Tag: New Orleans City Council

From the reader mailbag: Hammerman……..

More questions raised after developer with ties to Jindal accepts plea deal ~ Hammerman

And now this slightly edited reader email which I thought interesting on a couple of levels:

In the above-cited article, WWL TV reporter David Hammer posed this question: Why does Praveen Kailas seem to get special treatment at every turn?

One possibility is because people who are developers, or are in a family or clique of developers, or are partners of a principal developer in a deal, have direct and indirect relationships with silent partners who are usually powerful people. The silent partners receive interests in the deal for their help in helping the deals succeed. A continuing interest helps the deal continue to succeed. The silent partners are often public officials who the system does not want to expose. People like Praveen Kailas sometimes lead the deal, but often they ride the coattails of principal developers who are closer to the silent partners. To keep control tight, the principal will intimate to all his or her other partners that there is a powerful silent partner in the deal who has a piece of it, but whose name must not be revealed.

It has always been puzzling that reporters who have have indications of the kinds of relationships described above seem to shy away from going the extra mile to learn whether there are silent partners being in and protecting deals. I think Mr. Hammer may have some such indications, yet he posed the question he did without trying to answer it. Apparently, he has not tried to learn all the deals in which Mr. Kailas has an interest and the names of all the other partners in the deals. Are readers supposed to do his work for themselves after he indicates to his readers that “special treatment” may be taking place? Is it really journalism to just pose a question and move on in spite of the fact that trying to answer the question or showing possible explanations from other factual circumstances could be an even bigger story? Continue reading “From the reader mailbag: Hammerman……..”

Mayor Half Moon picks former assault victim as interim City Council member

Former State Senator Diana Bajoie / Daniel Erath, The Times-Picayune archive

Folks we stay very busy on the Jefferson Parish beat but you must give Mayor Half Moon credit for nabbing former Senator Diana Bajoie as his pick to fill Stacy Head’s old slot on the NOLA City Council. As a youngster Bajoie was viciously assaulted with an ugly stick, yet rebounded to a long career in the Louisiana legislature. Her accomplishments include steering $50,000 via earmark to a conprofit controlled by the Jefferson clan, which then dutifully looted out the taxpayer largess. Frankly I think she is right up Mayor Half Moon’s alley.

Slabbed congratulates Ms Bajoie on her interim appointment to the NOLA City Council.

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Mayor Half Moon causes a ruckus endorsing Cynthia Willard Lewis over Stacy Head for NOLA Councilperson at large

I’ll be honest folks and disclose I’ve known about Mayor Mitch favoring Cynthia Willard Lewis for the council at large seat for about 2 weeks now and I expressed what I heard yesterday in comments after the angry recriminations hit these pages with the public announcement of the news.  I mention all this because  Willard-Lewis is one of American Zombie’s sneaky snakes of 2012 and her name has come up on these pages a time or two in connection with Fred Heebe, Team River Birch and the Heebe funded campaign to close the Old Gentilly Landfill which in turn insured more post Katrina debris would head to the River Birch Landfill.

The reaction to the news was swift, both on these pages in comments and in the local blogosphere.  Jason at AZ published not one but two posts on the subject and was way ahead of the game when the rumors on the subject bubbled up last weekend as were the good people over at Daily Kingfish, which linked our posts on Willard-Lewis’ connections to Team Heebe.

This is not the first time Half Moon has endorsed ethically challenged African American politicians for the sake of political expediency.  The difference is this time is Hiz Honner explained himself and it was highlighted by the Times Picayune’s Frank Donze in a story on the topic updated late last night.  There is a back story here folks that dates to Richmond being exposed in the local blogs that I will not go into but I think Hiz Honner was addressing the local blogs.  Here is a snippet:

“Listen. I’m a politician which means I’m a cheat and a liar. And when I’m not kissing babies I’m stealing their lollipops. But it also means that I keep my options open.” Continue reading “Mayor Half Moon causes a ruckus endorsing Cynthia Willard Lewis over Stacy Head for NOLA Councilperson at large”