The Feds Made A Big Mistake

When the federal government dropped money laundering charges against Stan "Pampy" Barre, that was the biggest mistake they could have ever made. They would have made out better if they dropped the mail fraud charge in lieu of the money laundering charge.

As a result of this blunder, they will never be able to pursue charges against his relatives who bragged about having a hand in his money laundering schemes. Since Mr. Barre is now a government informant, he has no incentive to discuss how those individuals laundered the ill gotten gains that he stole, from the City, for decades.

Is New Orleans On The Mend?

The City of New Orleans has hired an engineering management firm to oversee the repair of public assets and keep residents updated on the work.

MWH, formerly known as Montgomery Watson Harza, will earn an estimated $6 million to coordinate the work of architects, engineers and building contractors hired by the city to fix flood-damaged police and fire stations, streets, recreation centers, court buildings, museums, libraries and parks.

What Does Stan "Pampy" Barre & Marc Morial Have In Common?

They both have relatives serving time on home detention:
JACQUES MORIAL
Jacques Morial, brother of former Mayor Marc Morial, was sentenced to six months of home detention for failure to pay income taxes.
STAN "PAMPY" BARRE, III


Stan "Pampy" Barre, III, son of convicted felon Stan "Pampy" Barre, was sentenced to three months of home detention for residential burglary after reaching a plea agreement and having New Orleans Civil Sheriff Paul Valteau write him a "good boy" letter.
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Lessons Learned:
Jacques Morial apologizes for his actions.
Stan "Pampy" Barre, III tries to blame others for his actions.

Ethics Group Vaguely Accuse Sen. Mary Landrieu of Bribery

It appears that a watchdog group is trying to accuse Sen. Mary Landrieu of bribery. The T-P, however, mildly states the accusation:

An ethics watchdog group Tuesday asked the Justice Department and Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., violated federal bribery laws in getting a $2 million earmark for a reading program whose executives and lobbyists donated to her 2002 re-election campaign.

The money was earmarked for a Washington, D.C., public schools reading program operated by Voyager Expanded Learning, a Dallas company then headed by Randy Best.

The request for investigations came from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington via letters to the Senate Ethics Committee, the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Northern District of Texas.

Was this some form of bribery?

"Sen. Landrieu appears to have traded a $2 million earmark for $30,000 in campaign contributions," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "It was a win-win situation for Best and Sen. Landrieu, but a lose-lose for the taxpayers and D.C. schoolchildren."

Be careful when making accusations.

Rep. William Jefferson Decides To Keep Corruption Running Smoothly In His Family

When it comes to Family Corruption In The Big Easy, the Jefferson Clan is now running front and center. It appears that his wife, brother, and son-in-law had their hands in the cookie jar:

The Justice Department is for the first time disclosing the names of family members it says are connected to the public corruption case against Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans.

The government brief says that "Family Member A" referred to in the 16-count criminal indictment of the congressman, is Andrea Jefferson, the congressman's wife; "Family Member B" is Mose Jefferson, the congressman's brother; and the congressman's son-in-law Philip Jones had a 2003 contract for 5 percent of each $7 million garbage-to-energy incinerator he helped LETH Energy, now Global Environmental Inc., sell in Nigeria.

William Jefferson, and his clan, has decided to bring new meaning to IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR.

Brad Pitt's "Make It Right Project" Shines

Let us give thanks to Brad Pitt and to all of those who contributed to this effort. New Orleans truly appreciate their contributions. Some of the donors are:

Angela Bassett, Bill Cosby, Tom Cruise, Carrie Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Will Ferrell, Goldie Hawn, Salma Hayek, Ethan Hawke, Angelica Huston, Samuel L. Jackson, Quincy Jones, Lenny Kravitz, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, Ving Rhames, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Meg Ryan, Kevin Spacey, David Spade, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Barbra Streisand, Russell Simmons, brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, and brothers Branford and Wynton Marsalis.

May New Orleans' corrupt politicians and political operatives take note: You get more when you do the right thing.

New Orleans' Police Dept. Should Stop Shifting Responsibility

This wonderful editorial, from the T-P, needs to be preserve for future reference.

EDITORIAL: A more peaceful future
Sunday, January 06, 2008

New Orleanians understand very well the historic failings of the city's public schools, the scourge of the drug trade and the hardship of poverty.

Residents have watched for more than a decade as murderers got younger and some neighborhoods became killing zones for drug lords.

What they need to hear from the New Orleans Police Department is what it plans to do about violence in the city. Instead, Deputy Chief Marlon Defillo talked New Year's Eve about the obstacles presented by social ills. The problem "is far greater than the Police Department or the criminal justice system," he said.

That is true, but it is not a sufficient explanation for the city's high murder rate. Other cities face the same societal problems, but all of them reported fewer murders per capita than New Orleans did in 2007. The murder rates in Chicago and New York are the lowest they have been in years. Even historically violent cities like Detroit, Baltimore and Birmingham had a much lower per capita murder rate than New Orleans did last year.

At least some of the credit must go to the police in those cities. The same ought to be true here.

Let's agree that the crime rate is not the fault of any one agency or person. But the Police Department has a vital role in reducing crime no matter what the difficulties may be.
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To the New Orleans Police Force: Please do your job.