AG: No meeting if he had known of payment deal
“If I knew they were getting paid that much, I would have told them to get out of the office because it just didn’t smell right,” Hood said Wednesday.
An FBI document made public this week as part of one judicial bribery case alleges embattled plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs paid two associates to persuade Hood not to file criminal charges against State Farm Fire and Casualty Cos. Hood is not a party in the bribery investigation.
. . . .
A State Farm attorney suggested during a court hearing earlier this month that Scruggs dispatched Balducci and Patterson with a message for Hood: Scruggs, a political force with deep pockets, would support another candidate for attorney general if Hood charged State Farm with a crime.
Hood scoffed at the notion on Wednesday.
“I didn’t care who (Scruggs) supported. I wasn’t crazy about being attorney general anyway,” Hood said, adding that he preferred being a district attorney.
Clarion Ledger
2/27/8
Magnolia Tribune
