With liberal House Speaker Billy McCoy retiring, the House District 3 seat in north Mississippi is in play. Democrats are working hard to keep it in their column while Republicans would love to see this seat go red, as it would likely signal that the House would have in excess of the 62 votes it needs to win the House.
Conservatives are actively promoting Republican nominee William “Tracy” Arnold, a pastor in Booneville. Arnold’s campaign has been endorsed by Lt. Governor Phil Bryant and many organizations including BIPEC, Mississippi Manufacturers Association PAC, Mississippi Home Builders Association PAC, and Mississippi Realtors Association PAC.
Liberals are hanging their hat on attorney Tommy Cadle, also from Booneville. Cadle is one of a number of trial lawyers seeking to gain traction in the state House. He joins Nick Bain (HD 2), Kevin Horan (HD 24), David Baria (HD 122) and others.
While it took Mississippi many years to finally unmask Billy McCoy’s true liberal bent, Cadle’s is well documented. He has some very interesting associations, some of which I am certain he would rather forget during this campaign.
Tommy Cadle is reported to have donated $2,000 to John Kerry for President back in 2004. He also contributed $2,300 in 2008 and $2,400 in 2009 to Travis Childers for Congress. From a national standpoint, it is obvious that Cadle aligns himself with the liberal Democrats in the same vein as President Barack Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Cadle’s in-state connections are just as consistently liberal. The House District 3 Democratic nominee is quoted in Curtis Wilkie’s book “The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America’s Most Powerful Trial Lawyer,” the Dickie Scruggs approved/supported book about their scandal.
In the book, Wilkie writes:
“Balducci found a partner in his complaint – Steve Patterson, the former state auditor who had been working as a “rainmaker” at Langston’s firm for a decade. Tommy Cadle, a Booneville lawyer, once said admiringly of Patterson, “Hell, he not only makes it rain, he makes it storm.”
Of course, Steve Patterson showed his secrets to how easy it was to make it storm when he pled guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge in the Dickie Scruggs corruption case.
Another Scruggs accomplice was Joey Langston, also of Booneville. Langston also pled guilty of conspiring to bribe a judge. Cadle wrote a letter of support on behalf of Joey Langston (this from the Y’all Politics archives dated December 11, 2008 as by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal).
These associations are only skimming the surface it seems. Cadle appears to be well connected in liberal circles and is indeed someone the Mississippi Democratic Party would love see fill McCoy’s shoes.
The company Cadle keeps should concern every Mississippian, not just the voters in House District 3. Conservatives in north Mississippi need to stand up and be heard November 8th . . . and keep Cadle in Booneville. We have enough problems in Jackson without adding a Scruggs puppet in the Mississippi House.
Magnolia Tribune
