See ya, C. Ray!

It took the federal jury a little more than six hours to deliberate 21 counts in the corruption trial of former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin.  The case went to the jury on Monday after 3 1/2 hours of closing arguments, and they got about three hours in the jury room that day.  Oddly enough, there was no deliberation yesterday because of a juror health "issue," and the judge thought it advisable to delay a day instead of pulling in one of the four alternates.  Probably a wise decision for appellate purposes.

Six hours.  That ain't very long, folks.  It would take almost that long to read and fill in all the verdict forms. So, what is the verdict?

TWENTY GUILTIES to one not guilty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mayor of Chocolate City is gonna be sportin' an orange jumpsuit.

Nagin's story runs along the lines of a Greek tragedy.  He was a very popular figure during his first term -- heck, even Pepper and I voted for him the first time around.  He campaigned on corruption reform and brought a businessman's perspective to the government table.  He got along fairly well with the City Council. He was an affable, sharply-dressed schmoozer with a dynamite accent who could work a room almost as well as Bill Clinton (and that's saying something!).   And then Katrina hit, and hubris got the better of him. Combine hubris with power, cover it with a self-actuated, perceived cloak of invincibility, and you set the stage for lots and lots of corruption.  And that's what the people of New Orleans got.  With second and third curtain calls.

I sat on the Mayor's Military Advisory Committee during Nagin's tenure. During that time, we sponsored a number of activities, including job fairs, informational events, air shows, and awards.  He showed up at maybe three events over an 8-year time span.  And those were early in his first term.

His sentencing is scheduled for June, but that will probably be put off a number of times.

 (Remember, it took former Congressman William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson nearly three years to report to prison after his conviction and sentencing. Being the "model prisoner," he was transferred to a federal fenceless "camp" in January of this year.  The same camp where the infamous former Governor Edwin "the only way I won't be re-elected is if they find me in bed with a dead girl or a live boy" Edwards spent a little time before early release, after which he entered into a third marriage with a thirty-something woman who had corresponded with him during his unfortunate incarceration, and became a father again at age 86.  The creepiness factor of all that is just simply immeasurable.)

Some expect him to be shown leniency, but I have my doubts.  Remember, a number of those 20 guilty counts concern federal tax evasion, and we all know how the Feds feel about tax evasion.  He will remain under house arrest until sentencing, but I don't think he has a house in New Orleans anymore.  I wonder where he'll stay.

In other news, the former Coroner of St. Tammany Parish was also fined and sentenced today to 24 months in prison following his federal corruption conviction.  At least he offered an apology to the good taxpayers whose money he misused.

All in all, this has been an unfortunate day for corruption in Louisiana. And that's a very fortunate thing for the people of Louisiana.

"Dollar Bill" Finally to be Issued a Prison Jumpsuit!

So.  Seven years after his wrongdoing came to light, and 2 1/2 years after his conviction, my former Congressman, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, has finally been ordered to report to prison by May 4th.  You can refresh your memory about his saga here.

He got 13 years.  The judge will send him to a minimum security federal facility and Jefferson will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.  That means he'll be in the hoosegow for more than 11 years.  He's 65 now, so it's likely he won't be feeling too spry when he gets sprung.

Sounds like watching ol' Bill don the orange jumpsuit should be a pretty strong deterrent to others in Congress who might be tempted to engage in similar hijinks.  But, then again, power corrupts.

We have plenty of evidence of that axiom in DC today, now, don't we?

A Jefferson Family Update: Movin' on Out

There has been a lot of activity going on in New Orleans' once powerful Jefferson clan.

You might recall that William Jefferson is my former congressman who was convicted of bribery after federal investigators found, among other things, $90K in cold hard cash in his freezer.  He has remained free, pending appeal, since being sentenced to 13 years in the federal pen in November 2009.  Yes, it's been that long.  Oral arguments were re-scheduled for May of this year, but they have since been postponed yet again due to his attorney's battle with lymphoma.  No date has been set while Dollar Bill cools his heels out in the fresh air.

Brother Mose Jefferson, who was also convicted in 2009 on several counts of bribery and obstruction of justice, had been serving his 10-year sentence when he succumbed to cancer in May of this year. His passing got him excused from another unrelated trial for criminal fraud, not yet set, that involved a scheme to divert monies intended for charitable endeavors, cooked up by Mose and gal-pal, former City Council member and state legislator, Renee Gill-Pratt.  Her first trial in February of this year resulted in a hung jury, and re-trial begins this coming Monday.

Testifying in that re-trial against Gill-Pratt will be sister Betty Jefferson and her daughter Wanda Coleman, who pleaded guilty in the scam and took a deal.  Betty and Wanda are scheduled to be sentenced on August 31st -- happy birthday to me!

And now, it looks like there might be even a little more action on the Betty front.  You might recall that Betty Jefferson had served as the New Orleans Fourth District Assessor for a number of years, and that misappropriation of Parish funds made up the bulk of the charges against her in the bogus charity scheme with Mose, Gill-Pratt, and daughter Wanda. 

Get ready for this -- it gets even more convoluted.

It was revealed yesterday that an audit of the last five years of Betty's tenure as Assessor revealed up to $114,000 additional checks in possibly misappropriated funds.  It might be simply a matter of sloppy record-keeping, but when you consider that several of the checks drawn on the Assessor's work fund were made payable to an Assessor's office employee whose endorsement was then forged by a Jefferson family member, who subsequently kept the money, something smells stinky in the Crescent City. 

Among those invited to respond to the audit, but all of whom declined, were the office employee, Betty, Wanda, and Wanda's daughter Tawanda Coleman.  So now we've added another generation to the family business in public corruption. 

It seems to me that the Betty clan might be looking at state charges and orange jumpsuits in the near future.

I warned you previously about Bill's daughters -- the highly educated ones -- but his great-nieces and nephews didn't blip on my radar.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: this family is nothing more than a band of amoral brigands aiming to "spread the wealth" from the public and the poor by channeling it to themselves.

I'd better get the ol' radar tuned up.

Richmond, Congressional Candidate From a Culture of Corruption

Let's chat about Cedric Richmond, Democratic candidate for the Second District of Louisiana Congressional seat currently held by Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao.

Cedric is an attorney (sort of) and a term-limited state Legislator whose antics give new meaning to the term "weasel."

Back in 2005, he thought it might be a lark to sit on the New Orleans City Council. So, he filled out his qualifying papers and declared an address that turned out not to be his "domicile." The Supreme Court was not amused and removed him from the ballot 8 days before the April 2005 election. Subsequently, in 2008, following an investigation into misconduct by the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, the Supreme Court suspended his law license for six months in a 5 -2 decision (one dissenter would've imposed a lengthier suspension) for falsifying an official document.   Charming.


In 2007, while serving in the Legislature, Richmond, while patronizing a pool hall in Baton Rouge, got into a bar brawl with another guy and was charged with misdemeanor disturbing the peace, with charges later dropped. The police report notes that "alcohol was a factor" in the fight over a pool table.   Dripping with class.


The State Board of Ethics has fined him $2,000 for failing to disclose within the appropriate time frame some legal work he did between 2004 and 2006 for absentee parents in adoptions. The guy is a lawyer and a legislator and he doesn't know when and which form to file? And he wants us to send him to Congress?!?!   Mensa candidate.


There are also some pretty serious, Jefferson-family-worthy allegations that Richmond solicited and steered substantial amounts of grant money intended for underprivileged kids to his main squeeze (who was later charged with felonious theft, but pleaded out to misdemeanor theft) and other diversions.   Soulless.

The injuring-kids scheme is the main issue that Cao's campaign seems to be hitting -- this arrived in the mailbox on Saturday.

I just cannot fathom why any thinking person could possibly cast a vote for this scum. Sure, he's rounded up the endorsements of a few local big-wig Dems and even the Young President filmed a commercial for him that ran during the Saints opener ("New Orleans needs Cedric Richmond in Congress, and so do I . . . ." -- as if that's not enough to tell you what Ced's made of!) .




But, consider this -- his closest competition in the primary (a rather earthy, brash young man) recently endorsed Cao! Also jumping across the aisle to endorse Cao and his unquestionable ethics are a New Orleans City Councilwoman, Orleans Parish Assessor, an Orleans Parish judge and the popular Sheriff of Jefferson Parish. Folks, this just doesn't happen to the Democratic party in a general election in Southeast Louisiana.


While I believe Cao to be a RINO, I can't begin to think about sending someone as corrupt as Richmond in Congress. There are other candidates in the race, but to call them longshots is masterful understatement. So, I suppose I shall hold my nose and vote for Cao. At least he responds to my emails, and is usually on point.

The DCCC has pulled its advertising money from this race -- speculation as to why ranges from "Richmond has it in the bag," to "we didn't vet him well enough and now need to leave him twisting in the wind."

This is getting really interesting.

Better Check the Limit on That Race Card!

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. The Daily Show's “Senior Black Correspondent” Larry Wilmore discovers that "The Race Card" is maxed out and explains how that happened -- and what can replace it. It even gets in a dig at my jailbird former Congressman, "Dollar Bill" Jefferson! WARNING: Adult language.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Race Card Is Maxed Out
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

H/T to Legal Insurrection. (Ya gotta love one of the comments at LI -- "The race card has gotten used so much that its [sic] now a punchline.") Heh.

The Jefferson Family Implosion Continues on the Fast Track

Remember "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, my former Congressman who stashed $90,000 in cash in his freezer? The one who is now awaiting sentencing for his public corruption conviction?

Remember his brother, Mose Jefferson? The one now awaiting sentencing for bribing a public official? The one scheduled for another trial in March for mail fraud, looting charities set up to access public funds to assist the impoverished, and a number of other naughtinesses?

Meet their sister, Betty Jefferson, 4th District Assessor for Orleans Parish, the lady in regal purple pictured above. Last Wednesday, she and her daughter, Angela Coleman, pleaded guilty to the federal raps of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and tax evasion.

The fun part? Ms. Jefferson and her offspring (obviously, the tainted nut doesn't fall far from the poison tree) will be testifying against good ol' Mose and his gal-pal, Renee Gill-Pratt, former state legislator and City Council member, in that March trial.

Yet another sister, Brenda Foster, pleaded guilty in 2008 in the upcoming foray into federal court, and agreed then to testify against Mose and Renee.

What a charming southern family. Wouldn't you just love to invite them all over for sweet tea and a spirited game of Backgammon? After you locked up all the family silver and heirlooms?

One Times-Picayune columnist, Stephanie Grace, echoed my feelings in her Sunday op-ed piece entitled, "Predatory Jeffersons": this family is nothing more than a band of amoral brigands aiming to "spread the wealth" from the public and the poor by channeling it to themselves. Her two closing paragraphs nail it:

In short, legal documents in this case paint a picture of a family willing to betray anyone and everyone around them, from their closest friends to their poorest constituents, for their own gain.

Whatever else Bill and Mose Jefferson did, that will be the final word on
the family's political legacy.

The scary part? Dollar Bill has five daughters, all Ivy League educated, and at least one of whom has already dabbled in politics.

Run for the hills and hide your assets!

Bearing a New Moniker, "Jailbird Bill" Will Take Extended Junket to Federal Penal Facility

That man wearing the deer in the headlights expression is "Dollar Bill" Jefferson, my former Congressman (the one who preceded Anh "Joseph the Turncoat" Cao), and he's going to have a new nickname from here on out: "Jailbird Jefferson."

Thirteen years worth of new nickname.

In passing sentence on Jailbird Bill yesterday, federal Judge T.S. Ellis, III, stated:

"Public corruption is a cancer that needs to be surgically removed. . . . I have no doubt you have led an extraordinary life; you have accomplished a great deal. . . . It makes this even all that much sadder for me and many others. Obviously you are a man of great gifts. It is a tragedy these gifts have been squandered."

Jefferson's attorneys have asked that he remain free pending appeal, which will probably take up to three years, because he's not a flight risk (translation: he has surrendered his passport) and is a "strong family man." In other words, William Jefferson could be described as an honorable man, worthy of retaining his freedom until the last possible moment.

Wasn't the same said of Brutus and the gang before their little -- forgive me -- tea party at The Forum? But, then again, was not Brutus fighting corruption rather than living it? Whither lives, "honor?" Not, I would suggest, in the Jefferson household. (Nor in the White House, but we won't go there today).

He'll probably do his time in a minimum security federal "camp," but he will be incarcerated and he will actually be doing penance for abusing the public's trust. Though short of the maximum requested by the prosecution, Jefferson's sentence is the longest imposed to date for Congressional shenanigans. Judge Ellis also warned that Jefferson's sentence would serve as a "beacon" that abuse of the public's trust will carry a price. A dear price -- at least a baker's dozen of years in our short time on this Earth for one miscreant.

Someone needs to poke Charley Rangel and point out that Jailbird Jefferson once thought himself bulletproof, too. Run and dodge, Congressman Rangel -- run and dodge.

Charles Rangel: Whither the Ways and Means Committee?

Congressman Rangel, allow me to re-introduce you to your former Ways and Means co-committee member, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson. In light of your recently escalating financial and ethical woes, y'all might want to have a little tete-a-tete about potential outcomes.

Oh, and if he recommends an offbeat use for your freezer, I'd decline the advice if I were you. Just sayin'.

Go Down, Mose Jeff . . . .

All right! Now we're making some progress!

For the second time in less than a month's passage, we've looked on as TWO members of the Jefferson political machine family were served their just desserts. Earlier this week, "Dollar Bill's" brother, Mose, was convicted by a local jury on 4 of 7 counts in a federal indictment focusing on bribery of a public official.

It seems that, a few years ago, good brother Mose managed to get some $140,000 into the hands of former Orleans Parish School Board member, Ellenese Brooks-Simms, shortly before she rammed through a contract to purchase a software-based teaching system sold by one of Mr. Jefferson's commercial enterprises. Good ol' Mose argued that the money had nothing to do with the contract -- he was simply helping out a friend who was going through hard times. The trouble with his argument is that Ms. Brooks-Simms had already rolled and pleaded out. So, once again in the Jefferson Family saga, condemnatory recorded conversations surfaced, this time courtesy of the subject of the bribe.

Mose got off on the money-laundering count -- that's okay. Downright bribery is a little worse on the going-to-hell scale than re-purposing a few funds.

Next up -- after sentencing and the filing of an Appeal Petition -- the January trial of Mose, sister Betty Jefferson, her daughter, and a few others (including Mose's main squeeze, Renee Gill-Pratt -- former state legislator and New Orleans City Council member) for stealing funds not from mere school children in one of the poorest and most underperforming school districts in the country, but from other, multiple nonprofit groups dedicated to helping impoverished New Orleanians. That gives a whole new meaning to "movin' on up," don't you think?

The whole thing is beginning to resemble a Greek tragedy wherein hubris acts as the catalyst for the downfall of the once-mighty. Without the "pity" factor.

These people -- these successful people -- are supposed to be "role models" and poster children for pulling oneself out of poverty. But when someone emerges from the quicksand of poverty by climbing on the backs of those still being sucked down, he deserves a special comeuppance. It appears that, insofar as the Jefferson family is concerned, the comeuppance will be an extra heapin' helpin' of just desserts, served up cold, just as one would serve revenge.

With a little sugar on top for added sweetness.

Breaking News in the Dollar Bill Trial!

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! On 11 counts, including the RICO count. Not Guilty on 5.

That beat the over/under! I guess I'll need to replace the "Dollar Bill" pic with a former-Congressman-in-an-orange-jumpsuit mug shot. Where do they get the gall?!?!

Details to follow.

Update: "Dollar Bill" Jefferson Goes to Court

Following 5 weeks of prosecution testimony from FBI sting witnesses and co-conspirators, videotapes of money-exchanges, and audio tapes of the Congressman's own voice, the defense team for former Congressman Bill Jefferson began and rested its case yesterday. In 2 hours!

In a reversal of its previous position, the prosecution agreed to the admission of parts of the videotapes it had earlier resisted. Coming to that decision was probably made easier by the judge's comments (out of the hearing of the jury) that those excerpts don't "amount to a hill of beans" and "[i]t doesn't matter if he committed the crime for the benefit of his children, for himself, or for some charity."

Playing those tapes took up 90 minutes of the 2-hour defense. The defense then filed a Motion to Dismiss 15 of the 16 counts. Smirk.

Closing arguments begin next Tuesday. Methinks the defense is betting a little too much on "reasonable doubt."

The good former-Congressman -- always quite the dapper dresser -- should probably spend a little time at his tailor's over the next few days getting fitted for a custom-made orange jumpsuit. We wouldn't want him to look shabby at his debut in the federal hoosegow, now would we?

William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson Goes to Court

This rather sneaky-looking fellow is my former Congressman, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson.

Harvard law and Georgetown post-doc, he first went to Washington in 1991, having been elected as the first black Congressman to represent Louisiana since Reconstruction. Jefferson was no novice in governmental ins and outs, however; he had knocked around the state Capitol as a state Senator for twelve years and clerked for a federal judge. Once established in D.C., he worked himself into a pretty powerful position, serving on Ways and Means. You might also recall that he commandeered National Guard resources four days after Katrina to take him to his flooded Uptown home where he retrieved a number of personal items and managed to divert two military trucks and one Coast Guard helicopter from rescue operations while thousands remained stranded on rooftops.

Despite this elitist misappropriation of government assets, he was easily re-elected in the fall of 2006, and even though, suspecting him of engaging in bribery, the FBI had raided his Congressional offices in May 2006. (Don't ask me to explain Louisiana voters -- they defy explanation! See Edwin Edwards and David Duke).

Then, he messed up.

He got a little too greedy and, on June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Dollar Bill on sixteen counts related to corruption, telecommunications in Nigeria, and $90,000 in cold hard cash. Literally. Wrapped in foil and stuffed into pie crust and Boca burger boxes in his freezer. The source of the cash: an FBI sting operation that had him taking the marked bills to pass along to the former Nigerian Vice President as an "incentive" to grant a telecommunications license to a company in which he would ultimately have an ownership interest. Impressed?

The charges include Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, RICO stuff, and wire fraud, among others. He could get up to 20 years in a federal pen (just as one of his proteges, former City Councilman and once-expected successor to Mayor Ray Nagin -- another fine Louisiana politician --, Oliver Thomas, moves to a half-way house to complete his sentence for public corruption). Jefferson's trial began in Virginia on June 9th (happy anniversary gift to me!!!).

So far, his defense has centered around his fuzzy contention that "he was manipulated into accepting the money by [a woman wearing an FBI wire, on videotape] and that he did 'something stupid,' and took it," but he took it as a private citizen and not as a Congressman; a Congressman who has two influence-peddling pals who have already copped pleas to the deal. All of which is a fancy way of saying that his actions don't amount to public corruption. Yeah, like Joe Average has direct contact with the Vice President of Nigeria. I'd call that a Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot moment.

During his unsuccessful bid for re-election in 2008 (yeah -- we finally threw the sucker out!), he promised the people of the 2nd Congressional District "an honorable explanation" for the cash-sicles.

We're still waiting to hear. This should be good.