An Interesting Way To Recruit a Colleague

You may remember my surprise when it was announced that former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Smith was going to serve as "Of Counsel" to Ogden & Associates, the firm owned by Jackson plaintiffs' lawyer Ashley Ogden.

Today Y'all Politics has posted a few pages from a website called "Follow the Money," which tracks campaign contributions across the country. It's much easier to search than the Mississippi Secretary of State's website (Delbert Hosemann, please take note).

Just playing around on "Follow the Money" on a Friday afternoon netted this interesting factoid: Ashley Ogden gave $5,000 to Chief Justice Smith's opponent, current Associate Justice Jim Kitchens.

Now that's one hell of a way to recruit a colleague . . . but there's more:

Ashley's donation was given on November 25, 2008, after the election.

So was that a "hedge your bets" donation?

Or maybe a gift in gratitude for delivering a highly-qualified "Of Counsel" to his firm?

Hmmmmm.