Breaking: Dickie Scruggs Indicted
By Erick Posted in 2008 | Dickie Scruggs | Mike Moore — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Richard "Dickie" Scruggs has been indicted. You may not recognize the name, but you'll remember him. He's the high powered lawyer that Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore hired to go after tobacco companies.
He's also Trent Lott's brother-in-law and lawyer.
I doubt greatly that this is why Trent Lott decided to retire, but it is worth noting that the federal indictment pertains to accusations that Scruggs tried to bribe a federal judge to get a favorable ruling for Scrugg's Katrina Litigation Team. And the Katrina Litigation Team is representing Trent Lott.
The left will be all over this, I'm sure. But I think the simpler explanation for Lott's retirement is that he wants to lobby while under the 1 year exclusion rule and not the 2 year exclusion rule that will go into effect at the first of next year. And no doubt if he resigned after the Scruggs indictment, which he probably suspected since they're family, the press would have made a huge deal out of it, trying to tie Lott to the indictment. The media does, after all, hate Trent Lott.
The Scruggs -- Lott connection is not the news story, despite what Think Progress and others will probably say.
The Scruggs -- Mike Moore connection is the story. Moore and Scruggs are best friends. Moore hired Scruggs to fight tobacco. No doubt Moore knew what Scruggs was capable of, which is exactly why he hired him.
Mike Moore is going to have questions to answer when he runs for the Senate next year.
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Breaking: Dickie Scruggs Indicted 4 Comments (0 topical, 4 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
which will be more prominently featured in the articles about him, His relationship to Senator Lott, or his fundraising for Hillary?
"I doubt greatly that this is why Trent Lott decided to retire"
Now that he's decided to retire, there is less possibility of blowback.
Not saying that's the case, only that it seems just as likely.
Is Mississippi, Scruggs is the money-bags that funds trial-lawyer friendly Democrats.
And at the national level, him and his wife donated $28,500 each to the DSCC just this past year. Think Chucky Schumer is going to give it to charity?
I'm covering all this at my blog Majority In Mississippi.
only in politics are stories like the one above a coincidence. Happy to see Lott go no matter what the reason.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion