What Some Won't Do For Friends

I found this article very disturbing.

The Jefferson Parish Council loosened its rules for alcoholic beverage permits Wednesday, allowing a key player in former Gov. Edwin Edwards' corruption trial to apply for liquor permits for two Harvey establishments.

The council voted unanimously to expand the regulations to include people who have been pardoned automatically upon completion of a criminal sentence or who have had any misdemeanor conviction dismissed. The revision also allows companies to apply if they have terminated ties to a person whose prior conviction would have otherwise scuttled their liquor-license application.

The new language has the caveat that none of the crimes in question may involve violence or narcotics.

Council members approved the expanded terms on the same day the council was scheduled to consider granting two liquor licenses to Bobby Guidry, the former owner of the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner who was convicted of bribing Edwards in exchange for a riverboat gaming license. He was sentenced in January 2001 to three years' probation, including five months in a halfway house.

Guidry applied to the parish for liquor licenses for the Royal Palm and Alligator Pear, two restaurants he is opening on Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey.

Does Louisiana really want to change its image?