Posted on 06/19/2014 12:42:16 PM PDT by Red Steel
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says an endorsement by NFL legend Brett Favre for Barbour-backed incumbent senator Thad Cochran has nothing to do with a 2012 pardon given to Favre’s brother for vehicular manslaughter.
Supporters of Cochran’s challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, are accusing Barbour of calling in a favor to Favre, a native of Mississippi with tremendous pull there.
“I think any reasonable person would ponder the question as to whether governor Barbour’s pardon of Brett Favre’s brother on a drunk driving manslaughter conviction might have some bearing on Brett Favre’s eleventh hour endorsement of Thad Cochran,” Miss. state Sen. Angela Hill told The Daily Caller.
On Jan. 10, 2012, on his last day as governor, Barbour pardoned Scott Favre, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the 1996 drunk driving death of his best friend, Mark Haverty.
On Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group with which Barbour is closely aligned, released an ad — which is being called “the Hail Mary” ad — in which Favre endorsed the 76-year old Cochran, who faces McDaniel in a June 24 primary run-off.
The two are engaged in perhaps the ugliest GOP campaign battle in recent memory.
“I’ve learned through football that strong leadership makes the difference between winning and losing,” said a heavily bearded Favre in the ad. “And when it comes to our state’s future, trust me: Mississippi can win and win big with Thad Cochran.”
“Thad Cochran always delivers, just like he did during Katrina,” said Favre, who now coaches football in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The future Hall of Famer has not been particularly politically active in the past. His only recorded activity was a $4,800 campaign contribution to Mississippi conservative Democrat Gene Taylor’s 2010 House re-election bid.
Other McDaniel supporters think something is awry.
“It certainly appears as if Haley Barbour is trading pardons for endorsements for his big government pal Thad Cochran,” Tupelo Tea Party founder Grant Sowell told TheDC.
But Barbour denies any connection.
“Haven’t talked to Brett Favre for years,” Barbour told TheDC via email. “I haven’t seen the TV spot and had nothing to do with it. Other than that, I don’t know anything about it.”
In 1997, Scott Favre, who is older than Brett, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in Haverty’s death, which occurred when Favre drove drunk in front of an on-coming train. Fourteen years of that sentence were suspended, and Favre ended up with only one year of house arrest and two years’ probation.
Barbour drew public criticism when he pardoned not only Favre but also around 200 other felons, some of whom had been convicted of murder and rape.
Barbour defended the move, saying at the time that he wanted to “allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote.”
Favre also defended his brother Scott in a 1997 interview with Playboy.
“This was a mistake between two buddies,” he said. “I mean, there’s nothing good about drinking and driving, but who hasn’t done it?”
The speculation from McDaniel supporters likely stems from both Barbour and the Chamber’s heavy backing of Cochran in his battle against McDaniel, who also works as an attorney.
Barbour told TheDC that he is helping the Mississippi Conservatives PAC, which the former governor said, “I don’t believe is airing the spot.”
The Chamber gave $100,000 to Mississippi Conservatives PAC, which is headed by Henry Barbour, Haley’s nephew and a Republican National Committee member.
Another nephew, Austin Barbour, is a senior strategist for Cochran’s campaign.
According to Politico, the PAC has spent at least another $700,000 supporting Cochran, while the U.S. Chamber has put up $500,000 according to the Sunlight Foundation.
Both candidates have traded shots in what is one of the ugliest party primaries in recent memory.
The contentious race has exposed deep rifts within the Republican party, as it has pitted the quintessential establishment candidate against a staunch, small-government tea party favorite.
Like Barbour, Cochran is not opposed to bringing federal dollars back home to Mississippi. Both Barbour and the U.S. Chamber are proponents of immigration reform, which McDaniel opposes.
In May, it came to light that several men who supported McDaniel, some of whom had ties to his senate campaign, covered up their plan to photograph Cochran’s bed-ridden wife in her Mississippi nursing home.
The photo was taken and temporarily published on the internet before it was taken down.
Many McDaniel supporters have accused Cochran of being too “cozy” with one of his assistants.
Cochran also recently drew ridicule when he told a crowd at a campaign event that as a boy he “did indecent things with animals.”
The U.S. Chamber says that Barbour had nothing at all to do with the Favre ad.
“The decision to use Brett Favre and run the ad was ours and ours alone,” said Blair Holmes, the organization’s director of media relations.
Can Dems vote in the runoff?
Well, I would have supported McDaniel, but in light of Brett Favre’s record of prudent judgment, sobriety, wisdom and magnanimity, I may have to reconsider.
Ping.
Endorsement makes sense. Favre is as usual now as an NFL quarterback as Cochran is as a Senator.
“Thad Cochran always delivers Pork and Graft, just like he did during Katrina and Sandy, and the Banker Bailout, and the GM Bailout, and Obama Care, and (insert liberal spending cause here) ."
Future Hall of Famer Farve Fulfills Favors For Felonious Fauna Offender
Thad Cochran: I Grew Up Doing ‘All Kinds of Indecent Things with Animals’
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/06/12/Thad-Cochran-I-Grew-Up-Doing-All-Kinds-Of-Indecent-Things-With-Animals
He drove his car in front of a train and yet only his friend was killed? How did he manage that?
It is also not clear to me about the others mentioned, are they people who have done their time? If they are out of prison and have rehabilitated themselves I don’t think I have a strong objection to pardoning them. Of course you’d have to look at things on a case-by-case basis and this is an important power which should not be abused; even the appearance of abuse should be avoided which clearly wasn’t done here.
In some states, like VA, a pardon is the only remedy, there is no expungement as there is in many other states. Although I’m not sure about expunging murder and rape convictions, but you know, I’m already talking a little over my head.
“Future Hall of Famer Farve Fulfills Favors For Felonious Fauna Offender”
That rite thar’s funny.
“Many McDaniel supporters have accused Cochran of being too “cozy” with one of his assistants.”
He certainly likes get “cozy” with animals and assistants!
Farve hasn’t been a QB for 4 years, and yet he’s still throwing picks to the wrong team.
“Barbour drew public criticism when he pardoned not only Favre but also around 200 other felons, some of whom had been convicted of murder and rape.”
Barbour loves animals, too!
That’s what the headline really should say.
Bret Favre, just another POS from the long line of P’sOS in professional sports. When he goes to that “great sports arena in the sky,” he can hob nob with all those “greats,” starting with “Joe Pa.”
Haley Barbour puts an ugly face on GOPe.
We’ll see on Tuesday night if the people of MS can be fooled yet again.
Not only what the article says but imagine the reaction when it turned out that Favre’s and Boss Hogg Haley Barbour’s personal computers crashed just this past SD=unday, taking all their mutual GOPE-mails down the memory hole.
But, but.....is Brett REALLY retired? Really, really! We should post guards at his football grave site to see to it that there is no coming back! Is his endorsement of Boss Hogg’s faithful senator a result of Favre’s history of head injuries in the NFL???
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