Flop of Tort

Right-wing Mississippi blogger Alan Lange and his lying co-author, former Assistant U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Mississippi Tom Dawson, self-published a 288-page book that has flopped titled, Kings of Tort.

Sources tell us sales were so awful that each author has lost a huge chunk of change and the only ones to make money on the deal were the owners of Pediment Publishing.

The co-authors, members of the Rove Republican Racket, relied on inside knowledge and set up the idea of writing the book while Dawson was still serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the fall of 2008. Days after retiring in January of 2009, Dawson obtained a secret six-month (book writing?) contract from then-U.S. Attorney Jim H. Greenlee.

Dawson, a former protege of Ken Starr, tells media that he only worked two-days a week on contract and was serving in a "consiglieri" position like in the movie The Godfather.

As they would say in Italy, bugiardo!

Dawson was intricately and centrally involved in plea deals involving a corrupt lawyer and state judge while serving supposedly as a "consiglieri" for the Rove Republican Mafia.

As one reader put it, "Dawson acts like he was the grandfatherly advisor two days a week in Oxford [Mississippi]. He should add a rocking chair and pipe to his bullshit story."

The only thing the Flop of Tort has produced is questions, lots of questions, including the suspicion that a federal employee on the clock was used to help write the book.  The book is about the prosecution of two well-known Democrats: trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs and fundraiser Paul Minor.

Besides being a flop, the book has had disastrous implications about the professional ethics of Dawson and his supervisors in the U.S. Department of Justice.

With a hefty debt and hundreds of copies in storage, sometimes Lange and Dawson may feel they are waking up with a bloody horse's head in their bed, only to realize the nightmare was caused by their own, self-aggrandizing egos.

Dawson's Dilemma

Tom Dawson, the embattled former Assistant U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Mississippi and former protege of Ken Starr, is trying to hide the truth, even on live radio!

He has co-authored a book with right-wing blogger Alan Lange mostly about the prosecution of famed anti-tobacco attorney Dickie Scruggs and his associates who foolishly bribed a state judge.

As Main Justice reports today:

The book has created a stir in Mississippi; Dawson was still working for the government when he agreed to write it. Dawson retired in January and returned to the office on an usual contract basis until June.

Twice now, once on Mississippi public radio last week and previously on the Northern Mississippi Mike Gallo Radio Show, Tom Dawson has stated he left the U.S. Attorney's office in January.

That's a bold-face lie.

Days after retiring in January , Dawson signed a Secret Contract with U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee that paid him a monthly retainer through June.

Dawson's dilemma is this:

1. Did he sign the Secret Contract so he could research and access files and staff of the U.S. government for his book?
2. Or did he sign a Secret Contract and receive thousands of dollars in fedral funds for little or no work?

The latter sounds like honest services fraud and Dawson should be prosecuted vigorously like Sue Schmitz of Alabama was by the Rove Republican Racket.

We remind readers that Dawson has yet to publicly answer our three questions.

Three Questions for Tom Dawson

Members of the Rove Republican Racket have screwed up in possibly one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct. And now they don't know what to do as the hole gets bigger and bigger.

Two weeks ago, we wrote about two individuals in Mississippi who had written a book and were seeing green.

One of them is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson who, according to the Main Justice website, was discussing writing the book in the summer of 2008 when he was still a federal prosecutor with the other co-author, a right-wing Republican blogger, Alan Lange.

The political irony is that the book is about prominent Democrats and trial lawyers who were prosecuted by Dawson.

Many believe this was a serious breach of ethics and blatant prosecutorial misconduct especially since Dawson was actively involved in pending investigations related to the original cases and appeared to have a bias in favor of Republicans.

Last week, we posted two posts. One was about Dawson's two contracts: the book contract and a secret employment contract Dawson obtained from the U.S. Attorney just days after he had retired. The other was an expose about how Dawson had been a protege of Kenneth Starr during the Whitewater Investigation of President Bill Clinton.

Then, to our surprise, Alan Lange, the Republican right-wing blogger who has written the book with  Dawson, contacted us by email. 

Lange wrote:

 "I'd like to visit with you about your latest post. You have some completely erroneous information on your post that I'd like to help you clean up."

What a generous blogger!

When we asked, what was exactly erroneous with our two posts, Lange replied:

You stated in your posts that Tom (a) had a contract to work on a book while still a DOJ employee and (b) actually did do work on the book while still a DOJ employee. Both are absolutely false. I'd ask that you to correct that immediately in all posts on your site and cease printing maliciously inaccurate information.

Lange went on to quote three different parts of our posts and claimed our allegations were untrue or our time frame was way off. The three quotes were interestingly all about Tom Dawson.

We replied with three follow-up questions:

Our intent is never to maliciously or intentionally post information that is wrong. To make sure we are understanding one another before we make any editorial changes, we have three follow-up questions based on your email:

[1.] So what you are saying is that you and Dawson didn't discuss the possibility of writing a book last year at the Ole Miss football game, correct?

[2.] When did you and Dawson begin discussing the possibility of writing a book and what date did you both agree to proceed with the project?

[3.] In addition, are you saying unequivocally that Dawson never planned, outlined, or wrote any part of the book while serving as an AUSA or paid consultant for the USA?

What was Lange's reply?

"I don't answer questions from people I don't know."

Wait a minute? Didn't Lange contact us? So, we replied:

You certainly answered our emails before. Now that we wanted to [understand] the whole truth, you don't answer questions. We do not know you either.

So what is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God?

Tom Dawson has an ethical and moral responsibility to the U.S. Department of Justice and citizens of the Northern District of Mississippi to answer those three questions. Dawson and company should be prepared for the most intrusive investigation of prosecutorial misconduct in recent times.

Secret Contract for Ken Starr's Protege

On Monday, we wrote how a former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson from Mississippi discussed writing a book with a right-wing, Republican blogger in the summer of 2008 while still serving as a federal prosecutor, according to the website Main Justice. 

The book, not surprisingly, is about the prosecution and jailing of prominent Democratic boosters and trial lawyers. Dawson also obtained a secret six-month contract from embattled U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee a few days after retiring in January of this year.

So who is Tom Dawson?

We found this flattering introduction from a CNN transcript dated February 5, 1998:

"Let me introduce Tom Dawson, who will be representing the United States as first chair in the trial. Mr. Dawson is a career prosecutor. He's an assistant United States attorney from Oxford, Mississippi, for the District of Mississippi, has tried many cases -- a variety of trials over many years. He has also served in the Justice Department in the criminal division, is one of the Department of Justice's most experienced senior career prosecutors. "

And who was introducing him? None other than the illustrious Kenneth Starr, then the Independent Counsel of the Whitewater and Lewinsky scandals. 

In 1998, Dawson was one of the lead trial attorneys in the Whitewater controversy.  Dawson was part of the legal team that targeted and failed to prosecute the President of the United States Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton in relationship to an obscure land deal.