Richard Mellon Scaife's sister dies. Read. Vince Foster parallels.

[MikeG]

http://post-gazette.com/pg/05027/448744.stm

Although Mrs. May used her maiden name and the surname of her first husband, Herbert A. May Jr., she was the widow of former Allegheny County District Attorney Robert W. Duggan, who killed himself with a shotgun in 1974, hours before being indicted by a grand jury for income tax evasion and racketeering.

Although his death was ruled a suicide, questions surrounded the circumstances, and his family, including Mrs. May, maintained he had been murdered. The scandal rocked the political and the powerful in Allegheny County..

(Could Dickie Scaife have done it?)

[President Jesus]

1. Scaife's littany of campaign contributions

http://www.newsmeat.com/media_political_donations/Richard_Mellon_Scaife.php

[livetohike]

2. I'm old

I remember the scandal (and I was living in Pgh.) then.

[wicket]

3. She was a huge supporter of Planned Parenthood

Among other things.

May she rest in peace.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

4. Self-deleted

never mind

[PA Democrat]

5. I found this 1999 WP article on R M Scaife

and found it fascinating. It's well worth the reading time.

I was struck by the parallels between the life of Scaife and Bush. Both were spoiled rich boys and alcoholics. Both had a world view that does not allow for shades of gray. Neither like to read, and appear to have been shaped by ideologues who have opportunistically latched onto them. Both are cruelly vindictive and tolerate no dissent from employees, friends.

<snip>

Despite his demons and his difficulties, Scaife and the Mellon fortune he inherited have prevailed. The money didn't buy a happy childhood or the personal confidence he has always lacked, but for all the distractions of his complicated life, he has, at 66, established an imposing legacy. With the help of a few longtime aides and of the conservatives who got his money – people who made him feel useful and appreciated – Richard Mellon Scaife became the leading financial supporter of the movement that reshaped American politics in the last quarter of the 20th century.

<snip>

Some of his associates speculated that drinking contributed to a mean streak they saw in Scaife. Others weren't sure the drinking was a factor. From the time he was a teenager, Scaife earned the reputation of a bully. His sister recalled one occasion when, home in Ligonier on a vacation from Deerfield, he got caught by the police making prank phone calls. "The police gave him a polite talking-to, but Dick was totally unconcerned," Cordelia May said. "The police didn't frighten him at all."

<snip>

So Scaife is as kind to friends as he can be harsh to perceived enemies. James Whelan, the founding editor of the Washington Times who worked for Scaife when he owned the Sacramento Union, said this was characteristic. Scaife's world, Whelan said, is starkly divided between allies and adversaries. "If you're not my friend, you're my enemy – he lives by that kind of code."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifemain050399b.htm

[johnfunk]

7. There are a lot of questions about Steve Kangas' "Suicide"...

... inside Dicky von Scaife's office building in Pittsburgh.

Methinks that paranoid conspira-wacko Dicky may have a lot to answer for...

More about Steve Kamgas' death here.

More about the Dicky Scaife Body Count here.

ON EDIT: Links added

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

6. Funny, isn't it?

Cordelia May sounds like a gentle, caring soul.

How could she have such an unrepentant bastard for a brother?

I guess DNA doesn't explain everything...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Her brother sounds like a sociopath

:shrug:

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

9. He's the guy who personally funded the Clinton smear campaign

[davidinalameda]

10. pretty much

he was out to get Clinton no matter what

probably made a pact with some evil force to get all that money

[jburton]

11. Somebody call Dan Burton (R-In)

Sounds like Dan needs to do one of his watermelon re-creation of the crime demonstrations.

[maddezmom]

12. locking

When posting articles, always use the published title of the article as the title of the discussion thread. Additional information may be included in a thread title (in parentheses) if it helps to make the title more clear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x87249