Mike Moore (Mississippi politician)

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Mike Moore was the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi from 1988 to 2004. In 1994, he filed the first lawsuit against thirteen tobacco companies, claiming that they should reimburse the State for the costs of treating those with smoking-related illnesses. Attorneys General from several other states joined the suit, with Moore as the lead negotiator. The settlement was worth $246 billion to the states, including $4.1 billion for Mississippi.

He was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi and went to law school at the University of Mississippi. Before becoming Attorney General he was District Attorney for Pascagoula. In 1997 he was awarded "Lawyer of the Year" by the National Law Journal.

Moore is now counsel in the general litigation practice group in the Jackson, Mississippi office of Phelps Dunbar. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, which is funded by money from the tobacco settlement. It is expected that Moore will run for elected office again, and there has been speculation that he will run for governor in 2007, or for US Senate in 2008 if Thad Cochran retires.

[edit] References

• Mike Moore, Frontline: Inside the Tobacco Deal
• Board of Directors Biography, Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi
• Big Tobacco's Nemesis, Governing