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DOLLAR BILL'S GREATEST HITS
The front page of Sunday's Picayune had an article by Gordon Russell about Dollar Bill Jefferson and his shady business dealings over the years. There was nothing new except for a few quotes but it was fun to see former Louisiana Governor Buddy (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Revolution) Roemer taking some pot shots at his old nemesis, Dollar Bill. It made me feel all warm and nostalgic inside...
Buried inside the paper (on page A-31) was an article by Michelle Krupa about the lucrative law practice of Princess BOLD (d/b/a Karen Carter.) Her Minor Highness continues to insist that guvmint bond business came to her because of her ability and NOT her family and political connections. The Picayune is usually loathe to say anything even mildly critical about a candidate they're supporting but the article does admit that: "Carter's current work for the City Council's Utility Committee includes a family tie: her father, former 1st District Assessor Ken Carter, lost his piece of the regulatory deal when an ally of his in the BOLD political organization [ex-Council President/BOLD big cheese Jim Singleton.] was stripped of the committee chairmanship. With another BOLD standard- bearer, City Council President Oliver Thomas, back at the helm, Karen Carter was hired in July to assist the prime contractor, Wilkerson & Henry, whose founding partner has known her family for decades."
Is this illegal? Apparently not. But these facts do NOT support Carter's claim that she's gotten bond work because she's such a crackerjack lawyer. I did, however, get a big kick out of Princess Bold's hyper lawyerly defense of her ethics at the end of this excerpt: "Carter added that she did not report income for similar work on bond transactions involving local entities, including cities and parishes, because the law does not require it. Such deals have earned her firm at least $82,000 since last year on projects in Jefferson Parish, New Orleans, Monroe and for the New Orleans Aviation Board, according to a review of state Bond Commission records.
State law requires lawmakers to complete forms annually to report income "received directly . . . from the state of Louisiana or any local governmental entity or political subdivision thereof."
Carter said she did not report income from the local bond deals because her firm was not paid directly by any political entity. Instead, as the "underwriter's counsel" -- the lawyer for an investment house that purchases or markets public bonds -- her firm was paid by the prime contractor: the underwriter. It was the underwriting firm that collected payment directly from the public body, she said.
"You won't see that because I'm not required to disclose it," Carter said, adding that if such reporting were required, she would comply. "I'm not hiding anything."
You might ask yourself why I'm going on about this when Dollar Bill is so much worse. Here's why: Ms. Carter is selling herself as the sort of REFORMER who gives the folks at the Times-Pic and Gambit the vapors when, in fact, she's a second generation machine politician. And I dislike cant, hypocrisy and humbug, which is why I don't care for Her Minor Highness.BUT I still plan to vote *against* Dollar Bill by voting for Princess BOLD but it's a classic lesser of two evils vote. It's looking like a Debrisville version of 1991's "Vote for the crook, it's important" governor's race. Of course, in this case the slogan would be either "Vote against the crook, it's important" or "Vote for the faux reformer, it's important." I decided not to use the H word but if the shoe fits...
Did any of Buddy's pot shots involve rubber bands?
Heh. Also I never really felt I had to hold my nose so much in supporting
Edwards in '91. I tend to find the so-called "reformers" such as Roemer
and Carter even more loathesome than the David Dukes of the world.
Louisiana politics is at its best when it produces true.. albeit flawed...
populists like EWE or the Longs. It seems that lately we've been losing
our touch and instead minting the wrong kind of criminals (like the Dollar
Bills of the world) who steal as much as the populists but don't build any
roads and hospitals in return. They're bad.. but nothing is quite as bad
as a preachy, hypocritical, "reformer."
What ever happened to "avoiding even the appearance of impropriety"? My
guess is it went out the window after Katherine Harris, who was W's
campaign manager in Florida, failed to recuse herself from her task, as
Lieutenant Governor, of counting the votes in that state...
You know the catch there, Bruce, is the appearance of impropriety is
unavoidable. What in this world of ours doesn't appear improper?