MBN EXEC A DIFFERENT KIND OF COWBOY

There's A New Cowboy In Town, And His Name Is George Phillips

George Phillips' Low-Key Style In Sharp Contrast To Former Director's
Approach

The new director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics is an actual
cowboy, raising and training quarter horses near Hattiesburg.

He replaces Frank Melton, who was often criticized by some for his
"cowboy" tactics.

Phillips, a former U.S. attorney, is glad to be back in law
enforcement circles after spending his past two years in retirement,
but he seems uncomfortable with his new title. The word "Director"
appears emblazoned on a bureau badge in a framed poster. "That's the
one thing I don't want on the wall," he said. "Sounds boastful."

His low-key style stands in contrast with that of Melton, who was as
brash and bold in law enforcement as he was on television when he
ended his editorials for WLBT-Channel 3 news by snapping his pen in
his pocket and saying, "And that, my friends, is the bottom line."

Phillips praises Melton and calls him a good friend. When Melton drew
controversy in 1992 for putting up billboards that identified
suspected drug dealers, Phillips defended him, saying citizens needed
to be willing to take a stand.

As the third director in 14 months, however, Phillips wants to return
the shine to the agency that's suffered from budget cuts, accusations
of corruption and other woes over the past decade. Morale has been so
low the state's legislative watchdog committee noted it in a report.

"I want it to be a source of great pride for men and women to work for
the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics," Phillips said. "They've heard
that before, so I just have to prove it to them."

That pride may have to swallow more cuts to a budget that endured
slashes of 40 percent between 1999 and 2002. The bureau's budget
totaled $9.8 million this past fiscal year, not including outside grants.

Phillips doesn't know what budget he'll seek at this point, but will
work with whatever budget he's given.

One priority will be to sell the agency's helicopter. "That's a $1
million toy," he said.

His goal for the agency is to make it one that cooperates with local
law enforcement, the people on the front lines of the drug war - a
goal he said is shared by Gov. Haley Barbour, who appointed him.

Claiborne County Sheriff Frank Davis, former president of the
Mississippi Sheriff's Association, praised that goal. "The only time
I've seen it happen was when Frank (Melton) was in charge," he said.
"If all law enforcement don't work together, then the crooks win."

Harrison County Sheriff George Payne - who worked with Phillips'
office in the 1987 slayings of Vincent and Margaret Sherry - agreed.
"With today's budget restraints, we're all scrapping together," he
said. "He's going to be a leader in that."

But Chester Quarles, who headed the bureau from 1978 to 1980, said the
agency also must remain proactive. If he had to serve over again, he
would put more resources into the intelligence division to spot
potential drug dealers.

Phillips has already selected his second-in-command, veteran law
enforcement officer Donald Butler, who said Friday, "I told the
governor that George Phillips was the only person he could have
appointed that I would be willing to take the number two job (for)."

In 1980, Phillips became the nation's youngest U.S. attorney at age 31
at the suggestion of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, whom he calls "a
long-time political mentor."

He described himself as "young and stupid" in those days, but smart
enough to pick James Tucker to head the criminal division for the U.S.
attorney's office in the Southern Division. "If I had a talent, it was
that I recognized talent."

Syndicated columnist Bill Minor recently wrote that while Phillips may
be remembered for presiding over the FBI corruption probe of Operation
Pretense, which resulted in convictions of 57 county supervisors, it
was Tucker who planned and led that prosecution.

"Certainly the laid-back Phillips, who has a penchant for disappearing
from the state courtroom scene to get on horseback and play cowboy in
a remote retreat out West, is hardly likely to become a hands-on
operator in the mode of Melton, the passionate drug-buster," Minor
wrote.

Phillips gave Tucker and others credit for Pretense's success. "I
don't perceive myself as a white knight ridding the state of
corruption," he said. "I was just doing my job."

Rankin County Judge Kent McDaniel, a former assistant U.S. attorney
under Phillips, said Minor was right to identify Tucker as the driving
force behind the investigation, "but give the administrator some
credit for recognizing talent and allocating resources."

McDaniel said Phillips "always had a philosophy that you could train
almost anybody to do anything, but you can't train people to have good
character."

In 1984, the nation's attorney general awarded Phillips' office the
first Award for Excellence for establishing a committee where federal
prosecutors met with local law enforcement, McDaniel said. "That was
his brainchild. Eventually it spread to the nation once everybody saw
how valuable it was."