Friday, September 15, 2023

Bryant Wants Reporter's Communications

 Phil Bryant's slog to find out who Anna Wolfe's sources are in her DHS scandal continues in his defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today.

The former Governor sued Mississippi Today and its publisher, Mary Margaret White, for defamation in Madison County Circuit Court on July 26. 

Mississippi Today earned a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the DHS scandal that took place during Mr. Bryant's tenure as Governor. However, the former Governor alleges Mississippi Today engaged in a pattern of defamation against him while reaping rewards for its false reporting.Earlier post with discussion of complaint. 

While Mr. Bryant wages war against the online publication for its alleged defamation, he opened a second front as he pursued rather aggressive discovery against Ms. Wolfe's  suspected sources.  The plaintiff issued subpoenas against Jacob Black, attorney Brad Pigott, and attorney Thomas Gerry Bufkin for all communications with Ms. Wolfe and any other Mississippi Today employee.  

Bufkin filed a motion to quash the subpoena (posted below).  Mr. Bufkin stated he represents seven clients in the DHS scandal, including Nancy New and the Mississippi Community Education Center. 
 

His motion argues the former Governor is a public figure and the scandal is of "public interest."  Mr. Bufkin claims Mr. Bryant has "no legitimate basis for believing Counsel has relevant, discoverable information" nor does he have a reason for obtaining the lawyer's work product.  The subpoena was issued to "oppress" the lawyer and deter his clients from pursuing discovery against him in the DHS clawback lawsuit.  

The ex-Governor of Missisippi said that is all well and nice but the work product privilege does not shield communications between lawyers and reporters, thus any correspondence between Mr. Bufkin and Ms. Wolfe are fair game for Phil Bryant's team of lawyers.   

However, the attorney included an exhibit in his motion that drew the attention of the former Governor. Former DHS Deputy Director  Jacob Black provided ten pages of text messages between he and Ms. Wolfe in his response to the subpoena.   The text messages are posted below. 

Mr. Bryant posited the texts: 

 The text messages and Facebook communications between Black and Wolfe prove they engaged in digital, telephonic, and face-to-face communications about, among other things, “the $2.5m to MCEC issue we discussed before and that I’ve reported . . .;” they prove Wolfe sent Black links to articles she authored and Mississippi Today published about Bryant; and, they prove Wolfe provided Black with notes she appears to have taken from earlier communications with Black, presumably to confirm their accuracy. These notes address events involving former-MDHS Director John Davis, Nancy New, Ted DiBiase, Jr., and others. Notably, none of the communications or documents produced by Black mention or discuss Bryant. 

The complaint claims Mr. Bufkin and the reporter communicated before she wrote some of her (allegedly) slanderous statements.  It states: 

On July 27, 2022, Anna Wolfe wrote an article for Mississippi Today titled “Former Gov. Phil Bryant
subpoenaed for USM volleyball stadium documents.”4 The article discusses a subpoena duces tecum
that Bufkin served on Bryant in the MDHS lawsuit. Bufkin communicated with Wolfe in conjunction
with the article. Strangely casting his admitted felon client as a hero, Bufkin told Wolfe:

“We have no confidence that the state will follow through with its subpoena or pursue the evidence where it leads,” said Gerry Bufkin, the attorney for New and the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center. “We’re going to find the truth, even if we have to drag it kicking and screaming into the light.”

Wolfe wrote later in the article, “Nancy New, who has pleaded guilty to state charges of fraud, bribery and racketeering in the overall welfare scandal, has argued in responses to the state’s complaint that she has taken responsibility for her role in the scheme, but that she was acting on the direction of others who have been shielded from consequences. For example, Bryant was the one who directed Nancy New to give Brett Favre the $1.1 million contract, she alleged in a recent filing. A spokesperson for Bryant denied this.” Wolfe follows with this quote from Bufkin:

“Nancy and Zach [New] have been cast as the ring leaders in this spending circus since the beginning. The auditor’s office focused on them to the exclusion of others and now MDHS has fired Brad Pigott to ensure that the cast of characters remains small,” Bufkin said. “This certainly appears to be a patent attempt by the state to obfuscate truth and to protect itself and its political allies.”
The Bufkin-Wolfe communication(s) came in advance of the defamatory remarks made by Mississippi Today and its chief executive officer in August 2022, February 2023, and May 2023. It is reasonable to believe at least some of the Bufkin-Wolfe communications were written and that these communications addressed matters relevant to the remarks that give rise to Bryant’s claims in this suit. For instance, Bufkin may have care, custody, or control of communications and documents supporting or refuting New’s claim that Bryant directed her to pay Favre $1.1 million. Communications and documents of this nature would be relevant to the defamatory statements made by White and Mississippi Today.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Bradley Mills. 

Kingfish note:  This part of the lawsuit is going to be rather interesting to watch.  The targets of the subpoenas can stall in court but there is no privilege for a source as there is for a reporter.  Stay tuned.

 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Phil doesn't have free counsel, he's a fool for racking up billable hours this way. Reminds me of divorce clients who use their lawyers to vent when therapists are cheaper.

Having read the story, it's pretty obvious that the reporting was more " why Phil should have known" than the accusation that he did. So, it also calls into question Phil's reading comprehension scores. And, if he wins, he proves he wasn't doing a good job monitoring federal funding expenditures or appointed incompetent people to oversee those expenditures of federal or else this wouldn't have happened.

Phil's only good outcome whatever the verdict is rallying his less educated or blindly faithful. The rest of us are familiar with the "rules" for the press and elected officials or can, at least, look up job descriptions!

Anonymous said...

Breaking News: Twenty minutes ago, at approximately 9:47 a.m. on September 15, I saw two Orville Redenbacher 18-wheelers headed south toward Jackson at mile marker 180 on Interstate 55.

Macy Hanson said...

As someone who has been the victim of a SLAPP suit like this, I have real empathy for the Defendants.

This lawsuit is complete garbage, in my opinion. Further, I don't understand why these materials are discoverable in this case. What is the bearing of these materials on whether the allegedly defamatory statements were true or not?

The former Governor needs the communications with all of Anna Wolfe's in order to prove her mental state? Come on. That is awfully convenient. Very transparent. You don't need that information to prove knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard of the truth.

I think the former Governor filed this lawsuit to have fun in discovery of this sort. That is not appropriate.

Judge Brad Mills is pretty sharp and down to earth and I think he will see through all of this. He is not a political hack.

Anonymous said...

Put down the mimosa! This comment is so strange and makes zero sense. Ha! Not sure his situation but generally plaintiffs don’t pay a billable rate. Maybe you should reread the stories… or even the headlines for that matter. Clearly more than a should have known. Love a brave anonymous blogger shouting some hate. I like that Philly shot back. Maybe we’ll see the other side of the story. So far, we have only heard from the people who we know for a fact did wrong. Bufkin did a great job using the media to push out a helpful narrative for his client and distract people from seeing Nancy New’s pattern of corruption. Didn’t the gaming commission investigate her for her bingo enterprise? Didn’t she falsify documents to get money at her school? Didn’t she buy herself cars and houses with tanf money? That was in the articles and public documents but that’s not juicy and a good selling story. And isn’t it interesting that MT builds this whole “republican leaders are corrupt” narrative while talking up and paying for polls for Brandon? Come on people. Nothing but a way to funnel money to a non profit who pushes out “news” instead of direct mail and pays for polling (one of the high dollar expenditures in campaigns) that happen to be helpful for Brandon. Brilliant political strategy. Props to Barksdale and Lack. After all, if they can change the South… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q5NKyM1V3fA&feature=youtu.be

Donate to KF said...

Great investigative reporting. CJ - eat your heart out.

Anonymous said...

I am sure he is spending leftover campaign funds. Otherwise, they go to waste.

Of course, had he just swallowed his pride and went away, he could probably spend all the campaign cash freely and nobody would know. That's what all the other politicians do. But too many eyes on him now. Might as well spend it making Anna miserable, because his days in politics are DONE.

Anonymous said...

So, he is desperate for the source, but he can't deny any of it. What is his game?

Anonymous said...

Quin will be aggressive. Bryant will have a higher standard in order to prove defamation since he is/was a public figure. But Billy will make hay on this. And the fact that it is in front of Mills....no one is going to accuse him of being an eminent jurist...so it will be a free-for-all.

Anonymous said...

He spent his campaign account down to zero before leaving office, you morons. This is public record. Love how stupid/lazy people speculate about information that is not in dispute and easily accessible.

Anonymous said...

I find it impossible to believe that the Guv didn’t know of all the illegal activities going on at DHS when he appointed the Director,
He and his wife were both tight with Nancy and praised her “efforts”. Come on. The General might not know what the privates are doing but he damn sure knows what the Colonels are up to.

anonymous said...

I hope all parties in the suit are given wide discovery options, but please, Judge Mills, protect the First Amendment and the source shield.
RMQ

Anonymous said...

@12:03
We learned from the fabricated Steele Dossier that “protecting sources” is too easily abused. You can protect a source from losing their job but when the “source” is being used to attack a politician, they should be unmasked and their claims subjected to scrutiny. It is too important to the Republic to have salacious lies and false claims be protected with a “source shield”
And never forget that democrats and the media did this. They weaponized this and used it. It’s all on them now.

Anonymous said...

11:27, shifting money to PACs that he controls is not exactly "spending down"

Anonymous said...

What is the issue? Whoever the source is, was any of it not true? I mean people are pleading guilty left and right. This just keeps Bryant’s incompetence front and center.

Anonymous said...

12:45 - He gave the money to a non-profit organization. I commend him for that.

2:15 - Mississippi Today made a small update to a previously published MT story admitting one error after Bryant notified the three of them (Wolfe, the MT editor, & MT) he was suing them for libel if they didn't publicly acknowledge they lied about him in public. I don't recall them admitting their public statements at the Pulitzer after-party were lies. Libel law states the aggrieved party (Bryant) has to notify the party that told lies (Wolfe, boss, & MT) he was suing them for libel due to their libelous public statements. Their later public statements did not admit they had no evidence of unethical behavior, much less crimes.

Either, none of their claims are true, or if they are, Bryant will get info of any case against him earlier than the government would like.

Anonymous said...

Law School 101: Never ask a question if you don't already know the answer. Deputy Feel may find that out the hard way. Pride (and arrogance) goeth before a fall.

Anonymous said...

I be hopin' Feel got him some legit lawyer-uppin and not dependent on a family relation. This ain't no longer the minor-league.

Anonymous said...

Wait till Barksdale subpoenas Phil Bryant's wife and her emails to Nancy New.

Phil will be sorry.

Anonymous said...



What's the Feel Around/Find Out ratio for this lawsuit?

asking for a friend!


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