Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Sun-Herald stopped again in DMR fight

Looks like the Sun-Herald's fight to obtain the DMR records it sought from the State Auditor took an unexpected turn yesterday:

BILOXI -- The Sun Herald prevailed in a public records dispute with the State Auditor's Office, but Chancery Court Judge Jennifer Schloegel must decide what to do now that the state agency has failed to follow her order for turning over the records.

Schloegel could issue a ruling Wednesday.

At the end of a two-day hearing last week, Schloegel ordered the auditor's office to return the DMR records to the agency's Biloxi office so they could be copied for public inspection by the newspaper.

Instead, state auditor's attorney Melissa Patterson informed Schloegel after business hours Monday that the U.S. Attorney's Office subpoenaed the same records to be in Jackson on Tuesday morning.

Schloegel then issued an order at 11:30 p.m. Monday to seize the records so they could be marked and copied under court supervision before delivery to the U.S. Attorney's Office. She ordered the auditor's office to deliver the records to her Biloxi courtroom by 9 a.m. Tuesday....

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorney's Office are investigating Walker as well.

Schloegel, who ordered the records brought to court last week, ruled they were public records created in the course of the DMR's daily business -- not investigative reports exempt from disclosure under the state's Public Records Act.

She ordered the auditor's office to copy the records and return the originals to the DMR so the agency could comply with the Public Records Act by making them available to the newspaper.

All parties told Schloegel they would work together to comply with her orders. The records were parked outside the Bay St. Louis courthouse, where Schloegel held court last week, in a UHaul truck. They were supposed to be returned to the DMR's offices in Biloxi for copying and inspection.

The newspaper appeared to be on course Monday to review the records this week at the DMR until the auditor's office sent the message about the federal subpoena. Rest of the story

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Pickering called for some backup after he told the Judge he would comply. Funny thing is the records were sitting outside the courthouse in a rental truck and instead of unloading them, they drove them to Jackson. Pickering is not for the people as he stated. He is looking out for his "dear friends".

Anonymous said...

Judge Schloegel should hold Pickering and his attorney with contempt of court. Let them sit in jail a couple of days! This whole thing smells and Pickering is trying to coverup for his friends and fundraisers! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see another fundraiser coming up again on the coast - not at Joe Cloyd's, but at Scott Walker's house next door.

Anonymous said...

What was the smell of a coverup has become a stench. Once it all comes out Pickering, at the minimum, is finished.

Anonymous said...

Stacey Pickering needs to be sent Packering back to the free state of Jones County. I feel certain he can return to one of his old jobs doing whatever it is he did as a "businessman" that he listed as occupation. He no longer needs to be at the table claiming to represent the interest of the people of our state. He is the type of politician that has to have a judge tell him when to do the right thing. And even then he is tries to slither out of the court's order.

Anonymous said...

I don't think some people are not picking up what's being laid down. It's not Pickering that doesn't want to hand over the documents. His job is done. It's the FEDS. Now the judge still can hold Pickering in contempt and lock him up. In fact she should of had that truck with the records seized when it was available. This is the FEDS game now. They play by different rules, and I don't mean legal rules. Now the judge has to decide if she wants to play hard ball.

Anonymous said...

Pickering has been a tremendous disappointment. He talked such a great game as a candidate, but he has only gone after easy targets since taking office and even then apparently only when it was convenient.

Anonymous said...

Follow the yellow brick road: Judge orders records turned over immediately from Pickering near the end of last week. Records are in a truck parked outside of courthouse door. Truck leaves courthouse door, returns to Jackson to wherever Pickering or his subordinates told them to take it. Sun herald and Judge then realize that they have NO records turned over to them. Judge calls Pickering and his "people". Judge, Sun Herlad, whoever, told that can't have records anymore because, all of a sudden, right out of the blue, FEDS have demanded the records the very next morning, why, only hours away from the actual call between Pickering and his "people" are talking on phone to judge, her "people" etc.

This is Alice in Wonderland on steroids folks.

Anonymous said...

So sad that she held court in a U-haul truck.

Anonymous said...

this is an easy one to call. Judge needs to do what Chancery Judges do everyday in Mississippi when finding that someone didn't obey an order, like paying child support. She puts Pickering in jail until his contempt is purged by getting the records back as ordered. the question is, does she have the stones to do it?

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for Pickering. Many of his fellow Republicans are probably about to be criminally charged. They didn't cover how to do this when he got his accounting degree. Probably not when he got his MBA either. It's a lot easier to lock up little people.

All that Republican talk about how government doesn't work, and here Pickering has the proof, except

Anonymous said...

Hello Hello!!!! Chopper Read here. I'm down here on the coast talking to Chancery Court Judge Jennifer Schloegel. She just ordered State Auditor Pickering to hand over some documents and he said he couldn't. Now the judge doesn't know what to do. I'll tell you what to do judge. Hardin' the Fuck Up.

Anonymous said...

Surely you realize that Pickering does not have an accounting degree nor an MBA. It's like you expect the State Auditor to have anything that would remotely resemble accounting experience. C'mon.

Pugnacious said...

Didn't the FEDS intervene in the Dr. Arnold Smith case, too? Who really torched Abraham's legal offices? And we are told that Smith is in indefinite dention and undergoing undergoing mental evaluation. As anonymous said, the FEDS don't always play by the legal rules. Former Ohio Congressman James Traficant could write a book on that subject. Chancery Judge Chet Dillard has already written a book on the subject of extra-legal tactics conducted by the US Justice Department.

Anonymous said...

Stacey Pickering has found a way to hand off the ball to the FEDS who never seem to answer to anyone. He probably thinks he has accomplished keeping the records from public view and I guess for a time he has. I just wonder why? If you remember when the Sunherald first asked for copies of the records the DMR agreed to give them copies of all requested documents at some ridiculous price per page. When they were question about the inflated price they had a very lame reason about how many people would be needed and yada,yada,yada. For some reason at some point the AG attorneys, including Runnels, made the claim that the records would not be given to the Sunherald. Must really be something in the records that they do not want revealed. Could it be the contract that the Runnel's family has/had with the DMR? Anything is possible at this point.

Anonymous said...

About an hour ago the CL reported that 'sources close to the investigation' have told them that nine person would be indicted shortly.

Kingfish said...

I'd heard several days ago they were coming down next week but had no confirmation.



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