The Mess In Mississippi: The Joe Biden Connection

This is a compilation from Y'all Politics with links to the various sources. There's a lot of background information on the Scruggs case for those unfamiliar with the details.

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The Mess In Mississippi: The Joe Biden Connection

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/12/10/the-mess-in-mississippi-the-joe-biden-connection/

In case you missed it, here’s the NYT’s recent contribution to the Mess in Mississippi — aka the criminal charges against plaintiffs lawyer Dickie Scruggs and four others on charges that they attempted to bribe a judge.

(December 10, 2007,Wall Street Journal Blog) Snip ---

Patterson and Balducci had grand ambitions — they wanted their firm to become a leading Democratic lobbying shop/law firm with a reach stretching beyond Mississippi, according to people familiar with their plans. They opened an office in Washington, D.C., and lured a number of influential Mississippi Democrats to affiliate with their firm, including Bill Allain, the former Mississippi governor.

Snip ---

Most recently, Balducci and Patterson had thrown their weight behind the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. Joseph Biden, whom Mr. Patterson got to know while working for Sen. Stennis. Indeed, Balducci had a Biden bumper sticker on his red Ford truck, according to someone who rode in it. Their bet on Biden was that he wouldn’t win the presidency but would become Secretary of State under a Hillary Clinton administration, according to two people familiar with their thinking.

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http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/10627/

Original FBI Document (52 pages total) Pages 36-39

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/exhibits4.pdf

BALDUCCI: (UI) Uh, he, you know, frankly what they were saying, what he was saying, DONALD McKETCHEN sayin' that uh, that the way that the bill is being marked right now, that in the Senate that they're gonna get around the cap he thinks. And he's supposed to be faxin' me this morning some dead man's documents about the Senate markings. So...

PATTERSON: So, but in other words, what he was sayin' was good news?

Snip ---

PATTERSON: (UI) that's good news. Alright. And are they gonna meet us up there three o'clock Saturday?

BALDUCCI: Yeah, and here's what we're gon' do. I've been on the phone with BIDEN this mornin', that would be JIM BIDEN. I'm not tryin' to be like JOEY.

PATTERSON: (laughs) (UI)

BALDUCCI: And um, you and I, the plan now is, me, you and NORMAN are gonna leave at eight o'clock from New Albany Saturday.

PATTERSON: Yeah.

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AP quickly picks up on the Biden/MS issues

http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/10625/

In August 2007, three men who later became entangled in a Mississippi bribery scheme raised money for Sen. Joe Biden's run for president.

A month later, two of the three were overheard in a phone call recorded by the FBI discussing federal legislation and a prospective meeting with Biden's brother, Jim.

Snip ----------

_The history of Biden's son, Hunter, as a Washington lobbyist. Since 2002, the firm Hunter Biden co-founded has represented a major constituent of Joe Biden's, the University of Delaware, which has collected millions in federal funding.

_Donations to Biden's campaigns totaling more than $200,000 in the past two decades from Delaware-based MBNA, the credit card company, and a similar amount from trial lawyers, including Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, one of the three men implicated in the Mississippi bribery scheme.

Since 1989, lawyers and law firms have contributed $6.5 million to Biden, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan private group that tracks money in politics.

Snip ----

The overheard conversation between attorney Timothy Balducci and former Mississippi State Auditor Steve Patterson was recorded in September 2007 while the FBI was investigating a bribery scheme that toppled Scruggs, Mississippi's most prominent lawyer.

Balducci tells Patterson at one point in the cryptic conversation that he was told "we really need to push on the Senate bill" and "get your man in line in the House if this comes out of the Senate," according to the transcript.

On the tape, Balducci says he had spoken by phone to Jim Biden, Sen. Biden's brother, "and we're gonna meet the Bidens around noon," according to the transcript.

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Sen Joe Biden refunds Dickie and Zach Scruggs contributions

http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/10576/

Using federal matching funds, Biden slashed his debt to $173,999 from $1.15 million the previous month, according to Federal Election Commission records filed Wednesday. Biden spent $13.8 million on his candidacy and dropped out of the race after a poor showing in Iowa.

Biden’s July expenses included giving refunds of $2,300 to the man known as Mississippi's best-known attorney, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, and Scruggs’ son, Zach Scruggs.

Scruggs, a longtime major donor to Democrats nationally and the brother-in-law of Republican Trent Lott, gained fame and wealth by suing asbestos manufacturers and tobacco companies.

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MONDAY, AUGUST 04, 2008

Scruggs begins 5-year sentence

BY CHRIS RIZO

ASHLAND, Ky. (Legal Newsline)-Convicted trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs reported Monday to a federal prison in Kentucky.

Scruggs, a once-famed plaintiffs' attorney who made millions through class action lawsuits, is beginning a five-year prison sentence for conspiring to bribe a judge with $50,000.

Legal NEWSline

http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/214567-scruggs-begins-5-year-sentence

I don't know how to keep this on the front burners. The Presidential Candidate Debate is going to be in Oxford, the center of the scandal...maybe we need to paste this information on each chair so the press can see the connection between the Patterson, Balducci, Langston, and Scruggs monies and Joe Biden. He's dirty and the MSM is going to sweep this under the cover. Biden did return the money (gave it to charity) from Scruggs but how about the money from the other three. I have read somewhere it is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the MSM not doing their job. You should visit Y’all Politics. There is a wealth of info there about the Scruggs scandal.

Scruggs:

* Brother-in-law of Trent Lott

* Made hundreds of millions from the tobacco suit

* Close associate of Mike Moore former AG

* Contributor to many, many politicians from both parties

* Convicted felon along with his son

I think we haven’t seen the end of the FBI rectal exam of MS judicial system. It was long over due.

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