Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Grand Isle, Louisiana
IS THERE ANYONE IN THE GOVERNMENT
WE CAN TRUST?
If one lesson can be learned from both the Gulf Oil spill and the Wall Street financial bailout debacle, it’s that oversight by competent regulators is critical to protect the public. At every level of the governmental process, elected officials and both state and federal agencies either stood by and took no action at all, or worse, turned the regulatory process over to those private companies that caused all the damage.
The current and ongoing oil spill disaster points once again to the fact that there is a wretched epic of “regulatory” failure and our knowledge of the fact that literally nothing has changed in the attitude or actions of these governmental derelicts is the most graphic proof yet of the absolute, irrecoverable failure of this political system.
So where does the fault lie? There is plenty of blame to aim at both major political parties. The Demodon’ts and the Republican’ts have both shown, time and time again, an inability to put teeth into a system of public protection. Their mantra has been “free enterprise” and “get the government off our backs.”
We all want a “leave us alone” mentality, that is, until Katrina, Wall Street rip-offs, insurance fraud, 9/11 and Gulf oil spills. Just like there are no atheists in foxholes, we turn from free enterprise capitalists to socialists when disaster strikes. But then we presume that the government can put things right because it is so big and powerful. Yeah, right! Like FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, the dysfunctional Office of Homeland Security, and the SEC regulators that let Wall Street run wild.
In the current oil spill crisis, our politicos along the Gulf Coast can’t seem to get enough face time as they pontificate over the importance of the coastal wetlands, and how the economy, culture and the future of this vast area are at stake. Yet congressional oversight panels in Washington, charged with seeing that strong environmental protections are in place, have failed to both properly monitor and establish strong regulations to limit the risk of such a catastrophic spill.
And here is the sad note. These same oversight panels include a number of Gulf Coast congressman and senators, who now are screaming for BP blood, but who for years turned a blind eye to strong regulation and readily accepted campaign contributions from BP and other national and international conglomerates these elected officials were supposed to be regulating.
We have read the numerous lurid reports about how Department of Interior employees, working in the Minerals Management service, turned the whole regulatory effort over to the oil companies in the Gulf. And all the while, these federal employees were accepting gifts, trips, and carrying on “personal relationships” with oil company executives that undermined any credible effort to fairly regulate these companies that were regularly compromising on numerous safely standards. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been quoted time and time again that he is ‘keeping his foot on BP to perform.” He needs to start using the same foot to kick out and clean house in his own backyard.
There are the environmental groups that are busy protecting us against BP’s shenanigans, right? Well, maybe not. The largest environmental group acting throughout the Gulf Coast is the Nature Conservancy. This national organization has long positioned itself as the leader of a nonconfrontational arm of the environmental movement, and raised millions of dollars annually. So who is one of its business partners? Who else but BP! As the Washington Post points out: “The Conservancy has given BP a seat on its International Leadership Council, and has accepted nearly $10 million in cash and land contributions from BP and affiliated corporations.”
So it would seem that the only recourse for public protection from BP’s antics is the federal courts. Since the damages took place in numerous gulf Coast states, the legal confrontations and demand for compensation will take place at federal courthouses with in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that includes Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Fair federal judges doing their thing to protect the public, right? Hold on there for a moment.
More than half of all federal judges in this district that will hear these spill-related lawsuits have (I kid you not) financial connections to BP and the other related oil companies involved in the rig spill disaster. Thirty seven of the 64 federal judges have a variety of financial interests in the oil industry. Many have a direct economic interest through ownership of stocks and bonds, as well as relatives who are on oil company payrolls. Others are wined and dined along with receiving full expenses for being “distinguished lecturers” at conferences regularly hosted by the oil industry. BP and other companies involved in the spill are large contributors to such conferences.
So it’s you and me baby, against the elected officials, the regulators, the environmentalists, and the judges. Driven by campaign contributions, gifts, and hush money, the system, some might say, just sucks. And like balladeer Leonard Cohen poignantly sings in his hit song, “Everybody knows:”
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers and websites throughout the South. You can read all is past columns and see continuing updates at www.jimbrownla.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am central time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.
Mr. Brown’s question is one that we all need to be concerned with. It’s unfortunate that he made no mention of the obligation of certain elected and appointed officials to insure that law and order is maintained throughout the political systems we as citizens depend on and pay for.
The citizens of Jefferson Parish have for more than 30 years been used and abused by a political climate that has elected 2 successive District Attorneys, John Mamoulides and Paul Connick, both of whom have served only themselves, their family and their cronies.
It was Mamoulides and is Connick’s sworn duty and solemn obligation to enforce the law and hold all people accountable, more particularly corrupt policians and/or appointed public officials. This is the one public office within Parish government that we the citizens depend on to address our concerns. These 2 men are primarily responsible for this rogue government, these incompetent retirement junkies, whose sense of entitlement would make Marie Antionette blush! But then again, they are them !
It would take a book, or two, to run down the list of Mamoulides’ dishonorable conduct while JP District Attorney, money from corrupted land deals and power to weil with corrupt judges who were former DAs. Apparently, he set the bar for Connick.
You want to know why these Council members, the Parish Administration and other political entities in JP conduct themselves with such a degree of contempt for the taxpayers and in a manner of boundless arrogance ? Because we have a DA whose personal law firm is receiving MILLIONS in legal fees from numerous public bodies. He is the fox in the henhouse, and it’s disgraceful and is the very core of the corruption in JP as I write. Connick’s malfeasence in his failure to enforce the law: When is he going to finally charge, try and convict Wilkinson for violation of the state election law. The documents of proof were presented to the JP Personnel Board, it’s public record, so what is he waiting for ? Then Connick proceeds to violate Parish law himself by financially supporting Debbie Villio, whom he was aware had also broken the law, evidenced not only in documents that are also filed in the public record with the Personnel Board, but a law she publically admitted she broke !
Connick’s systemic failure to uphold the duties of his office is the reason for the breakdown of law and order; this total lack of respect for the law by these public officials that has resulted in the current Federal investigation. Which begs the question: where has Jim Letton been for the last 10 years or so. And don’t tell me about a few corrupt judges who were convicted; there’s still a courthouse full of them on the 24th JDC and those promoted up to the 5th Cir. Court of Appeals! Besides the two black JP politicians, Sheppard and Bolar, what white JP legislator, Council member or appointed official has been indicted and convicted within the last 10 years ? Please, tell me I want to know; how many and who and what office or position did they hold ?
Any discussion about the Louisiana Attorney General’s office concerning itself with corruption in JP during the time of forever would be a fairytale.
So Jim, you think there’s anyone in government who can protect us from these corrupt SOBs ?
You say it’s you and me, but the only person I see at the moment is Anne Marie Vandenweghe, and she’s under seige for doing the right thing. You want to do the right thing ? or resign yourself to the resignation expressed in the Cohen song you quoted. How about reaching out, and giving her a helping hand…it’s the right thing to do.