Anyone familiar with the Pine Belt, in particular the Free State of Jones understands all Circuit Court roads lead to Judge Billy Joe Landrum as the one man band judicial district in Jones County creates a Judgeship with mucho power inherent to the office. Late last month State Auditor Stacey Pickering issued a $313,726.73 civil demand to Judge Landrum for helping himself to personal fuel, vehicles and salaries paid from the Community Services Program to employees that were not in any way affiliated with it. The Community Services Programs is funded by fines paid by convicts that is supposed to fund a diversion program that offered alternatives to jail. This should all sound familiar to you folks in St Slammany that read Slabbed.
Notably, the civil demand does not include any Billy Walker type discount and we have a family feud undercurrent as Auditor Pickering also hails from the Free State of Jones, something his press release on the Landrum demand overemphasized IMHO. Given that Judge Landrum amazingly let the local paper take his picture showing off the CSP paid equipment he was charitably storing at his house so the taxpayers would not be burdened it is no surprise that more recently the DA in the Free State of Jones decided he needed to look into the matter.
Of course Judge Landrum’s timing could not be better as two days before the civil demand was released to the public Landrum announced his intent to seek an 8th term on the Circuit Court. More recently the Judge was issuing press releases to the local media declaring that Auditor Pickering was attempting to interfere with the upcoming election writing that, “Pickering has no business making false allegations about me in an attempt to influence a Jones County judicial election.”
Looks to me from down here on the coast that Billy Joe Landrum may have served one term as Circuit Court Judge too many already. Given the length of time it took to bring former Southhaven Mayor turned perpetrator Greg Davis to trial, the saga of Billy Joe Landrum is likely to be with us for a while.
“This should all sound familiar to you folks in St Slammany that read Slabbed.”
Indeed it does. These systems promise good things, but are abused.
In some respects, this saga sounds like DMR Walkergate.
Just wondering where all the community service gets done.
Geauxjudge no show gravy train comes to a halt.
“…Judge Maggio has been relieved of his duties as circuit judge since March 24, 2014. From that time forward, Judge Maggio has nonetheless received compensation as a judge, while others have performed the functions of his office. Consequently, we deem any further suspension with pay to be inappropriate. Instead, this court concludes that immediate removal is the just and proper sanction for the judge’s conduct. Therefore, we order the removal of Judge Maggio from judicial office, effective as of the date of this opinion.
Now I understand the emails on this from this past weekend as now even our old buddy TeeVee lawyer Jonathan Turley takes up the story.
http://slabbed.org/tag/jonathan-turley/
Turley mentions Mike was a Millsaps grad – true dat. The bonus question is the name of the fraternity to which all the coast guys at Millsaps belonged. Here is a hint.
https://www.millsaps.edu/_resources/author_files/purplewhite_09-25-08_full.pdf
If you knew Bobashela like I knew Bobashela: What is the Alpha Upsilon chapter of Kappa Sigma?
I know
threefour of those pictured. Great memories and find. 🙂Alert! Alert! Alert!
Doug I hope you can get a copy of the fundraiser for Connie Rockco in Harrison County being held on Thursday, September 25 at 6 p.m. at the home of Mike and Kim Fritz in Biloxi!!!! Looks like the old gal is selling out to the highest bidder! You will find some interesting names on the list and the Payne Group.org is hosting it.
There are plenty of names there that your readers would love to know about. I’m sure they will drop her like a hot potatoe when they read the list. Here are a couple of ticklers….
Rep. Scott Delano, Jessica & Joe Cloyd, George Mulvaney, Mr. Palazzo…..just to name a few. See if you can post a copy for all to see!!!
I do too. I’ll shake the tree.
I came up empty handed on this invite last night.
Questionable characters who belong in the buzzard family mentioned in the Connie Rocco confab include also Fore, Palazzo, Bentz and Stone.
My Fellow Americans,
I think the question of the month should be: Who is being audited and why?
Currently, we have three situations that strike my eye.
The Jackson County sheriffs department is currently being investigated and a juicy audio feed is now posted on the SH as i mention this. It just so happens that the county sheriffs election is coming up and the investigation/audit has Pickerings name tagged on it.
I listened to the audio footage online and I am trying to figure out who the d-heads upstairs are. Also, I am still trying to figure out why they would choose to dispose of fuel in this fashion. Especially when it was deemed unfit to put into a motor. Why not call in professionals to remove he entire batch of fuel?
Second, as posted by Doug, we have a judge that was issued a civil demand letter. This action is also tied to Pickerings office and it just so happens the judge is running for reelection.
Third, according to intelligence from inside operators, the DMR is currently being audited in some fashion. It should be known that this has not been 100% confirmed and it is unknown who is actually conducting the audit. If my sources are factual, then I have an inclination that when the audit is complete, we should see plenty of press coverage boasting about how well the DMR has turned around due to Millers leadership. For those in the know, would any logical person doubt a successful audit after the 100’s of thousands that have been paid to Horne to fix this mess? I sure wouldn’t and if media coverage were to follow, I would consider it nothing more than a political scam.
Are entities being audited for the good of the public or to fuel political motives?
The d-heads upstairs are obviously the DA and Asst. DA.