Tag: Jefferson Parish Councilman Elton LaGasse

Even Chris Roberts most ardent political haters…….

Admit that putting up Elton LaGasse for Parish President was a savvy political move. It not only clears the way for Cynthia Lee Sheng to slide over to the vacated At Large council seat it sets up a bruising battle between LaGasse and Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni, who is also rumored to be in the race to succeed John Young as Parish President. Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson is backing LaGasse with his West Bank political base along with Roberts and his base there in Terrytown.

Meantime over at Louisiana Lite Gov this could be Nunny’s year.

All Hail Argus XXX

Councilman Elton LaGasse has it bad folks:

“This is almost a culmination of a career of being in the public eye,” Lagasse said. “How many people can sit up on a float and see thousands of people waving at you, ‘Throw me something!’”

Perhaps you guys can fill in some of those career defining moments in comments. Meantime Slabbed has obtained exclusive footage from the dress rehearsal of the King Argus XXX toast at the JP reviewing stand. Continue reading “All Hail Argus XXX”

News schizophrenia on the Jeff Parish Hospital Beat while the reasons for Chris Robert’s SBA default come into sharper focus

I’ve sat back and watched the spectacular disaster that is the Jefferson Parish hospital privatization effort unfold as told by the beat gang at both the NOLA.com and the Advocate and I certainly came away wanting more information and even more important perspective. Call me a harsh critic folks but I’m not feeling it from the beat as it appears on this issue the newspapers have become mere mouthpieces for the politicians.

The history of the process and the attempts of Chris Roberts, Elton LaGasse and Ricky Templet to derail it are too numerous to mention in the limited time I have this morning. There the newspapers have done a decent job following the gyrations albeit sans any useful analysis but there are a couple of examples of reporting where I read the news and came away thinking, “Myers sure had someone blowing mega smoke up his ass” or “Quinlan is giving Roberts another redo”.  I know they are better than the slop being served but it is what it is. First up from the smoke up Ben’s ass files I have this from January:

Jefferson hospital lease process started with ‘one parish,’ wound up with division ~ Ben Myers

In this piece the Parish council is thoroughly infantilized by Myers, who pinned the blame that day for the disaster on the Hospital Boards and the consultant hired by the Parish. The fix for Children’s Hospital had been in for way longer than last September. In fact astute political observers who speak to Slabbed on the condition of anonymity indicate Children’s Continue reading “News schizophrenia on the Jeff Parish Hospital Beat while the reasons for Chris Robert’s SBA default come into sharper focus”

Tuesday Miscellany

I have lots of irons in the fire but today is my best opportunity to post some new content. Here are some links of interest:

‘Enemy for life’: Mayor Mitch Landrieu accused of steamrolling those who disagree with him ~ Tyler Bridges

I heard about this article before it was written and one of the examples I was cited was not mentioned by name in Tyler Bridge’s piece. In it is the reason I think Michael Bagneris is running against Landrieu for Mayor and as such there is a kernel of truth in the criticisms.  I found it very interesting that Bagneris even bagged a campaign contribution from Lakeshore, Mississippi, one of the unlikeliest of places one would expect an out of state democrat candidate for Mayor of NOLA to receive campaign ca$h.

Meantime I believe Slabbed was the first website to disclose the GOP was backing Bagneris so excuse me while I take a victory lap and blow raspberries at AROD.  😉

Next up from the consider it a well deserved compliment files:

A quip on Twitter lands me a public audience with Louisiana’s coastal chief, but it could have been worse ~ Mark Moseley

Graves is still full of it on Bermdoggle.

I saw the Richard Sherman interview with Erin Andrews after the NFC Championship game and thought Andrews was in over her head.  Even at its lowest levels, football is all about competition at its most Darwinian.  You gotta have a mean streak and the right attitude to excel at it and the cornerback everyone now loves to hate has it all in spades plus some.

Thus when you make the play that put your team in the Super Bowl and do it against the guy from the other team that has been trading trash with you all week, emotions would naturally be running very high.  You’d think since Erin Andrews has covered the sport for years she’d been more prepared for Sherman’s outburst.  Even better is this nugget from Sherman’s college days at Stanford:

Richard Sherman’s Email To His Stanford Dorm Is Priceless ~ Tom Ley Continue reading “Tuesday Miscellany”

The reasons Jefferson Parish voters were stripped of the right to vote come into sharper focus…..

Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead:

Jefferson Parish Council Chairman Chris Roberts says it’s time to vote on hospital lease ~ Ben Myers

The cost of cronyism on display in Jefferson Parish Hospital debate

Our Views: Curb politics on hospitals deal ~ New Orleans Advocate Editorial Board

And “the cost of cronyism” part:

West Jefferson Medical Center chairman explains Children’s preference ~ Ben Myers

HCA is offering Jefferson Parish more money for the lease, $538 million compared to Children’s $406 million, and HCA would pay a estimated $183 million in property taxes where Children’s would pay no taxes.

While I do the math let’s enjoy a lovely video:

And the answer is….. Continue reading “The cost of cronyism on display in Jefferson Parish Hospital debate”

General Hospital: The self serving bullshit in Jefferson Parish is getting deep.

West Jefferson Medical Center Chairman Chip Cahill evidently does not believe in classic American capitalism if we are to take the man at his word:

Jefferson Parish hospital boards philosophically opposed in lease deal ~ Ben Myers

Crony capitalism is another story lest we forget disgraced former Jefferson Parish Attorney turned self admitted felon Tom Wilkinson’s sister Nancy Cassagne got the top management job at West Jeff despite not possessing the qualifications for the low-mid 6 figure position. It should come as no surprise that Cahill would cite Children’s Hospital susceptibility to political persuasion as the reason he favors Children’s over HCA despite the fact HCA is offering the taxpayers a better deal financially.

The deal Elton LaGasse cut to support Children’s over HCA is what needs examination here folks.  Follow the money to the insiders enriching themselves at the expense of the public and the answer becomes clear. Stay tuned.

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”

BFF Forever: Whitmer sentencing letters give color to infamous JPAC Change Order 5

Other letters were written by Whitmer’s wife, their two daughters and the fiance of one daughter; his brother, Charles Whitmer, former deputy police chief in Gretna, and Charles Whitmer’s wife; Henry Trapani, the parish’s retired citizens services director; D.J. Mumphrey Jr., an executive assistant to Coulon; Feleciano “Junior” Mendoza, who was Jefferson Parish human resources director as well as Whitmer’s middle-school principal; Angela Pacaccio Darvin, who worked 30 years in the parish president’s office; Jimmy Frickey, who is married to a former subordinate of Whitmer; Randy Cousin, a longtime friend who runs an industrial supply company where Whitmer has worked the past 2½ years; Sarah Gibson, a friend; the architect Billy Sizeler; and tourism businessman Warren Reuther Jr.

Drew Broach did an excellent job detailing Tim Whitmer’s “firehouse” friends late last month, some of whom share common roots in the Jefferson Parish political cesspool. No doubt everyone noted that I emphasized Sarah Gibson and her letter above, whom Broach described as a Whitmer friend. True dat because she obviously is per her own words.  But Mrs Gibson’s letter is cleverly wordsmithed, for lack of a better term or perhaps “written to the inside”, a term folks like my internet BFF Russell over Reflexiones Finales has applied to Slabbed. Let’s start with her letter to Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon:

Gibson Letter USA v Whitmer Doc 35

So Sarah’s husband is very close to Tim Whitmer being the Godfather to Tim’s eldest daughter. Sarah’s husband is Jefferson Parish Parks and Recreation Director Clinton “C.J.” Gibson, who according to Parish salary records draws a $124,000 plus annual salary.  Parks and Recreation is also the cesspool from whence Tim Whitmer came so I guess it was only natural that when Parish Engineering Department refused to pay double what they thought was the proper amount for Change Order #5, he turned to his old friend C.J. Gibson in Parks and Recreation to handle the financial aspects of these specious transactions.  A step further, turning the financial aspects of a major construction project over to the people running the playground is nonsensical and the fact the employees whose normal job duties refused to have anything to do with a transaction that was essentially doubled tells the whole tale and it stinks worse than  a roadkill skunk in the July Pineville Louisiana summer heat. I highlighted the salient part of page 23 of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s compliance audit on the center, the entirety of which can be found clicking here: Continue reading “BFF Forever: Whitmer sentencing letters give color to infamous JPAC Change Order 5”