Jerry Mitchell looks into AG race
Attorney General Jim Hood’s campaign is questioning whether former Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson should be working for the same company he helped give a $5.9 million state contract.
“Steve Simpson being secretly hired by a company to which he awarded a state contract just days before he quit his job as commissioner of public safety is another example of how he used his position to line his own pockets at taxpayers’ expense,” said Hood’s campaign manager, Jonathan Compretta.
Simpson’s campaign manager Scott Paradise responded by saying Hood has received $112,350 in campaign contributions this year from lawyers who had received outside legal contracts. “Jim Hood’s practice of unilaterally awarding lucrative legal contracts to some of his top campaign donors presents a whole series of conflicted interests,” he said.
Clarion Ledger
9/18/11
Magnolia Tribune
