If State Auditor Stacey Pickering gets his way, the state could end up paying an extra $3 million for a bill that has already been paid. Following the collapse of telecommunications giant WorldCom, the company settled with the state to the tune of $126.2 million for tax fraud in 2005. Attorney General Jim Hood brought in outside counsel to represent the state in the settlement, the firm of Joey Langston, to whom WorldCom directly paid $14 million in legal fees, despite Langston’s contract with the attorney general’s office stipulating a larger payment—about $17 million. At the time, the company and the state seemed to be in accord.
Then in 2007 during his campaign for lieutenant governor, former State Auditor Phil Bryant announced his intention to take back the $14 million awarded to Langston, on the basis that the payment was illegal because the Legislature did not approve the fees, as state code calls for. Because those funds technically had been awarded to the state as part of the settlement, when the company bypassed the Legislature in paying the $14 million directly, it became an unauthorized payment of public funds, he argued. His successor Pickering took up the fight after taking office in 2008, and now the argument will go before Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to do things by the book; however, Pickering’s crusade to revisit the payment to correct a technicality is more trouble than it’s worth and quite frankly seems a bit petty. What does the state have to gain from this measure?
If Pickering wins the argument before the court, the Legislature would have to approve Langston’s payment as part of the state budget. Only this time, the Legislature would have to approve Langston’s contracted amount: close to $17 million. It was fortunate that Langston accepted $14 million in the first place from WorldCom, but once the resolution goes to the Legislature, the state must uphold the legally binding contracted amount. In a year when the economy is failing and Gov. Haley Barbour has already announced that the state will have to cut back on spending, it’s ludicrous to risk pulling $3 million more from state taxpayers. While the Legislature could choose to fail the resolution, it would be ill advised because it would make the state vulnerable to a lawsuit for breach of contract.
Pickering should give up this charade and stop prolonging the decision on a payment that has already been made. Instead of creating more holes in the budget with an added $3 million in fees—almost the exact amount cut from public education funding this year—the state should be focusing its efforts toward generating more revenue and filling the current budget shortfalls that we’ll continue to face if we don’t stop unwise spending. Don’t be a part of the problem, Pickering.
