Yall Politics

The Mississippi Shakedown and how it works

Hold on to your wallets
by Alan Lange
8/25/8

It's a simple dance, really. You just take two steps back and grab your wallet. Welcome to the Mississippi Shakedown.

Here's how it works.

Mississippi's Attorney General, Jim Hood, has initiated an investigation against Miller Coors over the scourge of (get ready) . . . caffeinated alcohol drinks. Miller Coors is one of the largest manufacturers of beer in the world.

In announcing his investigation after attempting to get the company to voluntarily cease marketing this legal product, Mr. Hood stated . . .

"It is amazing to me that in spite of being under investigation by the Attorneys General, MillerCoors intends to introduce Sparks Red with an even higher alcohol content in October. Consequently, today I have sent a letter to Leo Kiely , the chief executive officer of MillerCoors, asking for copies of documents regarding the marketing strategy for Sparks Red. I just wish the company would respond more responsibly as did Anheuser-Busch. I guess MillerCoors' lust for the corporate annual profits of $114 million off of the caffeinated drinks, overrides their concern for our young people."

Wow. Imagine the nerve of a company introducing a new legal product . . .

However, that quote certainly puts Anheuser-Busch in a favorable light. I wonder how that happened. Many might be interested to know that A-B retained the services of former Attorney General Mike Moore shortly after Moore left office.

While he was in office, Moore was approached by A-B about an effort to cut underage drinking in Mississippi. Moore says he was "skeptical" but came to see the effort as sincere. After he left office, he became an A-B consultant on the issue.

Mike Moore, of course, has been a close advisor on both the criminal grand jury threats against State Farm and representing plaintiff's against State Farm. Those are issues near and dear to AG Jim Hood.

Step #2 in the Mississippi Shakedown is that you have to give the right amount of money to the right folks.

According to the Democratic Attorneys General Association, Miller Coors has only put in $10,000 since 2005. However, Anheuser-Busch has put in $125,000. Alcohol and caffeine apparently mix better than not having the right political friends and campaign contributions. Oh, by the way, Jim Hood has received over $400K from DAGA funneled to it from now convicted felons Dickie Scruggs and Joey Langston.

While our Attorney General is out chasing the supposed scourge of the equivalent of a mixed drink (i.e. Jack Daniels and Coke), two of the largest political scandals in a generation have happened in Mississippi with almost a dozen guilty pleas between the two, yet not one state criminal charge has been filed in either case.

It's easy to understand when the AG is out "getting his drink on" and doin' the Mississippi Shakedown.

Posted August 26, 2008 - 7:21 am

12 Comments:

"Anti-business” AG’s Moore and Hood think they’re Czars but in fact they’re more like Bolsheviks and would work good in a Communist system.

Ship Island

Posted by ship island on 08-25-2008 at 09:26 AM [link]

When I saw this topic I figured it was about the ICE raid on Howard Industries in Laurel for illegal workers (aliens).

Posted by HailReagan on 08-25-2008 at 11:17 AM [link]

It should be noted that Ronnie Musgrove also represented Anheuser-Busch. They were his client when he was lieutenant governor.

Posted by josepacheco on 08-25-2008 at 02:18 PM [link]

Jessie Jackson is a past master of shaking down big business. Remember what he did to Toyota? Jim, what about the beef plant? What about Scruggs? Thank you so much for all your hard work saving us from evil corporations. Your are a joke!
Get a life.

Posted by quackhead on 08-25-2008 at 03:41 PM [link]

"It’s a simple dance, really. You just take two steps back and grab your wallet. Welcome to the Mississippi Shakedown” hahahahahahaha

Posted by Just Me on 08-26-2008 at 03:45 PM [link]

Wow...Miller Coors - The real criminals. Who knew?

Posted by ccvz on 08-26-2008 at 03:57 PM [link]

OK, first they regulate my bedroom toys, then they regulate my toilet. I could learn to live with those, but now they want to regulate my beer? Hood needs to stay out of my refrigerator!

BTW, Red Bull and Jagermeister is the bomb.

Posted by midnoon on 08-27-2008 at 03:08 AM [link]

Is there an original article somewhere about why MillerCoors is under “investigation” to begin with in our state?

Sparks Red has 8% alcohol. See article explaining these caffeine/alcohol combos. They are legal, and other companies already sell them.

http://jsonline.mobi/n/Story.aspx?id=785178

Posted by hdmatthias on 08-27-2008 at 02:18 PM [link]

Is there an original article somewhere about why MillerCoors is under “investigation” to begin with in our state?

AG Hood “amazed” that company doesn’t cave in because his office is investigating it

Posted by JDBerry on 08-27-2008 at 02:22 PM [link]

Hood, you are a joke! What the hell is wrong with you? You appear to be more concerned with “breaking” things than correcting what is wrong in your own house. For you to allow the corruption in Mississippi’s system is absolutely absurd. Rather than clean up your own mess, you create more...Shame On You!!!!

Posted by Blackjack55 on 08-27-2008 at 07:04 PM [link]

“Less than a decade later, the alcohol industry is indeed on the defensive, fighting many of the same charges levied against tobacco: The industry targets underage drinkers in its advertising and promotional campaigns. And though the defendants have changed, many of the lawyers are the same, with a few even choosing to switch from plaintiffs to defense. One of the more prominent lawyers to cross the aisle is former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore, who says he’s not directly involved in the alcohol industry litigation, but is on the clock for Anheuser-Busch. He is consulting with the beer giant as part of its effort to prevent underage drinking. [“Alcohol Litigation Just Beginning”]

AG’s [Hood] office warns against caffeinated alcoholic drinks (http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880821015
directs readers to http://www.cspinet.org. CSPINET is Center for Science in the Public Interest.

“According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the acceptable daily intake of aspartame is equivalent to a child weighing 50 pounds drinking two cans of diet soda daily, or a 150 pound adult drinking just over seven”….“For information on discussions between state’s Attorneys General regarding Aspartame suits similar to the Tobacco Suits of the 1990’s, please contact Eliot Spitzer of New York; Mike Hatch of Minnesota; former Attorney General of Mississippi, Mike Moore…” http://www.anomalog.com/ASPARTAME.html

Taking Cola to Court http://www.pointoflaw.com/columns/archives/002546.php
“As one advocate, Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, put it: ‘If someone is saying that a 64-ounce soda at 7-Eleven contributed to obesity, that person should have his day in court.’”…..”That brings us to Northeastern University law prof Richard Daynard, point man in the forthcoming courtroom onslaught against fizzy drinks. Long quoted in the press as a cheerleader for tobacco lawsuits, Daynard has now set out to assemble a legal strike force to file actions blaming big business for obesity.”……. “So maybe there’ll be some money for Daynard after all. And it’ll be hard for him to pretend, this time around, that he isn’t interested in it. Back in the heyday of tobacco litigation, hundreds of news reports portrayed Daynard as an academic well-wisher of the suits, breathing not a word about his monetary stake in them. After Richard Scruggs, Ronald Motley, and other tort kingpins brokered the $246 billion settlement with the states, however, Daynard popped up to claim that he had an oral agreement with the lawyers that entitled him to 5 percent of their fee haul—a claim that, if accepted, would have brought him a cool $150 million or more. No such luck: Scruggs and Motley said they’d made no promise of the sort. The dispute, later settled on private terms, got rather heated. Scruggs deemed Daynard “a bit more mercenary than people think he is,” while Motley described as “stupefying” his claim to have masterminded the litigation.”

Posted by Just Me on 08-27-2008 at 07:14 PM [link]

Dear Twitty; I am fat and poor, who can I sue?

Posted by mccainsinsane on 08-28-2008 at 09:02 AM [link]

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