Kindred Spirits: Paige Patterson and Alberto Gonzalez

James B. Comey, formerly the #2 official in John Ashcroft' Justice Department and now General Counsel for Lockheed Martin, recently testified before Congress about the bizarre way the current administration tried to get approval for its unconstitutional domestic wiretapping powers. He described how Alberto Gonzales –- then White House Counsel –- was going to try and coerce a seriously ill, medicated and hospitalized John Ashcroft to sign off on the authorization.

What kind of person would try to take advantage of a sick person in a hospital bed?

A person like Paige Patterson, architect of the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, Past-President of the SBC and current President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

A couple days ago SBC blogger Ben Cole revealed in a blog that when he was President of the Criswell Center, Paige and his wife Dorothy succeeded in securing sick bed signatures from a hospitalized Nelson Farry conveying all his worldly property to the Criswell Center. Cole provides links to the legal documents substantiating this claim. Here's a quote:

Paige Patterson is the president, and Dorothy Patterson is the secretary of the Criswell Center. Beginning approximately three (3) weeks prior to [Nelson] Farry’s death, Paige Patterson and Dorothy Patterson began a series of visits to Mr. Farry and Velma Farry, who was attending him in the hospital. During these visits the Pattersons made strenuous efforts to persuade the Farrys to convey all their belongings immediately to the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies, on several occasions even bringing a typewriter and deed forms to the hospital for this purpose. Finally, by the use of threats, intimidation, and misrepresentations, the Pattersons induced Mr. Farry and Velma Farry to sign the deeds, copies of which are attached hereto . . . conveying to the Criswell Center all of the real property owned by the Farrys. They also induced Mr. Farry and Velma Farry to execute the document attached hereto . . . conveying to the Criswell Center all of the personal property owned by the Farrys.

Hat Tip to Bob Stephenson who, in a private conversation with me, immediately perceived the parallels between current news about Gonzalez and Cole's blog about Patterson.