Tag: Jefferson Parish School Board Member Michael Delesdernier

For those of you that have not met him yet I present Michael Delesdernier

Amongst the stable of politicians that represent the gift that keeps on giving to the media, Jefferson Parish School Board Member Michael Delesdernier certainly ranks as one of the most accomplished.

Jefferson School Board member seeks restraining order ~ Jeff Adelson

This blast from the past remains one of my personal favorites:

Jefferson Parish School Board member Michael Delesdernier flunking grading, grammar and tact ~ James Gill

Of course Delesdernier has some company at both the School Board and our gift giving stable of politicians in Pat Tovrea.

Le diable envoy

Jefferson Parish judge finds JEDCO emails are public documents ~ Paul Purpura

Several of my peeps, very well placed in the JEDCO community, are urging me to send a PRR on the Henry Shane-Lucien Gunter email flap for Slabbed New Media. I also happen to know a public records expert or two….maybe even three. With that in mind I and others are wondering what makes Judge Ansardi’s decision in Shane v Parish of Jefferson a “first of its kind” ruling.  My understanding is there is a ruling out of the LA 1st Circuit directly on point. First of its kind in the 24th JDC/LA 5th Circuit maybe, but the jurisprudence is there. I wish Paul had elaborated more on that as I have a heightened curiosity on this general topic.

With that said and now that certain redactions are in order per Judge Ansardi, I’ll share that the most vexing thing in my expansive PRR on the bad old days during the Goatherderian reign of terror last year was this exact issue.  Ken Krobert at the Parish Attorney’s office and I would politely agree to disagree and move along but I was well aware that certain redactions were going to be applied to the documents.

In fact this is what made this whole Henry Shane – Lucien Gunter email thing smell to me was the fact that Team Foshee has absolutely no problem telling Slabbed no on this issue.  In fact I submit they have every incentive to do just that as being seen cuddled up too closely with Slabbed would be frowned upon by the 5AM Potty Krewe on the Parish Council.  The fact I got my docs, with certain redactions, proves the Parish Attorney is committed to following the law which is why the gang on 7 greenlit those emails between Gunter and Shane to begin with.  I hope the taxpayers can recover the costs of defending these frivolous suits from Team Shane.

So a fair read of the Judge’s decision would mean that if Shane said in emails that certain potential candidates were eliminated from consideration due to race, color and/or creed those names would all be fair game. Or is his ruling confined to declared candidates?  The devil is in those details.  I know this folks, this is how the public ended up with Pat Tovrea on the School Board.

Conducting the peoples business in the shadows: JEDCO case illustrates how business is conducted in Jefferson Parish

That’s right folks, in proverbial smoke filled rooms paid for by the taxpayers but for which serve the self interest of the politically connected. I mention this because Paul Purpura has the skinny on Judge Glenn Ansardi blowing a bunch of smoke about whether private citizens using public accommodation such as email servers to conduct private and potentially illegal activities is somehow exempt from the Louisiana Public Records Statute. It is the biggest bunch of BS I’ve heard in quite some time outta the Gretna Courthouse, now nationally infamous in the aftermath of Operation Wrinkled Robe and the Impeachment of Tom Porteous as one of the worst cesspools of corruption in the country.

Worth noting is Fred Heebe’s legal team is representing Henry Shane trying to keep these specious communications secret, while simultaneously suing multiple people associated with the Heebe prosecution  for defamation just one Parish over.  What the public will find are that the two most abusive Jefferson Parish School Board members, Pat Tovrea and Michael Delesdernier are Henry Shane tools who used JEDCO to push their campaigns for office according to sources speaking with Slabbed on the condition of anonymity.

Not mentioned by Paul is the fact that some of those 9000 apartments and at least one Shane condominium are here on the coast so if he is buying politicians in Louisiana it is a safe bet he’ll export the model here as well.  It should be lost on no one that when these self interested misers are done screwing up their communities in Louisiana they inevitably end up over here on the coast because no one wants to live in the cesspool, not even the ones that created and financially benefited from it.

Now Paul did something I was asked not to do several months ago and he threw a nice hat tip to the gang up on 7 at the Yenni Building so I sense opportunity:

Broach initially sought the e-mails from JEDCO. After JEDCO declined, Broach sought them through the parish and filed a public records request with the parish attorney’s office. Assistant Parish Attorney Kenneth Krobert concluded the e-mails were releasable but gave anyone else with interest time to object. That’s when Shane intervened.

I’ll add Ken is one heckuva nice guy and a consummate professional possessive of a temperament well matched to the trade. He is a Kenner guy made good that is well respected by the Slabbed legal team and this despite the fact he came from an insurance defense firm. He was kind enough to share some of those older experiences with me which was nice as Slabbed’s initial focus was the post Katrina policyholder court battles with insurance companies.  In return the gang got to see life through the eyes of a new media guy on a mission. Continue reading “Conducting the peoples business in the shadows: JEDCO case illustrates how business is conducted in Jefferson Parish”

My God Man! JEDCO is like shooting fish in a barrel and this is the best you can come up with?

I got a bat signal from my all things JEDCO source, who was amused that Lee Zurik went after ye ol’ TBL and former executive director Lucien Gunter stiffing the taxpayers for a few drinks. The big story is in the emails Metairie based developer Henry Shane is trying to cover up what sources describe as JEDCO engaging in partisan political activity with respect to the last set of Jefferson Parish School Board elections. This would be illegal/prohibited on two different levels.

I’m told Shane’s relationship with Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Cynthia Lee Sheng and the comprehensive ordinance on Fat City business zoning is also very fertile ground for exploration.

Lee better be careful because he is tip toeing awfully close to station owner Tom Benson’s social network.

Speaking of Tom Benson I am hearing tales of Benson’s Superbowl party at City Park a couple of weeks back that involve our own Magnum.  Tighten up dude.

Do internet search strings give blog moderators a backdoor peek at public opinion?

I’ve tangentially touched on this topic before when I highlighted Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely and his analysis of the Google auto complete feature to illustrate gender bias way back in January, 2010.  Occasionally I get a backdoor peek into what brings the internet searching public to Slabbed and it is laugh out loud funny. Search engines are a reflection of what the community is thinking and with the Jefferson Parish School Board squandering scare taxpayer money investigating one of its own members that was critical of a central office employee, I reckon the following Slabbed dashboard screen capture tells the tale of a fed up public:
Continue reading “Do internet search strings give blog moderators a backdoor peek at public opinion?”

Jefferson Parish News Miscellany: Gill on Mann, nonPerforming Arts Center, Bickering School Board, Whitmer gets sentencing reprieve, Judge Ansardi has a stroke, Parish Council Meeting on Tap

Here you go folks, all the Jefferson Parish news you can stand courtesy of the NOLA Media Group:

Pundit (Sir) James Gill tackles the Fred Heebe v Jan Mann defamation suit in his periodic online column for the Times Picayune. Jack and Jesse are sure to be unhappy.

Drew Broach previews today’s Parish Council meeting and with JPAC on tap it is sure to be a good one.

Speaking of the (non)Performing Arts Center boondoggle, Drew checked in yesterday with a story about Councilman Chris Roberts saying state taxpayers should sink no more money into that money pit in favor of dumping the cost on the local taxpayers.  The commenters to Drew’s story seem to universally favor setting some dynamite, blowing the partially completed building up thus cutting taxpayer losses, which will total several million dollars more to complete this boondoggle.  To the extent Robert’s own council aid Deano Bonano played a large role in creating the JPAC disaster we should all view Roberts’ pronouncements on the matter with great dubiety.  I can say with certainty that I have lots of JPAC documents and the people associated with the Jefferson Performing Arts Society are first class pests that are also the bane of the taxpayers both locally and statewide.

From the what else is new front the Jefferson Parish School Board is bickering again though this time with an Alice in Wonderland like theme as board member Michael Delesdernier threatened to have board member Floyd investigated after he insulted the district’s CFO. Sarah Tan scored the following Delesdernier quote that I thought priceless as the man is a complete jackass:

“I’m really not interested in doing it as much as I’m interested in keeping him from attacking our people,” Delesdernier said. “Whatever works. I really feel my job is to protect the people in our system that are doing their jobs.”

No word yet on whether Delesdernier ever apologized to the parent he termed “an arrogant POS”. I must admit I love the playful side of Jefferson Parish voters that elect people filling the role of village idiot to office.

Drew Broach checked in with a short dispatch yesterday about Tim Whitmer’s sentencing being postponed so he can continue his squealathon with the Department of Justice as well as sell insurance. Evidently in Louisiana it is OK for convicted felons to sell insurance while they await their sentencing.

Finally Judge Glenn Ansardi has suffered a stroke according to this Paul Purpura report on the subject.