A new ruling by a Gulf Coast judge could kill a privately run anti-tobacco program, but the program’s leader says he’ll fight to save The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.
Jackson County Chancery Judge Jaye Bradley on Tuesday overturned her December 2000 court order that had directed $20 million a year to the Partnership, a private nonprofit group led by former Attorney General Mike Moore.
Bradley wrote that lawmakers, not a judge, should decide how the money is spent – a position that’s been argued by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.
“Mississippi arguably has the most successful tobacco cessation program in the nation,” Bradley wrote Tuesday.
However, the judge wrote that when she issued her original order, there was agreement between the legislative and executive branches of government that money should go to the Partnership.
“It is clear that this no longer exists and that the executive and legislative branches of government no longer agree to the order in question,” Bradley wrote.
The governor in 2000 was Democrat Ronnie Musgrove. The governor now is Barbour, who filed a lawsuit last year challenging the Partnership’s funding. Moore, chairman of the Partnership’s board, says he’s disappointed and “a bit perplexed” by Bradley’s latest decision.
“The court has ruled that the governor’s opposition has somehow extinguished the court’s authority to enter its order, and we don’t believe that’s the law,” Moore said. “We agree with the court that she had authority to enter the order when she entered it. We disagree that she loses her authority because the governor objects.”
Moore said there are several options to try to keep the Partnership alive. He said the group’s board can ask Bradley to either reverse her latest ruling or to put it on hold, or the board can appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
The Partnership’s board will meet in the next few days to decide what to do, Moore said. The group’s new budget year starts Thursday.
An appeal would further prolong a political battle that pits Barbour, who’s a former tobacco lobbyist, against Moore, a Democrat who filed a landmark lawsuit against cigarette makers in the 1990s.
The Partnership’s money comes from Mississippi’s multibillion dollar tobacco lawsuit settlement that Moore negotiated in 1997. Though many states have spent their tobacco lawsuit settlements on unrelated programs such as roads and bridges, Mississippi has received national praise for the Partnership’s anti-tobacco programs for preschoolers to adults.
Moore did not seek re-election as attorney general in 2003.
Barbour, state Treasurer Tate Reeves and others filed a lawsuit last year challenging the court order that directed money to the Partnership. Barbour has said the Partnership does good work but the money should be put through the regular state budget process, with lawmakers deciding how the $20 million a year is spent. Barbour on Tuesday praised Bradley’s ruling.
“I am pleased that she is a strong enough person to have the gumption to vacate her own order. The only way for the state to spend state funding is for the Legislature to appropriate it through the legislative process,” Barbour said.
Earlier this year, lawmakers voted to put the money through the budget process, but Barbour vetoed the bill. No override was attempted because Senate leaders said there were not enough votes for a two-thirds majority needed.
Supporters of the bill said it would’ve accomplished the goal of Barbour’s lawsuit by giving lawmakers the ability to decide how the money is spent. They also cited the Partnership’s success of lowering the teen smoking rate through educational programs, TV and radio ads and billboards.
Critics of the Partnership say there has been too little financial disclosure by the group, which is audited by a private firm. They also say the Partnership had become a political tool to promote Moore – something that Moore says is not true.
Moore, who’s in private law practice now, is widely seen as a potential candidate for another statewide office, such as governor. Barbour plans to seek re-election in 2007.
Before unseating Musgrove in 2003, Barbour was a successful Washington lobbyist whose client list included tobacco companies.
Matthew Myers, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said Bradley’s latest order could kill a successful program.
“Unless funding for the program is restored, Mississippi’s kids will pay the price and Gov. Barbour should bear the responsibility,” Myers said.
Myers said the Partnership has been fulfilling the purpose of the state’s lawsuit against tobacco companies – “that is, protecting Mississippi kids and saving millions of dollars for Mississippi’s taxpayers.”
Most of Mississippi’s tobacco lawsuit settlement is going into a state Health Care Trust Fund, and the state treasurer serves on the fund’s board.
On Tuesday, Reeves said: “The court made a responsible decision correcting an unconstitutional order that has diverted over $100 million of taxpayer money into a private organization with no public oversight or accountability.”
Moore said courts need to have the authority to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.
“I’m used to the governor and the Legislature being in disagreement,” Moore said. “But I could always go to the courts and get an answer.”
