"President Obama ran on change. This isn't change...this is just more of the same, in my opinion...In one vote, the nation's going to borrow another 800 billion. This is nuts" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," CNN, 1/28).
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) asked Neil M. Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), for a formal review of the sponsorship by Citigroup of a junket to the Caribbean by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and five other members of Congress, a trip that violated House Rules.
The event took place November 6-9, 2008 on the sunny Caribbean island of St. Maarten at the Sonesta Maho Bay Resort & Casino, after Congress had approved the $700 billion bailout package in October.
The "lead sponsor" was Citigroup which contributed $100,000. Citigroup was certainly aware that it would be a major recipient of bailout funds. It was also aware that its fortunes had become increasingly reliant on Congressional actions. Citigroup should have also been aware that corporate sponsorship of such an event was banned by House Rules adopted on March 1, 2007, in response to the Abramoff scandal and the infamous golf trip to Scotland.
Taxpayers are now Citigroup's largest shareholder after infusions of $45 billion.
NLPC President Peter Flaherty attended the St. Maarten's event in order to document potential violations of law and House Rules. The sessions were lightly attended. The primary purpose of attending for most participants appeared to be to take a vacation.
In addition to Rangel, the other members of Congress who attended were Donald Payne (D-NJ), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Donna Christensen (D-VI).
RoM notes that Steve Patterson contributed $11,500 to Presley and Timothy Balducci contributed another $5,000. $18,000 more came from other members of the Patterson Balducci firm.
RoM doesn't list the contributions to Presley of $2,500 from Cotton Plant of Como, LLC and $2,500 more from Cotton Plant Thoroughbreds, LLC. Steve Patterson's Cotton Plant Consulting, Inc. is listed at the same address as those two LLCs so its a good chance that those contributions ($5000 total) also come from Patterson.More than a year after pleading guilty in a judicial bribery scandal that took down then-prominent lawyer Dickie Scruggs, former state auditor Steve Patterson and disbarred New Albany lawyer Tim Balducci will be sentenced Feb. 13. The two were the first to plead guilty to their roles in attempting to bribe Circuit Judge Henry Lackey to rule in favor of Scruggs in a legal fees dispute.Dickie Scruggs also gave Presley $5000.
Hood is also on the board of directors of the Mississippi Economic Council and serves as president of Hood Petroleum Company Inc., Copiah Oil Company Inc. and HICO Inc. General Insurance Agency. In the past he has served as a commissioner of the Mississippi Employment Security Commission.He currently has a nomination from Attorney General Jim Hood for another term on the Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board.
Dear Editor:Oooh, snap. What is this about? Well, apparently Brown thinks that MDOT stands for Mississippi Department of Tourism.
I am writing in reference to your article “Sun Herald investigation: “Officials travel the world on taxpayers’ dollars” that appeared in today’s paper (January 15, 2009). Each morning as Transportation Commissioner, I have a choice. I can:
1. Sit on the porch and have no expenses.
Or
2. Go out in the field and work for the people that elected me and have expenses.
Sincerely,
Wayne Brown Southern District Transportation Commissioner
The state’s four highway officials have spent about $207,000 on travel over the last four years, according to the 1,700 pages of expense reports the Sun Herald recently requested.It only gets better. Reporter Michael Newsom continues taking us on MDOT's global road trip.
Many trips for MDOT officials are funded by road-building industry groups, whose member businesses depend on lucrative state road construction contracts approved by MDOT leaders.
The appearance of such perks provided by the industry has prompted Alabama’s Department of Transportation to institute a policy that all ALDOT officials attending such conferences pay their own way.
MDOT leaders say their travel is all work-related and necessary to their jobs. MDOT is charged with overseeing state transportation, primarily the building and maintenance of state and federal roadways in Mississippi. They say they don’t see any ethical problem with construction companies or equipment and material suppliers paying for them to travel and dine.
Butch Brown and Wayne Brown said a European trip they took — at a cost of about $7,000 to taxpayers — with stops in Brussels, Budapest and Vienna, was to study how rivers and ports in those areas are used for moving cargo.
While Mississippi’s top four transportation officials travel often at taxpayer expense, they also are frequently taken away with their wives to popular tourist destinations and put up in luxury hotels with tabs picked up by groups of road builders who receive construction contracts from MDOT.It's not surprising these same special interests paying for the trips (when it isn't taxpayers that is) also fund their campaigns.
On the San Francisco trip in spring 2008, which was funded by the Mississippi Road Builders Association, Wayne Brown said he took an offered tour of the California Wine Country. Some of the commissioners and their wives took the optional trips to Alcatraz, tours of the city, and other trips, which were included on the agenda. The officials also stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel just off Union Square, a popular shopping and cultural area, on the Road Builders Association’s tab.
In addition to the San Francisco trip, Mississippi’s road-building industry has funded the officials’ travels to meetings at resorts in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Key West, Fla., and Orlando — where Cirque du Soleil tickets were offered — and other locations during the four-year period for which the Sun Herald requested MDOT’s travel records. In February, Wayne Brown was the lone commissioner to attend a meeting of the Mississippi Asphalt Pavement Association in Cancun, Mexico. The group paid for his lodgings at the Ritz-Carlton there, as well as his airfare.
One of the largest donations was $10,000 from Lawrence Warren, head of Warren Paving, to Wayne Brown in January 2007. The Hattiesburg company received a $37.5 million contract for some of the Mississippi 67 four-lane project in November 2006.Don't worry, the Browns have good excuses.
“When you look at my expenses or those at DOT and consider the responsibility we have, I am not embarrassed by them,” Wayne Brown said.This has to be my favorite response.
And, he said, it’s often hard work. He said a junket he and Butch took through Brussels, Belgium; Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria, at taxpayer expense was very tiring.
“We went to the different ports and places,” Wayne Brown said. “It worked the dog out of me. I thought we would have a little time for relaxation. There was very little of that. It was fascinating to see how Europe uses canals, railroads and highways.”
One golf event benefiting those with mental retardation that Wayne Brown and other officials attended in West Point, Miss., left the state with a $270 bill for one night at the lodge at the Old Waverly golf course, which was reimbursed to Wayne Brown. Wayne Brown, who doesn’t golf, said he didn’t remember paying that much.Ouch. That's like saying "my bad" and making it all better.
“Was that room $270 for me?” Wayne Brown said. “Wow. I don’t remember that, but anyway. Ouch.”
Whaaa? You see those are different things. They both start with "E" so that might confuse him.Entergy now claims that the amount of energy sold to Mississippi from the Evangeline contract comprised only one percent of the total Entergy Mississippi load in megawatt hours used between 2005 and 2008. But, according to documents filed by Entergy Mississippi with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the amount averaged closer to 8% in 2005 and 10 % for 2006 of total purchases by Entergy Mississippi from the Exchange.
As reiterated throughout, this report primarily focuses on judicial decision making and court practices that unfairly tip the scales of justice against civil defendants. But the actions of a handful of state attorneys general also contribute to growing concerns in the business community about the ability of defendants to receive fair trials. This happens when what are essentially private lawsuits are filed, often in a plaintiff-biased local court, with the backing of the state government and a strong incentive to obtain the highest monetary award possible. It’s a system of legal kickbacks known as “pay to play,” wherein lawyers who contribute to the campaigns of the state’s highest ranking attorney can then get a contract for a piece of the action and, in some cases, develop the action themselves and get a go-ahead to pursue it in the state’s name.
The practice began in May 1994 in the Chancery Court in Jackson, Mississippi, when then-Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore filed a revolutionary lawsuit that would change the relationship between the offices of attorneys general and the plaintiffs’ bar in virtually every state. The lawsuit was brought against the manufacturers and other entities comprising the tobacco industry and sought to recover monies allegedly spent by the state of Mississippi providing health care to residents injured by tobacco use.
But that’s not what was unique about this lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in Chancery Court. According to the state of Mississippi’s Web site, “Chancery Courts have jurisdiction over disputes in matters involving equity; domestic matters including adoptions, custody disputes and divorces; guardianships; sanity hearings; wills; and challenges to constitutionality of state laws. Land records are filed in Chancery Court.” Chancery courts are not typically the courts where lawsuits potentially worth several hundred million dollars are filed.
The State of Mississippi also pioneered an important new litigation model for legal representation with this lawsuit; Moore’s office hired outside counsel to represent the state, including his close friend and campaign contributor, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs (who has since been disbarred and is serving a federal prison sentence for an unrelated conspiracy to bribe a Mississippi judge). Scruggs and others agreed to take the case on a contingency fee basis. In the event that Mississippi settled or won its case, Scruggs would take a percentage. If the state got nothing, he would get nothing.
Today, the history of that litigation, parallel actions filed in other states, the ensuing Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and additional state settlements is well known. Less well-known is the application of the model that it pioneered; a model that has created a corrupt and corrosive cronyism between some state attorneys general and outside counsel.
Hired on a contingency fee basis, outside counsel have won many billions of dollars in fees for their litigation work against a variety of industries. They also have been generous supporters of their chief clients’ reelection campaigns; thereby ensuring that the model provides financial benefits to both the elected official doing the hiring and the personal injury lawyers performing the work.
Today several attorneys general are involved in relationships with outside counsel in high-profile litigation that exemplifies the need for comprehensive reform. Here are four examples.
MISSISSIPPI
If former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore pioneered the model wherein personal injury lawyers are hired by the AG and, in turn, reward his or her campaign with cash, then credit goes to his successor Jim Hood for perfecting it.
In a five-year span Hood’s office retained 27 law firms to represent Mississippi in 20 separate lawsuits. Partners in the firms selected by Hood contributed $534,900 to his reelection campaigns over a two-cycle period. The list of Hood contributors included Moore’s old friend Richard “Dickie” Scruggs to the tune of $30,000, and fellow plaintiffs’ counsel Joey Langston, who, like his former associate Scruggs, has also recently pled guilty of conspiring to bribe a judge. Langston’s firm gave Hood $130,000. And that investment in Hood’s campaign seems to have paid off. In 2005 as part of the state’s $100 million settlement with MCI/WorldCom, Langston’s firm split $14 million in fees.
Considering his propensity for hiring future felons to perform legal work on behalf of Mississippi citizens, Jim Hood understandably remains a steadfast opponent of laws that would provide for competitive bidding and public scrutiny of the contracts into which his office enters.
Mississippi's Attorney General can hand pick his largest campaign contributors to receive secret, no-bid, multi-million dollar contracts. Where is the good government, Common Cause, media elite outrage? I suppose as it is a Democrat trial lawyer, no one cares.
