Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Mayor Winfield update: Follow the money

Sam Hall waxed tragically over the fate of Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield in his Sunday column:

"Wednesday’s arrest on federal bribery charges is simply the final act in Winfield’s Greek tragedy. Regardless of his guilt or innocence, Paul Winfield’s political career is dead, likely never to be reborn.

Winfield threw away one of the brightest political careers of any Democrat – and many Republicans — in Mississippi, and that’s before the events of this week.

Winfield is former Ole Miss football star with a beautiful family that looks like it’s straight from a Hollywood casting call. He was a successful attorney and businessman.....

Winfield seemed poised for great things, for a bright political future.

He made rookie political mistakes, but those can be overlooked. He got entangled in local political feuds, but those are to be expected. What has cost Winfield so dearly are the dumb decisions and public fights that have plagued him along the way.

For instance, he refused to step down as city attorney for Port Gibson while serving as mayor, inviting charges of split allegiances and bilking taxpayers. He had his wages garnished by a Hinds County court for a delinquent bill to St. Dominic Hospital. He pushed through expensive pay increases for some city employees and the creation of a highly paid chief of staff position.

The latter led him to being the target of a sexual harassment claim following a messy firing of the woman who held that position.

Winfield would be smart to withdraw from re-election. Moving forward with his campaign will only remind people of the great promise he once had and the disappointment they now share over the past four years."

Well, Sam, they say "follow the money"? In this case, perhaps you should have looked at the campaign finance reports posted below.

Mr. Winfield raised over $70,000. However, a review of his reports reveals some names familiar to JJ readers:

Rudy Warnock: $6,500. Largest contributor.
Paul Winfield: $19,000 loan he repaid.
Precious Martin: $500
Ed Blackmon: $2,000
Friends of Harvey Johnson: $1,000
Tony Gaylor: $400
IMS Engineers: $1,000


Posted by Kingfish at 9:57 AM

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed no one has asked Who Was The Person That Set Him Up? Yes the FBI did but, it wasn't an agent that sat down with him and offered the money. It was someone he knew and knew well. Come on people.... Think!!!!

February 26, 2013 at 10:45 AM
Anonymous said...

nothing greek about it. not particularly smart, and very much not trustworthy.

February 26, 2013 at 11:28 AM
Anonymous said...

@ 10:45, are you suggesting that if the person offering the bribe was an acquaintance of his, then the mayor was less culpable? Wouldn't you expect someone offering a bribe to know the target reasonably well?

February 26, 2013 at 12:18 PM
Anonymous said...

12:18 WHAT are you talking about? 10:45 is asking people to figure out WHO did it. That's all. It's not a trick question. I would love to be your shrink.

February 26, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Anonymous said...

@12:51 What does "I would love to be your shrink" even mean? I asked a cogent, logical question in response 10:45's "he was set up" nonsense. I must be crazy then.

February 26, 2013 at 1:23 PM
Anonymous said...

Anyone think Mr. Warnocks business might have gotten some city contracts based on his contribution?

February 26, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Anonymous said...

1:23 is is obviously a little slow. The first post is saying the FBI instigated the operation to get the mayor but "who" was used as bait? Since you probably don't understand this either, they were asking for people to figure out who offered him the MONEY/BRIBE!!! If you still can't figure this out I want to be your shrink as well. It would be a hoot.

February 26, 2013 at 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...

When are people going to figure out the deal with Rudy? When is HE going to be investigated. IT IS NO SECRET how he wins work, and he's always around a scandal of some sort. I've worked with and around him and sleazy & crooked are KIND words for him.

February 26, 2013 at 3:51 PM
KaptKangaroo said...

February 26, 2013 at 10:45 AM

So he was set up twice? He took money twice? That is two time, not once, not a couple hundred bucks, not a twenty spot; he took two bribes, both in the 1,000's of dollars.

February 26, 2013 at 4:05 PM
Anonymous said...

What are you insinujating when you say to Sam "follow the money" regarding campaign contributions. What the hell does that have to do with the case?

February 26, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Anonymous said...

pretty big UM football fan here, don't remember this guy being a "star", don't remember him at all. why is it relevant that he played ball at UM? I'm pretty sure other former athletes have screwed their lives down in the cellar. remember Billy Cannon?

February 26, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Anonymous said...

Everybody here, particularly the Jambalaya blog owner, has been watching way too much cops and robbers shows on television. Some of these shows even have forensics psychiatrists which explains the several goobs wanting to be shrinks.

George Flaggs gonna straighten out all this here mess if he can get a staffer to write memos for him.

February 26, 2013 at 5:09 PM
Anonymous said...

With backing like this, how could have Winfield lost?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G_vlKzrQKg

February 26, 2013 at 5:09 PM
Anonymous said...

Why would someone go see a psychiatrist for being "slow"?

February 26, 2013 at 5:12 PM
Toejangle said...

To 5:09

That's pretty funny----Thanks for the laugh !

February 26, 2013 at 5:23 PM
Anonymous said...

Butler Snow lawyers sure gave ole Winfield a lot of money. anyone tallied up how much collectively?

February 26, 2013 at 7:05 PM
Anonymous said...

7:05 - his wife worked at Butler Snow at that time i think. Nothing unusual.

February 26, 2013 at 8:28 PM
Anonymous said...

Government Relations Group lawyering is what all the Jackson-Brandon-Vicksburg-Ridgeland-Flowood-Madison well-liked, attorney contributors do. When you represent the upper crust you have some business at the statehouse when the Assembly is seated. Sit in a committee room for a morning meeting in the statehouse and look around the room for legal pads and fancy pens.

February 26, 2013 at 9:25 PM
Anonymous said...

Hacks. We know you will be gone in a few days. Nice try.

February 26, 2013 at 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...

So does "follow the money" mean we should suspect the person offering the bribe was someone he knew well (i.e., one of the contributors to his campaign)? Should we then also suspect that the person offering the bribe must have gotten tagged by the FBI previously, and is now an informant? Operation Pretense has pretty much faded from, or never was a part of, the memory of our current crop of distinguished public servants. Bout time for another round of stings...

February 27, 2013 at 7:45 AM
Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen a certain prior congressman from Pascagoula along with a past State Auditor with Winfield at Crechales in the past seven months?

February 27, 2013 at 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...

Ka ching. Page 36.

http://cdm16290.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16290coll1/id/854/rec/293

February 27, 2013 at 10:31 PM
Anonymous said...

"Has anyone seen a certain prior congressman from Pascagoula along with a past State Auditor with Winfield at Crechales in the past seven months? "

No, but I saw them last Mischief Night smashing pineapples on porches in Reunion.

February 28, 2013 at 9:16 AM
Anonymous said...

Reunion allows minorities through the gates now?8109 onedcbb

March 1, 2013 at 6:48 AM

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