[C-L]Attorney General files suit against Barbour over youth grants
On Thursday, June 15, Attorney General Jim Hood filed suit against Gov. Haley Barbour for his decision to slice $5.5 million in grants for youth groups such as the state YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mississippi and Boys and Girls Clubs of Mississippi. Barbour, who vetoed a bill back in April that would direct Hood’s office to spend the money on these groups, explained that the Department of Human Services should be who gives money to these youth groups. The Attorney General and Democratic legislators Sen. Gray Tollison of Oxford and Rep. Joe Warren of Mount Olive filed the lawsuit in the Hinds County Chancery Court. According to Hood and the legislators, the suit is about preserving a separation of power in the state government. However, Barbour’s spokesman Pete Smith was quoted in the article as saying, “He [Barbour] has always supported the work of the Boys and Girls Clubs and the YMCA.”
Hood, a Democrat, called the move by Barbour, a Republican, “unconstitutional.”
“My intent is to carry out the will of the Legislature and to ensure that the children of Mississippi are not used as pawns in some ill-conceived show of power,” Hood said in a statement.
Barbour’s office said the governor had the authority and cited a section of the state Constitution stating he “may veto parts of any appropriation bill.”
Several youth programs could be impacted if funding is lost or suspended in a court fight.
Posted by kate at 11:07 AM in Attorney General, Children & Families, Legislature, Governor, MS Newspapers, News | Email this entry
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