* Benefited from $13-million of Mississippi gaming money that was laundered through GOP felon Jack Abramoff;
* Benefited from millions of Mississippi Choctaw gaming money that was distributed directly to the Riley campaign, according to public statements from former aide Bill Johnson.
* Misspent more than $340,000, which was intended to help elect candidates and instead went to anti-gambling initiatives.
* Saw his term winding down in 2010 as a string of mysterious deaths cropped up on Alabama's political landscape.
Speaking of mysterious deaths, that's a subject Joe Scarborough knows something about. The body of Lori Klausutis, a 28-year-old staff member, was found in Scarborough's office in summer 2001, when he was a Republican Congressman from Florida. Klausutis' death was classified as accidental, the result of an undiagnosed heart defect that caused her to fall and hit her head on a desk. The story largely was ignored by the national press, but we have researched a number of articles that have been written, and evidence strongly suggests that Lori Klausutis' death was not an accident.
It's ironic to hear Joe Scarborough state, incorrectly, that there is "not a hint of scandal" around Bob Riley. That certainly cannot be said of Scarborough himself. We soon will be taking a closer look at the Lori Klausutis story.
Americans should learn more about this ugly chapter in Joe Scarborough's history before they give much weight to anything he says about presidential politics.
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