William Allain

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William A. "Bill" Allain (born February 14, 1928) is a Mississippi politician who served as governor of that state as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988.

Allain was born in Washington, Mississippi. He attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated from law school from the University of Mississippi. Allain served in the United States infantry in the Korean War. After the war, he practiced law in Natchez, Mississippi until his appointment as assistant state attorney general in 1962.

Allain was elected state attorney general in 1979 and earned a reputation as a consumer advocate, fighting utility rate increases and stopping the storage of nuclear waste in Mississippi. He also fought the powerful Mississippi Legislature, which for decades had diluted executive branch power by appointing legislators to executive department boards and commissions. The Mississippi Supreme Court, at Allain's insistence, struck the practice as a violation of the constitutional principle of Separation of Powers. The resulting decision, Allain vs. Alexander, is sometimes referred to as "Mississippi's Marbury vs. Madison," after the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which delineated the powers of the three branches of the federal government. Allain's efforts strengthened the Mississippi executive and streamlined Mississippi's political processes.

Allain ran for Governor in 1983 and during the campaign allegations arose that he engaged in improper acts with male transvestite prostitutes. Allain's opponent invested his entire campaign's effort into publicizing the allegations, which had the effect of appalling the voting public. Allain won the election easily and the allegations were recanted after the election.

Another controversy arose during Allain's term as Governor when a maintenance worker reportedly found gay pornographic materials in Allain's personal residence and reported this to the media.

Allain also sought and received a change in the Mississippi state constitution to allow himself to run for a second term, but he declined to run for re-election.