This is required reading if you really want to find out the M.O. behind Scruggs doling out of the fees.

I just got around to reading that deposition.  I am truly floored after reading it.  John Grisham needs to read it if he still thinks Scruggs is to smart to engage in a non-sophisticated bribery scheme.  I just can’t believe this all came out in a deposition and that no one in the media or law enforcement had picked up on it. 

And, then I read the date of it.  June 8, 2005.  It didn’t get transcribed, I’ll bet, until after Katrina hit.  Just like with Edward Kennedy and the moon landing, Katrina probably saved Scruggs from having this confession properly scrutnized.

I still can’t get over which fact is more staggering.  That they would so obviously spread millions of dollars in bribe money around through P.L. Black as an intermediary to set up the tobbacco fee payment scheme, or that Scruggs and Langston would be so blase about it that they wouldn’t hide it any better, or that they would try to so blandly explain it away in a depositon and think there would never be any fallout.

It’s starting to be apparent why there was no state law enforcement scrutiny while this was going on, but where were the feds back when this was happening? 

I think I am going to be sick to my stomach after reading that.

State law enforcement scrutiny would have had to come from...Attorney General Mike Moore, so you’re correct there was none.

The ironic thing about all of this is, if these lawyers had not been fighting over what is likely an insignificant amount of money in the end analysis, they never would’ve gotten caught.  And now IT’S ALL GONNA COME OUT.  ALL OF IT.

Thank heaven for unsophisticated, bonehead decisions.

The one thing you can bet on with Scruggs, you’ll have to sue him to get your fair share of the fees.

lawdoctor, your thoughts are so right.  It is unbelievable that this has not come out before, but—it is because our media in this state is too lazy.  This transcript was given to several members of the media in 2006, but they just didn’t understand the significance of PL Blake getting paid this kind of money.  The fact that Scruggs and company wanted to spread the wealth didn’t matter to them, and even when the breadcrumbs were spread on the ground for these media minds to follow, they still didn’t see it as newsworthy.

I know this for fact, as I gave the transcript to them and tried to get them to connect the dots.  Naturally, I’m happy it finally made it, and I hope these media gurus remember that they didn’t seem to think it newsworthy last spring.

Lawdoctor—This is a transcript of testimony in open court.  It is not a “deposition.”

They wouldn’t need Blake to influence Democrats or find out what Democrats were up to, would they?
If he was telling them what Fordice was planning and what tobacco lobbyists and allies were up to, then this would be walking around money for Republicans, wouldn’t it?

My instinct is both

"Lawdoctor—This is a transcript of testimony in open court.  It is not a “deposition.”

Yes, I stand corrected.  It’s even more amazing that this came out in open court and that either this was never reported to any law enforcement authorities, or that it was reported, and no investigation was apparently ever done.

Scruggs had better polish up on his explaining.  He’s going to need to explain the $50,000 he gave to Balducci a lot better than he explained the $50 million he gave to Blake if he wants to stay out of the pokey.