Tag: USA v Whitmer

All this Aaron Broussard nostalgia brings me the warm fuzzies

First Bill Hubbard returns to society and now Tim Whitmer is a completely free man per Andrea Shaw last night over at NOLA.com as we remember the Aaron Broussard implosion plus five.

A quick pointer for everyone that is new here, the calendar on the top of the left sidebar is an excellent tool for searching the Slabbed New Media archives.  Mousing over a particular date on the calendar will pop up of list of that days posts. Click on a particular date and every post on that day will be displayed.  As I moused over this day while waxing nostalgic, chills literally ran up my spine.  Slabbed has done some great things since but from looking back at 2010/2011 we’ve set a high bar for ourselves as an online community. As a result of those old posts Slabbed New Media has developed sourcing into Jefferson Parish Politics that rivals the very best of the NOLA media community to this day.

In any event over the next few months I’m likely to feature some of those old posts circa 2010, especially the ones that have aged well. Today I feature one that has nothing to do with Jefferson Parish at all but is a classic for obvious reasons. Enjoy.

Rope n throw n brand ’em: Tim Whitmer contradicts Aaron Broussard’s sworn testimony in the Broussard Flood suit.

Yes he did and that pesky ol’ Mount Hermon Louisiana keeps coming up time and again! Ol’ Aaron is making quite the convenient whipping boy there in his Granville County North Carolina prison cell.  Hows about some links folks:

Former top aide contradicts Broussard on pump operators’ evacuation ~ Chad Calder

Aaron Broussard knew of pump operator evacuations before Katrina, aide says ~ Paul Purpura

Editorially Slabbed believes that Broussard purposely ordered the pump operators away from their stations so as to be able to cash in on the resulting graft opportunities. We’ll see what the jury says soon enough.

Speaking of Broussard and his group of cronies, David Loeb, one of the gang that swore an affidavit for Trout Point Lodge in their Nova Scotia SLAPP suit against Louisiana Media Company has popped up again in the news like a bad penny this time wearing a wire on Ray Reggie, the former brother in law of the late Ted Kennedy: Continue reading “Rope n throw n brand ’em: Tim Whitmer contradicts Aaron Broussard’s sworn testimony in the Broussard Flood suit.”

I understand the Vandenweghe settlement has been signed, sealed and delivered

And history will note the saga of the workplace retaliation taken against whistleblower Anne Marie Vandenweghe is Slabbed’s second real time account of such events lest we forget Cori and Kerri Rigsby.  I know it certainly would not appear this way to Team Vandenweghe, but against State Farm the thugs in Jefferson Parish Government are mere pikers. Nonetheless, I’d like to congratulate the Young Administration and Team AMV for resolving this matter in the best interest of the local taxpayers.

Details of the deal are confidential and it is a safe assumption that there is a golden handcuff component because I did not hear about the finalization of the settlement, first reported on Slabbed, from anyone connected to Team Vandenweghe. Then again my sources in Jefferson Parish are second to none despite the fact I generally do not play with politicians as a general rule.

I mention all this because I intend to tell the story from my perspective of a journalist that witnessed many of the events from my perch at Slabbed real time over the past 3 plus years including the events that I think led to what became the prosecutions of Aaron Broussard, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Whitmer and Karen Parker.  I hope Nassim Taleb approves because it is truly a tale of chance mixed with epic douchebaggery that resulted in multiple felony convictions against multiple parties.

But before that happens I have one small matter in the NOLA CDC that will need to be tended to as Aaron Broussard’s former partner in the legal department of the Super 8 Motel on Clearview Parkway, Danny Abel has filed another defamation suit against me, Vandenweghe as well as every one of my Louisiana based attorneys in Bobby Truitt, Scott Sternberg, Brodie Glenn and Baldwin Haspel managing partner Paul Vance as well as the law firm itself via a screed that is essentially a recycled version of the defamation suit Abel walked away from in the LAED back in May of this year on the eve of my special motion to strike his complaint under Louisiana’s Anti SLAPP Statute. Judge Piper Griffin has been assigned the case.

Other Voices| SouthCoastToday.ca: Disgraced New Orleans politician begins prison term

Corrupt New Orleans politician Aaron Broussard enters federal prison in North Carolina Monday after being convicted of a rash of charges of fraud and bribery, some with connections to businesses and property he owned or managed in the Kempt Wilderness in Nova Scotia. He was sentenced to three years, ten months in a minimum security facility.

In a TV interview over the weekend, Broussard described how he entered politics forty years ago fighting the political machine and “good old boy” system, only to become the poster child for political corruption in a notably corrupt town. Broussard was president of Jefferson Parish, the largest in the state. “I’m leaving politics as a good old boy in disgrace,” Broussard told reporter Travers Mackel.

Broussard’s criminal case involved several charges, of which he insisted he was innocent and would fight to the end.

He finally admitted in court to scheming in 2003 to give his then-girlfriend — later his wife — a public job for which she was not qualified and at which she rarely appeared. He also confessed that he took bribe payments totaling $66,000 to help steer public contracts to a Kenner businessman. His ex-wife, his chief administrative officer, his parish attorney and the businessman also pleaded guilty to federal charges.

“If you’re involved in a scandal, then you wear the scarlet letter for the rest of your life, and beyond the grave,” Broussard told another reporter. “I regret every single act and thing that I did that leads me to walk into the prison gates on Monday.” Continue reading “Other Voices| SouthCoastToday.ca: Disgraced New Orleans politician begins prison term”

Jim Hudson: Iberia Bank supports its local crony felons

For true they do.  Allow me to present some documents in reverse order:

USA v Whitmer Doc 35 Page 9

Next up an exhibit of why the mutual affection from Tim Whitmer’s November 2009 email inbox as originally published on Slabbed back in January 2011: Continue reading “Jim Hudson: Iberia Bank supports its local crony felons”

And the travesty of justice is complete: Tim Whitmer gets probation

It was Whitmer and Wilkinson, along with Dominick Fazzio that hammered out the parish contract with the River Birch Landfill.

Tim Whitmer gets 3 years probation for covering up crimes in Broussard administration ~ Drew Broach

Under Broussard, who was largely a hands-off executive, Whitmer ran the 3,100-employee, $500 million administration. He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of projects and programs and was renowned for answering emails deep into the night, after ramrodding meetings and extinguishing political fires all day.

This is absolutely true. Broussard was always off running scams for his own self enrichment while Tim Whitmer was the defacto Parish Prez under two administrations. To the underlings at Yenni, Whitmer was seen as a ruthless snake in the grass that terrorized the minion. In certain circles he is as hated as Tom Wilkinson as both used blunt force trauma as their preferred management style. Unlike Wilkinson, who is crass and vulgar, Whitmer had the Cleaver family playground spiel perfected.  Both are now convicted felons.

In other news my Truitt Law Firm Mug arrived in the mail today and it is a keeper! Thanks Bobby.

Behold the terrible price to the taxpayers for electing crooks and buffoons to the Parish Council…

Allow me to summarize the latest Waste Management lawsuit against Jefferson Parish:

1. From 2007-early 2010 Jefferson Parish was run by self admitted felons

2. Even after those self admitted felons resigned in disgrace TheRiot continued their dirty work during his interim reign of terror.

3. Now the cat is out of the bag so Mini-me is gonna have to write another check with other people’s money, about the only thing the guy is good at. That is, of course if him and Elton LaGasse don’t burn another $500,000 defending the indefensible paying the hollow suits at Phelps Dunbar before they write that check to Waste Management.

Click the pic to get the pdf.

Waste Management of Louisiana v Parish of Jefferson Doc 1

A quick review – Cockroaches:
1. Operate in the shadows and under the cover of darkness.
2. Operate as a group.
3. Scatter when light or sun shine is applied.

Let’s drill down a bit on the latest developments in USA v Broussard: A playing on the internet update.

OK folks have we thought about this enough?  We have a federal subpoena out to the folks at NOLA Media Group asking for all the skinny on 11 internet commenters.  One of the post Katrina NOLA police murder cases involving civilians is in danger of getting verdicts set aside.  And the former Goatherder in Chief has asked for an evidentiary hearing. Days later Federal prosecutors contested Broussard’s motion arguing his guilty plea precluded such a line of inquiry.  And then I started getting emails from observers with criminal defense experience and those off blog comments were enlightening.  I’ll preface the rest of this post by saying I know very little about the practice of criminal law in the Federal Court system beyond the fact it is hard for a defendant to win at trial.

With that said there are some important points that were made and the first regards the Team Horn subpoena to NOLA Media Group for information on those 11 commenters. I’ll let a knowledgeable reader explain:

As part of their law enforcement mission the Feds can issue a subpoena to ensure that the law is being observed. They don’t need even a suspicion that the law may have been violated to issue a subpoena. That the newspaper is (1) objecting, (2) asking the Feds to disclose the basis for the subpoena, and (3) questioning whether the DOJ has authority to request the information under the Inspector General Act is curious and raises issues. For example, if the DOJ indulges the newspaper’s opposition and does not respond by saying, “Make the return on the subpoena or we’ll seek a contempt citation against your publisher.” it will indicate a lack of resolve and perhaps a political approach by the DOJ in the investigation.

Insofar as the merits are concerned, the paper can’t object, because it is not any of the commenters who have that right instead. The newspaper has no standing to act to ensure the DOJ is complying with law. That’s a right that belongs to the commenters and there’s no 1st Amendment issue involved. If there were it would have been asserted already. Furthermore, federal law enforcement need not give a basis for issuing the subpoena. They can issue a subpoena to check whether the law is being observed even without a suspicion of criminal activity. They need not give the basis to the newspaper. Asking for the basis for the subpoena is like asking for information so the paper can expand on the story. Thus, not only are the merits entirely in favor of the DOJ, the paper insulted the DOJ.

The newspaper is defending itself, not the commenters.

This raises interesting questions and lots have been raised of late regarding that Federal subpoena to NOLA including by Jason Berry over at AZ. The rumor mill is in overdrive as to any connection between the subpoena and Fred Heebe’s various defamation lawsuits against former members of the US Attorney’s office.  Until something else comes out I’m sticking with my theory that Heebe did not need an insider beyond his own legal team to divine Perricone and Mann were posting to NOLA.com. Continue reading “Let’s drill down a bit on the latest developments in USA v Broussard: A playing on the internet update.”