Let’s continue to draw the connective tissue.  PL Blake, a consultant promised a revenue stream of $50,000,000 via payments from Scruggs directly (in the form of a loan) and through Langston’s Firm on Big Tobacco (according to Scruggs’ own testimony in the Luckey fee dispute case), pled no contest to federal charges of bribing a bank officer . . . at the same bank that Steve Patterson worked.  This article linked Patterson to Blake.

Patterson was also State Democratic Party Chair.

I could make this stuff up, but it wouldn’t be this interesting.

When you hear the name P.L. Blake, think “criminal.” This guy has a history of dirty dealings stretching back to the Carter administration.  Like Patterson, he’s a graduate of the Eastland school of politics, where “taking care of your friends” is the principle motive in everything.  The fact that Scruggs hired Blake, and promised him untold millions, to advance the tobacco litigation simply boggles the mind. 

Back in the 70’s Blake used his political connections to obtain millions in subsidized federal loans, which he subsequently parlayed into ownership of the nation’s largest grain elevator in Texas, which subsequently “lost” over one million bushels of grain.  This was all before the Mississippi Bank bribery scandal and his subsequent bankruptcy, which of course was before Scruggs decided to hire him to do the most obscure form of “consulting” imaginable.

Blake’s involvement certainly makes it look like Scruggs has been engaged in a vast criminal enterprise for over a decade. Lay down with dogs and you wake up with fleas.

There is no way on earth Mike Moore could have been unaware of Blake’s involvement in the tobacco case. This is a stunning development.

Those following the tentacles of this case beyond the first five indictmented conspirators, and beyond their initial bribery incident, should remember the name P.L. Blake

Correction:  “indicted”

Alan, is there a means of editing a comment for a typo on this board that I’m unaware of?

Readyforachange.

Thank you for reminding me of Blakes past antics that go back over 40 years and exposing this individual for what he was and possibly still is.

Another personal note I will add is that Blake owned the famed “Fighting Bayou Hunting Club” in Slaughter MS for a short period of time in the late 70s.  He made no friends with the previous club members, many of whom were prominent Jacksonians, when he terminated their lease that they had held on the property for over twenty years.

I did not make the connection to all the recent discussions about Blake until I read the Luckey deposition.  It is sickening and smells really bad.  Personally I don’t think Scruggs responded well to the questions he was asked.

DH

Alan wrote:  “Patterson was also State Democratic Party Chair.”

Patterson also ran third in the 1988 Democratic U. S. House primary, behind Mike Parker and Brad Pigott.  That was the year that Wayne Dowdy gave up the seat to run for the Senate against Trent Lott.  As I recall, Patterson and Pigott attacked each other quite vigorously.

ReadyForAChange wrote:  “[P. L. Blake’s] ownership of the nation’s largest grain elevator in Texas, which subsequently “lost” over one million bushels of grain.”

He wasn’t associated with Billy Sol Estes, was he?

Duckhead, I spent many hours freezing my buns off at Fighting Bayou back in the day. My (much) older brother was a charter member, and I started hunting there at about age 13 and did not realize until I was about 17 that people could go duck hunting without getting their waders full of water. The name of the nearby town is spelled Schlater, but pronounced the same as “slaughter.”

By the time Blake came into the picture, I had gotten sufficient revenge on the ducks to last me a lifetime and had moved on to other pursuits. But, yes, it was a legendary club. Now, back on topic.

David,

I know exactly who you are and hunted several times with brother Bill and your late nephew Jim.

I was trying to find a way off this site to EMAIL you but Alan has kept your address private and rightfully so.  Forgive me for cluttering up the site with chit chat.

The correct spelling of Schlater was an oversite and thanks for clearing that up

DH

I’ll put a nice little bow on this lovefest.  If you notice your control panel (just under the logo), you can search/send any member a private message.

Just FYI.

Yes, Steve, P.L. Blake was associated with Billy Sol Estes

This is the problem. Everyone complains about hate speech and mean spirited discourse. Yet when two guys actually get along on here they get sent to their rooms. sigh.

You delta boys sicken me with your uppity hunting clubs and your refusal to invite me on your uppity duck hunts.

Anyway, was Fighten’ Bayou formerly called Quiver River Plantation?  I recall P.L. was involved in that many moons ago.  Another fun P.L. story—at one point in the early 70’s he owned the Memphis Buccaneers, which I think was a pro basketball franchise.  Later in life he got way deep into race horses.  For all my willingness to bash him here, he’s a damned interesting fellow. 

If Balducci claims to know where the bodies are buried, P.L. actually buried ‘em.

Ha...as I told a friend today, P.L. Blake is the undertaker…

The Quiver River hunting club is close to Fighting Bayou Hunting Club but not the same tract of land. 

It is a tract of agricultural land once referred to as Pee Dee plantation and includes two seperate tracts of hardwood bottomland which are roughly 150 and 400 acres.

PL Blake only owned Fighting Bayou for a short period of time.  For some inexplicable reason he changed the name of the club to “Big Mallard”.  Later on he either sold or lost it and the tract became an asset of an insurance company.  Shortly therafter, Billy Van Devender, then a young Ole Miss graduate football player, found a way to buy the “Fighting Bayou Hunting club where he and his regime continue to hunt.

There is a pretty big article about P.L. Blake and speculation as to what he could have possibly done for Scruggs to earn that $50 million, in Sunday’s Biloxi Herald.  The article is kind of contradictory, saying that Moore knew Blake got paid, but didn’t know it was that much money, and that an interview with Moore will be in Monday’s paper.

This thing is just getting started, and it sounds like if Patterson flips, this one could really shake the state, especially, when you see Scruggs history of being tight with his money.  What would someone like Scruggs, who goes to war with other attorneys on a regular basis over much smaller amounts, have to get in exchange before he would give up $50 million of his money?  And, how many judges and politicians would $50 million take care of?

Mississippians deserve to know where that money went and what it bought.

Here you go Doc.

Sun Herald Front Page:  Dickie Scruggs’ $50 million man

So Mikey was fully aware that Blake was getting paid.

Sun Herald:  “Mike Moore, who as Mississippi’s attorney general guided the tobacco litigation, has said he was unaware Scruggs is paying Blake such a large sum.”

Yo Mike, we all know why you aren’t running for the US Senate.  [wink, wink]

Sun Herald:  “Accounts of how Blake earned the money are vague and contradictory.

Scruggs “just told me he was going to take care of me,” Blake has said. “He might have wrote me a letter or something. If he did, I can’t find it and I don’t remember one, any agreement that we ever had of what he was going to pay me. But this - this lump sum up front, that was just - he said, ‘I’m sending this to you’.”

“Vague and contradictory?” To say the very least.  If there is a bigger buried body than this one, I would hate to think what it could be.

The article’s mention of P. L. Blake’s connection to thoroughbred horse racing reminded me of a question that’s been nagging at me for years, and that is, how did a certain Mississippi state court judge come to own thoroughbred race horses?

“COMING MONDAY

Former state Attorney General Mike Moore says Blake provided valuable information in tobacco wars”

That ought to be fascinating reading.  There was a time when Moore despised everything P.L. Blake stood for—he made his political bones prosecuting Eddie Khayat and other Eastland-connected supervisors.  But at some point things obviously changed for Moore, and the questionable means which Blake could provide became justified by the ends.

And sometimes that understandable.  You become convinced that Big Tobacco really is evil incarnate, and then it only takes a few short logical steps to rationalize almost anything. The problem here was that a few plaintiffs’ lawyers—virtually all of whom were big Moore contributors—became insanely wealthy at the same time.  Any objective observer could see problems with this scenario at the time.

I think it’s a mistake to compare Moore’s downfall to Gary Anderson.  The proper comparison, to me, is with Mike Espy.  Espy, like Moore, had the potential to become a truly transformational figure in Mississippi politics, perhaps even moreso.  But at some point he became ethically oblivious and lost his way.  Both men should have known better, and early in their careers they would have known better.