Say Anything Blog

His name is Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, and he climbed to prominence during the tobacco lawsuits.  Now he’s in trouble for trying to bribe a judge in Mississippi.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An attorney who helped negotiate a multibillion-dollar settlement against tobacco companies in the 1990s and has sued insurers over unpaid Hurricane Katrina claims was indicted Wednesday in a suspected scheme to bribe a Mississippi judge.

The indictment accuses Richard “Dickie” Scruggs of conspiring to pay the judge $50,000 to rule in his favor in a lawsuit brought by other attorneys who sought fees for work on Katrina insurance litigation.

Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey reported the “bribery overture” to federal authorities and agreed to assist investigators in an “undercover capacity,” according to the indictment.

Scruggs was indicted along with three other attorneys, including his son, who is his law partner, and a former Mississippi auditor. They face charges including one count of defrauding the federal government and two counts of wire fraud.

“I’m convinced that these guys did not do what they’re accused of doing,” said Joey Langston, a lawyer for Scruggs’ firm.

Scruggs poured $10,000 into the North Dakota Democrat party last election cycle, which is a lot for a “small market” politics state like this one.  Will the North Dakota Democrats give this guy’s money back if he gets convicted?

Corruption was a major part of the last election.  Bigger than Iraq, I’d say, and the Democrats campaigned on it both in North Dakota and across the nation.  So now that Scruggs is going down, will the Democrats be giving his tainted money back?  It’s bad enough that the ND Democrats get the vast majority of their campaign money from out of state, but getting it from crooks too?

I won’t hold my breath waiting for it, nor will I hold it waiting for someone in the North Dakota media to report this connection to North Dakota’s Democrats.