi was the only state this year in which more than one incumbent justice was voted out.
Smith, a conservative who benefited from a TV ad campaign run by Mississippians for Economic Progress, was painted by Kitchens as too close to big business. But Diaz, considered a relative liberal on Mississippi’s court, had backing from plaintiffs’ lawyers and also was voted out. Of the four justices facing reelection, only Ann Lamar survived Tuesday’s vote.
Gavel Grab
11/7/8
Magnolia Tribune
