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Anita Lee’s story in this morning’s Sun Herald begins,

It is unclear what cooperation Dickie Scruggs has pledged as a result of his guilty plea today in a judicial bribery case, but the FBI’s special agent in charge said his office has committed the manpower to “work the case to its logical conclusion.”

“Public corruption is our No. 1 criminal priority,” said Frederick T. Brink, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jackson Division. “Americans expect a fair and impartial judicial system. Any attempts to undermine that through bribery or other types of illegal activity really critically damages our faith in our judicial system. It is a particularly heinous crime.”

Brink said he is awaiting copies of the plea agreements that Scruggs and another lawyer in his firm, Sidney Backstrom, reached with the government. The FBI has worked on the case with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District, which notified U.S. District Court Judge Neal B. Biggers of the plea agreements in Oxford. …

It concludes:

… “The FBI has been very successful in combating public corruption,” Brink said. “I think in part because of the public’s willingness, in this case Judge Lackey’s willingness, to come forward.”

Brink urged citizens with information about public corruption to call the FBI office in Jackson at 601-948-5000.

So there you go, if you’ve got something for them, now you know where to call. Heck, I bet Hinds County alone, if it had a mind to, could melt down their wire.

O(this)T P.S.: I’ve linked them before, but if you haven’t read the local-est reporters’ accounts of yesterday’s hearing, I think you’ve missed the two best: Patsy’s and Alyssa’s.

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