TOBACCO SETTLEMENT: SOME ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED

Missouri's attorney general, Jay Nixon, is to be commended for accepting the $6.7 billion settlement that puts an end to legal wrangling between most states and tobacco companies regarding health-care costs resulting from smoking.

However, Nixon is wrong when he says it's a waste of time for state Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau to pursue his lawsuit seeking to undo Nixon's generous payments to private lawyers around the state who were engaged to handle the state's case.

Yes, the lawsuit with the tobacco companies is settled. But the issue of spending state money on lawyers has yet to be resolved. Nixon argues that the tobacco companies are paying those legal fees. But the real issue is whether or not the attorney general can enter into any fee contracts without appropriate authorization from the Legislature.

And there will be an even bigger question: Is the $6.7 billion general income to the state and, therefore, subject to Hancock Amendment limits?