Day: May 31, 2008

NY Times reports 54 former AG’s file brief in support of Siegelman asking Court to overturn conviction

The New York Times reported fifty-four former state attorneys general filed a brief Friday supporting the appeal of former Gov Don Siegelman of Alabama.

A year ago, Mr. Siegelman was sentenced to serve more than seven years in prison for appointing a wealthy businessman to a state health board in exchange for a $500,000 contribution to a campaign for a state lottery. Mr. Siegelman had intended the lottery money to go the state’s schools.

The former governor and his supporters have contended that the money was nothing more than a routine political contribution and that there was no agreement that the businessman, Richard M. Scrushy, would be re-appointed to a board on which he had previously served. Continue reading “NY Times reports 54 former AG’s file brief in support of Siegelman asking Court to overturn conviction”

EWE & Jim Letten: Secret Deals for Guidry and Graham. Perdigao SOL

The last Edwin Edwards investigation and trial was a go for broke effort. EWE had beaten the Feds twice in court years earlier and passed into legend during his second corruption trial when he mixed drinks for bar patrons in the French Quarter with his lawyer one evening after the day’s court session had ended.

As a Hancock County guy who at the time identified himself as more of a Louisianian than Mississippian, (not an uncommon thing in Hancock County) I don’t know that I can adequately explain the public’s love affair with a man we all knew was a crook. What I do know is today, even former EWE rivals like Governor David Treen think he should be released from prison. As we dig into USA v Perdigao v Adams & Reese I’m beginning to understand why people could think Edwin Edwards was railroaded. Thanks to Belle’s monitoring of PACER we have posted Perdigao’s Amended Witness List to our Perdigao litigation page. The amendment contains exhibits including the Texas case of USA v Collins that provides some color.

To understand the explosive implications of the Perdigao’s allegations against US Attorney Letten we start with this column written in late April by Times Picayune columnist James Gill. I remember Mr Gill as a talented writer and bane of uptown bluebloods. He also boils Perdigao’s allegations against Jim Letten and Robert Guidry down to the nitty gritty: Continue reading “EWE & Jim Letten: Secret Deals for Guidry and Graham. Perdigao SOL”

Sam Friedman on Dickie Scruggs and the Courtroom as a Profit Center

The recent New Yorker article on Dickie Scruggs has been a popular subject in the blogesphere. Personally I’m suffering from Scruggs fatigue and will disclose I personally think that drama is largely over. P. L. Blake could change all that and more of course, but it is hard to see the incentive for the elderly Blake to cooperate with federal investigators at this point.

My experience has been that the best discussions I’ve seen or participated in on the topic of Dickie Scruggs and/or coastal insurance issues have been with people who work in the insurance industry that are not practicing lawyers. That is not a slap at the bar as much an admission on my part of the type people my life experiences cause me to better identify. I guess that is why some of my favorite commenters here on slabbed hail from the industry even though we don’t exactly see eye to eye on many of these issues.

This brings me to Sam Friedman, Editor In-Chief of the National Underwriter, a property and casualty trade publication with whom I’ve had the pleasure of chatting on occasion. Sam’s blog graces our selective blogroll because of his even handed treatments of these important issues. We don’t agree on the need for the HR3121 multi-peril insurance concept or whether the Bloomberg Article The Insurance Hoax was a complete hatchet job. 😉 However, Sam does recognize the insurance problems we opine about so much here on slabbed. Reasonable people can disagree and yet still work together to find good solutions to mutually identified problems. Sam is such a person. Continue reading “Sam Friedman on Dickie Scruggs and the Courtroom as a Profit Center”

Gulfport NFIP Compliance: Upon Further Review FEMA Backs Down

I highlighted the head scratching story of FEMA raising Gulfport’s Flood rating in my last Around the GO Zone post and ended it with a prediction:

it seems to me that construction that predates the new flood plain should be grandfathered. We have not heard the last of this story and I bet it includes some bureaucratic bungling on FEMA’s part.

In this case I am very happy to be right as today we are greeted with yet another follow up story by Ryan LaFontaine which tells us the FEMA letter to Mayor Warr was “premature”. Here is the latest: Continue reading “Gulfport NFIP Compliance: Upon Further Review FEMA Backs Down”

Ward, Please Come Home Safe

I’ve struggled since Wednesday whether to publicize the disappearance of elderly Alzheimer’s disease afflicted Hancock County resident Ward Buel here on slabbed but an email from a client finally tipped the decision to link the Sun Herald article. When Ward was working for another of my clients I had the opportunity to get to know him. Pre-Alzheimer’s he was a gifted project manager who could estimate and tackle the most complicated infrastructure or site prep jobs. He was completely devoted to his wife of many years and is a great human being.

I hope our readers will help his family publicize Ward’s disappearance so that we can get him back home. Continue reading “Ward, Please Come Home Safe”