Secretary of whaaaaaaa?????

Ok....I've waited long enough for a response from Dardene's office...Louisiana Secretary of State, P.O. Box 94125, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125.

I need help and here's what I need.

I need someone...no everyone....to write a formal request to Secretary of State, Jay Dardene's office requesting a detailed explanation of the voting process in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Particularly the technology aspects.

Here are the particulars I am interested in:

1. Brands of voting machines used in the 2006 Mayoral election locally and at the satellite voting stations in other cities.

2. Are the votes tabulated electronically...and if they are...are the tallies from the machines transferred to a central point over a network. If So whose network is being used (if it is a specific network, i.e. Cox, ATT) or are the votes simply sent over a general IP network?

3. Do the machines generate a paper record (per machine), and if so, how are those paper records accumulated and transferred to a physical (as in buidling), amalgamated point?

hold on....more coming...

4. Which voting machine companies are certified for use by the state?

5. Who is responsible for the physical transfer of the votes?

6. Who is reponsible for each district's voting?

7. Who records and delivers each machine to each voting station during an election? In other words...who is responsible for the machines from beginning to end during an election?

And finally,

8. What "areas" of the voting process cannot be disclosed due to proprietary information or for security reasons?

If we can get answers to these questions...I would be a very happy zombie.

is it just me?

or has anyone else noticed an eerie calmness has settled in on the N.O. blogosphere?

and knitting....and knitting....and knitting

Muchos Gracias

M.S....thank you brother. The next time you're at the crossroads, just call his name as loud as you can....ESHU! he will return the love.

oh boy

Sphincters Raging in Da Parish

I think we need to assign a blogger to every politician in Louisiana.

λατρεψτε τον ήλιο

Ever wonder why so many civilizations worshipped the sun? Amen.

The Fires are Still Raging

In a previous post I expressed my elation with President Obama's decision to open the door for Attorney General Holder to prosecute members of the Bush administration for authorizing torture...it spurred an interesting debate in the comment section and my mind has really been preoccupied with the matter ever since.

I would clarify that I do not support the prosecution of the men/women in the CIA and military who followed orders (I'm actually ambivalent about this, but I err on the side of caution).

I do, however, strongly believe that the men who authorized torture in the first place, must be prosecuted for their decisions. I think it is absolutely vital to the integrity of the country that this issue is debated in the public arena. We broke our word when we, as a country, tortured these men....if we are going to make a conscious decision to torture then we need to formally announce that we are rejecting the Geneva Convention treaties to the rest of the world. We need to let the world know where we stand and our true intent. As of right now....we have lost a tremendous amount of integrity on the world stage and I believe the handful of men who destroyed that integrity need to be brought to trial. I actually think they need to be strung up by their balls for many, many reasons, but on the matter at hand....I will settle for a very public trial, tribunal, or even senate hearings.

Admittedly, I have no military training, experience and very little understanding of military operations. But I believe this is an issue of human rights....and on that matter I am an unapologetic ideologue.

While I was driving down River Road today, my thoughts were consumed with the issue. I was listening to REM and I suddenly had one of those synergistic, weird moments where the universe seems to be speaking to you. I never really listen to REM lyrics that much, because they never seem to make too much sense. But a lyric in this song caught my ear so I hit the back button and I'll be damned if it doesn't seem to speak exactly to the issue at hand.

Just thought I'd share it:

REM - Mr. Richards



Mr. Richards your position is a messenger pigeon
Left behind you when the camp moved on
We thought that you would listen
But the words they never crystallized
Into a truth that you might own, hey hey

Mr. Richards, your decision
Pay attention, pay attention

Mr. Richards you're forgiven
For a narrow lack of vision
But the fires are still raging on
The public's got opinions
And these consequences border on
The compound that you razed where zealots sang, hey hey

Mr.Richards, your decision
Pay attention, pay attention

So listen, your intention
Sign the papers, stamp the ribbon
You're mistaken if you think we'll just forget

You can thump your chest and rattle
Stand in front of your piano
But we know what's going on
Yes we know what's going on
We're the children of the choir, hey
And we know what's going on

Mr. Richards you're conviction
Had us cheering in the kitchen
Now the jury's eating pigeon pie
So tell me how is prison
Have they taught you how to listen
We've begun to bridge the schism
Pay attention, pay attention

Mr. Richards, your decision
Pay attention, pay attention

You can thump your chest and rattle
Stand in front of your piano
But we know what's going on
Yes we know what's going on
We're the children of the choir, hey
From the compound fire, hey
And we know what's going on
Yes we know what's going on

Completely forgot about that...

Anon brings up a most excellent point and refreshed my memory on an ancient post:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Wow": 

Let's not lose sight of the pattern here. This is one city vendor, one group of pals doing business with City Hall. The mayor repeatedly states he doesn't see anything wrong with the practice of having others buy him and his family trips. Think of all the trips this mayor has been on, and consider how he comes to this feeling of entitlement.

What was that you were once talking about with Georges and White and Nagin having a business deal on a casino? Any trips there? 

He refers to a rumor which was swirling that Nagin was part owner in a Casino in Mexico with John Georges and David White.

I'm the very first one..

...to own the spanking new blue Y@ hat from the Dirty. I am a proud man.

Modeled by Duford Clyde Jamison, VI

Wow

That's all he could say.

Attorney claims Nagin, Meffert took 'plenty of other trips' paid for by city tech vendor

I guess he thought the trip fairy was taking care of those travel expenses.

BTW

I have formally requested a detailed explanation of the voting process in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes from Secretary of State, Jay Dardene's office.

48 hours and no repsonse.....but that's reasonable...I suppose.

I'll keep you all updated.

Shouldn't this process be documented and posted to the public?

and hey....if I don't get an answer in the next 72 hours...would you please help me bombard his office until they they provide a detailed explanation?

Inquiring minds want to know.

schadenfreude

Anonymous said...

I heard that another lawsuit is about to be filed and the plaintiffs have had private investigators from Atlanta working for the last three years digging up the dirt on Meffert & Company. Get the popcorn & beer.

yeah...that explains all the Statcounter numbers from Atlanta.

You don't say

Former tech chief Greg Meffert had credit card billed to owner of firm whose work he oversaw

Can't wait to we see what he charged on that credit card....actually I already know, so it won't be that big a deal. But it's nice to see this fact finally come out in the MSM considering we've been telling people that for 3 fucking years. Of course the TP couldn't report it without verification...so no bad on their part....even though they knew it all along.

hmmm.....what else will surface? Perhaps a minor but substantial no-bid crime camera contract with the city of Gretna? Orchestrated by St. Pierre's father and Gretna Mayor Harris?

Also remember the MSM has barely skirted the multitude of HSOA items which are just primed to come bubbling up to the surface at any moment.

Also...can somebody out there verify that Ray owns a Cadillac Esplanade? Anyone? Someone? Please?

DOH! I meant Escalade...that was funny.

God I hope the Secret Service is on the job

Obama: Bush Officials' Prosecutions Possible

man, o man. I love him for this....I am now an official Obama fan. I'm scared to death for him, but I love his chutzpah.

pinchdemnotsrils

Indeed...something smells in B.R.

Anonymous said...

WOW WOW WOW If Kip Holden told the reporter that a RFP was issued through a state contract on this then Mayor Holden has some serious explaining to do. A couple of investigators who are looking into it confirmed to me today that there was in fact NO RFP issued or bidding procedure initiated in the awarding of this contract. Mr. Evans & Jeff LeDuff completely lied to this reporter that a RFP was issued.

Pretty hefty claim. I mean it's not perjury or anything...but if Holden's folks are lying about the RFP, that should come to light in short order.

Is there something rotten in Red Stick?

Eye spy

Drake worked at the firm from August 2002 to August 2004, according to a seven-page affidavit from the lawsuit. Early in Drake’s employment with NetMethods, which lasted from August 2004 to mid-2006, his paychecks came from Imagine. MacDonald says by the time he realized Drake’s role, he wasn’t being paid in a timely manner, and Imagine began representing itself as the company associated with the project. A disgusted MacDonald left the project, and St. Pierre’s company—operating under a new name, Veracent—took over MacDonald’s work.
After NetMethods was awarded Baton Rouge’s anti-terrorist camera job in 2006, MacDonald also abandoned wireless efforts in downtown. MacDonald and Southern Electronics contend NetMethods muscled them out of the Baton Rouge and New Orleans jobs.

A bait and switch.

One of the reasons for the switch from Imagine to Netmethods was to try and hide Meffert's connections and any potential conflict of interest. Problem being, Nethmethods was St. Pierre's company and this lead to a pissing contest between Muppet and St. Pierre...which eventually lead to an all out rift. From that sprung Logistix...Meffert's new company. Veracent was simply a shell company to run invoices through.

Redux: i forgot to credit this anon with alerting me to this

http://www.businessreport.com/news/2009/apr/20/eye-spy-tchn1/The Baton Rouge media has officially broken the silence that the feds are now investigating the City of Baton Rouge. This story will get only bigger and many think that one of Kip Holden's own staff is working with the Feds.

So that rumor is very interesting. Christ on a crutch, if this thing is as big as the rumors flying around Meffert may be the lynchpin to the biggest federal knock down in the history of the state.

Muchos Gracias

...to those who have recently donated to AZ. This goes a long way to help justify things with my wife....like the enormous amount of time I spend on here...and the bodygaurd I've had to hire...just kidding. I have a big dog and a big gun.

Much Adieu

Ray gets deposed today in the civil suit over the crime camz. Don't get your panties in a bunch...all we're going to get is "I don't know anything about that". Although knowing his propensity to shoot his mouth off, I'm sure it's going to be a sphincter-clenching morning for his lawyers.

If any of the plaintiff's lawyers are reading this...could you please ask him if he owns a Cadillac Escalade and how he obtained it?

Sympathy for the Devil

Anonymous said...

I don't think most on here realize just how desparate the accused are right nnow. The vast majority are in dire financial straits and some have even experienced maritial & family problems as a result of the lawsuit & federal investigations.

The number of unindicted co-conspirators who are cooperating with the government are pretty large at this point. The early birds have gotten their worm and the rest are left to dangle in the water waiting for the shark to gobble them up without remorse.

A little mixed metaphor there but I love that...actually more of a metaphor mash-up.

The shark reference is funny though. When Meffert stepped down from the CTO position, City Business ran a fluffy, sycophantic profile on him. When asked what he would do next he replied, “A shark can’t breathe unless it’s moving. There’s a part of me like that. I’m going to have to be doing something or I’ll go nuts,”

Which reminds me of a quote from Qui-Gon Jim in Star Wars I, "...Always a bigger fish."

I do feel sorry for family members though...especially children who may have to watch their parent carted off to jail.

It makes me wonder who the early birds are as well.

I am still a juvenille

Because everytime I read Netstats' stats (that's fun to say) and I see this...






....I chuckle.

Increase my log size...sure...of course....why not do that?

That is brilliant marketing.

The Wild Card

I forgot to post this.

In the latest article in the TP on the crime camera scandal, this comment was made by Active Solutions and Southern Electronics attorney:

But Glad Jones, who represents the plaintiffs, argued that St. Pierre is too central to his case.
"Mr. St. Pierre is at the intersection of all of our causes of action," he said.

That is true. But I would also add that Mark Kurt is just as much of a pivot point as St. Pierre. Kurt was the acting CTO who actually started rediverting cash to Netmethods.

I can't help but wonder where he is during this entire mess. I had reports that he now lives in Colorado and works for CIBER (go figure). I think he, even above St. Pierre, is the critical cornerstone in the crime camera case. St. Pierre never actually worked directly for the city...he was just a contractor and the obvious recipient of Meffert's good ole' boy, no-bid, handouts. But Kurt....Kurt replaced Meffert as CTO and was the sitting CTO who actually redirected money from the existing contract to Netmethods. Kurt was the one that decided to allow the crime camera antennae array to be moved to the top of One Shell Square and put under Netmethods billling cycle.

Where is Kurt in all this? Why hasn't he been deposed?

Kurt may be the wild card in the deck.

Great Observation #1

Whether the rumor is true or not...I'm getting some really great observations and opinions on the inconsistencies in our current voting process and the potential for fraud which currently exists. Here is one of those observations:

Anonymous to me
show details 8:08 AM (1 hour ago)

Reply

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Rumor Quash #1":

Well, I might as well chime in here. Everyone really should calm down, because if you want a reform minded, ethical Democrat, Republican (or Other) to run or represent this City, then that isn't happening until we resolve the voting issues.

As an aside, I met someone named Susan Bernecker who ran in JP against Giambelluca a long time ago who claimed that she and Richard Angelico did a live investigative report on WDSU from a warehouse guarded by Harry Lee's guys and showed how machines could be and had been easily manipulated to change returns there and fix an election. That was in JP. To my surprise there is actually a wiki page of some kind on her:
http://viswiki.com/en/Susan_Bernecker

In Orleans, I will just throw a few observations out. (1) I do remember news reports about the local registrar for Orleans, Sandra Wilson (a PhD by the way) taking the lists of purged voters after Katrina and supposedly faxing and mailing forms to the residents back to where they were outside NO to ensure that they would not be purged. Supposedly from a list of like 8000-9000 or so maybe a couple hundred may have finally been actually purged. I think this happened again on 2008, though maybe differently, there was a list of inactive voters published and basically someone could call in and just give a new address, which I found kind of a remarkable way of doing things.

http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-29/1212644819114130.xml&coll=1

(2) I don't know if everyone agrees with this, but my observation has been (as someone who has voted both for and against her) that Mary Landrieu in her first two elections for Senator was losing very late, only to see a needed number of returns come in very late in the evening in her favor from the 9th Ward. The Landrieu team did not seem surprised. (3) The same goes for Bill Jefferson, though when he was losing to Cao, he did get a sudden rush of extremely late votes from the last 5% of precincts, that greatly narrowed his deficit. It seemed to me in the interviews that his team being interviewed on tv knew they would be close but would not have quite enough to pull it out, as though they knew exactly what numbers would be coming through. - I realize there is nothing nefarious necessarily about those last two items, it's just a pattern I've seen in Orleans elections. Indeed something similar happened in the Nagin/Mitch Landrieu election. If I had the wherewithal it would be great to run a study to compare elections affecting NO at the ~95% return stage vs. how they ended across the board and over a long period of time. It certainly seems to me that some precincts from the Ninth and occasionally Central City are held to the very end only to generate heavily titled results to one particular candidate.

Finally, talk to anyone who has worked as a poll worker in NO and they will tell you some of the practices that go on in some precincts, very sketchy enforcement of the rules or lack thereof.

Rumor Quash #1

Forget the definition of "close." If the election was "stolen" in the out-of-town precincts, the results from those precincts would be skewed more heavily in Nagin's favor. They weren't. In fact, Nagin beat Landrieu worse in "local" precinct returns (i.e., votes actually cast in N.O. on Election Day) than he did in the out-of-town returns. They split the 24,000 or so "out of town" ballots almost right down the middle. Nagin actually won the election in N.O., which is interesting because he seemed to do more out-of-town campaigning (among displaced voters in Houston in particular) than Landrieu did. Thus, the notion that the election was stolen by rigging out-of-town returns just doesn't seem to square with the actual returns.

Voting Fraud Rumor #3

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Voting Fraud Rumor # 2":

It does not take much effort to look into the precinct by precinct returns for the past few elections to see that the worst damaged and lowest rebuilt areas of the 9th ward have more "voters" living in them than undamaged areas in other parts of the city.
Something is very fishy..
Can we get Jimmy Carter to oversee our next mayoral election?

Voting Fraud Rumor # 2

Anonymous said...

This would seem in-line with what I was told by a sitting senior councilmember a year ago. They were counting fax votes with no authentication which skewed the voting results.

Memphis just loves Ray Ray...$82,000 worth of love

Took a closer look at Nagin's campaign donations from Memphis:

Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Nelson Plumbing LLC 3360 Fontaine Suite A Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Midsouth Auction & Real Estate Acct. LL 3403 Elvis Presley Blvd. Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Pro-Fleet Truck Sales LLC 3403 B Elvis Presley Blvd. Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Worley Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal 29 East Illinois Memphis TN 38106
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Midsouth Auction & Real Estate Acct. LL 3403 Elvis Presley Blvd. Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Pro-Fleet Truck Sales LLC 3403 B Elvis Presley Blvd. Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Nelson Plumbing LLC 3360 Fontaine Suite A Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Worley Brothers Scrap Iron & Metal 29 East Illinois Memphis TN 38106
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 04/11/2006 5000.00
Lynley Chrurchwell 8700 Players Fwy Memphis TN 38125
Ray Nagin 10G CONTRIB 04/11/2006 5000.00
Lynley Chrurchwell 8700 Players Fwy Memphis TN 38125
Found another $32,000:

Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Carolyn Worley 2055 Hughway 51 N Nesbit MS 38651

Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/11/2006 5000.00
Carolyn Worley 2055 Hughway 51 N Nesbit MS 38651
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/19/2006 5000.00
Sara Mrs. Louise Rhodes 431 Plantation Rd. P.O. Box 114C Tipton TN 38071
Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 05/19/2006 5000.00
John H Rhodes 431 Plantation Rd. P.O. Box 114C Tipton TN 38071
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/19/2006 5000.00
John H Rhodes 431 Plantation Rd. P.O. Box 114C Tipton TN 38071
Ray Nagin 40G CONTRIB 05/19/2006 5000.00
Sara Mrs. Louise Rhodes 431 Plantation Rd. P.O. Box 114C Tipton TN 38071

I'm sure Carolyn Worley is tied into "Worley Brothers," since Nesbit, MS is just outside Memphis. The Tipton ones (Tipton is also outside Memphis) are a little odder, since they're not on the same dates.

These are probably tied in as well, from Mr. Nelson of Nelson Plumbing:

Ray Nagin SPCL CONTRIB 04/11/2006 1000.00
Willie Nelson 3360 Fontaine Rd Memphis TN 38116
Ray Nagin 10G CONTRIB 04/11/2006 1000.00
Willie Nelson 3360 Fontaine Rd Memphis TN 38116

A little digging into old graves turns up some interesting bones

Blogger extraordinaire, Mrs. Gadbois, found this potential bombshell on Thaddeus Matthews blog from 2007:

Is New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Tied To Corruption In Memphis?

if you get my message i had dealings with dennis churchwell he bragged about having everyone on his leash he said he asked ray nagen at a fund raiser in memphis if he could get the mayor reelected in new orleans would he be able to get loads of the contracts in neworleans he said ray naygen asked him can you do that churchwell said of corse churchwell told me he had a lot of busses to haul in voters and lots of connection with the voting machines he also told me he donated 100,000.00 to ray nagens campaign by gifting 5,000.00 to his employees names into the campaign he said you could look in the paper at the campaign donations his employeeshad 20 / 5,000.00 donations the only donations over 1,000.00 he said were his 100,000.00 bribe to the mayor legally he said because he gifted it to his employees they donated it to nagens campaign he was always blowing what he had on someone else it was usually money he said the whorlley brothers cheated him out of millions in new orleans crushing cars they were going to have to pay him his share or he was going to go reposes some equipment he sold them for 100,000.00 cash they didnt get a reciept from him they were all beating the gov. on cash deals i rode with dennis to neworleans we went to a dodge dealer there he delt with a mike kamiskie dodge dealer owner they were bidding on contracts there at the city office they said there wasent any thing to worry about if they didnt have it wright ray nagen had to sign the bids before they were excepted thats where dinnis said his 100,000.00 dollar donation came in all contracts were oked by the mayor thats when they get to change the contracts they had me help them with some prices that day

Holy shit, Batman!

Now I don't know if this is true but there are certainly a lot of leads to follow in the complete post to find out if the information checks out.

As for the election fraud claim....well....I've been looking into that as well. It is in fact the Manhattan project I've been dangling around. I haven't mentioned it because it was such an outrageous claim that I wanted to have solid proof of it before I even suggested it. Well...this isn't solid proof of anything...but I can tell you that after digging into it for the past 5 months....I truly believe SOMETHING happened.

Before I go here, don't send me any comments criticizing my journalistic ethos....this is a blog and this is what blogs are good for....airing shit out.

NONE of the following statements are verified and they should be viewed as speculation:

I was informed that there is solid evidence out there of voting fraud during our last mayoral election in the form of electronic data on hard drives which was discovered during a forensic audit on City Hall computers. This audit was reportedly conducted by a federal entity.

I was also informed that there was an illegal raid conducted in Jefferson Parish by NOPD officers (out of their jurisdiction) who were trying to confiscate that evidence from one of the forensic computer experts who conducted the audit. The man and his family were supposedly held at gunpoint by NOPD officers while every computer in his house was extracted. It is unclear who ordered this raid. Supposedly, the man immediately reported the incident to the federal entity he was working for and the said entity immediately ordered all the computers returned.

Now once again...this is not verified. I have tried like hell to verify it from the source...the forensic computer expert himself...but I have been unsuccessful. IT COULD ALL BE BULLSHIT....but for the record, I don't believe it is. The fraud supposedly took place at the satellite voting booths which were set up in other cities during Katrina. Matthews' post immediately set off bells and whistles when I read it, as it somewhat verifies the rumor.

There it is....chew on it for a while and get back to me.

From an excellent post by Lord David

Governing by Chaos; a City in Shambles

Then read this particular comment
which made my spidey sense tingle:

MyMayorSucks Says:
April 10th, 2009 at 6:50 am

I remember when Nagin came to Memphis to try and do some dealing with a couple of guys that were in the auction business. One of them, Dennis Churchwell, who owned Mid-South Auction and Real Estate on Elvis Presley Blvd., who is presently getting ready to go to the federal pen for perjury, told me that he could get anything he wanted from Nagin. He said that Nagin signed off on all the contracts to pull all the flood damaged cars from NO. He said it was all about the money with Nagin.

Nagin came to town one weekend and Mr. Churchwell said that he put him up at the Peabody Hotel downtown. Churchwell claimed that he had bought two penthouse suites downtown to give to Nagin for future contracts, but somehow that fell through and the penthouses had to be sold. Anyway, these two guys brought a ton of water damaged cars into Memphis and sold them without titles to unsuspecting buyers at the auction. They also sold quite a few overseas.

Anyway, if the feds are following any of these blogs, and I’m sure they do, then Churchwell would probably be someone to talk to right now, being that he is fixing to sit his fat ass in a cell here shortly. He claimed that he could get anything he wanted from Nagin and that he had his personal cell phone number should he need anything. Churchwell claimed that he gave Nagin an Escalade as a present when he came to Memphis.

I have to keep in mind though that Dennis Churchwell is the biggest blowhard I have ever run up on, but he did get all the cars he wanted from NO and he didn’t have the Escalade after Nagin left Memphis, so who knows.

Bottom line is Nagin is another greedy scumbag politician just like our Mayor here in Memphis. Memphis mayor Willie Herenton is just the same as your sorry ass holier than thou, on the take, excuse making, THUG.

This set my radar off because

I know that our old buddy

Aaron Bennett got the contract to remove

the flooded cars from the city through HSOA.

This is the same Aaron Bennett who flew Meffert

Nagin to Chicago for the Bears game.

This one is interesting, indeed.

Where we're at

I don't know.

Keep in mind that the comment section is just that...people commenting. I honestly don't know what is going on. And just to keep things straight....this comment:

Clancy--
The investigations began several years ago and was "suspended" because several dozen offshoot investigations emerged. This is probably as wide of an investigation as the Feds have conducted since perhaps the Goti case in NY. I've heard numbers ranging from 60 to as high as 90 individuals that will ultimately be convicted. The corruption moves into several parishes statewide.

....is not from Clancy Dubos....it was apparently written by someone to Mr. DuBos.

So honestly guys...I don't know what is going on.

But if something already happened, I would bet that a press conference would be called tomorrow.

Honor among thieves

Mayor Nagin: No impropriety in trip to Hawaii with former tech chief

He is pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for anything. Really. Can anyone recall a moment when this man admitted a mistake? Ever? I mean even Bush admitted he made mistakes.

Not only did he deny any wrongdoing....he actually praised Meffert. Wow. That's not an excited wow...that's an I need a drink wow. While I go do that, I subject you to this god-awful musical analogy:



These guys are really close....maybe too close

Surf's Up!

City tech vendor paid for Nagin's Hawaii trip, Meffert says in deposition















From the Deposition:

Q. Is Logistix, your new company, is it involved in the crime camera business at all at this point?

A. No.

Really?

Why state this line in the promotional video,"...we were able to introduce surveillance programs" over this picture?

Waiting for the Hammer to fall

The recent concatenation of reports run by the Times Picayune on the questionable nature and actions of Mayor Nagin's Technology office for the past 7 years seem to be leading up to a crescendo with today's article by David Hammer:

Public-private lines blurred at New Orleans City Hall under Nagin

Conspicuously placed in the Sunday edition...front page no less...it is essentially an overview of the nefarious M.O. by which Greg Meffert and peeps ran our city's technology department since Nagin won office in 2002. Perhaps an outline for reference of events to come this week?

While listing the low hanging fruit - Crime Cameras, the boat and the Hawaii vacation, the article doesn't so much as glance matters such as the 311 contract, the interoperability grant, or the "free" wi-fi deal struck with Earthlink.

As this blog and it's many anonymous sources have been hammering on these issues for years, I am happy to see at least some of these transgressions come into the public light. I think we all owe a great debt of gratitude to the hard work former Inspector General Cerasoli and his office conducted to bring the crime camera contract to light.

To think, this is just one of many multi-million dollar, no-bid contracts Meffert kicked back while holding the CTO position (or running it by proxy through Mark Kurt and Anthony Jones). I think the 311 and interoperability contracts are just as grievous as the crime cameras and deserve the same credence....but at this point, I am ecstatic that at least some of these issues are becoming public knowledge.

The obvious question on everyone's mind is wether or not we will see indictments against any of these mooks. Is Letten actually going to charge these guys or will they prove to be as teflon coated as Marc Morial? It is the multi-million dollar, taxpayer question.

I, for one, can't stress enough, my desire to see these criminals brought to justice (of course that's obvious if you read AZ). I truly believe it is crucial for the future success of our city. I have spoken before of the culture of corruption which I believe has crippled our city for so very long. The U.S. attorney's office now has the opportunity to send a very clear message to the top level of city government...NO FUCKING MORE!!!

It seems every politician runs on a reform platform, but shortly after taking office they go right back to the same old racket....of course I'm exaggerating....not EVERY politician but this city seems to produce an abnormally large number of crooks in public office.

Why is that?

I have my theories...most of them derived from a close examination of our pre-Katrina public school system.

The NOPS budget before Katrina was the largest public fund (half billion) in the state and the largest employer in the city of New Orleans. As the budget became more inflated every year, the graft only increased while the schools lay in rot....the children left ignorant of the basic skills needed to succeed in a city in which even the best educated have a tough time making ends meet. The devolution of the public school system was an example of what happens when public entities and public money starts being treated like private enterprise.

From the article:

The Rev. Kevin Wildes, president of Loyola University and chairman of the city's Ethics Review Board, had a similar view.

"If nothing else, there were huge conflicts of interest all over the place" in Meffert's tech office, he said. "I really still do believe in public-private partnerships, but you have to have the right firewalls in place."

All well and good Rev but the problem with that notion is that private enterprise has a very real litmus test to ensure performance and eliminate graft which public entities don't have...its called the bottom line....call it the ultimate firewall. If people start stealing from a private company or it doesn't meet performance standards...that company ain't gonna be around for long (unless its AIG).

In the public sector....the money just keeps flowing. More often than not the result is even an increase in funding in order to "fix the problem". There are private contractors out there who make a living off public money by not just being mediocre, but actually being incompetent...and they quickly come to understand that. AME, the school system's former janitorial contractor comes to mind.

It's the promotion of incompetence. It's also known as the Peter Principle and here's another shining example of it which affected our city on a catastrophic level.

In the case of New Orleans, we have very little private enterprise to begin with. Public money is by far the most lucrative path to wealth, or even moderate wealth, available. After a half-century period of governmental neglect, we have practically institutionalized corruption. The result has been a steady descent into a complete and total kleptocracy.

I guess an argument could be made that the whole country has followed that same path, but as Cousin Pat has so eloquently noted, New Orleans is a magnification of every problem our country is facing.

Here and now, with Meffert and Nagin...we have a chance to make things right.

Here....Mr. Letten....now....in the midst of this national crisis of confidence in business, government and the interaction of the two....this is the time to send a very clear message to this city, and by media proxy to the country, that the game has changed and you are putting this train back on course. This isn't racial, this isn't partisan...its not even about socialism v. capitalism...its about the future of this city, and I believe the future of this grand experiment we call America.

That wreaks of grandiose, sentimental shiiite...I admit...but I honestly believe it.

The parallels between W. Bush and Nagin have been made before and here I will make another.

This country was nearly (and may yet be) destroyed by 8 years of incompetence and corruption under the Bush/Cheney administration.

This city, in it's most crucial and desperate time, has been forced to suffer under the cronyism, corruption, incompetence...and complete, fucking absurdity... of Mayor Ray Nagin. We will not survive another 8 years, or even 4 years, if "business as usual" is allowed to continue in City Hall.

When Nagin took office he ran on a platform of transparency and reform....here we are 7 years later and I would dare say Ray may have even outdone his predecessor. Morial skated....if Nagin skates, why should we expect anything to change under the next administration?

go thee here

Zombie falsehoods

Phoenix becomes Third World

Welcome to the club...first there was this:

Human smuggling makes Phoenix kidnapping capital of U.S.

Now the Phoenix Gestapo become thought police....nice:

Blogger claims police search of home was a threat