Steve Patterson, spin doctoring all the way to prison
Did I mention that job is like the state’s chief watchdog? But instead of “undo[ing] the mistakes and stupidity” from his first go-round, it seems that Mr. Patterson has been knocking down $80,000 a month from the proceeds of the state’s tobacco settlement.
Now granted, $80,000 a month — a measly $960,000 a year — is nothing like the $50 million the as-yet-unheard-from P.L. Blake is said to have received from the tobacco zillions. But on the other hand, I suppose I just have not been following Patterson’s case closely enough, because I didn’t even know about the $80K a month. Still, lest anyone think he is living on easy street, Patterson reported to the judge yesterday that he’s now only receiving $20K a month — somehow, his worth to the tobacco team is now down to a quarter million a year.
Either way, at a million a year or a quarter million a year, for work that if it was ever actually performed at all was performed years ago, Patterson surely had the means for the last decade to “undo the mistakes and stupidity that [he] did.” Instead, he tried to bribe two judges. And those are just the cases we know about. The damage to our state’s legal system and to our citizens’ confidence in an impartial bench will continue to ripple outward as Patterson cannonballs into the prison swimming hole.
No amount of spinning is going to fix that, Mr. Patterson.
Andy Taggart
RedBlue
Clarion Ledger
2/14/9
