Louisiana Voice

LouisianaVoice has learned that Louisiana Public Service Commission member Eric Skrmetta, in addition to his involvement in a Mississippi Gulf Coast casino operation, also entered into an agreement with the same company in an effort to gain approval of a casino in Harvey, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans in adjacent Jefferson Parish.

Skrmetta, of Metairie, represents PSC’s 1st District.

Neither the income he derived from his partnership with Boomtown Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, nor the agreement with Boomtown in the Jefferson Parish endeavor are mentioned in his FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT on file with the Louisiana Board of Ethics.

Documents filed with the SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC) indicate a letter of intent was signed on March 26, 1993 between Boomtown, The Skrmetta Group, Inc., and Skrmetta Machinery Corp.

Skrmetta Machinery Corp. was chartered in 1968 and remains in good standing, according to filings with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. 117 Eric Skrmetta is president of Skrmetta Machinery and is listed as an officer of The Skrmetta Group.

Skrmetta’s financial disclosure statement lists The Skrmetta Group as one of his holdings but does not mention Skrmetta Machinery. Nor does he include any income from either corporate holding or from Boomtown.

SEC filings also show that an agreement to lease real property in Harvey was signed between Boomtown and the two Skrmetta entities.

On Nov. 18, 1996, Boomtown entered into an agreement with Skrmetta. Under terms of that agreement, the company agreed to pay him $5.673 million in return for Skrmetta’s 7.5 percent interest in a partnership between Skrmetta and Boomtown. Boomtown was required to pay a down payment of $500,000 b Dec. 5 of that year and the remaining $5.173 million to be paid “not later than Aug. 10, 1997.”

An agreement between Skrmetta and Boomtown currently pays Skrmetta an average of $500,000 on the LEASE of the property on which its Biloxi casino is situated. That amount does not include his 5 percent cut of gaming revenue from casino operations. Neither of those income sources are included in his financial disclosure statement.

Today, the industry has been cleaned up considerably, with casinos now owned by Indian tribes or major hotel and leisure industry companies whose stocks are publicly traded and reviewed by the SEC.

Still, regarded as cash cows, casinos remain the target of those hoping to make a quick fortune.  Authorities found in the 1970s that a number of casinos in Nevada, namely Las Vegas, had been taken over by organized crime which took control of union pension funds to facilitate casino expansions. And later, Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., owned by Donald Trump, was fined $10 million after having been convicted of money laundering.

In Louisiana, there are no prohibitions to elected officials holding an interest in gaming enterprises.

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“If he’s sick, then they planted it when they tested him. It’s what they did to me when I went to hospital for my heart beating too fast. Two weeks later I got a cold. It’s political. I don’t trust the US government at all. Who are they to mandate personal safety? I listen to Trump.”

—Trump supporter Sean Patterson, in St. Joseph, Missouri. [Well, that certainly rates a roll of the eyes and “OMG” uttered under one’s breath – while slowly backing away.]

“When I first heard, I did wonder if he made it up to get out of the next debate or win sympathy. Before it would have been impossible to think a president would make up getting ill but now anything seems possible. He probably didn’t but I’m not completely sure.”

—Trump supporter Amy Grant, in St. Joseph.

“[E]veryone who hitched themselves to the president’s dishonest messaging about the virus is being confronted with the reality that the president himself is sick.”

—Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

“This is a reminder that covid-19 is an ongoing threat to our country and can happen to anyone. Learning more about when President Trump and others with whom he had contact last tested negative and first tested positive will help understand this outbreak and limit the risk of further spread.”

—Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama administration.

“Wear the damn mask. “Follow the science. If I could say one thing to all of the people out there watching: Forget the politics. This is a public safety health issue.”

—Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, who moderated last Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Joe Biden, while awaiting his own coronavirus test results.

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“[There was] no contact from the Trump campaign or the White House to alert the Biden campaign of possible exposure.”

—PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, on the Trump campaign’s failure to alert Joe Biden of his possible exposure to the coronavirus after Trump’s positive diagnosis. [And just what makes anyone believe Trump’s campaign would ever exhibit that much decency and consideration?]

“According to CNN and MSNBC, the Trump camp didn’t contact Biden’s campaign about possible exposure to COVID. At some point, the incompetence and the cruelty are indistinguishable.”

—Tweet by The Rude Pundit.

“How do you catch a hoax?”

—Tweet by Anand Giridharadas, Oct. 2, 2020.

“We cannot go back to work in the Senate unless everyone who has had any exposure to the White House over the last two weeks is tested.”

—Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn., in interview on MSNBC on Friday.

“It was extraordinarily stupid to hold the event that way. It reflects the recklessness with which this White House has been operating.”

—Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, on last Saturday’s event in the White House Rose Garden at which Trump introduced Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee. [Six attendees, including Trump, have tested positive for COVID in the week following.]

“The stories that he is in bad health are understandable enough around election time, but they are not true.”

—White House lead physician, in October 1944. President Franklin Roosevelt died six months later, in April 1945, only three months into his fourth term. […and then there’s that unannounced trip to Walter Reed Hospital in November 2019 by Trump, a visit he brushed off as a midnight physical.]

“[T]he President is getting cutting-edge therapies, paid for by our tax dollars, that none of us can get because the President, who paid nothing in taxes for 10 years, has willfully downplayed the virus and who is trying to kick people off their health insurance.”

—Tweet by Julia Loffe.

Karma is a bitch.

—Anon.

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By Stephen Winham, Guest Columnist

I have, for quite some time now, and in many different places, seen evidence that my reality is significantly different from that of people who support President Trump and his Republican Party.  I could tell myself these were just very large differences of opinion until a recent incident.

A woman in the neighborhood with whom I visit several times a week during morning walks is, unabashedly, very conservative politically.  We both know better than to ever discuss politics on these walks. We love our pets and our conversations usually revolve around them and neighborhood goings-on. Our visits are always pleasant and fun – She is vivacious and has a great sense of humor.

 One day last week I mentioned in a Facebook post that I consider the President of the United States to be a psychopath.  She responded that she is positive he is not a psychopath and pointed out that her studies are in that field. She followed through with a list of traits of psychopaths in support of her position.  I looked at the list and found it very much confirmed my position.  Here are 7 traits of a (modern) psychopath from a 2018 piece in Psychology Today.  They are consistent with her list:

1. Pathological Lying and Manipulation

2. Lack of Morality and Rule Breaking

3. Lack of Empathy and Cold-Heartedness

4. Narcissism and False Superiority Complex

5. Gaslighting and Psychological Bullying

6. Lack of Contrition and Self-Serving Victimhood

7. Situational” Psychopathy – the individual extends cordiality, respect, and regard towards some, but exhibits inhumanity, harshness, and cruelty towards others.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/communication-success/201810/7-characteristics-the-modern-psychopath

It turns out we both have master’s degrees in psychology and even attended the same university, though at different times.  Her Master’s Degree is from Texas A & M.  Mine is from Louisiana Tech. We grew up in the same part of Louisiana. We live in the same relatively small neighborhood. She is younger than me, but by less than 15 years so we have had some of the same experiences as adults.  To my mind, the only explanation for our total difference on this is that we really do see the sitting President in completely opposite ways.  She presented this list to support her position that he is not a psychopath, yet it confirms my position he is.

The reason this is so important is that I often hear supporters of Donald J. Trump say things like, “He’s a scoundrel, but I support his and his party’s policies so I am able to overlook his boorish behavior and bad personality.”  Being a psychopath is a far cry from just being a scoundrel or boor.  Psychopaths are actually and truly dangerous.  It is often said they lack what we call a conscience. This is a HUGE difference.

The thing that makes Donald Trump a little less dangerous than other psychopaths is that he is also essentially unlikeable. Some would use this distinction to define him as a sociopath rather than a psychopath, but that is hardly something to claim as a bragging right. The most dangerous psychopaths are charming and able to get away with more. 

Despite his dour and bullying personality, Donald Trump has wide personal appeal.  It is seen by his admirers as refreshing candor, toughness and, of all things, honesty – despite the fact he lies daily, sometimes repeatedly in the same day.  Do some people like this, or do they actively ignore it? 

What is there to admire in a person with any of the 7 traits listed above?  How can anybody observe him and not see him exhibit each one of them? I submit any person with normal intelligence can see them in him quite easily.  No degrees or diplomas are required.  To his credit, he does nothing to cover them up and they are on display constantly, but even when people of ostensibly similar backgrounds see him do and say precisely the same things, we really do not. 

How is this complete dissonance of perception possible?  I frankly do not know, but it is the most frightening thing about Donald John Trump as President of the United States of America.  How can we possibly unite as a people to create a better country and world if we are unable to experience the same reality and see the same clear and present danger he presents?

I know many of you reading this will pass it off as meaningless in the face of the looming socialism, nay communism, you see in the Democratic Party and its candidate.  Many of you have closely held religious beliefs that justify your support despite your dislike of President Trump’s personal behavior and a lack of concrete evidence he supports your views.  I can only stress, again, that his are not just character flaws. President Trump’s psychopathy should set off alarms so loud that you could never vote for him, just as you believe you could never vote for Joe Biden.  Please re-think your position.  This is not just about you or me – it is about our collective survival.

(Stephen Winham is a retired State Budget Director for the State of Louisiana. He resides in St. Francisville.)

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“These accusations were so deranged. I always knew it would get to the point where people would ask: How did it get to this point? How did it get so bad?”

—Researcher Travis View, on QAnon, which the FBI calls a domestic terrorism threat.

“QAnon represents a public security threat with the potential in the future to become a more impactful domestic terror threat.”

—Warning from the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center.

“That line between incitement of violence versus legitimate political speech gets really, really fine under Trump.”

—Ethan Zuckerman, director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, on Donald Trump’s rhetoric in support of several QAnon-affiliated political candidates.

“Study Finds More COVID-19 Cases Among Viewers of Fox News Host Who Downplayed Pandemic.”

—National Public Radio headline story last May. [A story I would file under “K,” for “Karma.”

“Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments.”

—Presidential physician Dr. Sean Conley, on announcing that Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus. [To paraphrase the late Earl Long: I hope he’s okay. If something happens to him, they might put a good person in there who’ll win. On a more serious note, I personally know victims of coronavirus and it’s not something I would wish on anyone.]

“We need politicians…to take this seriously and to support their scientists and clinicians in leading the outbreak management, rather than have political influence in trying to deny that this virus is in circulation and drag your feet around control measures because it suited your agenda.”

— Dr. Bharat Pankhania, who advises British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on communicable disease control, in saying he hopes that Trump’s positive test sends a message to him and other world leaders.

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