Here's a guy you want on the bench

Last summer, associate attorney general Mike Wiggins told the Senate that the Bush administration could legally hold Guantanamo prisoners in perpetuity. Ha! thought tort reformers, "That's our man!"

Wiggins is currently running for a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court, which has found parts of the state's new medical malpractice law unconstitutional. In a nasty and expensive campaign, Wiggins is challenging 22-year court veteran Justice Carol Hunstein, a single mom who lost a leg to cancer at age 23.

Many of Wiggins' TV ads have been funded, not by his campaign committee, but by the Safety and Prosperity Coalition, an "issue advocacy" group that's raised more than $300K from--surprise--a bunch of out-of-state insurance companies, according to the Columbus-Ledger-Enquirer. On Wednesday, an Atlanta lawyer filed a complaint with the state ethics commission claiming that the coalition violated state ethics laws by recruiting Wiggins as a candidate, promising him funding, and supplying his campaign manager and strategy points. (Advocacy groups are exempt from contribution limits so long as they refrain from coordinating with candidates.)

Proof comes in at least one juicy email allegedly sent by the coalition treasurer to Wiggins' wife, advising that her husband should not campaign by saying that Hunstein "is a one-legged, Jewish female from DeKalb County with a lot of money in the bank."