It’s a sad spectacle, and it is made all the more so by the interwoven political threads. Scruggs’ special relationship with his brother-in-law, former Republican Sen. Trent Lott, and his and the other defendants’ heavy involvement in supporting mostly Democratic candidates cast a pall on the political system as well as the courts. Attorney General Jim Hood said recently that he could not be involved in any state prosecution of Scruggs, Langston and others because of his close association with them.
As in so many instances over the years, it was the federal government that intervened to ferret out corruption in Mississippi. Our state badly needs more emphasis on keeping its own house in order – whatever the political consequences.
NE MS Daily Journal
3/17/8
Magnolia Tribune
