Attorney General Thurbert Baker didn’t get much ink in my story about the Democratic gubernatorial debate Tuesday. Roy Barnes and DuBose Porter had most of the best lines of the night. But Baker did give a good answer to a question about health care reform that didn’t fit in the article.

A month after dealing a huge blow to the gubernatorial aspirations of Republican frontrunner John Oxendine, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution turned its investigative powers on Democrat Thurbert Baker.

The article, written by outstanding veteran reporters James Salzer and Cameron McWhirter, says that the attorney general’s office has paid millions for outside legal work to law firms that contributed to his campaigns.

Sketchy? Yes. Illegal? As the AJC points out, no.

Baker paid $173 million over the past five years to private lawyers to handle state business. Almost $23 million went to eight lawyers who collective gave $200,000 to Baker’s campaigns.