Former AG & Supreme Court Justice expresses concerns over Sunshine bill
In his letter addressed to Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Briggs Hopson, former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin Pittman laid out his concern’s over House Bill 211.
“The attorney general is the lawyer for the state of Mississippi, by law,” said Pittman, who is also a former Attorney General.
That could change. The bill, which passed the house last week after a lengthy and heated debate, would allow state agencies and department heads to hire their own attorneys without approval from the attorney general. That, Pittman says would create more problems than solutions.
“You could have 25 agencies, with 25 lawyers, with 25 different views of what the law is,” said Pittman.
WLBT
2/23/12
Magnolia Tribune
