Slabbed puts the cherry on top: Broussard, Senator John Alario and his stake in the River Birch Landfill

The landfill fix was in from way far back folks, and in going through the last massive PDF file I snagged last Fall on the terrible reign of corruption and filth that was the administration of former Parish President Aaron Broussard, I forgot the true extent of the historical goodies that I nabbed.

To catch everyone up back in February, 2010 I was like a kid in a candy store finding River Birch Inc. v Robin & Associates, Inc et al and this post provides vital background into how the River Birch Landfill gained the clout it carries today with the state and local political establishments.  It was not a cheap or voluntary endeavor by any means.

Senator Alario was then a democrat and the state GOP took advantage of the Robin lawsuit and ran campaign ads against him. What I found in Aaron Broussard’s Parish Prez files is thus highly enlightening.  Let’s start at the end:

Broussard Alario mailer Cap 1

This is considered official business in the Broussard administration and there was no separation between Aaron Broussard the politician, Aaron Broussard Inc and Aaron Broussard Parish Prez. Notice who signed DA Paul Connick’s check? I sure did:

Broussard Alario mailer Cap 2

Gegenheimer signs his own checks anyway. Continue reading “Slabbed puts the cherry on top: Broussard, Senator John Alario and his stake in the River Birch Landfill”

RICO Part 1: The beginnings of a comprehensive timeline, from a Slabbed contributor

I recently introduced the contributor here. I’ll further generally describe this contributor as a former (pre Katrina) mid level employee of one of the various local governments in the metro New Orleans area that is now a private citizen. In other words way outta the game that unfolds before us today. This person, with the help of reporting by the Times Picayune, Slabbed, American Zombie etc has put together the beginnings of a timeline of the corruption scandal that I now share with you today.

There is one thing I must point out first though because there is a date that belongs on this timeline that is omitted because I’ve not yet shared it before today. What I mean by shared is I have not shared it in context so we must refer back to the following post I did on a Times Picayune story written by Manuel Torres way back in the day: Land swap to give landfill longer life – Council expected to approve proposal. IMHO NOLA needs to reactivate their link to that piece and all the related reporting as Slabbed has learned certain Public Records Requests are being denied on this very topic as it is evidently the subject of the ongoing Federal Grand Jury Investigation into Fred Heebe. Drum roll please as we roll out the players at that point in time:

  • Tim Coulon, Parish Prez
  • Aaron Broussard, Parish Council  chairman
  • T.J. “Butch” Ward, Parish Councilman and brother to Albert “Jim” Ward, Fred Heebe’s stepdad.
  • Donald Jones, Parish Councilman
  • Tom Wilkinson, Parish Attorney
  • Tim Whitmer, CAO

With that laid out and without further adieu following are 8 pages of a timeline that begins with the Dutchie Connick memo: Continue reading “RICO Part 1: The beginnings of a comprehensive timeline, from a Slabbed contributor”