Tag: Ashton Phelps Jr.

How many convicted felons did Ashton Phelps endorse as publisher of the Times Picayune? A peeksie at why he had to be packaged out.

Here you go folks, the reason former Times Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps had to be canned is ironically contained in the editorial that heaped praise on his tenure there as publisher:

For more than 32 years, Publisher Ashton Phelps Jr. has been listed at the top of The Times-Picayune masthead on the editorial page. Newspaper editorials are written by a team, but Mr. Phelps has been ultimately responsible for our opinions. He has set a high standard, pushing for honesty and integrity in government and demanding the best for the community he loves.

Perhaps the reason Ricky Mathews has kept a low profile was that Ashton Phelps was still around, evidently unseen. I can’t wait to hear the next anti Mathews tirade from Errol and the noisemakers.

File this one under they were ignorant until the very end…. (revised)

First the disclaimer. Attorney Bobby Truitt represents Slabbed in its free speech fight against Aaron Broussard’s former business associates at Trout Point Lodge. Second I contacted Mr. Truitt for comment on the following documents, which my Gabby cousin Slabb O’Leak laid on me yesterday and he declined.

So folks to understand the significance of these documents and my post title above you have to understand Slabbed’s coverage of the political corruption scandal in Jefferson Parish, which began with this post back on January 12, 2010.  By then Aaron Broussard had resigned in disgrace and Steve Theriot was installed via the bums rush by the Parish Council as Broussard’s interim replacement.  I contended then and still contend Theriot was put in office to salvage the River Birch deal due to the fact he is John Alario’s protegé and Alario likely still has a financial interest in seeing River Birch end up with the monopoly on the region’s garbage. Theriot was also installed to prevent the corruption scandal from widening thus Tom Wilkinson was still on the payroll until March 4th, 2010.

The way Theriot went about containing the scandal was to attempt to silence those that were blowing the whistle on the systemic corruption and his battle trying to fire Anne Marie Vandenweghe played out on these pages.  For a blogger like me the material was pure ratings gold and that is where the ignorant came in because the popular meme in certain less informed Jefferson Parish corruption circles is that I was “Anne Marie’s brother”.  Sal Perricone parroted this remark on NOLA.com some time later and Slabbed will be revisiting Perricone, who was fired from his job hastily retired from his job at the US Attorney’s office after strong evidence of unethical conduct as it related to another target of the sprawling federal corruption probe surfaced.  When I say this is a cesspool in Jefferson Parish I’m not joking folks.

So what happened after Tom Wilkinson bit the dust at the upper levels of Parish Government?  By that time Theriot had sent Anne Marie home claiming she was blogging while she was supposed to be working, a public allegation Theriot never sustained as it was pure fantasy.  He was workin’ it though: Continue reading “File this one under they were ignorant until the very end…. (revised)”

Oh SI can you see? Part 1.1: If you have a meeting they will come, especially if there is food

Did I say yesterday Ashton Phelps wasn’t getting it done at the T-P? Have I previously opined that I thought the T-P was too close to the subject matter of their reporting? The problem I submit is not with the reporters but I’ve said that before too, along with opining that the job of a newspaper publisher was that of a professional ass-kisser. Need some proof? Well then you’ve come to the right place.

Before the noisemakers make more noise perhaps we should all consider what we’ve truly lost because losing the inbred influence of the Boston Club at the Times Picayune is likely not a bad thing. And the news sources that wondered why they were no longer being listened to by the beat journalists around that time should wonder no more.

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Blood in the water Monday: Since someone has to defend Ricky Mathews…..

Actually folks I’m not going to defend Mathews, the heel de jour in New Orleans.  I will say I’ve been looking at this whole Times Picayune make over “professionally”, that is as a practicing CPA and yes even the Newhouse accountants have been raked over the coals since the announcement of big changes at the T-P in late May.

I do not have time to write the post this subject deserves, at least today, but I would like to point out a couple of things I’ve seen in the news coverage that interested me.

First is Ashton Phelps falling on his sword rather than make the changes Steve Newhouse required.  This is the way things are done in the business world when you lose faith in the plan.  The Phelps’ family has been part of the cultural landscape in the city for a long time and to the extent street talk had the papers editorials being written at the Boston Club, if you want to understand the cesspool that is the City of New Orleans you must understand the Boston Club, the third oldest social club in the entire country.  To the extent I’ve been able to divine the job of a newspaper publisher is to kiss ass and make nice with the rich, powerful and famous, places like the Boston Club would be a natural for people like Phelps and Clancy DuBos. Speaking of DuBos has anyone else noticed he has been bashing Mathews on a fairly regular basis?  Not quite Slabbed style but close.

There are several theories about why DuBos harbors such a distaste for Ricky Mathews. Continue reading “Blood in the water Monday: Since someone has to defend Ricky Mathews…..”