From the Clarion Ledger:
The former owner of a beef processing plant that went belly-up, costing the state $55 million, was sentenced today to eight years in federal prison....
Richard Hall Jr. pleaded guilty in January 2006 to state mail-fraud charges and federal money-laundering charges.
He was given the maxium eight years during sentencing before U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers.
Biggers also ordered Carothers to pay a $40,000 fine, $250,000 in restitution to the state and the costs of his imprisonment, which will be determined by the Bureau of Prisons. The sentence was the maximum allowed under federal guidelines. Carothers is president of Carothers Construction Co., which built the 140,000-square-foot facility in 2003.
The most a judge can do is make these guys in the private sector do is pay a fine and make them do some time.
Voters can make their voices heard by voting for new watchdogs over agriculture and money by election the very capable Rickey Cole as Agricultural Commissioner and the very qualified Mike Sumrall as State Auditor.
Should they also vote against the Speaker of the House, Billy McCoy, since he greatly supported it?
ReplyDelete1. He wasn't the Speaker when this passed.
ReplyDelete2. Almost every person in the legislature supported it.
They viewed it as a local economic development issue.
The main folks who knew (or should have known) what was going on were to excited by the possible political benefits to listen to the smart people in the room (ie MSU). Lester Spell was one of those people. As large of an expendeture as it was it should have also been audited. It was barely audited even after it failed.
That is why I say we need new qualified folks for Agricultural Commissioner and Auditor.
That is why we so desperately need Mike Sumrall as State Auditor. He will take politics out of the office. Phil the Pill let this atrocity happen with no audit at all or a half-baked audit.
ReplyDelete