First, Joey Chestnut repeats as the Nathan’s Famous Hot-Dog Eating Champion, retaining the Mustard Belt for America and now I hear that longtime senator and hate-monger Jesse Helms has finally died. Good riddance to bad rubbish. I don’t know the details, nor do I care, it’s just reassuring to know that evil people eventually die too.
Cross-posted from Nation of Morons
The results are in and Louisiana Taxpayers can expect a massive six-million dollar fist up the ass thanks to State Senator Ann Duplessis. Her bastard child, SB 672 which ties legislator salaries to their counterparts in the US Senate, has passed its third and final vote in the senate and is on its way to the House for approval. (225-342-6945 if you care to call them.)
Voting for the bill were Senate President Joel T Chaisson, II, Robert Adley, Sharon Weston Broome, AG Crowe, Yvonne Dorsey, Ann Duplessis, Reggie P Dupre, Dale M Erdey, DA ‘Butch’ Gautreaux, Cheryl A Gray, Lydia P Jackson, RW ‘Bob’ Kostelka, Eric LaFleur, Rovert Marionneaux, Daniel ‘Denny’ Martiny, Michael J Michot, Edwin R Murray, Ben Nevers, Derrick Shepherd, and Francis Thompson
Voting against the bill were John A Alario, Jr, ‘Jody’ Amedee, Bill Cassidy, Sherri Smith Cheek, Donald R Cravins, Jr, Jack Donahue, Nick Gautreaux, Troy Hebert, David Heitmeir, Joe McPherson, Dan ‘Blade’ Morrish, Willie L Mount, Julie Quinn, Neil Riser, BL ‘Buddy’ Shaw,and Mike Walsworth
Absent were Gerald Long, John R Smith and the vacant seat from district 9.
Overall the vote looks suspect: 20 yea, 16 nay and 2 absent. Just enough votes to pass. How convenient. While I’m certain a few of the nays were cast by stalwart senators trying to make a difference in our little Third World State, most came from cunning little politicians who figured, “It’ll pass anyway, so I may as well vote against it and look good in the press.” Pure conjecture on my part, but entirely possible.
And our buddy Bobby doesn’t seem to care. According to our “Reform” Governor, the legislature is responsible for “keeping its own house in order.” He says it’s not his job to tell them what to do. I wonder if John McCain taught him how to pass bucks like that.
Congratulations go out to Ann Duplessis, our Moron of the Year! (So far!) Her district lies in ruins, her constituency is spread across the country, but she can tootle back and forth from Baton Rouge in her taxpayer funded Mercedes S-500 in comfort knowing that all you working stiffs are going to be working a little harder to pay for it. We now return you to business as usual in Louisiana.
One final note to the vapid soccer mom I heard on WWL Radio yesterday: She called in to support the bill because our senators “give us their full-time, it’s a full time job!” Wrong sweetheart. The job is part-time, 3-4 days a week for about 2-3 hours a day. Sure, there are the occasional 4+ hour marathons and special sessions, but most sessions are much shorter; see for yourself here. The April 3rd session lasted just 15 minutes.
Averaging 17 days per month, 2.5 hours per day, that’s 42.5 hours a month or 510 hours per year. At the current salary of $16,800, that’s just under $33 an hour. Under the new $70,000 salary our legislators will be making $137.25 an hour! And remember, these are some of the same douchebags who voted against raising the minimum wage in our state! Looks like it’s back to every man for himself in Louisiana. Pittsburgh looks better every day.
Who says The System doesn’t have a sense of humour?
Yesterdays indictments of Betty Jefferson, her brother Mose and daughter Angela Coleman, were announced exactly one year to the day that brother Bill Jefferson was indicted on 16 counts of bribery, fraud, racketeering and obstruction of justice. Elder sibling Mose has previously been indicted on charges related to bribing former School Board president Ellenese Brooks Sims. Sibling rivalry can be a real gas sometimes.
The charges are as follows:
Count 1: Conspiracy to steal from agencies receiving federal funds, and to commit mail fraud, Penalty: five years maximum imprisonment.
BJ AC MJ
Counts 2 - 11: Aggravated identity theft, Penalty: two years max.
AC counts 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. BJ counts 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
Count 12: Stealing money from an organization receiving federal funds, Penalty: 10 years max.
BJ MJ
Count 13: Stealing money from an organization receiving federal funds, Penalty: 10 years max.
BJ AC MJ
Counts 14 - 23: Mail Fraud, Penalty: 20 years max per count.
BJ AC MJ
Counts 24 - 26: False statements by Mose Jefferson to the FBI, Penalty: five years max per count.
Counts 27 - 30: Income Tax Invasion by Betty Jefferson. Penalty: five years max per count.
Count 31: Conspiracy to commit money laundering, Penalty: 20 years max.
BJ AC MJ
If convicted on all counts Betty faces 279 years in jail, her daughter 257, and Mose is looking at 250 years. In addition each count caries a fine of up to $250,000 or double any profit to the defendant or loss to victim. Mose faces 50 years maximum for his earlier indictment and William is staring down a possible 235 years for his alleged shenanigans. That’s a lot of baloney sammiches!
These charges all center around three “non-profit” organizations run by the Jefferson clan: Care Unlimited, an organization meant to provide “educational support services” to pregnant teens and “focus on the broad problems of black males between the ages of 9 and 21;” Orleans Metropolitan Housing & Community Development, lord only knows what they do, no information is available on the web; and Central City Adult Education Agency, also cloaked in mystery regarding its exact nature.
All three organizations have received millions in state and federal funds through the help of Renee Gill-Pratt, protogé and paramour of both William and Mose, and Jalila Jefferson Bullock, William’s daughter who both held the same seat in the state legislature and used their position to earmark money for the organizations.
WDSU’s Gina Swanson reports that this may cause the public to associate the Jefferson family name with public corruption. Really? And you get paid how much for stating the obvious? Silly me, I thought the connection had already been made. Why else would the Feds be hammering away at them? Jefferson family attorneys are already hard at work pounding out Change of Venue paperwork like they did for William whose trial will be held in Virginia. Strange. I would think that New Orleans would be the best place to hold the trial considering the non-stick coating this family has been wearing for the last thirty or so years. Especially if, as they say, the Jeffersons are innocent.
This morning a WDSU poll asked if these new charges would affect voters in William’s upcoming re-election bid and the results were interesting. 72% of responders said no, they were planning on voting for someone else and 6% said they still supported Bill. 22% said that they would no longer vote for Jefferson. There may be hope for us yet! Of course, only ten percent of those people will bother to vote anyway.
So it looks as if New Orleans darker side will be thrust naked and mewling in the National Spotlight once again for everyone to see, and that’s a shame and a blessing. It’s a shame the nation will once again see our local “leaders” as greedy pigs, gorging themselves on the taxpayer teat, but a blessing that we will be seen taking action to clean our own house and that may serve as the impetus for businesses to move into the area, create jobs, lower the crime rate, fund education, fix the blight, promote local music, restore the Lower Ninth, cure West Nile, defeat the Formosans and carry the Saints to a Superbowl victory!!!!
Or am I just being overly optimistic?
For more on the William and the Jeffersons:
http://nationofmorons.blogspot.com/2007/06/jeffersons.html
And so is the docket.
Breaking News:
Betty and Mose Jefferson and Betty’s daughter Angela Coleman have just been slapped with 31 federal charges and if convicted, each faces at least 250 years in jail. Most of the charges concern the incredibly slick ways that the Jeffersons ‘allegedly’ funneled state and federal monies through various non-profit organizations controlled by them into their personal accounts. Betty and Mose also face 4 and 3 charges, respectively, for income tax evasion.
The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Jim Letten on WDSU just moments ago. More as it becomes available.
You’ll need it to defend yourself.
State senator Ann Duplessis, (is that like duplicity?,) has authored Louisiana’s newest political embarrassment, Senate Bill 672, which calls for an increase in pay for state legislators. She seems to think that our poor underpaid elected officials need more than quadruple their current $16,000 salaries. SB672 would pay them $70,000 per year and also double their expense accounts. Here, read it yourself. (Yes, recent reports say $50,000, but this is the new and improved version dated 1/1/09. Now that’s foresight!) (You know, technically the word ‘authored’ gives Duplessis way too much credit. She simply took the old bill which set legislator salaries, crossed out “$16,000″ and wrote in “$70,000.” Probably in crayon.)
This will essentially make our legislators the ninth highest paid out of all fifty states. Pretty good considering the most recent survey ranks our states economy 21st out of fifty. Heck, hardly seems worth mentioning, but still…
This comes only one year after Annie helped pass Smokin’ Joe Toomey’s HB489 which also increased the pay of other state officials and the governor. That’s a lot of your money Annie’s spending. If I paid state taxes, I’d be pissed. I’d be thoroughly enraged if I lived in the Lower Ninth Ward though. See, that’s Annie’s territory. I may be slightly off the mark here but, shouldn’t she find some way to help her constituents rebuild their neighborhood before pissing away their hard earned money on her cronies in Baton Rouge?
Annie says that with recently declared monies in the state treasury her plan is now more affordable than ever. Really. Hey Annie, what about those empty lots in the Lower Ninth? Any way you can shake loose a buck or two for the families whose houses were destroyed? No, you say? Pity. Well, as long as you’re housed, fat and happy… fuck ‘em, eh?
Duplessis’ record can be seen here. I find it interesting that she would castrate sex offenders, yet force women to bear the children of rape and incest. I guess that’s just the way she was raised. I wonder who raised her to spend other people’s money so freely?
Unfortunately, SB672 tore through the Senate Finance Committee with unanimous approval and virtually no debate, (big surprise,) and now is on its way to the full senate, presumably for rubber-stamping and a big laugh at all you hard-workin’ Joes that are gonna pay for it. What can you do? Make your voice known! Call your senator and demand they vote this spendthrifts piece-of-shit legislation down the tubes! Visit the Louisiana Action Council and answer the SB672 Poll. Or you can sit there and twiddle your thumbs. It’s your money… at least until Annie gets aholt of it.
This post was syndicated by permission from M. Styborski’s Nation of Morons blog where it appeared on 05/20/08 If you don’t read NoM, you should! -Loki, HumidCity, Founder