Mississippi assistant attorney general’s sons benefitted from grant he applied for at DMR ~ Paul Hampton
And in story comments and in periodic emails I’ve been hearing terms like mass protest, naked protests and about any other form of protest there is. All I can say is it has been a while since I have covered mass acts of a mob of angry citizens but I’m game if you guys are as the reasons for Jim Hood turning a blind eye to improprieties in the Coastal Impact Assistance Program come into much sharper focus.
Now we know why they have not said as much as a peep about wrong doing at the DMR. Bill Walker had them on the payroll.
It is a shame what the taxpayers put out in dollars to attorneys to public boards to keep them legal, and
what do we get? A bunch of “lawyers” who spend their time on the public dole figuring out ways to profit
themselves and their friends. Go read the conflict of interest laws. It says very clearly that no public servant–
hired, elected, appointed, etc. is to use the power of his office or any information gathered from to profit
himself, family members or (and read this slowly) “ANY OTHER PERSON” If we can intepret the law, why
can’t these well paid (by us) so called legal counsels? Slurping at the trough!
My Fellow Americans,
Pimped like a Mutha F……..
Although this action really does not surprise me at all but something else caught my “eye” within the story. It stated that the DMR director was in process of developing policies regarding conflicts of interest that go beyond the state law. Ok, this is certainly nice but let’s remember that this is the same critter who had influences with Frontier and slipped Melissa Scallan through the back door. With that said, I would not put a whole lot of faith in anything he drafts for policy because it may really only apply to certain people who are members of “outside crowd”
In my opinion, all the blankets need to be stripped from the bed so further investigations can reveal any wrong doings if they still exist. You never know, we could find a few “devils between the sheets” if examined closely.
Oh, believe me, there are plenty more there that need to be cleaned out…they saved some. I wonder how much longer the poor legitimate employees there can stand this? It has to be hard on them. After all, the public are calling everyone at the DMR a bad apple. And it has to be hard for the good workers that have been there before this all began.
Not surprised at all about this. But looking on the transparency site for the state, it would appear that the fisheries director Dale Diaz has had some family as well receive some of these contracts. Can anyone confirm they are related?
Oh yes his son worked on contract like I said not what you know who you know. For years my son waited on a marine patrol position he is a decorated army veteran has been to Bosnia Iraq two times when an opening was announced he went through the process of applying I never once talked for him or put in a word for him who did the position go to? Patrick Carron his mom is purchasing chief in the business office and spends hours a day having what they refer to as “coffee church” up in marine patrol but don’t take my word for it just ask anybody there.
Very interesting find. I have mentioned before that I believe more investigation is probably warranted. This goes for any funding or business dealings with grants, CIAP, GOMA, the foundation and contracts.
Doing some digging on the internet tonight and………………….
Speaking of George Malvaney on other posts, there have been previous postings on Slabbed regarding his involvement with the DMR and BP cleanup. IE “DMR Day 80”
There were specific comments regarding his connection to the BP oil spill clean up and a connection to Trudy Fisher. Trudy, who is also connected to Bill Walker as seen here:
http://www.deq.state.ms.us/Mdeq.nsf/pdf/Main_Vol7Issue5MDEQNewsletter/$File/Vol.%207%20Issue%205.pdf?OpenElement
Trudy Fisher, is also affiliated with GOMA and MDEQ is a partner listed with CIAP projects along with the DMR’s Rhonda Price who is involved with not only GOMA but perhaps CIAP or at least worked in that office. All three names can be seen here:
http://www.gulfofmexicoalliance.org/pdfs/newsletters/Newsletter_1st_Quarter_2012.pdf
The relation of these three could be nothing but it seems kind of fishy.
This Malvaney guy is (was) joined at the hip with Bill Walker and Trudy Fisher. He also wants Lynn Fitch to be the next Lt. Governor I would be willing to bet because his group does not get along with Tater Reeves. Watch this evolve as I predict. If he wants her to use” the South will rise again” as her campaign slogan it will not help her. He is trying to hold his place in line for the next round of trough feeding but it is getting harder because of what is going on. This Culture of Corruption is spreading and could the DEQ be next. This could send Trudy Fisher back to that big law firm . Then the trough feeders will all be different people or will they?
Follow the money from the DEQ to the DMR and go to the minutes of the DEQ meetings and see how many times USES comes up. Also look at donations to political races around the state and see how much Malvaney has given. While it may all be perfectly legal this person has injected himself into state affairs in a very big way. Could be the most successful rehabilitation of a man with a history of being a professed member of the KKK to a big time money bundling king maker. You got to give him credit for moving and shaking around the Republican politicians. Just look at his picture in the gallery posted with Lynn Fitch who wants to be Lt. Governor next. I bet he would love to photo shop Bill Walker out of that Kodak moment !!!!
Its my understanding that some marine patrol higher ups took a leave of absence and were involved with the vessels of opportunity. A new boat was purchased and then sold to the DMR through Tina Shumate after the money had been made. Are you knowledgeable about this Janet? I’ve only heard bits and pieces through the rumor mill so I don’t know how much is accurate, if any.
I know for a fact that Scott Walker brought some boats from Louisiana and got the working thru his connections with a certain person at USES. This had a lot of locals made who could not get their boats considered If you will recall some of the local people were interviewed on WLOX TV. Sometime after that they found out why they were being shut out. The collusion between Scott Walker, the DMR and a certain person at USES was at the heart of this rotten process. I too have heard that certain connected people in the DMR Marine Patrol were allowed to V of O program but had to share the proceeds with others. Guess who got a cut? Again the locals sat onshore while the out of state people with the right consultant made the money. This needs to be part of any prosecution
Brace Yourselves 😉
There is a new article regarding the DMR in today’s paper:
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/26/4826669/pr-professional-volunteers-to.html
That is an interesting story at the Sun Herald. PR professional volunteers to help DMR. Free help? No, make that free professional help. For a government agency? Fortunately some PR professionals are more closely connected than others. Apparently Jamie got a direct follow up question about that smell from the reporter.
He said he didn’t see a conflict of interest in an employee of Mississippi Power, which might have to apply for DMR permits, volunteering at DMR. “This is Cindy’s personal time,” he said. “We rely on volunteers to do a lot of work … and helping out with fishing rodeos and other things.”
Should have put out a call for volunteer auditors and investigators. In terms of cleanups there is a big job, and apparently not enough state help to keep the job from getting out of control.
Speaking of Mississippi Power, their management and PR efforts are almost as excellent as DMR’s. Leading by example is one of those phrases consultants use.
As to the cost overruns, he candidly admits his estimators vastly missed what the price tag would be on some aspects of the Kemper plant.
“Where we missed it, and where many plants of this type, first of the kind technology miss it, is in the piping, the wiring, those kinds of things. And we missed dramatically on the labor,” Holland said. MS Power CEO defends controversial Kemper County plan
If one read the part about Miller’s comments about the “volunteer” PR help for the DMR and then read something like the following, then you might feel relieved. Just like Feel Bryant probably phils now that Southern Company has set the hook on the job at DMR.
Holland also conceded that major damage was done to the power company’s relationship with its regulator, the Mississippi Public Service Commission. That has to do with information that was not released to the PSC at the time it was requested. In fairness to Ed Holland, that happened when Ed Day was still CEO.
Holland ended the interview by telling us that his company is working very hard to rebuild that relationship.
Holland said that this week.
See? There is nothing to see. Free. Really. Friends and Family(tm). Volunteer. “Personal time”. Ginsu knife. “Fishing rodeos”. Free birthday charters. FREE!!!.
Haley Barbour’s (and his son’s) utility lobbying for Southern Company, (the parent company of Mississippi Power) wouldn’t add anything to this analysis.
Not to mention that before Jamie Miller was hired for post Hurricane Walker recovery at the DMR, he was hired in 2006 for the Governor
I thought Frontier had this covered.
Oh I bet Frontiers not the only one that has this covered. ;-()
I have a feeling that was the original plan but it may have backfired due to the public image of Frontier when they landed the communications portion of the evaluation or CONsultation….or whatever you want to call it.
I hope to see another separate story headline on Slabbed regarding this issue. The operators have the helicopters fully loaded with hell fire missiles.
How about tomorrow? I’m taking it easy for the rest of today.
That sounds good. The operators have been doing alot of hard work and I am quite sure they can use a days rest. 😉
RIP JJ Cale. Passed yesterday.
Some of what I have been listening to today. Some favorites. A little bit of everything. JJ:
J J CALE After Midnight 1971 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IZ9feKpJkk
JJ Cale and Leon Russel – Going Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-euFpRLMg“
J.J. Cale – Durango (rare) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G_msX9iHwg
J.J. Cale. – – – ” High School ” ( Instrumental ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7NMji6fITo
Some covers.
Same Old Blues – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D836o2rIGqA
Lynyrd Skynyrd-Call Me The Breeze-1976 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIqEq9OFxE&list=PL3D225C3BBB1F95E5&index=5