“This is a contingency fee contract, which would allow the lawyers to share in the state’s recovery, but due to the gross negligence of BP and other responsible parties courts are allowed to make the defendants pay the attorney fees above and beyond the state’s recovery,” Hood said. “This arrangement is consistent with how the other Gulf states are handling their claims.

Lt. Gov Tate Reeves, a Republican, attacked the deal, saying it was proof of a need for a law limiting Hood’s power.

“It’s unfortunate General Hood continues to put his own political interest before the taxpayers’ interest,” Reeves said in a statement. “We need a more transparent process that allows taxpayers to know how much of their money will go toward private legal counsel.”

Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, who sponsored one of the bills to limit Hood’s power agreed with Reeves.

“It just seems to me that a lawsuit that would be this wide and this deep, that you would want to put a bid out to see who would want to represent the state rather than just handpicked friends you’ve been close to for many years,” Fillingane said.

Hood said he has been coordinating his response with Gov. Phil Bryant. A Bryant spokesman did not respond to calls and emails late Tuesday.

According to records collected by the Center for Money in State Politics, Anderson appears to have donated at least $7,000 to Hood’s campaigns between 2003 and 2011. Moore’s law firm and an employee gave Hood $7,884 from 2007 to 2009, according to the same records. Unless the men funneled additional money to Hood through political committees, though, they wouldn’t rank among Hood’s top contributors. He raised nearly $1.8 million in 2011 alone.

Anderson and Moore have both given to a wide range of political candidates in multiple states.

——————————————

Read the contract: http://www.ago.state.ms.us/images/uploads/sites/8/forms/bp03202012.pdf