States Attorneys Scandal Comes to Mississippi

[flashl]

The United States Attorneys Scandal Comes to Mississippi

Paul Minor is the son of Bill Minor, a legendary Mississippi journalist and chronicler of the civil rights movement. He is also a wealthy trial lawyer and a mainstay of Mississippi’s embattled Democratic Party. Mr. Minor has contributed $500,000 to Democrats over the years, including more than $100,000 to John Edwards, a fellow trial lawyer. He fought hard to stop the Mississippi Supreme Court from being taken over by pro-business Republicans.

Mr. Minor’s political activity may have cost him dearly. He is serving an 11-year sentence, convicted of a crime that does not look much like a crime at all. The case is one of several new ones coming to light that suggest that the department’s use of criminal prosecutions to help Republicans win elections may go farther than anyone realizes.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold hearings shortly on whether the Justice Department engaged in selective prosecution in two other cases: when it went after Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who is serving more than seven years in prison on dubious charges, and Georgia Thompson, a Wisconsin civil servant who was freed after serving four months on baseless corruption charges.

Mr. Minor, whose firm made more than $70 million in fees in his state’s tobacco settlement, suspects it was his role in the 2000 Mississippi Supreme Court elections that put a target on his back. The United States Chamber of Commerce spent heavily to secure a Republican, pro-business majority, while Mr. Minor contributed heavily to the other side.
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We are getting picked off, one by one.

[Blackhatjack]

1. This is the kind of misuse of prosecutorial power that should send DOJ officials to prison ....

It is going to take someone who will stand up to these corrupt individuals, and uncover their wrongdoing --not overlook it and say I am only going to look to the future.

It is going to take John Edwards to stand up to them and beat them.

And now you know why the Bush/Rove/Repub machine went after John Edwards' campaign fundraisers and supporters.

If we don't expose this wrongdoing and free these wrongfully charged and convicted Democrats, you can expect more of the same in the future.

It is time ... time for John Edwards and some long needed exposure of the corruption of this Administration. And remember that the pro-business corporate community was behind most of these egregious prosecutions. Take their money and shut down any kind of investigation that exposes them and their dirty fingers.

"We have to fight them and beat them, you cannot negotiate with them ...." John Edwards

[Blackhatjack]

2. There are so many political prosecutions involving Edwards supporters, you have to suspect Rove ....

.... involved, just like the Siegelman case in Alabama.

I sure hope John Edwards gets the opportunity to take on these criminals as our next President.

THe amount of corruption exposed would absolutely shock the nation. It would take a long time for voters to trust another Repub Administration, just like the post-Watergate environment.

[Mist]

4. It took enough voters all of 6 years to trust Rethugs enough to vote for Reagan. Americans

have short memories!

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Do you think Martha Stewart was targeted in the same way?

[Blackhatjack]

5. I think Martha Stewart is a perfect example of Selective Prosecution....

She was an easy target for prosecution, and there is no doubt that other more connected individuals did exactly the same thing and got only a slap on the wrist(civil fine).

I am not sure why she was selected for disparate treatment since she obviously was a pro-business corporate individual before this happened to her.

[flashl]

6. She told Congress to piss off

and would not go before committee. At the same time, Ken Lay was rescheduling his appearances but would never show. He, Lay, didn't say I wont come, but kept giving excuses why he could not come.

[Mist]

7. From an Oct. 5, 2007 article in Harper's magazine:

<snip>

"The actual charges filed were almost incomprehensible. Several public integrity prosecutors with whom I conferred told me they were unfamiliar of any similar case raising charges quite like these. They were called “strange,” and “perhaps unique.” Most public corruption cases revolve on a quid pro quo: a public official is asked to do something for some form of compensation or reward. But in these cases there is no quid pro quo, and none is ever alleged."

<snip>

"But I’ll give you the short version: honest service mail fraud is an effort to conjure a crime which does not exist. The “crime” here is purely political."

Remember when there was a national-level media that would follow stories like this?

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/10/hbc-90001343

[flashl]

9. Unreal ...

The central charge against the two men is so convoluted that setting it out requires a diagram, if not a family tree: trying to influence a libel case against Mr. Minor’s father, Mr. Minor guaranteed a loan to Justice Diaz’s former wife.

If these thugs can take down a seasoned attorney, why is it that no one seem to understand the ABA's reports about the mass incarceration of Blacks?

[Blackhatjack]

10. It ties back into the lifting of prohibitions on media consolidation ....

Corporate agendas tend to be similar in nature, and when they own multiple outlets in the same markets they can 'control' the content of the news actually reported.

The ABA has been on the case for years, but you rarely see anything printed or highlighted on tv because the ABA's positions have been contrary to those of this Administration.

[flashl]

11. So true. n/t

[Blackhatjack]

8. I hope people who accuse lawyers of not acting to protect the public read this....

Every lawyer who decides to take on the well entrenched corporate interests of the Tobacco Lobby, Pharmaceutical Lobby, Banking Lobby, etc. knows they will become a target of the 'unofficial' power these groups wield.

However, until the Bush Administration came to power, they did not appreciate the fact that the power of the Government would be used to destroy them on behalf of the corporate special interest groups that put Bush in power.

So to those who are asking where are the lawyers acting to protect their interests, here are some examples.