GULFPORT - Mike Moore, state attorney general

Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore says he will try to persuade Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck to comply with state campaign finance disclosure laws.

What does the Attorney General mean "try to persuade", is it the law, or not the law, to disclose where money comes from during an election?

Tuck refuses to identify the source or the guarantors of $510,000 in campaign loans, saying such information is "confidential." The Sun Herald newspaper has filed a lawsuit to try to force the lieutenant governor to disclose the information and, through its lawyer, has asked state officials to enforce campaign finance laws.

There is nothing "confidential" when you are an elected official, I can request Amy Tuck's tax returns and get them through the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983.

If the Lt. Governor has taken money she should not have, she better tell the people of Mississippi or resign.

"In an effort to facilitate a resolution to this matter, I intend to contact the lieutenant governor, as well as her legal counsel, to persuade her to fully comply with the law," Moore wrote in a letter to Henry Laird, the newspaper's lawyer. "If such efforts fail, I will file a motion to intervene in your lawsuit to promote full disclosure."

Since Attorney Henry Laird is not an honest attorney, I doubt if he will be of any benefit to the Attorney General.

Attorney Henry Laird is or was the attorney for the, "Wildlife Rehabilitation & Nature Preservation Society, Inc.", this society is a SCAM organization.

I am surprised the Sun Herald Newspaper has an attorney with such a corrupt background, or maybe this says something about our local newspaper.

The attorney general stated in his letter that he believed state laws "demand full and complete disclosure of all campaign contributions" and that it is "the responsibility of all candidates, as well as good public policy, to err on the side of disclosure."

I am beginning to wonder if our Attorney General even knows what our state laws are.
"The attorney general stated in his letter that he believed state laws" 

Tuck, who did not return telephone calls on Monday to her office and to her campaign headquarters, said last week she had complied with state campaign finance laws. She has complained that she is being held to a higher standard than other candidates by being asked to disclose the loan information.

So now our Lt. Governor is running, not a very tactful way to tell the truth.

If she believes she is being held to a higher standard, then that is a good thing, as long as you are within the laws of the state of Mississippi.

"My definition of full disclosure is just what we asked for in the lawsuit, which is the identity of each person who either gave, lent or contributed anything of value to influence the outcome of this election, along with the dates and the amounts of contributions," Laird said. "Anything of value includes loan collateral, guarantee or co-signer, among other things."

Remember, don't place much stock in Attorney Henry Laird, I have had dealings with him, and he ran like our Lt. Governor is running.

WRANPS, INC.
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The $510,000, which was loaned in three increments, is roughly 30 percent of the $1.7 million Tuck received in her 1999 election.

REMEMBER: MONEY, POWER, & PERKS + FRAUD, WASTE, & ABUSE = CORRUPTION

GULFPORT - Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck plans to address the public today at the state port at Gulfport, two days after Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore vowed to persuade the lieutenant governor to fully comply with state campaign finance laws.

Port officials reached Tuesday said Tuck plans to speak at a 3 p.m. news conference at the west gate of the port. Among the expected topics, officials said, are counterterrorism efforts in the area, including an upgrade in security to protect residents from terrorist acts. Tuck and her campaign representatives did not return phone calls Tuesday.

For more than three weeks, Tuck has refused requests to name the source or the guarantors of $510,000 she loaned her last campaign, saying the information was "confidential." The Sun Herald last week filed a lawsuit against Tuck, asking that she comply with campaign finance laws and disclose all pertinent information regarding her $510,000 in loans.

Moore vowed Monday to try to persuade Tuck, through her legal counsel, to disclose all information pertaining to the sizeable loans. In Monday's letter to Sun Herald attorney Henry Laird, Moore said, "... I will file a motion to intervene in your lawsuit to promote full disclosure" if Tuck doesn't comply.

I forget Mike Moore is only the States Attorney General, not someone that can make things happen.

Tuck has said she has complied with campaign finance laws.

In a written statement Tuesday, Moore said, "It is clear to me that there is some misunderstanding or confusion in the minds of some candidates, past and present, as to what is required to be reported on loans to the campaigns."

Moore said that candidates should "err on the side of full disclosure when there may be doubt or confusion as to what the law requires."

At the end of his statement Tuesday, Moore suggested that it might be time for the state Legislature to intervene.

"The Legislature should review these laws and tighten up some of the definitions; including what constitutes contributions, loans, and the like.

"One good place to start," he wrote, "would be to require the same rule on loans for all candidates as is required of judicial candidates."

Tuck, who was at the state port at Gulfport to announce that Biloxi lawyer Ron Peresich will be her campaign chairman, said after the news conference that she and Scruggs had a verbal agreement that she would repay more than $500,000 to him.

"He paid off the loan, and I am paying him back with interest," she said.

Scruggs told Jackson newspaper The Clarion Ledger on Tuesday that Tuck had approached him about co-signing a loan for her during her 1999 campaign. About a year later, the two decided that he would pay off the loan and that she would owe him.

Scruggs said Tuck contacted him and said she needed some "financial flexibility" because she wanted to refinance her home.

However, when The Sun Herald first asked about the $510,000 in loans four weeks ago, Tuck said through a spokeswoman that no one had paid off any of her loans.

Tuck said Wednesday she did not immediately release Scruggs' name because she wanted to talk to him first. Scruggs, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, never had a confidentiality agreement with Tuck, a spokeswoman for him said.

At the time of the loan, Tuck was a Democrat. For the first two years of her term, she was criticized for bottling up civil justice reform in committee, a move supported by trial lawyers, including Scruggs, who made millions from both asbestos and tobacco litigation. As lieutenant governor, Tuck appoints committee chairs and can control the flow of legislation.

It was only after pressure from business groups, doctors and hospital lobbyists that civil justice reform was passed in October 2002. Tuck later switched to the Republican Party in December 2002.

She has said she has repaid Scruggs about $100,000 of the $500,000. Scruggs said Tuesday that questions about Tuck's loans came up when he testified in May before a federal grand jury about loans made to judges. He has said he paid off an $80,000 loan for state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. No one has been charged in a federal probe that is investigating whether trial lawyers paid off loans for judges. Tuck is not the focus of that probe, Scruggs said.

The Sun Herald sued Tuck on Friday, asking that the lieutenant governor turn over all information about the loans.

The newspaper will continue to pursue its case against her, said Henry Laird, Sun Herald lawyer.

"We have not received the records that we have been seeking," Laird said. "The records should show all contributions — a loan, gift, advances or anything of value which influences the outcome of the election."

State law says that anything of value that influences the outcome of an election is by definition a contribution.

Copies of the lawsuit were sent to the secretary of state and attorney general, who oversee campaign finance law.

In a letter to The Sun Herald, Secretary of State Eric Clark said the "spirit and letter of the law demand full and complete disclosure in the campaign finance arena. Any argument against disclosure must be judged against this guiding principle."

Attorney General Mike Moore issued a similar statement Monday, saying that he would encourage Tuck to disclose the identity of the source behind the loans.

One of Tuck's political rivals, Barbara Blackmon, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, kicked off her campaign in Gulfport on Wednesday.

Blackmon said Wednesday that no one has guaranteed any of her campaign loans. But she said if she has to take out a campaign loan, she would disclose the source of that money.

"I believe as an elected official I should let the public know the source of any political contribution," she said.

Scott Rankin, director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission, said Wednesday that state law requires candidates to report any income that they’ve received during their campaign efforts. But if debt is acquired in a campaign and repayment is expected, that money is no longer considered income and disclosure is not required, he said.

Tuck said she has disclosed everything that is required by law and that she hopes to have the loan from Scruggs paid off by the end of this campaign.

She has more than $1 million cash in hand and said she does not plan to take out any personal loans this campaign.

"We don't need any loans. Not right now," she said.

Rankin said he advises candidates to maintain full disclosure in all their finance reports "out of an abundance of caution and out of avoiding any question about full disclosure. I would advise going ahead and putting the loan on there."

Among the nearly 100 people surrounding Tuck on Wednesday were a host of public officials and other supporters, including Terry Miller, president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

Miller said he came to the Wednesday event to show his support. "I believe in the issues she believes in," he said. "As far as the recent publicity (about the loans), I think it’s really making a mountain out of a mole hill. Nothing else."

On Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck named Biloxi lawyer Ron Peresich her statewide campaign chairman. Peresich, of the law firm of Page, Mannino, Peresich, Dickinson & McDermott, has long been involved in area chambers of commerce and Coast 21, a group of business and community leaders. Peresich also has been a leader in higher education. He lobbied for the admission of freshmen at the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast. His law firm represents the city of Biloxi.

Peresich praised Tuck's record on education, economic development and civil justice reform on Wednesday.

"I agree with her on all the issues," he said.