Jackson Free Press

Here's another actual piece of journalism that appeared today in The Clarion-Ledger. It's about time. We've been talking for months now about Dale Danks suing the city, and defending Melton, so it's nice to see the Ledge take it on. We know: Corporate wheels turn slowly. The question, of course, is why one would ask a fox if it's OK for a fellow fox to represent the henhouse.

Former Jackson Mayor Dale Danks, who is opposing the city in the Byram annexation case, will be representing Jackson in four unrelated lawsuits. "I have an associate counsel, Jerry Mills, on the (Byram) case and we both are handling it. The city legal department is OK with that," Danks said.

The City Council voted Tuesday to allow the legal department to hire an outside attorney to help with its caseload. City Attorney Sarah O'Reilly-Evans later said that attorney is Danks. As of Thursday, Danks had not been officially retained by the city.

"The mayor said he'd rather have me on his side than against him. I'm looking forward to it. I do care about this city and the administration," Danks said.

Previous Commentsshow

Hmph. And they accused John Kerry of flip-flopping.

L.W.

Oct 8 2005

Clarion-Ledger editorial today about Danks' conflict of interest. Note, however, that the Ledge does not mention Danks being Melton's personal lawyer in the lawsuit that they are intimately entangled and were throughout Melton's campaign. Tsk, tsk, Ledge: This intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the city has made him a formidable foe in court. He is currently opposing the city in an annexation battle with Byram, and has had various lawsuits involving claims against the city. While it's true that an attorney should be able to represent any client, it must be asked: Doesn't this present a particularly onerous challenge to be impeccable? When the city puts a lawyer in court there should be no question that the counselor has only one goal in mind: being the city's unfettered legal gladiator. It's obvious Mayor Frank Melton is comfortable with Danks, but his divided loyalties are not comfortable to taxpayers. Danks should decide for whom he wishes to work.

ladd

Oct 10 2005

I like this quote from the original: Former Jackson Mayor Dale Danks, who is opposing the city in the Byram annexation case, will be representing Jackson in four unrelated lawsuits. "I have an associate counsel, Jerry Mills, on the (Byram) case and we both are handling it. The city legal department is OK with that," Danks said. Which city's legal department? :-)

iTodd

Oct 10 2005

Can someone say... Puppet! Seriously, who's in charge of our city?

pikersam

Oct 11 2005