Lawyers asked to help judge clear debt

The Clarion-Ledger, 12/16/8

Mississippi lawyers have been asked to help incoming state Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens wipe out a campaign debt of about $300,000.

Kitchens spent more than a half-million dollars on his campaign to unseat Chief Justice Jim Smith in the November general election.

An e-mail letter sent out to lawyers by the president of the Mississippi Association for Justice, formerly the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, says Kitchens and his wife took out a personal loan and owe about $300,000.

“A campaign debt which if not satisfied within a few months will be theirs to bear alone,” Gulfport attorney David Pitre said in the letter asking lawyers to participate in the volunteer phone bank fundraising effort today.