AG GOES TOO FAR ON TOBACCO-SUIT HELP

Lawsuits by various states against tobacco companies became even bigger news when Congress attempted to reach a national settlement. When that plan failed, mostly over disagreement about how hundreds of billions of dollars should be spent, the focus returned to the states, many of which are still pursuing the tobacco companies because of alleged Medicaid costs associated with smoking over the decades. Missouri officials have estimated those costs are $100 million a year.

The states suing the tobacco companies are eying settlements that are in the billions. Minnesota, for example, settled its lawsuit in May for $6.1 billion.

In Missouri, the state's lawyer is the attorney general. The current attorney general, Jay Nixon, says he doesn't have adequate staff resources to pursue such a huge case. He says he asked the Missouri Legislature to approve a plan for handling the case. He further says the Legislature turned him down. As a result, he says, he has been forced to hire private law firms to handle the case.

That's not the way key legislators in Southeast Missouri remember it. They recall Nixon talked about the tobacco lawsuit, but he never proposed a plan for legislators to vote on.

Now Nixon has struck a deal that would give four Missouri law firms a whopping fee for doing the legal work involved in the tobacco case. Maybe whopping isn't the right word. How about unbelievably huge? For example, if Missouri gets the same amount from the tobacco companies as Minnesota, the lawyers would be paid in the neighborhood of $375 million. All that money for legal legwork that already has been established by other states.

Wait. There's more. The longer it takes the lawyers to reach a settlement, the more they will get paid. If you had a deal like this, would you work as hard as you could to get a quick accord with the tobacco companies. Or would you string it out as long as possible?

For most Missourians, it's hard to comprehend $375 million, even if you bought a Powerball ticket in the last big payout. For starters, $375 million is more than twice as much revenue as the state gets from the Lottery, riverboat gambling and bingo combined in a year. That $375 million is enough to pay for all of state government for more than eight days. Can anyone say Rainy Day Fund?

But here's the worst part. Nixon contracted with his high-priced legal help without having a dime to spend. There is no money appropriated for Missouri's tobacco lawsuit. Therefore, it appears he is obligating state money without getting legislators to go along. He no doubt thinks this won't be a problem if the state rakes in $6 billion from the lawsuit.

There's no problem, unless you take the state's Constitution into account. A lawsuit filed last week asks a judge to uphold the Constitution, which forbids spending money that isn't appropriated.

And who is the top lawyer who is supposed to defend the Missouri Constitution? Why, that would be the attorney general. We're right back where we started.