REDUX?? The Legend of Trent Lott and the Weblogs. Considering media and the spin of the day.

[L. Coyote]

SUBJECT: Is the Press missing the real story behind Trent Lott's resignation?
The lead story is what a "senior Republican" leaked to the press.
Are they going to redux and reduce this event to what the Rs are spinning?
Here is another opportunity to observe the Weblog/Dead Tree Media difference and interaction.

What is your take on how these media are handling this breaking story?

My first reaction here, on LBN: FISHY Cover-Up! Corrupt VECO CEO Campaign Contributions. More R Senators Involved.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3077550&mesg_id=3077823

------
HELLO! Don't these people read the News, like on DU :rofl:

Alaska trips put Washington on the hook as Bill Allen used fishing for pork bait!
FROM: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2062738



Bill Allen, second from left, is pictured in 2000 with Republican Senators Trent Lott of Mississippi, left, Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and Phil Gramm of Texas.



From left, Sen. Kit Bond, Tricia Lott, Sen. Trent Lott, Bill Allen, unidentified woman, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former Sen. Phil Gramm, Nancy Murkowski, Sen. Frank Murkowski.

Over the past 20 years Alaskan oil entrepreneur Bill Allen and people who work for him gave more than $1 million to candidates running for Congress. But his connections gave him another way to gain influence in Washington -- fishing.
If lawmakers paid for these trips, they would cost $1,000 a night. But they don't.
Instead, political committees and a network of non-profits backed by lobbyists pick up the tab. ......

L. Coyote ... Oct-17-07 09:44 AM
15. A few comments for now. This needs more research. But, it is huge already ...

I expect more research will surface soon. Myself, I'm off for some real salmon fishing .... (likewise right now!)

What to expect? The bribes are going to reach other R Senators. It will take more work, but the evidence is there. The oil companies funneled money via Stevens to many Senators, almost every R and R candidate. Also, now we must look to direct contributions by the oil execs, and the timing of those contributions. Expect to find that there is a pay as you go R legislative process. You want something, you pony up money!

This story may just be starting, and expect it to be as HUGE as an Alaskan King Salmon!

.....

Oh, the HUBRIS of the Corrupt Bastards; they printed Club tee shirts and hats!
"Corrupt Bastards Club" has more political appeal than the oxymoranic Culture of Corruption.
What we need now is the complete roster .....

============================
I love a political "told you so" moment like this!!

Again, read on .... at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3077550&mesg_id=3077823

=================
The Legend of Trent Lott and the Weblogs
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/03/15/lott_case.html

A new study from the Kennedy School pinpoints what happened between Big Media and the blogs in the case of Trent Lott. It does not portray weblogs as lead actor, but as reactor to a story that almost disappeared. A certain receptivity in the bloggers allowed judgment in the press to correct itself.

I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.
— Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, Dec. 5, 2002

One way to learn that pack journalism is real is to be caught outside the pack with a story it does not recognize. This happened to Ed O’Keefe, a young “off-air reporter” for ABC News in Washington, who happened to be in the room when Trent Lott, then the most powerful man in the United States Senate, gave remarks that embraced the spirit of Strom Thurmond’s 1948 campaign for president. O’Keefe knew enough about that campaign to find Lott’s words shocking, and he said to himself, “This is news.”

But Washington journalism said back to him: we don’t think so.

O’Keefe’s judgment later won out. Pack judgment was wrong— in this case, extremely so. Lott became the first majority leader in Senate history to resign under pressure. How it all happened is told in the new case study from Harvard’s Kennedy School, “Big Media” Meets the “Bloggers.” (By Esther Scott, supervised by Alex Jones of the Shorenstein Center at the Kennedy School of Government. Available only in pdf form here.)

My favorite moment in the story is when O’Keefe’s counterpart at another network asks a more senior producer in the Washington bureau to look at what Lott said that evening at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. “No, I don’t think it’s anything” says the more experienced pro.

.........

Final Question: Is it open season on the BIG FISH yet?

[L. Coyote]

1. Blogs Make the Headlines

Blogs Make the Headlines
Noah Shachtman Email 12.23.02
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/12/56978

It's safe to assume that, before he flushed his reputation down the toilet, Trent Lott had absolutely no idea what a blog was.

He may have a clue now. .........

[underpants]

2. A significant blog event that has been erased from history

The web brought Trent down but it is never ever mentioned. The instant RW hit on the Bush Texas Air national Guard story on the other hand is repeated over and over and over.

[rocktivity]

3. VERRRRY interesting--Just about everyone in that pic has left office

And I thought Lott's hoping to snag a lobbyist gig before being legally required to wait at least two years was skunky enough! There may indeed be more to his departure than meets the eye...

rocknation
:wow:

[Blue_In_AK]

4. My first thought, L.Coyote,

is that this might be related to the Corrupt Bastards in some way. I KNOW this scandal is bigger than just Alaska's little legislators.

[L. Coyote]

5. How nice of the Alaska chapter to supply a name for the whole group!

Not to mention, elucidating the modis operandi with such clarity.

[SpiralHawk]

6. The freaking republicon "Corrupt Bastards Club."

republicons thumb their nose at morality, the law, and the American people.

Why do republicons HATE America?

[blogslut]

7. Yep

I have said it before and I will say it again, the way it works is this:

Explosive detail is lightly mentioned in a 15 second sound bite or back-page paragraph > The blogs pick it up and the story makes the rounds until it becomes "news that's fit to print" or broadcast.

Let them pshaw and humph all they want about the blogs but make no mistake, the Internet is changing politics. The revolution is happening but like Mr. Scott-Heron says - It will not be televised.

[L. Coyote]

10. Yep. The Web changed the majority in the Senate.

The "macaca" moment being the perfect case of how new media altered the outcome.

[trof]

8. Lott STILL looks like a cheerleader in those photos.

I know.
Completely off subject.

But everyone else is in he-man, outdoorsy plaids, faded jeans, etc., and Kewtie Boy, Good Hair Trent is all decked out in a stunning and immaculate tennis sweater and slacks.
I bet he's wearing tassel loafers too.
WooHoo.
;-)

[L. Coyote]

9. Is the Media the story here? US NEWS "Media Casts Lott Retirement As Sign Of GOP Decline"

In this case, maybe. Actually, the spin is a story. And all that spin avoids the real reasons, no doubt!
This story discusses how it is being spun:

=============
Media Casts Lott Retirement As Sign Of GOP Decline
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_071127.htm

.... Media coverage of Sen. Trent Lott's retirement announcement is casting the decision as further indication that Republicans approach the 2008 election cycle facing long odds in their quest to regain their Hill majorities. For example, the AP says Lott's decision was "an acknowledgment by an iconic GOP warrior that there's little power or fun being in the minority ....

Along similar lines NBC Nightly News (the only network to report the story) said, "If you look at the vacancies the GOP is now looking at in the Senate -- Allard, Craig, Domenici, Hagel, Lott, Warner -- that's some firepower." .....

The Washington Post calls Lott's "sudden retirement...another blow to Republicans," .... the Financial Times says Lott's retirement is "deepening the sense of malaise within the party's Congressional delegation after losing last year's midterm elections."

The Los Angeles Times reports President Bush said Lott "has always been a leader -- someone his colleagues have known they could count on to stay true to his principles." The Washington Times also reports "Lott's announcement prompted an outpouring of fond farewells from both sides of the aisle."

K Street, Financial Firms Eyeing Lott .... some stories suggest his motivation was mainly financial. On Fox News .....

[L. Coyote]

11. Right-Wing Magazine: Veco Oil Scandal Contributed To Lott’s Resignation

Well, to my surprise, American Spectator magazine and I agree on one thing now :rofl:
They, of course, ignore the fact it was on DU first!!

==========================
Right-Wing Magazine: Veco Oil Scandal Contributed To Lott’s Resignation
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/27/lott-veco/

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) refuses to say why he is retiring from Congress. Many in the media have reported that Lott likely wants to enter the lucrative world of K Street before “tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law” take effect.

But the right-wing American Spectator magazine speculates that brewing corruption scandals may have contributed to Lott’s decision:

"The tin-foil-hat crowd was almost immediately pushing a Jack Abramoff angle to the surprise resignation of Sen. Trent Lott. But a more recent scandal brewing — which has already ensnared Sen. Ted Stevens, among others — may also be playing on Lott’s mind.

"Lott, Stevens, as well as Rep. Dennis Hastert all have ties to Bill Allen, ........"

[L. Coyote]

12. SLATE: Did Scandal End Lott's Career? = "FBI raid on his brother-in-law"

Missing from all this is the Corrupt Bastards Club theory on DU!
That's this post and others linked herein.

======================
Did Scandal End Lott's Career?
Lott's sudden resignation coincides with an FBI raid on his brother-in-law's office. Maybe that's a coincidence, and maybe it isn't.
By Timothy Noah - Nov. 28, 2007, at 6:22 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2178712/nav/tap3/


Obituaries for the political career of former Senate Republican leader (and current Republican whip) Trent Lott, who announced Nov. 26 that he will retire in December—a full five years before his term runs out—have entertained various theories as to why Lott is quitting his job. There's the

No Fun theory, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602235.html)

which posits that Lott, along with the 17 Republican House members and five Republican senators also choosing to retire, have simply lost their enthusiasm for promoting the policies of an unpopular president in a Congress where they lack a majority. There's the

Greedy Pig theory, (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/26/lott-resign-lobbying/)

which posits that Lott wants to dodge new lobbying restrictions that take effect Jan. 1. And there's the

Still Clueless About Thurmond theory, (http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2007/11/why-trent-lott-left-senate.asp)

which posits that Lott remains puzzled and bitter about losing the top leadership spot simply because, at a 2002 celebration of Thurmond's 100th birthday, he said something nice about Thurmond's 1948 campaign for president on the segregationist Dixiecrat ticket. (Full disclosure: In his 2005 book Herding Cats, Lott accuses me of lighting the bonfire (http://www.slate.com/id/2125022/). That isn't true, but I'll own up to tossing the first log (http://www.slate.com/id/2075151/). )

Please welcome now the Scandal theory, which is suddenly gaining traction with conservative blogger

Michelle Malkin; (http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/28/whats-up-with-trent-lotts-brother-in-law-dickie-scruggs/)

with Harper's blogger Scott Horton; (http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001782)

with Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan; (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/why-did-lott-re.html)

and most especially with David Rossmiller, (http://www.insurancecoverageblog.com/archives/industry-developments-more-on-fbi-search-of-scruggs-law-offices.html)

managing editor of the Insurance Coverage Law blog, which is maintained by Dunn Carney Allen Higgins and Tongue, a law firm based in Portland, Ore. The Scandal theory, which is admittedly speculative, is that legal proceedings concerning Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the flamboyant plaintiff's attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who is also Lott's brother-in-law, are about to expose improper behavior by Lott.

Our story begins in August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina wreaked its vengeance on the Gulf Coast.

[L. Coyote]

13. Lott Opponent Erik Fleming: Told You Lott Would Quit

The Corrupt Bastards Club theory may have helped Fleming's campaign.
And, he still does not see it in this story!!

===============
You Lott Would Quit
by Erik Fleming - Nov 28, 2007 - http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/more.php?id=15563_0_7_0_M

I hate to say I told you so … but I did.

In 2006, when I was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate against Trent Lott, I basically predicted that he would not finish his term. If you remember, Lott was a little less than enthusiastic about seeking re-election, seemingly waiting for public opinion to prod him into the race. Remember when he said that the only reason he ran was because he felt compelled to help the Gulf Coast recover, being a victim himself?

It’s clear now that Lott wanted to retire and make some real money, hence the “Herding Cats” memoir. The GOP begged him to stay until Haley got re-elected, then the governor could choose his replacement. Well, Haley lived up to his end of the deal, and now Trent rides off into the sunset, which means greener (as in money) pastures ahead.

Basically, Sen. Lott is leaving the Senate to take advantage of the provision in the new lobbying reform legislation that allows a member of Congress to not serve in the next session and instantly become a member of the K Street Gang ..........

[L. Coyote]

14. Democracy NOW: Is Trent Lott Leaving Senate To Dodge New Ethics Law on Lobbying?

Is Trent Lott Leaving Senate To Dodge New Ethics Law on Lobbying?
Nov 29th, 2007 - http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/29/1522251

Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3
Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream


After Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott announced his resignation this week, it was widely speculated that the Mississippi Republican was quitting in order to avoid new Senate ethics standards ...

... Lott is reportedly considering is a partnership with his former colleague John Breaux, the former Democratic senator from Louisiana. Lott's son, Chester Lott, told reporters his father is considering teaming up with Breaux who announced yesterday that he is leaving the Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs to form his own company.

Whether or not Lott takes the job, speculation is high that his resignation after 35 years in Congress was timed to avoid the new ethics rules. The Christian Science Monitor reports it's so rare for a U.S. senator to resign during a term of office for reasons other than health, scandal, or quest for higher public office, that it's only happened twice since World War II. .....

[L. Coyote]

15. "He wore a wire." Today's Must Read by TPM's Paul Kiel

Okay, who's NOT wearing a wire? Senator?

=================
Today's Must Read
By Paul Kiel - Nov 29, 2007 - http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004798.php


It's been an eventful week for the Lott clan. On Monday, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) announced that he'd be retiring late this year. The next day, FBI agents raided the law office of his brother-in-law, Richard "Dickie" Scruggs. Yesterday, Scruggs, his son, and three associates were indicted for bribery.

Scruggs is a hotshot plaintiff's lawyer who famously cleaned up from lawsuits against big tobacco. His recent business has focused on Katrina-related litigation, especially against State Farm Insurance.

He'd better have a great criminal defense lawyer, because the indictment from the U.S. attorney for Mississippi's Northern District is devastating (you can read it here).

Here's the basic scheme: after Scruggs led a $80 million settlement between State Farm and hundreds of clients, an attorney who had formerly worked with Scruggs disputed the $26.5 million chunk of that settlement to Scruggs' law group. Scruggs wanted his money, and he and his associates decided that the best way to get it was to bribe the county judge presiding over the case, Henry Lackey. But Lackey went to the feds as soon as Scruggs' associates made the overture. He wore a wire. .........

..........

[L. Coyote]

16. Nov. 27, Senator Lott's retirement raises questions

I guess the news is getting to rural Nevada w/o the MSM!!

=================
From: Nye -- Gateway to Nevada's Rurals
http://nyenevada.blogspot.com/2007/11/senator-lotts-retirement-raises.html

Corruption scandal in the background?

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) refuses to say why he is retiring from Congress. Many in the media have reported that Lott likely wants to enter the lucrative world of K Street before “tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law” take effect.

However, a new brewing scandal may be the reason. Lott, Ted Stevens, as well as Rep. Dennis Hastert all have ties to Bill Allen, a larger than life Alaskan businessman who owned Veco, an oil-field services company, and who was a huge benefactor of Republican politicians.

Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska legislators, including Ben Stevens, the son of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). The elder Stevens is currently the target of multiple federal investigation, including one on his ties to Veco.

Lott continues to stand by Stevens, donating $5,000 from his political action committee to Stevens’s re-election campaign. Lott also has ties to Allen, who accompanied him to the lavish annual “Waterfall Fishing Tournament” in Alaska.

.............

[L. Coyote]

17. Lott doles out $350K from war chest = remaining $1.9 million

Lott doles out $350K from war chest
By MARIA RECIO -SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU
http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/219724.html


WASHINGTON -- Sen. Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., loves Ole Miss and the Senate, and in early September he proved it with some eye-popping contributions - $250,000 to the University of Mississippi Foundation and $100,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The contributions, made from his campaign funds, were listed as "disbursements" in the most recent quarterly report Trent Lott for Mississippi filed with the Federal Election Committee. The charitable donations, permissible under federal law, were made well before Lott's surprise resignation announcement Monday.

They provide some clues as to how he plans to spread around the remaining $1.4 million in his election war chest and nearly $500,000 in his political action committee, the New Republican Majority Fund.

...........

[L. Coyote]

18. Media Alzheimers OR Too Many Scandals = How was this overlooked? Jack ABRAMOFF.

All the spin and not one mention of Abramoff. Not even the lobbyist story sparked this theme, Jack the felonious lobbyist.

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) - http://thinkprogress.org/abramoff#lott

CONTRIBUTIONS — LOTT RECEIVED $92,000 FROM ABRAMOFF, HIS PARTNERS, AND HIS CLIENTS: Lott received $92,000 in Abramoff-related donations between 2001 and 2004. (AP, 11/17/05)

COUSHATTA CAMPAIGN — LOTT RECEIVED MONEY FOR WRITING LETTER: One of Abramoff’s tribal clients, the Coushattas, “opposed a plan by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to open a casino at a non-reservation site, expected at the time to be outside Shreveport, La., not far from a casino owned by the Coushattas.” On March 1, 2002, Lott wrote Norton to “seriously urge” she reject the Jena casino. “Lott received $10,000 in donations from Abramoff’s tribal clients just before the letter and $55,000 soon after.” (Washington Post, 9/28/04; AP, 11/17/05)

[L. Coyote]

19. Add Rep. Hastert (R-IL) to the Abramoff related politicos resigning

Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) - Speaker of the House - http://thinkprogress.org/abramoff#hastert

CONTRIBUTIONS — HASTERT RECEIVED $100,000 FROM ABRAMOFF AND HIS CLIENTS: “Hastert ultimately collected more than $100,000 in donations from Abramoff’s firm and tribal clients between 2001 and 2004.” In Jan. 2006, Hastert pledged to give approximately $70,000 of the donations to charity. (AP, 11/17/05 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20051117-0028-tribes-letters&dollars-abridged.html; CNN, 1/3/06 http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/03/abramoff.fallout/)

COUSHATTA CAMPAIGN — DELAY ORGANIZED HASTERT, BLUNT, AND CANTOR TO BACK ABRAMOFF EFFORT: One of Abramoff’s tribal clients, the Coushattas, “opposed a plan by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to open a casino at a non-reservation site, expected at the time to be outside Shreveport, La., not far from a casino owned by the Coushattas.” Abramoff lobbied DeLay’s office to organize a June 10, 2003 letter to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton endorsing a view of gambling law benefiting the Coushattas. The letter was eventually co-signed by DeLay, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Deputy Whip Eric I. Cantor (R-VA), a “group of people, who do not normally weigh in on Indian issues.” (Washington Post, 9/28/04 http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=183)

COUSHATTA CAMPAIGN — HASTERT HELD FUNDRAISER AT ABRAMOFF RESTAURANT, SUPPORTED COUSHATTA LETTER: “House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, held a fundraiser at Abramoff’s Signatures restaurant in Washington on June 3, 2003, that collected at least $21,500 for his Keep Our Majority political action committee from the lobbyist’s firm and tribal clients. Seven days later, Hastert wrote Norton urging her to reject the Jena tribe of Choctaw Indians’ request for a new casino.” (AP, 11/17/05 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20051117-0028-tribes-letters&dollars-abridged.html)

[L. Coyote]

20. Big Tobacco loses a friend? Or gains a lobbyist?

TRENT LOTT (R-MS) Top Contributor
2008 campaign #1 = UST Inc $34,900
2006 campaign #1 = UST Inc $28,300

UST Inc
UST (the “T” stands for tobacco) is the country’s largest manufacturer and distributor of snuff and chewing tobacco. Its best known brands are Copenhagen and Skoal. UST was a part of the 1998 settlement with the attorneys general of several states that cost the tobacco industry a whopping $246 billion. As a result, the company agreed to several efforts to keep smokeless tobacco away from minors. Like other tobacco companies, UST opposes federal regulations that would further complicate its marketing and sales. In particular, it is against giving the Food and Drug Administration the ability to regulate tobacco as a drug.

1989-2008 Total Receipts: $11,753,606
1989-2008 Total Spent: $10,466,785

http://opensecrets.org/politicians/allsummary.asp?CID=N00003329

[L. Coyote]

21. LOTT: "...people ... say anything. It just floods across the blogosphere as if it's the truth.”

‘It's been a wild ride'
Friday, December 7, 2007
http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/12/07/local_news/local02.txt

......

“I've had a great ride. It's been a wild ride. I've had my great moments and my disappointments. That's life, but one of the things that's going on now is the mean-spiritedness and the ability for people to just say anything. It just floods across the blogosphere as if it's the truth.”

...............

State law says the interim senator must be appointed within 10 days after Lott leaves the Senate. The new senator is to serve until a winner is declared after the 2008 special election set for voters to pick who's to serve the rest of Lott's term, which runs through 2012.

Barbour plans to set the election for November 2008, as he says state law provides. However, Democrats - including state Attorney General Jim Hood - interpret the law to require an election be held earlier next year.

[L. Coyote]

22. It's the right time to call it a day = BY Trent Lott

It's the right time to call it a day
By Trent Lott - http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071208/OPINION01/712080339


Last week, I announced I'd be retiring from the Senate when the Senate ends its current session. That'll be sometime in late December depending on when we finish appropriations bills and other pending Senate business.

My reasons are varied, but basically it's a family decision - one that I'd planned to make a few years ago, but, as many of you know, Hurricane Katrina delayed it.

As I recently listened to my pastor's sermon, he reminded us what the Bible says in the Book of Ecclesiastes, that there is a time for everything.

Though I'd heard those verses before in words and song, that day the message really spoke to me as a 66-year-old man, trying to decide just how long I should stay in public life.

And, after much prayer, I've decided this is the right time ...............

[L. Coyote]

23. FBI searches law office of Richard Scruggs' attorney

FBI searches law office of Richard Scruggs' attorney
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN - 26 minutes ago
By Michael Kunzelman - AP - http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071210/APN/712100734&template=apart


The FBI on Monday seized files from the law office of attorney Joey Langston, who is representing high-profile Mississippi attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs in a judicial bribery case.

.....

Anthony Farese, an attorney for Zach Scruggs, Richard Scruggs' son and law partner, said the FBI took files related to its investigation that Scruggs, his son and three others conspired to pay a judge $50,000 for a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees.

Timothy Balducci, an attorney who once worked for Langston, pleaded guilty last week to participating in the alleged scheme and is cooperating with federal authorities.

Farese said Langston's law firm has worked with Scruggs for years on a range of cases. The FBI seized records relating to cases that Balducci worked on
Trent Lott, R-Miss., has made millions from tobacco and asbestos litigation. He reportedly made $848 million for his part in brokering a multibillion-dollar ...

.........

Scruggs, a brother-in-law of Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has made millions from tobacco and asbestos litigation. He reportedly made $848 million for his part in brokering a multibillion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the mid-1990s. That case was portrayed in the 1999 movie "The Insider."

[L. Coyote]

24. Lott’s Lament = Scruggs’s telephone calls with Lott & FBI warrants

Lott’s Lament
BY Scott Horton - Dec 11, 2007
http://harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001889

...............

So what’s the tie to Trent Lott? I’ve asked many people ... Scruggs’s telephone calls with Lott were a subject of great interest to the investigators....

Throughout this period, Scruggs was facing trouble on another front. A federal judge in Alabama, William Acker, handed down a very strongly worded ruling in June in which he recommended that the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama prosecute Scruggs for the violation of a court order in some insurance litigation. The case was drawing a good deal of attention to Scruggs’s litigation tactics, which have widely been seen as pressing the outer boundaries of acceptable zeal, and clearly was troubling to Scruggs. Had Scruggs been seeking Lott’s intervention and help to bail himself out?

....

Here’s one scenario, which two senior law enforcement figures in Mississippi told me was “more than simply plausible.” The FBI had secured warrants to monitor Scruggs’s phone calls early in the course of the case, during the summer or early fall. In some of those conversations Dickie Scruggs asked for his brother-in-law’s help in fighting off Judge Acker’s attempts to have him prosecuted. Trent Lott picked up the phone and spoke with a few friends in the Justice Department–or perhaps even directly with a U.S. Attorney or two in Alabama, or a senator from Alabama–and asked them to lay off his misbehaving brother-in-law. My examination of prosecutions in Alabama over the last two years–of which the Siegelman case is the most notable–show that in few places in the country are the federal prosecutors’ offices so politically charged and motivated as in Alabama.

If the FBI was listening in, and it gathered information that Lott had tried to influence the situation to help bail out his brother-in-law, that would raise major issues. Politicians should not try to influence the course of specific criminal cases. Such interventions are not normally grist for a criminal investigation. Most likely they would evolve into an ethics investigation inside of Congress. Was Trent Lott facing this prospect when he decided to step down? (If that’s so, then his resignation parallels very closely that of Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, who was in just that predicament.)

.............

[L. Coyote]

25. BreauxLott.com registered weeks before Lott gave notice.

BreauxLott.com registered weeks before Lott gave notice.
Dec 11, 2007 - http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/11/breuxlottcom-registered-6-weeks-before-lott-gave-notice


Last month, after Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) announced that he was retiring before the end of the year, it was widely speculated that Lott may be considering a lobbying partnership with former senator John Breaux. As ThinkProgress noted at the time, any pre-negotiating between Lott and Breaux would violate Senate ethics rules. The Hill reports today Lott’s son, Chet, “secured the rights to the domain name” breauxlott.com “six weeks before his father announced his retirement,” raising further questions about whether Lott broke Senate rules.