From bad to worse in Mississippi

Yesterday, the Clarion-Ledger reported that the entire fiasco grew more serious with the arrests of several alleged co-conspirators.

Authorities say the vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and two other men conspired with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran.

Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, an attorney and state and local tea party leader, was arrested Thursday along with Richard Sager, a Laurel elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. Police said they also charged John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg, but he was not taken into custody because of “extensive medical conditions.” All face felony conspiracy charges…. The arrest of Mayfield, well-known in political, business and legal circles, caused shock in Mississippi, in a criminal case and election that already had Mississippi in the national spotlight.

It’s one thing to think a local Tea Partier got overly invested in a primary race and showed ridiculously poor judgment. But it’s something altogether worse to see a story in which four people are accused of conspiring to pull off a ridiculous criminal scheme.