Democrats Delay Naming Replacement Candidate for Justice Court Judge

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LEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — The Executive Committee of the Lee County Democratic Party was supposed to pick a candidate to run for Justice Court Judge.

They wanted to choose someone to replace incumbent Rickey Thompson who overwhelmingly won the party’s primary this month, but was disqualified by the Mississippi Supreme Court. State law says the local executive committee can name a nominee, but in a executive session before Saturday’s public meeting, they decided to postpone picking a replacement until September 1 to give potential candidates an opportunity to make their case. Richard Cotton is Lee County Democratic Committee Chairman.

“The people of District 4 need to have as many choices as they can get so they can decide who would be the best person for the job. I will say this the Attorney General’s office told me a week and a half ago that Rickey Thompson’s name cannot appear on the ballot,” he says.
Cotton says they intend to move forward with picking a nominee in spite of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Thompson challenging the state supreme court’s decision.

Meanwhile the attorney for Thompson Jim Waide was at the executive committee hearing. He had a copy of the suit he filed on behalf of his client Friday. “The basis of the suit is there is no lawful authority to keep Ricky Thompson off the ballot,” he declares. “There are a number of reasons for that but probably the clearest reason is the Mississippi constitution sets out the qualifications and no statutes can change those qualifications. There are also a number of reasons why it violates the Voting Rights Act and it’s a racial discriminatory action. And we feel like there’s a very good chance that a federal judge will so rule,” Waide says.

Thompson was disqualified after a formal complaint was filed with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance in November 2013. The commission ruled that Thompson was guilty of numerous unethical actions while in office. Waide says this whole thing could end up resulting in a completely new election being called.

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