FAILURE TO ADDRESS MISTAKES IMPERILS HONESTY

When Chuck Hatfield, general counsel for Attorney General Jay Nixon, told a Missouri Senate hearing last month that proposed legislation to cap the fees of Missouri lawyers might imperil the state's participation in the national tobacco settlement, he was either misinformed or deliberately trying to derail the bill.

Either way, Hatfield was wrong. He should admit the mistake and apologize to the Senate committee.

Hatfield testified that a lawyer for Phillip Morris had told him the bill capping lawyers' fees would jeopardize the tobacco settlement. But Meyer Koplow, the lawyer, denied having made any such statement.

This episode is one example of why honesty in government is such a valued commodity.