RICHARD MELLON SCAIFE'S GOP FAMILY VALUES ON PUBLIC DISPLAY

Before I had ever heard of a blog, I was part of an online chat group called the Lying Socialist Weasels. We tried to work out for ourselves the truth behind the mass media's presenation of the "news." I doubt many people are aware of who-- and what-- Richard Mellon Scaife is but when news started breaking on him this week I immediately turned to one of my fellow weasels, Rozius a long time expert in all things Scaife. Here's his report:


When Hillary Clinton made her now famous reference to the “vast right wing conspiracy” there is little doubt that the single individual she had in mind as most responsible for the funding of that conspiracy was Richard Mellon Scaife.
 
Born an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, Scaife, the billionaire owner and publisher of the right-wing Pittsburg Tribune Review, also owns 7.2% of the reactionary net-rag Newsmax.
 
Over the years Scaife has funded a huge network of right wing think tanks and front organizations including, but not limited to, Paul Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation; Judicial Watch; David Horowitz’s Center for the Study of Popular Culture; Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC; The Federalist Society; The Hoover Institution; The Heritage Foundation; Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center and the Independent Women’s Forum. Among Scaife’s most famous projects was the use of his publishing empire in spreading the false charge that the Clintons had arranged the murder of Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and that the Clintons were making a fortune smuggling illegal drugs into the country using the Mena, Arkansas airport..
 
But, perhaps the most infamous of Scaife’s operations was the American Spectator whose ‘Arkansas Project’ was instrumental in bringing about the impeachment and Senate trial of then-president Bill Clinton.
 
In a simpler time when the most important issue faced by this nation was a stain on a little blue dress, Richard Mellon Scaife lead the unsuccessful campaign for Bill Clinton’s political undoing due to his alleged lack of moral leadership.
 
Which brings us to today.
 
It appears that all is not well in ScaifeLand.
 
The first sign of trouble in paradise appeared during Christmas 2005 when police were called to forcibly remove Scaife’s second wife of 15 years, Margaret ‘Ritchie’ Battle Scaife, from the family mansion.
 
An April 8, 2006 news story run in the Scaife owned Tribune-Review detailed a fight between Mrs. Scaife and three of Mr. Scaife’s servants over a dog that Mr. Scaife claims his wife had given to him as a gift. The incident resulted in Mrs. Scaife being removed from the property by the police in handcuffs.
 
In an April 11, 2006 interview Scaife admitted that he and Mrs. Scaife planned to divorce. He also volunteered the information that the marriage had begun without a prenuptial agreement. Scaife is quoted as saying “Wish me luck.”
 
This would seem to indicate that Mr. Scaife may be in danger of losing up to half of his $1.2 billion fortune.
 
Details of the divorce may be rather hard to obtain in the coming days due to the unusual actions of Allegany County Family Court Judge Allen Hertzberg who has sealed the case along with all of its potentially revealing filings.
 
Support and divorce proceeding in Pennsylvania are traditionally a part of the public record but in the case of Mr. Scaife’s affairs it appears that money really does talk. A search of the Allegheny County Prothonotary’s Web site shows that there are only two sealed Family Court cases on record, the recent Scaife filing and Scaife’s first divorce case from the early 80s.
 
More on this story as it develops.