I think it is called the conprofit shuffle folks. Tom nailed it here while Slabbed broke the story here. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Non-Compliance list can be found here. (H/T JEDCO Deepthroat)
Tag: Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Jefferson Parish Community Development Director Anatola Thompson resigns (UPDATED)
And folks my sources are telling me she is not leaving the Parish under blue sky conditions. In fact the betting money is on….
All eyes on officialdom next week. I know more but that is all I can say about this topic for now. (h/t Anonymous)
Here are a few recent and not so recent links:
Free mortgage aid attracts hundreds to Jefferson Parish government office ~ Drew Broach
Jefferson Parish finalizes plan for $16.5 million federal disaster grant ~ Ben Myers
Jefferson Parish Community Development ~ Official Jefferson Parish website (Note the news on Ms Thompson’s departure is so fresh Ms Thompson is still listed as employed by the Parish.)
Update – September 28, 2013
The crickets are chirping folks as news has leaked out from the deepest recesses of Jefferson Parish Government so this morning I share more information that came to me via anonymous bat signal.
First thing all eyes need to be on the Legislative Auditor’s website because there is a report rumored to be released that is evidently damning towards Ms Thompson. In looking for clues as to what may be coming we need to check in with Hammerman: Continue reading “Jefferson Parish Community Development Director Anatola Thompson resigns (UPDATED)”
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:
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”
Is TeeVee News responsible for the dumbing down of America? Slabbed calls BS on Channel 4 and their bogus SNAP performance audit reporting
I watched this morning’s Toolman Interview segment on the WWL morning news with Chick Foret and Sally Ann and openly wondered if TeeVee News is the media format that is most responsible for the dumbing down of America. Yes, Channel 4 is famous for putting spectacularly hot women on the air in a tasteful, non-Faux News like manner but are the viewers actually getting any useful information outside the Traffic and Weather segments? After watching this morning’s 5 minute plus segment on the recent Louisiana Legislative Auditor Performance Audit of the SNAP Program, formerly known as Food Stamps the answer is no. To get a flavor of the inaccurate, sensational journalism being trumpeted by Eric Paulsen and Chick Foret let’s visit with Tania Dall’s report on same for WWL TeeVee.
Eyewitness News has learned more than $1 million worth of food stamps intended for people in need wound up in the hands of convicted criminals.
That is just one type of fraud and abuse that was discovered in Louisiana’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP.
Really Tania? Inmates got a cool million?
Spurred by the inaccurate and sensational reporting that is sure to get the local GOP calling for drug testing of all SNAP participants (with the work steered to testing labs they own) I went straight to the source at the Louisiana Legislative Auditor because it is clear you can’t trust TeeVee news types to report a straight story, Continue reading “Is TeeVee News responsible for the dumbing down of America? Slabbed calls BS on Channel 4 and their bogus SNAP performance audit reporting”
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)”
Citizens for a Better Kenner calls bullshit on the shithouse dealings with the Kenner Convention and Visitors Bureau
Kenner politics is a whole other Jefferson Parish political snakepit folks, one I have mostly resisted visiting in the interest of time management but luckily for us Walt Bennetti over at ClickJefferson is smack dab in the middle of the shit storm and he, along with the Citizens for a Better Kenner have been holding certain political feet to the fire and the effectiveness of Walt and his group is best measured by the blowback from the Yenni Administration against both Walt personally and along with his fledgling political campaign for Jefferson Parish Council.
While I found the Times Picayune beat reporting to be decent on the scandal at the KCVB but last week Walt distilled the real issues in play with the scandal and subsequent announcement by Team Yenni the City was pulling out support for the KCVB. It is simply a must read because Mayor Yenni certainly knew of the hijinks over at KCVB well before it became public knowledge as he has held a high-ranking position in City government well before he became mayor of the place. The bottom line is the new guard led by Mayor Yenni is pushing out older entrenched political interests from the taxpayer trough. That would be a good thing if the taxpayers were to realize the savings but that is not what is motivating Mayor Yenni IMHO as he no doubt is looking for sources of political patronage to start the pay to play game so favored by the Jefferson Parish political classes to his self benefit.
Against that backdrop Walt and the Citizens for a Better Kenner is calling for an investigation into the whole KCVB mess by the Louisiana legislative auditor and this is a smart move considering there exists a possible audit failure as evidenced by the shithouse financial doings at KCVB and certain of their projects. The scam has been around since before ENRON but ENRON became the poster child for creating separate entities to house the shady transactions away from the public eye. As a CPA with more years of experience doing single audits than I care to admit to anymore I’ll add it is clear the KCVB is a component unit of the City and as such should have been subject to the same statutory audit as the city itself. And while I do not profess to know Louisiana Home Rule statutes I’ll add IMHO sight unseen public records requirements likely should also apply here. Continue reading “Citizens for a Better Kenner calls bullshit on the shithouse dealings with the Kenner Convention and Visitors Bureau”
Scott Fontenot has got wayyyy bigger problems than 21 state ethics charges. A Jefferson Parish Political Corruption Update.
Folks the wheels of justice turn very slowly and such is the case with double dealing Scott Fontenot as it was revealed today he was charged with 21 ethics violations in connection with selling health insurance to Jefferson Parish. My own opinion is that Fontenot will assuredly be facing federal charges and my sources in the auditing community tell me the legislative auditor has a fairly scathing report on Mr. Fontenot coming too.
Rich Rainey broke this ethics story for the T-P. Fontenot’s lawyer Jenny Jackson best be dialing up her A game because her client will need all the help he can get. I’ve got the insurance committee emails courtesy of my gabby cousin Slabb O’Leak and never rolled them out. Of course such is also the reason I think Scotty will be beamed straight to one of Uncle Sam’s finer regional penal institutions before this is done. Trust me folks this part of the great Jefferson Parish Taxpayer Ripoff is garden variety petty corruption but it is especially sleazy in how brazen the parties to the double deal truly were.
Finally, as an added bonus Rich snags some quotes from perennial slabbed fav Dane Ciolino, one of Tim Whitmer’s lawyers. I personally hope Dane is making Tim’s asshole bleed with each bill.
sop
Jimbo the Clown never got the memo that Louisiana Citizens Insurance is insolvent. A Captured Regulator Update.
A dimmer bulb has never flickered in the Louisiana DOI folks.
Donelon said he took off another 2.3 percent because it was excessive and served to build the company’s capital and reserves.
“They don’t need to be building reserves” with rates, Donelon said. He said other fees help Citizens remain solvent.
Reserves???? Didn’t you mean the almost billion dollar deficit Jimbo? A common clown may well be able to fool the big business lackey/buffoons over at the Wall Street Journal editorial board but the numbers don’t lie and convey the ugly truth about Louisiana’s corrupt, special interest ridden insurer of last resort.
sop
One acronym fits it all folks: RICO. The Legislative Auditor report on Jefferson Parish finds probable payroll fraud.
Many months and resignations later, Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera has issued a report on the question of payroll fraud in the Jefferson Parish Attorney’s Office and the answer is yes Virginia, Aaron Broussard, Tom Wilkinson and Tim Whitmer are likely petty criminals that used the Parish’s payroll system to enrich relative and crony alike. The media coverage of the report has been extensive and I’m not going to reinvent the wheel in the interest of time. That said there are 3 points I want to stress:
1. A reader sent us the link to the Fox 8 report. By rights we should be highlighting their coverage since it was their reporter Val Bracy, who broke much of this news. Fox 8, which is owned by Tom Benson, in a move that rivals the stupidity in hiring Mike Ditka to coach the Saints, did not renew Val’s contract and she left the air in August. She deserves a Peabody Award for her Jefferson Parish reporting IMHO. None of Val’s sources on Jefferson Parish trust Lee Zurich and I’m not saying that to be ugly to Lee, who I enjoy watching. It is just a simple fact.
2. Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court John Gegenheimer has been caught in a lie and is now trying to weasel his way out of it. We call politicians who do this ‘Lying Sacks of Shit” here on Slabbed but Gegenheimer has good company there as we’ve called the Prez the same thing. Continue reading “One acronym fits it all folks: RICO. The Legislative Auditor report on Jefferson Parish finds probable payroll fraud.”