Posted on 12/19/2007 10:49:05 AM PST by MplsSteve
Sen. Trent Lott retired from Congress late Tuesday with characteristic flair, making public with 16 minutes' notice that he would relinquish his seat when the Senate closed for business.
A press release issued by his office at 11:49 p.m. said Lott would not return to work Wednesday. The Senate turned out the lights at 12:05 a.m.
Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood said the formal announcement came so late because Lott had to resign at least a day before the Senate recesses, which could be as early as Wednesday, but wanted to vote on important bills that were being considered well into the night.
In a 35-year career, Lott, 66, rose from the Republican ranks of the House to the helm of the Senate, was toppled by his own racially insensitive remark in 2002 and reinstated as a GOP leader four years later by the thinnest of margins _ winning by one vote in a last-minute bid to be the vote-counting Republican whip.
It was one of his favorite jobs. Lott, who kept at least one bullwhip in his office, seemed to relish a job others have loathed: rounding up votes in a chamber of outsized egos. But with Republicans likely to lose seats in the next election and stay in the minority, Lott said he was ready to go. One of Congress' jolliest and most effective deal-cutters, Lott sounded tired of the bitterness that ruled the chamber this year when he announced his retirement last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Yup. That pretty much sums up Lott completely. That, and the fact that he's leaving today so he can get on the lobbying gravy train a year earlier than he would otherwise.
Is it my imagination or did Lott generally have this look on his face like someone sitting next to him released an SBD bomb. Something about how he would flair his nostrils.
This is gonna make it hard for him to regulate talk-radio.
I’m not sorry to see him go.
Keep flushing the Bob Michel wing of the Republican Party down the toilet, where they belong.
No, as I read the law, since Lott resigned in 2007, there is going to be a spcial election scheduled within the next ten days that must occur within 90 days after that. If he had resigned next year, the special election could have coincided with election day.
Trent Lott has just been chased out of office, due to the FBI investigation os corrupt Judges and Lawyers including Dickie Scruggs, Trent’s brother in law...Trent has lawyered up and will be lucky, IMO, to stay out of this mess! Just google Scruggs+Judge+FBI
Yup, it shows that Trent Lott didn’t care about the Republican Party as much as he cared about himself making more lobbying money. Very characteristic of his whole approach to politics. Personal gain over principles.
Dittos to the first ten posts.
“A book by Trent Lott trashing the GOP”
Well, there’s something you probably got right!
;)
A press release issued by his office at 11:49 p.m. said Lott would not return to work Wednesday. The Senate turned out the lights at 12:05 a.m.
Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood said the formal announcement came so late because Lott had to resign at least a day before the Senate recesses, which could be as early as Wednesday, but wanted to vote on important bills that were being considered well into the night.
If he had waited until the day of recess to resign his seat, would the seat not have been declared vacant until the next session?
I'm putting my money on Lott endorsing Hillary! for president!
-PJ
Iopscusa, you are the only person to point out the major coinciding factor with Lott’s resignation - the Scruggs indictment 2 days later. I assume most freepers simply haven’t even heard of, much less understand the implications.
The near-billionaire class-action lawyer, Dickie Scruggs, was in from the basement floor on the MS class action lawsuit against tobacco companies, which later led to a national settlement. This man made in the high 9-digits off that alone, and went on to seed other class actions, while at the same time apparently screwing every law firm who assisted in class action work he could over fees.
To top it off, he apparently paid a man in the MS delta 50 million over 20 years for newspaper clippings and political cloakroom advice. More rational folks wonder if Mr. P L Blake was a bagman for whatever money Scruggs needed to spread around both within and outside of the MS legislature.
This Scruggs person happens to be Lott’s brother-in-law.
Scruggs was under WIRETAP SURVEILLANCE during some period of time before this indictment. I think this may be what burned Lott - an offhand conversation with his BiL which contained references to something Lott knew would damn him once it was shown to him by the DoJ in transcript.
I know there are true believers and what-not, but most folks should connect the dots here.
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