Pigford suit
I had written yesterday about how a central figure in the Pigford scandal filed a lawsuit against Andrew Breitbart.
Turns out it was none other than Shirley Sherrod. From her hometown newspaper, the
Albany, NY Herald:
Sherrod mum on suit against Breitbart (UPDATED with details, quotes)
Shirley Sherrod, ousted from her position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after an internet video produced by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart surfaced, has filed suit in District of Columbia Superior Court alleging defamation, false light and infliction of emotional distress.
Breitbart confirmed that his company, breitbart.com, LLC, had been served with a copy of the suit over the weekend. In addition to Breitbart, producer Larry O�Conner and an unknown �John Doe� are also named in the suit.
Sherrod resigned as Georgia�s Director of Rural Development after the video clip appeared last July. The edited clip showed a speech she gave at an NAACP function where Sherrod spoke of not offering her full help and support to a white farmer, Roger Spooner, in 1986.
The full unedited video, however, showed Sherrod talking about assisting Spooner and moving beyond race in her life and professional responsibilities.
The suit alleges that �Mrs. Sherrod was forced to resign her job after Defendants ignited a media firestorm by publishing false and defamatory statements that Mrs. Sherrod �discriminates� against people due to their race in performing her official duties.
And she was promptly re-hired when the full tape was made public.
A bit more:
Andrew's comments and some background on Sherrod:
� �I find it extremely telling that this lawsuit was brought almost seven months after the alleged incidents that caused a national media frenzy occurred.� Breitbart said. �It is no coincidence that this lawsuit was filed one day after I held a press conference revealing audio proof of orchestrated and systemic Pigford fraud. I can promise you this: neither I, nor my journalistic websites, will or can be silenced by the institutional Left, which is obviously funding this lawsuit. I welcome the judicial discovery process, including finding out which groups are doing so.�
Pigford is the $1.5 billion settlement agreed to by the USDA and was intended to assure restitution to black farmers who were victims of racial discrimination. Sherrod and her husband, Charles, were the largest single recipients of Pigford money, each receiving $150,000 for pain and suffering and $13 million paid to defunct collective farm New Communities of Southwest Georgia in 2009.�
Considering that there are about 94,000 Pigford claimants and only about 18,000 actual black owned farms in the USA at that time; something is rotten...
Posted by DaveH at February 14, 2011 8:30 PM