State Senate
Bilbo served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1908 to 1912. In 1910, he attracted national attention in a bribery scandal. After the death of U.S. Senator James Gordon, the State Senate was deadlocked in choosing between LeRoy Percy or former Governor James K. Vardaman for United States Senator. After 58 ballots, Bilbo on February 28 was one of several candidates to break the stalemate by switching his vote to Percy, who won by an 87–82 majority. Bilbo told a grand jury the next day that he had accepted a $645 bribe from L.C. Dulaney, but that he had done so as part of a private investigation. The State Senate voted 28–10 to expel him from office, falling one vote short of the 3/4 majority needed. The Senate passed a resolution calling him "unfit to sit with honest, upright men in a respectable legislative body."
During his subsequent campaign for lieutenant governor, Bilbo made a comment to Washington Dorsey Gibbs, a state senator from Yazoo City. Gibbs was insulted, and during the ensuing skirmish broke his cane over Bilbo's head. But Bilbo's campaign was successful, and he served as lieutenant governor from 1912 to 1916. One of his first acts as lieutenant governor was to remove the resolution calling him "unfit to sit with honest men" from the records.
Read more about this topic: Theodore G. Bilbo
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