Alternative New Media for the Gulf South
But first some lovely dance music:
D’Iberville agrees to sell Ocean Expo land in whale of a deal ~ Mary Perez
And Mary invokes Rube Goldberg which in turn got my radar up – well that and the fact the buyer of the old Ocean Expo land is the company that sold it to the City to begin with: Continue reading “Flip this property back and forth: D’Iberville does another real estate deal (get ready to grab yer ankles)”
First the mystery:
If Gouras did not nab the grant and Maxwell-Walker did not nab the grant who in the heck helped the City of D’Iberville get that DEQ grant? Seems to me that $3,000,000 DEQ grants to build aquariums do not grow on trees here in Mississippi. Given Anita’s quotes from Team Walker, who attended the hearing, I imagine their spidey senses were tingling too, especially since Janus gave a qualified admission of guilt that required some clarification for Judge Starrett. Janus knoweth not what anyone from the DEQ or Gov’s office would say about that matter and he was right to clarify his admissions, as laid out in the factual basis of the Janus plea, which hopefully will hit PACER soon.
I just had a conversation with a source that I will describe as not a politician or member of the investigative community but who possesses specialized knowledge of the operations of the Barbour Administration. Biloxi Blues has come very close to nailing it in comments twice now:
Let’s tell the story as it was told to me. First up is a link I put out this morning on Twitter from the Sun Herald’s Mary Perez circa January 26, 2013:
Janus said he had written three letters to Gov. Haley Barbour’s office in an attempt to get funding, with no success……
I did not include the whopper Janus told immediately after the quote but now I understand exactly how the Government is planning to crush the Walkers, specifically Scott on the DEQ grant charges he now faces alone. My source indicate to me that Janus in fact tried much harder than writing three letters and in one instance the lobbying between he and a Continue reading “Who dunnit ? Let’s solve the DEQ / BP City of D’Iberville Ocean Expo grant mystery (Updated)”
If memory serves Michael Janus and our fluffer Congressman are lifelong associates:
Michael Janus, a man who Congressman Steven Palazzo described as a “close friend of my family for years” was formally named Palazzo’s chief of staff on Thursday.
The families that politic together thieve together as well:
‘Oversights’ disclosed in $3M BP grant ~ Mary Perez
“The six council members knew nothing of the agreement until after the grant was received,” said city attorney W. Fred Hornsby III. The council could have chosen not to pay Maxwell-Walker, he said, but agreed to give the firm the standard 6 percent finder’s fee of $180,000 for the grant.
The payment to Maxwell-Walker was not discussed in an open council meeting, only in executive session, Janus said.
Rather than putting a resolution for payment on the budget, it was added to the Dec. 20, 2011, docket of claims with the city’s other bills.
And then there are the obvious conflicts of interest. D’Iberville Mayor Quave works at DMR and is paying his former boss’ son. Janus, the City Manager is in business with Scott Walker via JaWa Investments LLC, a name I thought funny considering the jabberwalk BS involved in terming all this a mere “oversight”. Continue reading “Yes Virginia, these new age Coastie politicians are rotten to the core.”
OK folks excuse me while I take a few victory laps for my prediction about Walker having pictures on everyone.
Well, I took the lap but I’m not the champ, actually we have co-champs in Michael Newsom, Karen Nelson and Anita Lee at the Sun Herald because today they dare to ask the question, “Exactly how much does it take to co-opt a Mississippi State Legislator?”. The answer is not much beyond taking ’em on a few fishin’ trips on those boats Walker owns via his “nonprofit” or charters that the taxpayers paid for and this is both pathetic and sadly predictable.
DMR charters fishing trips in South Mississippi for lawmakers, others ~ Michael Newsom
And yes we have pictures as the boats have/had Facebook pages. It gets better folks as the we also learn the Friends and Family Program at DMR also included an employment agency component for all the little politically connected piggies in West Jackson/East Harrison Counties including Joe Ziegler and his wifey Connie Ziegler, Tina Shumates family, Scott Walker’s wifey Trinity etc etc etc. Heck folks don’t take my word for it:
Connections: Neighbors, relatives and politicians land DMR jobs in South Mississippi ~ Karen Nelson and Anita Lee Continue reading “DMR Scandal day 59: Like I said Billy Walker has pictures on ’em”