We interrupt this coverage for a special report.
Mississippians now find themselves a media hostage to something that’s a cross between the Al Gore recount debacle and the Charlie Sheen meltdown.
Of course, America didn’t sue its way to greatness.
But someone didn’t get that memo to the Chris McDaniel legal juggernaut. The trial lawyers see campaign finance dollar signs. Enough lawsuits are being filed by and for Chris McDaniel to make Al Gore blush. He’s now got more lawyers working on his behalf than OJ Simpson did. The only lawyers that seem to be left out of the Tea Party financed lawsuit gravy train are his partners at Hortman Harlow in Laurel.
True the Vote vs. MSGOP and Delbert Hosemann 1
This case was filed and then voluntarily pulled in the Northern District. But not before Judge Mike Mills beclowned the out of state trial lawyers for filing the case in the wrong venue on behalf of True the Vote.
True the Vote vs. MSGOP and Delbert Hosemann 2
This time, True the Vote filed in the Southern District and drew Judge Henry Wingate. Judge Wingate recused himself so this case will likely go to the 5th Circuit for reassignment. No telling how long this will take, but ultimately this case is just a straw man.
In Re 2014 MS Republican Primary Election for US Senate: Shaun McCutcheon, Chairman of the Conservative Action Fund, Complainant
This case was brought by a big Alabama Tea Party donor named Shaun McCutcheon. Again, it has every appearance of a straw man lawsuit just to beat on Delbert Hosemann and just a cog in the wheel of the larger McDaniel strategy which will be unveiled on Wednesday. Though this complaint gets extra credit for citing articles from Breitbart, the HuffingtonPost, GatewayPundit and news accounts of McDaniel pressers as evidence of serious malfeasance.
Chris McDaniel vs. Harrison County Circuit Clerk Gail Parker
Give the McDaniel campaign some credit on this lawsuit. All of the lawyers listed on the complaint are actually residents of Mississippi. New ground is being broken on the challenge there. Their main beef in this case is that the circuit clerk would like to redact dates of birth of voters, but the McDaniel campaign disagrees. “That personal information is needed to verify identities, make correct record entries, and to prevent fraudulent voters.” So the message from the Tea Party seems clear . . . if you vote in a Republican primary and we don’t like you, we will find out who you are, we will find out where you live . . . and we might send you a birthday card.
Joe Nosef, head of the MS GOP, after having been involuntarily conscripted into a couple of these lawsuits by out-of-state Tea Party types is finding his voice. Being sued frivilously will do that to a guy. Yesterday on Paul Gallo’s show, he talked about the difficulty of walking back the words that the McDaniel campaign is freely using like ‘sham’ and ‘stolen election’.
The truth is that all of these lawsuits were an inevitability. McDaniel is already raising a third round of funds post runoff, so he’s almost forced to file some sort of legal action to justify the legal spend associated with that fundraising. The only surprise his much-hyped press conference will contain on Wednesday will be who he will sue, what cause of action he pursues and what venue he chooses to launch the next wave of hostilities. The fact that the campaign will sue doesn’t seem to be in much doubt at this point.
But it does seem to be taking a public toll. The Public Policy Polling (PPP) group, which is usually left-leaning polled the favorable and unfavorable numbers. Chris McDaniel is now sitting at 29% favorable and 53% unfavorable. Seven months and $7,000,000 ago, that same polling firm had McDaniel 19/31 fave/unfav.
This whole effort also seems to have become a lot more emotional than legal. Look no further than Chris McDaniel’s 10 minute call in interview with WLOX on Saturday. He was asked point blank questions about the law he was challenging and McDaniel repeatedly pivoted to very emotional arguments about race baiting and “betraying Republican principles”.
WLOX.com – The News for South Mississippi
In the WLBT interview last week, he stated, “This isn’t about a candidate. This isn’t about a campaign. We are now finding the problems in Mississippi elections law wherever they are . . . ” (4:20 mark) in interview. Given that he’s been the Senate Elections Committee Chairman for the last three years, one would think he would have had a better head start on that particular issue.
Stand by for more lawsuits and more craziness to ensue. Again, the wheels appear to be falling off and there seems to be no immediately foreseeable scenario where this ends amicably.
That’s the way it was – Days 20 & 21 of the McDaniel Hostage Crisis.
Good day Mississippi – and good luck.
Magnolia Tribune
