Thick as Thieves

Okay, now that’s the anniversary has passed, it’s back to business. I know this is a long post, but I think it is worth it...bombs away!

I had to do the audio version of a doubletake last Friday while scanning the radio. I heard Garland Robinette in his baritone speaking about an article he had found via Nexis-Lexis search. I did some online digging and came up with zilch. Did I hear it correctly? Did he have it correct?

Well, low and behold, he mentioned the article again on Monday as he polished Nagin’s head during his interview with Hizonner. I had to do the Lexis-Nexis search and cough up three bucks to view it but it was worth every penny.

As I read it I had to ask why haven’t I heard this before? It ran on June 3, 2005, and I checked some archives and it seems to have gone largely unnoticed. I also checked to make sure I was not living under a rock, cleverly painted to resemble the sky. It was not, so I am guessing this will be new to a lot of the blogosphere. This is how it begins:

Attack-ad financiers revealed under deal; Morial allies backed anti-Irons TV spots
June, 03 2005, By Gordon Russell and Frank Donze

A lingering mystery from the 2002 mayoral campaign -- who exactly was behind a series of television spots that helped sink then-state Sen. Paulette Irons' campaign -- was quietly put to rest Thursday when the state Board of Ethics approved a settlement that named names.

And the record shows that Irons wasn't far off the mark when she blamed allies of former Mayor Marc Morial for the attack ads, which took her to task for holding two public jobs and for misrepresenting the death of her brother.

The article names some of the group of 16 contributors who funded the ad campaign, which includes the “usual suspects” of Morial confidants and corporations controlled by them. The same civic minded individuals whose names can be found connected with such initiatives as, this, this, this, and so on. At least the words “indicted” and “convicted” appear near enough to the names. They are:

Stan "Pampy" Barre
Herbert Cade Civil District Judge
Bobby Major, businessman
Anthony Mumphrey, airport planner
Roy Rodney, attorney
Penelope Randolph, Sewerage & Water Board member
Robert Tucker, former RTA Chairman
Rafael "Ray" Valdes
Reginald Walker and Jimmie Woods, owners a trash hauling company.

T.R.C. Construction LLC, directors Sandra Kruebbe and Jamie Santopadre
Management Services USA Inc., director S.F. Brechtel Jr.
Louisiana Fleet Consultants LLC, directors David Picou and Michael Ecuyer.

There are no great surprises there, as far as I can tell. But now the interesting part:

The group also includes businessman John Georges, (yes, that “I’m just a businessman” who promises to “clean up Baton Rouge” John Georges) who was along with Barre and Rodney were partners with then candidate C Ray Nagin in the New Orleans Brass minor-league hockey team.

So we have not only the inner circle of the Morial Machine, but Gubernatorial candidate John Georges ponying up $10K to one of four dummy corporations to attack Paulette Irons with Nagin, Georges' “business” partner, and presumably the Morial's boy, in the race.

Apparently, the significance of this was lost on Garland who was more interested in who was behind the ads attacking Bobby Jindal than the nefarious connections that this list exposes. Someone else seems to have noticed, Lee Fletcher.

Before you go off on the link, Fletcher runs and podcasts from right-wing web site the Town Hall Show and thinks Bobby Jindal is the “best thing to come out of LA in my lifetime”. However he has no qualms about dredging up the mud on pol’s who fall short of his “standards”. In between his extrapolating on how his web site poll proves Mary Landrieu has already lost her re-election bid, and how Vitter was outed as payback for his opposition to the “amnesty” bill he also noticed that John Georges ‘aint what he appears. Of course, I think he is more upset that Georges gave money to the John Kerry campaign, but he can’t ignore the fact that he for all extents tied to the Morial clan.

In his first inauguration speech, Nagin boldly praised Morial for “a job well done.” I think I know what he meant, but he was a bit premature. The article explains how the group ran afoul of the ethics board, all had to pay a $12K fine:

The four companies shared a common registered agent -- accountant Gail Masters, a cousin of Barre -- and were incorporated pro bono by lawyers at Rodney's firm. Though the group set up a political action committee, the New Alliance Business PAC, which also listed Masters as chairwoman, the ads were purchased directly by the four companies Masters represented. That made them political action committees and obliged them to disclose their donors, the ethics opinion said.

The campaign finance ruling by the State Ethics Board is 2002-059, available on their web site, but I was unable to locate the details of the settlement, and the list of names, mentioned in the article (I am still looking, but if anyone finds it please let me know). So I don't know if, in fact C Ray's name appears on it or just John Georges.

However, I can provide the delightfully Orwellian names of those bogus companies: Louisiana Leadership, L.L.C., Louisiana Optimism, L.L.C., Louisiana Spirit, L.L.C., and Louisiana Teamwork, L.L.C. All under the aptly named umbrella of New Alliance Business PAC.

Nagin may not mark a new corrupt political machine entrenching itself into the system, he may in fact simply represent Morial machine mark II. I find the idea that Nagin is somehow “untouchable” in the ongoing investigations a bit harder to swallow now. But what about our erstwhile, potentially party hopping Governor wanna-be John Georges?

Dambala has been playing Jimmy the Greek (without all the plantation tales) on the Federal indictments and setting some odds [Hey Dambala! We're still waiting on those indictments you promised!]. I asked him in his comments what odds he would give on John Georges. It would still be pretty long, but it’s not so far fetched.