Gov. Barbour Wants Tort Reform To Spread

By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R) said that when he ran for governor in 2003 for a third consecutive term, the U.S. Chamber rated Mississippi the worst state for lawsuit abuse. He said the reason they were rated the worst is because they were.

“We had terrifically bad problems that had been caused in part because of some bad Supreme Court decisions,” Barbour said.

In response, Barbour made tort reform one of the principle issues of his campaign, and talked about it in every speech, whether it was at schools or minority audiences.

“The first rule I would say to you is: You can’t pass real tort reform unless it’s run by the Governor,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal said Mississippi has passed the most comprehensive tort reform bill in the U.S.

“Our goal here is to have less litigation. And this way there’s an opportunity to resolve the matter without it getting in the court system,” he said.