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"I feel very strongly about Gray Tollison's qualifications, which include his service as both a state senator and a community leader," Childers told the Daily Journal. "For such a young man, he has already contributed a lifetime of public service to our state. Gray is an outstanding attorney and I have great confidence in him."
Earlier today, state Sen. Gray Tollison wasn't denying that his name may be in the mix as North Mississippi's next U.S. attorney.
"I'll defer all questions to Congressman Childers' office," he said this morning.
Tollison, 45, an Oxford attorney, has represented Lafayette, Yalobusha and Tallahatchie counties in the state Senate since 1996.
He’s also the son of Oxford attorney Grady Tollison, who’s long been a player in the region’s Democratic politics.
Mississippi's North and South district U.S. attorneys posts have yet to be filled by the Obama Administration. It will need the Senate's approval for both.
Oxford attorney Christi McCoy was widely believed to be the region's nominee months ago, but her chances apparently ran into trouble early on. Why isn't public information but some courthouse observers claim outgoing U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee put a monkey-wrench into her nomination somehow.
It's widely believed that Childers and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton are working on the Democratic nominees since both of the state's U.S. senators are Republicans.
• For more, read Tuesday's Daily Journal or come back to NEMS360.com.
What the "word is ... from sources who cannot be named" is fine to talk about at the bar with your friends -- I do the same thing -- I just don't think it is responsible or ethical to publish it in a newspaper article. And, obviously, Pasty isn't even as confident as you; all she's willing to say is that "courthouse observers claim" that Greenlee "put a monkey-wrench into her nomination somehow." If you're no more confident than *that* in the gossip you're hearing, THEN IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE TO PUBLISH IT IN A NEWSPAPER.
And, for what it's worth, the "word" I hear from other "sources who cannot be named" is that there were plenty of other reasons the White House might not have wanted to nominate McCoy. I don't think the rumors I hear should be published in a newspaper, though, because they're just that -- rumors.
Again, my point is simply that it's irresponsible and unethical to publish something in a newspaper when you're not even willing to put your credibility on the line to vouch for its truth -- all you're willing to say about it is that "courthouse observers claim" that Greenlee interfered with the nomination "somehow." I don't think a journalist can avoid her ethical obligations simply by couching such an accusation as something that unnamed persons "claim" happened "somehow."
It was pretty simple for Greenlee to do. He was sitting U.S. Attorney. He sent a request to the Department of Justice for an investigation of an independent contractor who occasionally worked for McCoy. The allegations were ridiculous and McCoy and the contractor were completely cleared. However, the Obama administration is so gun shy that it threw enough of a wrench in the nomination that it stalled completely.
McCoy never submitted tax info and was never the subject of a background check.
It was Greenlee and Greenlee alone who submitted the info. Word is (and this is not speculation - this is from sources who cannot be named right now) that Greenlee's assistants advised him not to do it but he moved forward anyway.
I suspect we haven't heard the last of Greenlee's actions. In fact, there is talk of a lawsuit against the Court employee who started the bogus investigation which led to the allegations.
I have not heard that McCoy is suing, but have heard that the private investigator is suing the clerk of court for his actions in the fiasco.
Childers will claim to support anyone Obama appoints just to save face. Childers knows he is not taken seriously by the whitehouse, if he were. McCoy would be on the job now!!
The fact that the administration in Washington largly ignores Childers, makes it hard for him to comment.
While Childers favors McCoy, he cannot afford to come out against Tollison and alienate his trial lawyer base.