A food fight broke out between the State Auditor and Attorney General yesterday.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued the following statement yesterday afternoon:
It is with deep regret that I must announce that my office will no longer be able to serve as counsel for Auditor Shad White in the two defamation suits that have been brought against him – one by University of Mississippi Professor James Thomas and one by Brett Favre – and will be filing the appropriate motions with the courts. I have learned of new information which has created a conflict pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct that I cannot ignore. Under the Mississippi Code, representation by the Attorney General’s Office in both of these cases is discretionary. As we often do, we took both cases to defend a principle that applies to all public officials who work on behalf of the people of Mississippi. Both of these suits were brought against Auditor White for his statements in social media and through interactions with the press about investigations by his office. Our office determined and still believes that a public official should not face retribution in court for communicating with his constituents through these public methods. The Attorney General’s Office attorneys who have worked on these cases have done an admirable job and leave them in a strong posture. Absent this conflict, we would have seen them to their conclusion. We did not take this step lightly or without serious consideration. My office will continue to work with the Auditor’s Office on the various tasks where our duties intersect. We will continue to pursue our TANF civil suit with our partners at the Department of Human Services as well as any criminal wrongdoing that may come from our investigation, to the extent we can do so without stepping on the criminal case the Auditor chose to take to the District Attorney and U.S. Attorney for prosecution.
State Auditor Shad White fired right back at General Fitch:
This afternoon attorneys from the Attorney General’s office informed Auditor White that her lawyers would not be representing Auditor White in two defamation cases (the Favre litigation and the James Thomas litigation) because of Auditor White’s upcoming book Mississippi Swindle and the fact that “the book call[s] into question the integrity of the Attorney General and her office.” As the Attorney General noted, Auditor White’s statements in the defamation cases were made “about investigations by [the Auditor’s office],” so the Auditor’s office will simply use in-house counsel on these cases now that the Attorney General has withdrawn.
Disclosure of the language about the “integrity of the Attorney General” is a limited disclosure from a letter from the Attorney General’s Office to White and does not waive Auditor White’s privilege with attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office in any other instance.
Can't wait to see what the book says. Stay tuned.
55 comments:
Shad White - running for governor in 3, 2, 1....
The sitting Auditor writing a book about what he does/did in office, while still holding the office?
While the criminal and civil actions continue?
This reeks of CYA and self-aggrandizement.
Knife fight
We expect our elected officials to act like adults and, when necessary, work together. Move on for heaven sake!
Isn’t it unethical to write an a book about a case while still in that particular office ? Pump the brakes !
Ummm…. The case isn’t even close to being finished??
A Do-nothing and an over ambitious ladder climber playing with state jobs they were elected to do! How bout investigate Rankin SO/Clay County/Hinds BOS (served on silver platters) the list goes on …..
Not saying I'll vote for White but I am saying I ain't voting for Fitch.
There are many ways this book could blow up in Shad’s face. Seems very foolish with so many cases still pending.
These resources are Lynn Fitch's to withhold. It seems petty and unprofessional to treat a public office like personal property.
They’re both idiots. Both only do what’s beneficial to them and couldn’t care less about the people of Mississippi.
This is basically the Republican Party in a nutshell.
What a bunch of corrupt, incompetent buffoons!
But at least they aren’t anti-semites!
GOP doing GOP things, i.e. nothing
Shad's too busy going after grandmothers who fudge a little OT on their timesheet to look into the shenanigans in Jxn, Canton, Rankin, Fill's administration and just about everywhere else.
@12:46 PM - That would be the AG's responsibility, not the auditor.
Shad is going to use in house counsel? They have experienced litigators knowledgeable of defamation? Impressive.
Shad is an idiot for bringing up the book in the press release. But he couldn’t resist telling people, hey I’m writing a book.
@11:32 I thought Shad was running for Attorney General. It looks that way.
Considering the Auditor's report on Mississippi's Brain Drain, this book is guaranteed to be a huge success.
@ 2:08
Someone needs to
Lynn is such a joke. A really really old joke
Did she actually say, "Deep Regret"? Hold my beer while I fall off this here cotton wagon
Supertalk's coverage of this feud should be interesting.
Both Lynn & Shad seem to be the "darlings" of two of their morning/midday shows.
I wonder ... which side will Supertalk support ?
How many Mississippi state auditors have ended up in jail..Phil Billy should end up there too. You don't have to like lawyers but any lawyer who knows anything about the practice, knows that Shady (yes Shady) White has destroyed the chance of getting convictions associated with the auditor's office. Shady has to get out front and announce what Shady has done and prevents much evidence from getting in as the court has to exclude it, due to his reckless behavior. From the inside, we don't endorse his conduct...WE would love to see a member of the legislature put the reigns on Shady. Will the funds he makes off the book be given to the state, since he wrote the book on company (paid as a full time official of the state of Mississippi). Will our own audit staff look into expenses associated with Shady's travel that was in promotion of his book??? Will Shady be subject to the same prosecution as the very people he puts his foot on their neck?? There needs to be an independent audit of his expenses over the last few years, including travel expenses. Let's see if Shady is the next auditor to be removed from office. Let's also see a statesman in the legislature introduce legislation to make such books written by elected officials, illegal in the state of Mississippi. We are not paying his salary, insurance and retirement, so he can write a book full of lies and profit from it. Shady and Phil Billy should find a good cell to share!
Opening entree into 2027 elections - between two wannabees
But as shown by their actions here and elsewhere, that's all they will be
Lynn being Lynn
ALWAYS promoting herself
I purposely refuse to check her box on my ballot
Disappointed in both.
-Attorney General---shut up and defend any person currently sitting in office, whether you like that person or not.
-State Auditor---shut up about others in office and dont write a book on an open case while holding office. After political job is over, do the book.
Good grief.
"A Do-nothing and an over ambitious ladder climber playing with state jobs they were elected to do!"
This summarizes my opinion on this pettiest of disputes. I disagree with Fitch, but White probably should wait to write a book. That seems like terrible judgment.
As 1:20 points out, Shad is not a prosecutor. He is a fact finder, and if the facts smell like rotten fish then it's up to the AG to prosecute. Shad would not be putting his political future on the line if he did not have the goods on Fitch and her unwillingness to take obvious prosecutorial steps. This a major intraparty war.
2:08 - No way! One must be a competent attorney with at least a minimal degree of courtroom experie.....WAIT!
Love that he mentioned the book by name. Nothing to see here!
Y’all be careful you know lil Shad and team get all sensitive about these comments here.
Shad writing at book about how he’s had to cover for his mentor pheel and trying to twist it into his office uncovering all this! Ha this should go over great. Definitely gonna be a NY Times bestseller. If they make a movie out of it please get the guy who played the sherminator on American pie for Shad. Boomers - Google Chris Owen.
G.
The next Governor's race just started.
Shadrack needs to write his book thick enough for him to sit on so he can reach the table when he sits with the grownups.
6:25 PM The next Governor's race is already over.
Andy Gipson will be the next Governor.
1:20- it was Shad that turned the investigation over to the DA rather than the AG and Feds.
7:19
I m not seeing the “ hat “ translate well to the non rodeo folks. There may be a businessman or two jump in that that would be more relatable.
Andy may well be electable. After all...Clifton Finch.
I mean, think about it: A cowboy holding a lunch box astride a miniature horse beside the Farmers' Market...a 'closed' sign in the background.
Heads Up Marshal Ramsey!
2:37, you know the answer to that. Which ever side steers the most PSA money to them.
I wonder if the book is an indicator that Shadrack will have trouble finding political donors? Of course, he will claim that he wants to build his war chest without becoming beholden to any well-heeled donors.
Thanks for that observation 7:19. I just threw up in my mouth a little.
The real surprise isn’t that Shad wrote a book, it’s that Lynn apparently read one
6:53 - "Shadrack needs to write his book thick enough for him to sit on so he can reach the table when he sits with the grownups."
He should adequately compile all of his stupidity to ensure the book is thick enough so that he can use it to reach the mashed potatoes at the grown-up table this next Thanksgiving.
See how much more fluid your snarky comment could have been with a tad more forethought? It's all about the delivery, sir or madam.
Everyone can laugh and roll their eyes but when this is all over Brandon Presley may be the winner in all this.
If Shadrack can use his in-house lawyers to defend him on a defamation case related to his on-duty writing of a book about an on-going civil and criminal investigation, seems to me that Rob McDuff should put in for the State to pay him for defendant Professor Thomas up at Ole Miss. Or maybe Thomas just needs to stroll over to the Lyceum and ask one of the in-house lawyers to take over his representation because the defamation case against Shadrack is "related to his duties" as a professor. Glad to see that Harvard Law made such a fine scholar of the law out of Shadrack.
Mississippi serves it few masters well ....
I'm so tired of seeing and reading about Shad White. I think he loves attention. Lynn Fitch is just clueless, but at least I don't see her on TV often. We need to elect more competent officials in Mississippi.
I'm no Taggart fan, but at least the man is a lawyer, which is the first word in the job title.
@2:47
Mr. New,
Your family has already pleaded guilty in state court, so there's no risk of pre-trial publicity or reason to be angry over a book written by the person who had the audacity to tell people about the things MCEC and its operators were willing to do--that is, unless you and yours expect Mr. Gee to file more charges.
I expect you'll actually be the one who's in the cell block, and--if you're lucky--it won't be in state prison.
Also, you should take a look at the First Amendment. Government entities can't prohibit (or legislate the prohibition of) speech or expression.
Mississippi isn't about competency, it's about surviving... and if you can stomach the politics - they'll let you play in the game.
Mississippi is merely about saying out loud that "we're improving, growing, accelerating, innovating, etc. etc." - but really just staying the same - and at all costs.
Fitch running for Gov. supported by Steve Davenport.
Shad running for Gov. supported by MS Republican Party.
I'm Team Lynn on this one. I have liked that Shad's office has been a watchdog on corruption among elected officials and employees, but in this case, Little Shad is being a Little Sh__. What a childish, unprofessional response. There has got to be some conflict of interest in his book-writing on State matters while he is in State office, and has it been on State time?
I am so sick of this immature BS.
I guess we have just run out of decent humans...or they rightfully flee from all things political.
They can both kiss off.
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