Jim Hood in Mississippi Today newspaper
On Families & Children:
No "Billy Graham rule": Treat female journalists the same
After state Rep. Robert Foster said he wouldn't be alone with a woman not his wife, even in a professional context, a second Republican candidate for governor has said he, too, follows what's known as the "the Billy Graham rule." Former state Supreme
Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. told Mississippi Today that he would not be alone with a woman who isn't his wife, even in a personal or professional context.Hood said he does not practice the Billy Graham rule. "If I couldn't meet with women
alone to discuss issues important to them and to Mississippi, I wouldn't be able to do my job. As Governor, women will play an important role in my administration. I will move to pass an equal pay law for women; continue to fight domestic violence
against women; and provide economic opportunities in business and industry for women. And I will do all these things while meeting with women--alone if necessary--to hear their voices and champion their causes," Hood said in an emailed statement.
Source: MississippiToday.org on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Jul 15, 2019
On Tax Reform:
Tax cuts to wealthy caused mental health budget cuts
Hood in 2017 and 2018 often linked the Department of Mental Health's budget cuts to the package of corporate tax cuts Reeves championed in 2016. "They ran out of money because they gave it all away. They gave it to tax cuts to the wealthy," Hood told
Mississippi Today about the origins of the lawsuit in 2017, adding: "The state needs to step up and pay for more on mental health."
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi gubernatorial race
Jun 3, 2019
On Government Reform:
Apply "Open Records Act" to state legislative email
The AG opinion [on PERS retirement rules] apparently created a buzz among the Republican legislative leadership based on the correspondence they had with the administrators of the retirement system. The correspondence of legislators has long been
exempt from the state's public records laws, but Mississippi Today was able to obtain that correspondence through a public records request to the Public Employees Retirement System.Emails and others correspondence reveal that numerous key legislators
all were receiving updates on how the PERS Board of Trustees might change its regulations to adhere to the AG's opinion.
Hood said the emails prove that the law should be changed so that legislators are not exempt from the public records law. "These
communications clearly show why legislators should be subject to the Open Records Act like all other state and local elected officials," he said. "They should have to list those with whom they meet on legislation or who wines and dines them."
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Mar 14, 2019
On Social Security:
Let public employees run for office & still draw pensions
House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) predicted that the next attorney general will reverse the official opinion issued by the office of Attorney General Jim Hood saying that retired public school teachers and state employees can serve in the
Legislature while drawing their pension. Gunn said the ruling, issued late last year, was flawed.Some education supporters envisioned that the ruling would result in more pro-education retired teachers running and winning legislative seats.
Of Gunn's prediction that the opinion would be changed, Hood said, "The PERS Board voted overwhelmingly to move forward with adopting regulations effective at the start of the 2020 legislative session that would allow state retirees to serve in the
Legislature without forfeiting their hard-earned retirement. This won't change with a new AG. I support everyone's right to run, and I think people who have worked as public servants for the state would make great lawmakers."
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Mar 14, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Help marginalized communities, like Jesus taught
In his announcement speech, Hood said the focus of his campaign would be on helping traditionally marginalized communities: "Jesus taught us to fight for the poor and the elderly and the widows and the children--the least among us,"
he said. "That's what's been ingrained in my public service."
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Oct 3, 2018
On Corporations:
Criticizes tax give-aways to out-of-state corporations
Hood criticized the Legislature's giving away hundreds of millions in tax cuts to out-of-state corporations. He floated expanding Medicaid, saying "we shouldn't leave hundreds of millions of federal dollars on the table."
He expressed concern about the brain drain epidemic in Mississippi, saying state leaders should turn their focus to keeping young Mississippians in the state.
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Oct 3, 2018
On Principles & Values:
End self-dealing in Jackson
[In his campaign announcement speech], Hood took a subtle shot at Tate Reeves. In July, several outlets raised questions about what influence Reeves might have wielded to build a $2 million frontage road connecting his gated neighborhood to a state
highway. Reeves denies any involvement. Hood's office has been investigating that allegation."I'm tired of self-dealing in Jackson," Hood said. "People are more worried about paving private driveways than they are about anything else."
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Oct 3, 2018
On Health Care:
Sue drug companies for over-charging Medicaid
Attorney General Jim Hood, with the help of outside counsel, is suing a group of pharmaceutical companies, alleging they engaged in an "unlawful scheme" to force the state to pay for drugs that were not eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.Hood
contends the companies' scheme involves false representations, made by the defendants to the state, that their National Drug Codes, or NDCs, are FDA approved and eligible for Medicaid reimbursement. "The State directly relies on these representations in
approving the reimbursement for providers of prescription drugs," the Hood explained. "Defendants marketed these unapproved drugs to healthcare providers as being Covered Outpatient Drugs (or CODs), and therefore reimbursable by the State," resulting in
increased market share and profits for the companies while essentially leaving the state in a lurch. In 2011, for example, the state Medicaid program forked out about $551 million on prescription drugs, according to the Attorney General's Office.
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi gubernatorial race
Oct 1, 2018
On Technology:
Focused Attorney General's office on cybercrime
Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood will announce on his plans to run for governor in 2019, he confirmed. The four-term attorney general is the state's lone statewide Democratic elected official
Hood has focused on cybercrimes during his tenure as attorney general. His use of outside legal counsel, particularly to pursue lawsuits against large corporations, has been controversial at times--particularly among Republicans.
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi gubernatorial race
Oct 1, 2018
On Immigration:
Stay out of DACA fights; it's a federal issue
Mississippi's top law enforcement officer is staying out of a legal battle over a recent controversial announcement from President Donald Trump. Fifteen Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Sept. 6 over the
announcement that he would eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program unless Congress intervenes.The state AGs say the decision violates the due process rights of people participating in the program, which allows immigrants whose
parents brought them to the US without authorization to remain in the country.
Attorney General Jim Hood said, "Immigration's really a federal issue and normally I don't get involved unless it affects a Mississippi law," Hood told reporters.
In 2012, Hood also declined to participate in lawsuit brought by immigration agents against the Obama Administration for ending the practice of deporting undocumented young people. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant later joined that lawsuit on his own.
Source: Mississippi Today on 2019 Mississippi Gubernatorial race
Sep 7, 2017
Page last updated: Dec 20, 2019