Credible sources are telling the Missouri Political News Service that Chip Robertson is the big name behind the lawsuit filed last week by Scott Eckersley against Governor Blunt. The lawsuit was signed by uber-plaintiffs’-attorneys (there’s that word again that I said I would never use) Steve Garner and Gene Graham, attorneys our sources tell us were contacted by Chip Robertson after he practically fell in love with the Eckersley fiasco.

The Springfield “country club scuttlebutt” suggests Garner is not really that interested in the case, but decided to do it as a favor to Jay Nixon, a friend he has supported financially. Nixon, we are told, is promising the state’s trial bar — which Garner, Graham and Chip Robertson are a part of — that if he is elected Governor he will repay plaintiffs’ attorneys for such favors by undoing tort reform and introducing a second Big Tobacco settlement. However wealthy these attorneys are right now, they will be vastly more wealthy after such moves by Nixon.

But back to Chip Robertson. Why is he even involved? And why didn’t he sign the lawsuit instead of passing it off?

Readers may remember Chip Robertson as the retired Supreme Court judge who left the Supreme Court to make millions on the Big Tobacco litigation. Conventional wisdom is that Chip Robertson loves being the “big star” almost as much as Chip Robertson loves money. Unfortunately, Matt Blunt got in his way of becoming the really big star a few years ago when he blocked his path to the governor’s mansion. Thus: Chip Robertson hates Blunt and would do almost anything to ruin Blunt’s chances for re-election. Readers may also remember that Chip Robertson flirted with the idea of running for governor a few years ago.

So why didn’t he sign the Eckersley petition, if he is the orchestrator of the whole shebang?

Sources tell us Chip Robertson is afraid several skeletons in his closet might jump out if he goes too far in his quest to stop Blunt. To avoid that wrinkle, he had it signed by surrogates who had political and financial interests similar to his own.

Strange bedfellows, indeed.

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