Robert And Michele And ... Edna? | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Robert And Michele And ... Edna?

District Attorney candidate Robert Shuler Smith has taken an interesting journey to his current spot on the primary ballot. Smith said at a July Jackson 2000 forum at Schimmel's restaurant that he is in the race because former District Attorney Ed Peters asked him to run two years ago.

He did not spend that entire two years planning to run for office, however. In fact, when Michele Purvis registered with the Secretary of State's office on Jan. 18, 2007, to run for district attorney, Smith signed the form as her campaign manager, along with Max A. Mayes, a retied county criminal investigator, as her finance director.

The form was faxed to the JFP by a Purvis supporter on Tuesday and is posted as a PDF at jacksonfreepress.com.

This week Smith said that he signed on as Purvis' campaign manager "in name only." "(Purvis) came and asked me. I said, 'I will do it, but not really as your campaign manager. I don't have the time really.' She said, 'No, I just want your name,'" he said Tuesday.

Smith said he decided he couldn't stay on board, though. "I could not find the support, OK?" he said this week, adding that he didn't like what he started to see out of her campaign. "I didn't particularly agree with the way they were going to run their campaign. The totality of circumstances; I didn't want to be a part of that campaign."

"They" are city employees like Stephanie Parker-Weaver, and although he said he didn't meet with Melton's sister-in-law, Carolyn Redd, about Purvis' campaign, he says he was aware that she was helping her campaign.

Purvis did not return phone calls Tuesday about Smith's role in her campaign.

Peterson said Tuesday night that Smith admits that former District Attorney Ed Peters put him up to run—and called Peters' effort to oust her "low down."

"Two years ago, they started to look for someone to run against me. This indicates to me that this was a plan; Peters and Frank (Melton) and Frank (Bluntson) go way back," Peterson said. Peters helped negotiate a plea deal for Melton after his arrest last year, but the deal later fell apart.

Peterson said that, when she worked under Peters, he barely came to work—and couldn't remember her name, often calling her "Edna"—and left a horrendous case backlog for his successor to deal with. "Now I'm there every day, working, doing what we're supposed to do."

Still, she added, she has resisted criticizing Peters publicly since his retirement and even kept his employees until they retired—including Mayes, who is now working for Purvis. Now that he is publicly putting candidates against her, she said, she doesn't owe him anything else. "Look at the state Hinds County was in when he left, he is so wrong. The most disgusting and disrespectful thing he could do, after I spent four years cleaning up his mess, is to come out and endorse a candidate, or candidates, who have never prosecuted felonies. If they were so wonderful, why didn't he hire them then?"

Peters did not return phone calls Tuesday for comment.

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