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Report: Texas overpaid Miers in 2000 land sale
by noooobody
Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 at 10:54 AM
whats it take to buy off a supreme court judge? not much
Associated Press
Oct. 23, 2005 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Texas officials paid Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' family more than $100,000 for a small piece of land in 2000, 10 times the land's worth, despite the state's objections to the way the price was determined, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported Saturday.
The three-member committee that determined the price included Peggy Lundy, a friend of Miers, and property-rights activist Cathie Adams, Knight Ridder reported. They were appointed to the panel by state District Judge David Evans, who had received at least $5,000 in campaign contributions from Miers' law firm.
The land in question in west Dallas was owned by Miers' mother, Sally; Harriet Miers had the authority to represent her mother's interests. Texas needed the northeastern corner of the parcel to build an interstate highway off-ramp.
According to Knight Ridder, the land, which was part of a Superfund pollution cleanup site, was valued at less than 30 cents a square foot. But the panel recommended paying nearly $5 a square foot for it.
The price was later reduced from $106,915 to $80,915, but Miers has yet to return the $26,000 difference to the state, said the story by Jack Douglas Jr. and Stephen Henderson.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1023miers-land23.html