Louisiana Voice

When it comes to compiling a laundry list of why I detest Donald Trump, there are so many places to start:

• Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was all about investigating the fraudulent Trump University – until she got the bright idea of soliciting a campaign contribution from the Former Guy himself. He ponied up a $25,000 contribution and suddenly the investigation was dropped.
• Former U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida let Jeffrey Epstein off on a secret work-release sentence for sex crimes against underage girls was later appointed by Trump as U.S. Labor Secretary, proving once and for all, that birds of a feather…
• During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump ridiculed Gold Star parents, Mr. and Mrs. Khizr Khan and he also mocked disabled news reporter Serge Kovaleski during the campaign – both reprehensible acts in every sense of the word.

I could go on…and on…and on, but why bother? Everything I could say about him has already been said and many probably would rather just move on. His claims of having the election stolen were made with zero proof – as evidenced by about 50 court challenges he lost.

But just when you think there can’t be any more this moron can do to humiliate himself, there is.

The New York Times on Saturday had a story that should send the Tangerine Toddler straight to federal prison.

(I know there are millions of his followers who will refuse to believe the story, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of its validity. It reminds me of a sermon I heard Easter Sunday in which my pastor noted that atheists would deny the Resurrection even in the face of what he considered conclusive evidence. Even as he said that, I could not help thinking of the dedicated Trumpsters out there who will go to their graves believing anything the Former Guy says is gospel of an equivalent truth.)

But back to our story. You may remember my writing about all the solicitations I was receiving from Trump and the Repugnantcan Party for weeks on end after the election had shown a convincing 7-million vote win for Joe Biden. It wasn’t just a single email per day, it was several – from Trump, the Repugnantcan Party and from each of Trump’s adult children.

It was a scam. First of all, Trump tried to convince us it was for his legal fight to overturn the election results when in fact, it was money for any damned purpose he wanted. That’s right. Walking around money. And the scam was that much of those post-election contributions were used not for a legal defense, but to repay more than $64 million in fraudulent pre-election “contributions.”

But most egregious of all, it turns out that the way the solicitations were set up, you didn’t give just a single contribution the way Stacy Blatt, dying of cancer in hospice care, thought. No, it was multiple contributions, unbeknownst to the donors. In Blatt’s case, he gave $500 that he probably couldn’t afford, given his monthly income of just $1,000. But as soon as he clicked that button to give his $500, a second $500 “contribution” disappeared from his bank account the very next day into the Trump fund. Then another $500 the next week and again every week after than through mid-October until his bank account had been emptied, causing his utility and rent payment checks to bounce.

In all, Trump robbed a dying man of $3,000.

It was the same story for Victor Amelino, 78, of California, who made a $990 on donation to Trump in September via WinRed, the for-profit company that processed Trump contributions. They came back seven more times, relieving Amelino of nearly $8,000.

It gets worse.

The Trump campaign, not satisfied with such paltry sums, later inserted a little thing called a “money bomb” that doubled a donor’s contribution – all without the donor’s knowledge.

After the election, Trump launched that “legal defense” fund that, in reality, was used to repay the money taken earlier by deception.

Where I come from, they call that a Ponzi scheme and they’re illegal. Just ask Bernie Madoff.

The New York Times is by subscription only so many of you cannot read the story online. But for those of you with subscriptions, you can read the entire story HERE.

For all of Trump’s cheating, lying, manipulation, chiseling, scheming and thievery, this is the very worst.

If there is any scintilla of justice remaining on this planet, he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

There is no low to which he is unwilling to stoop. And for the John Kennedys, Steve Scalises and Garret Graves who continue to spew their B.S. about a “stolen election,” you’re no better than your mentor.

Our twice annual fundraiser at LouisianaVoice is now underway. Unlike some online news services, we don’t beg for money year-round. Just during April and September. We figure that’s about all you can stand of the begging for your hard-earned money.

But the truth is, we don’t allow advertisements (except those the platform hosts sneaks in without our permission; we have no control over those and we don’t get a cent from them) and we don’t have a paywall because we want as many people as possible to have access to the stories and perspectives we offer.

But there are costs and we do come to you twice a year to asked for your support. We don’t demand that you give what you can’t afford like some shameless televangelist. If you cannot afford to help, please don’t. We understand. But if you can, anything you can contribute will be appreciated.

Those giving $125 or more will get a signed copy one my newest books: Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, or Bordello on the Bayou, based on the true story of the Baton Rouge Madam of a few years back. Please include your mailing address and your book preference when participating.

Just click on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this column to pay by credit card. You don’t have to have a PayPal account of your own to access my account for payment. Or, if you prefer, you can sent a check to: LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.

As always, thank you for your continued support of LouisianaVoice for these past 10 years.

The LSU administration, responding in typically timely fashion, is tackling the burgeoning on-campus sexual harassment scandal head-on by forming a special blue-ribbon committee to address the problem, according to an announcement by the school’s Board of Supervisors.

A committee will be appointed to conduct a no-holds-barred investigation, according to the board’s legal counsel, I. Ken Fleecem-Moore, whose law firm, Cheatham Tillet Hertz, was retained by the board under a $2 million contract (plus expenses) to be paid by the Tiger Athletic Foundation, which also pays more than 70 percent of Ed Orgeron’s $7 million per year compensation package.

“We will draw on well-established expertise from the area of sexual harassment in forming the committee,” Fleecem-Moore said. “At LSU, we take such charges seriously and we will do everything possible to see that no one may harass any of our students and be reported for it ever again,” he said, as he stifled a giggle at the pronunciation of the word harass. He said anyone found guilty of reporting harassment in the future “will be exiled to Uranus,” again breaking into laughter.

“We consider this a serious issue,” he said, regaining his composure. The Committee to Halt Aggressive Retribution by Avaricious, Selfish Students (HARASS), “will conduct private disciplinary hearings with female students who have complained of being on-campus victims of sexual attacks and will offer them anger management counseling in lieu of their filing all these complaints and lawsuits,” he said.

“Foremost among our objectives,” Fleecem-Moore said, “is seeing to it that former Gov. Bobby Jindal and the current coaching staff are shielded from exposure in this unfortunate flurry of bad PR incidents. Gov. Jindal is a leading proponent of family values in the Republican Party and linking him to in any way to these allegations, including the remote possibility of his having knowledge of the so-called problem while he was governor, could be devastating to his political career, such as it is.

“The fact that as governor he appointed the LSU Board of Supervisors does not necessarily translate to placing at his feet any responsibility in the board’s decision to veto the firing of the previous coach despite the board’s – and possibly the governor’s – awareness of the charges. And I don’t have to explain to you what a national championship coaching staff, both then and now, means to this university or how critical it is that former board members refrain from interjecting their personal conspiracy theories about who knew what when into this ongoing investigation. Speculation on such matters is counterproductive at best and cheap politics at worst.”

In the spirit of full transparency, he passed out copies of a letter which he said proves conclusively that there was never any attempt to cover up problems at LSU:

“No collusion, no quid pro quo,” he repeated over and over as he passed out the document.

The committee will be chaired by former LSU President F. KING ALEXADER, who has just resigned as president of Oregon State University so he could devote full-time to this project. Other members will be former head football coach LES MILES and former standout football players CECIL COLLINS, DRAKE DAVIS and DERRIUS GUICE.

“F. King, that name’s a hoot,” said Fleecem-Moore, “ –  And Oregon State. F-King, Organ, get it? Now, that’s funny.”

Special advisers to the committee will be former president DONALD TRUMP, New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO, GHISLAINE MAXWELL, BILL COSBY, HARVEY WEINSTEIN, former U.S. Rep. ANTHONY WEINER and BILL O’REILLY. “That name Weiner always cracks me up,” Fleecem said, again laughing.

PAT MAGEE, formerly of the Louisiana Attorney General’s office, STEPHEN RUSSO, executive counsel for the Louisiana Department of Hospitals, and LDH attorney supervisor WELDON HILL, will serve as special co-legal counsels to the committee.

“As you can see from the diverse makeup of the committee and its advisers, we are attempting to bring together a wide range of viewpoints to address the growing problem of accusations against these individuals who represent LSU so well on the playing field,” Fleecem said. “Our objective, of course, will be to determine why these women are so bent on wrecking the careers and reputations of these fine young men just because they have normal, strong desires and needs.”

F. King Alexander, sometimes referred to as F—king President, said he was deeply concerned about the accusations. “It’s a good thing these charges weren’t brought up during the 2019 national championship year,” he said. “That would have been devastating to fundraising activities and to recruiting. There has to be a balance in our concerns here.”

Fleecem said the committee, reinforced by the best legal minds available in this particular field of law, would make “every effort” to go through the motions of conducting a serious investigation and that it would issue the standard whitewash, er, that is, white paper report after emotions have had time to cool down. “Hopefully, we can get this put behind us in time for the Tigers’ spring football game or, at the latest, by the opening of fall practice,” he said.

“The fraternity rush parties and binge-drinking bashes will be cranking up right after that. We have to get back to normal at LSU, ” he said.

“We’re convinced that LSU can maintain its reputation of being able to quietly smooth this crisis over and make it go away just as it did with the Ivor van Heerden and Steven Hatfill matters – not to mention the Drs. Roxanne Townsend and Fred Cerise…or the Raymond Lamonica…or the Teresa Buchanan firings or that unfortunate matter of those faulty TMJ implants that cost the LSU Dental School millions to settle,” Fleecem-Moore said. “All those were simply unfortunate errors in judgment that, in hindsight, could have been handled differently by those individuals.”

“We’re certain that by bringing these emerging developments under control quickly, quietly and without having to sacrifice a single athletic scholarship, we can demonstrate the kind of straightforward thinking that makes LSU the great flagship football university it is and an institution Louisiana can be proud of,” he said, adding for emphasis, the standard Ed Orgeron guttural, “Go Tigers!”

LouisianaVoice is 10 years old!

We started out way back when with a long story about all the perks legislators receive – including those select few who get to rent apartments in the state-owned Pentagon Barracks across the street from the State Capitol at bargain basement rates.

We were unable, of course, to give you a discreet peek behind the walls of those apartments to learn what occurs in all those after-hours parties but we were able to give you a bird’s eye view of how legislators collect per diem payments for days when neither the House or Senate is in session – like weekends.

We were there when they tried to sneak that illegal retirement pay raise for State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson back in 2014 and that one story spawned dozens of follow-up stories about abuses in the Louisiana State Police administration that eventually forced Edmonson into retirement (minus that aborted pay raise).

We’ve pointed out the blatant HYPOCRISY in the manner in which the LSU Athletic Department is run, comparing the coddling of jocks and coaches with the hair-trigger firings of people like dental school faculty member Dr. Randall Schaffer, biomedical researcher Steven Hatfield, coastal scientist Ivor van Heerden, associate professor Teresa Buchanan, and Drs. Roxanne Townsend and Fred Cerise.

Recently, LouisianaVoice pointed out the decade-long ruse by Congress in pretending to be on the side of victims of a quirk in the SOCIAL SECURITY regulations that could be fixed so very easily – if those in Congress were only serious about the lip service they pay to efforts to change the law.

LouisianaVoice has given extensive coverage to legal and humanitarian problems experienced by a private prison company headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

We were the very first to call out a couple of SHERIFFS in St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes who tried to invoke a law declared unconstitutional in 1964 in order to punish critics of the two sheriffs. Those two incidents have prompted a bill in this year’s legislature to finally expunge the voided statute from the Louisiana lawbooks.

We devoted so many stories to former Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Haik (including a video of deputies turning vicious dogs loose on helpless prisoners in a holding area) that we eventually lost track but did note that during his 12 years in office, Ackal was paying out an average of $10,000 per month in settlements and judgments.

In fact, our coverage of wayward sheriffs actually grew into a book entitled Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption which in turn is evolving into a sequel: America’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption.

All this is to say we did this the first seven years free. We don’t accept advertising (except for Cavalier House Books whose owner, John Cavalier, built our web page) and we don’t charge a subscription fee. But there are, unfortunately, bills to pay. We have to pay for copies of records, gasoline (travel has become more frequent and more distant in recent years as we expand our coverage statewide), and not least of all, legal fees.

We recently were called on to pony up nearly $5,000 in legal fees – for a single investigation. It wasn’t litigation; it was just legal research into a major project we’re still working on.

And when public agencies refuse to comply with the state’s public records law, we sue. Suing costs money in terms of court costs and (if we should lose – and we did lose one), attorney fees.

With that in mind, LouisianaVoice holds two fundraisers each year – April and October. Last April, in the face of growing unemployment as a result of the pandemic, we deferred. Since then, I’ve asked that readers contribute only if they feel comfortable in doing so.

I’m not like the televangelist who insists that viewers contribute regardless of their financial situation – that any gift will be rewarded by the Almighty. I can’t con people that way. I simply ask you to give what you can – but only if you can.

You may contribute by credit card by clicking on the yellow DONATE button in the column to the right of this post. It will take you to my PayPal page and you may enter your credit card information there. (It’s not necessary that you have a PayPal account to contribute in this manner.) Go to the icon to the right of this post. If you prefer, you may simply send a check to LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.

For those contributing $125 or more, you may select your choice of a signed copy of one of my two most recent books: Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, or Bordello on the Bayou (a novel based on a true story of a Baton Rouge madam who catered to Louisiana’s politically powerful). Be sure to state your preference and to provide your mailing address.

As always, your support of our efforts is appreciated more than you know.

Remember those “extreme makeover” shows that aired on ABC-TV a couple of decades ago?

The original show featured people undergoing plastic surgery, hair and wardrobe changes that changed their whole identities. That show morphed into more tripe like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

The last of those shows was aired in July 2007 but now we have the new version: Extreme Makeover: Political Edition.

The first subject for this new show is Louisiana State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson and if the show is successful, she might emerge as an elected official no one will recognize.

It’s really quite amazing what influence political expedience can play in motivating candidates to undergo such radical transformations.

The woods – and the Louisiana Legislature – are full of one-time Democrats who, with a finger raised to the shifting political winds now present themselves to constituents as God-fearing Republicans. Sitting at the top of that garbage heap is none other than John Kerry-Democrat-turned-Trump-Republican John Neely Kennedy, Louisiana’s junior U.S. Senator.

But this isn’t about Kennedy or legislators who would, at the drop of a hat, vote for similar voter-suppression laws as those passed by their Georgian counterparts.

It’s about the former chairperson of the Louisiana Democratic Party who is trying to paint herself as a Green New Deal-type of progressive Democrat when everything about her screams deceit, misdirection and obfuscation.

In fact, she did a real number on one of the architects of the Green New Deal, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in 2016 while serving as chairperson of the Louisiana Democratic Party. She attacked Sanders for running a campaign in the South that had attracted large numbers of new voters, suggesting that his efforts sought to minimize Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s primary wins in southern states.

In 2015, she met with gubernatorial candidate John Bel Edwards, reportedly in an effort to get him to drop out of the race in favor a moderate Republican. That doesn’t say much for party loyalty from the head of the state Democratic Party. That would be like Lindsey Graham or Kennedy turning their backs on Trump.

That’s not the kind of action one might normally expect from a Green New Deal progressive.

Neither would a Green New Deal progressive be expected to hold lucrative contracts tied to big energy companies through her full-time, six-figure job with a multinational law firm. But since 2014, she has worked for Dentons Law Firm

Dentons obviously believes that big is better. In 2013, it merged with the Chinese law firm Dacheng to become the world’s fifth-largest law firm in terms of revenue ($2.9 billion) and the largest by number of lawyers.

Dentons gave $25,000 to the Louisiana Democratic Party’s political action committee between 2013 and 2018 (during Carter Peterson’s tenure as party chairperson), state campaign finance records show.

Carter Peterson joined the firm in 2014. Her campaign finance reports which reveal the bare minimum of information show only that her salary is “more than $100,000” for each year since 2014.

Meanwhile, Dentons is contracted to the New Orleans City Council as a consultant on energy matters.

Carter Peterson’s organization, Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD) even got involved when another of its leaders, Oliver Thomas, who would later plead guilty to federal bribery charges, assumed the chairmanship of the city council’s powerful Utility Committee.

Shortly after Thomas took over the Utility Committee, Carter Peterson announced she had formed a business that would begin advising the council on regulating Entergy. Her association with Dentons began soon after that.

Now, after trailing fellow State Sen. Troy Carter by 13 percentage points in the March 20 primary, she has picked up the endorsement of third-place finisher, GARY CHAMBERS JR. of Baton Rouge, who pulled 21 percent of the vote, just two percentage points behind Carter Peterson. It’s not entirely clear how she convinced Chambers, a true New Green Deal progressive, that she is of a similar stripe but no one would be surprised that should she win, a nice job in her congressional office could be Chambers’ reward.

Securing his endorsement should have taken considerable convincing, given the source of much of her campaign support through the years: GEO Corp., a leading operator of private prisons in the US; The Louisiana Sheriff’s and Deputies PAC ($3600), AT&T ($3500), Atmos Energy ($500), Central Louisiana Electric Co. (CLECO) ($500), and ENPAC, the political action committee of Entergy ($4500).

Other contributors to Carter Peterson campaigns include the Louisiana Bankers Association, pharmaceutical interests, a couple of high-dollar law firms with multiple state contracts and Clinton Vince, her boss at Dentons.

And while Carter Peterson was accepting campaign contributions from the likes of Atmos Energy, AT&T, CLECO and political endorsements from such benefactors as Entergy Corp.’s Political Action Committee (ENPAC), she continues in her attempts to convince us she’s a green new dealer.

It’s like the old Huey Long campaign story he used to tell to get both Protestant and Catholic votes. He told crowds he would get up early on Sunday morning, hitch up the family horse to a buggy and take his Catholic grandparents to Mass. He would then return home and fetch his Protestant grandparents and take them to church. When asked by an associate if his story was true, Huey snorted, “Hell, boy, we didn’t even own a horse.”

But those associations haven’t deterred Carter Peterson from flaunting her endorsement from the Sierra Club.

“Half measures won’t cut it when it comes to confronting the environmental injustices making our families sick in #LA02 (Louisiana’s 2^nd Congressional District), especially those in Cancer Alley,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s fundamentally wrong that families have to choose between their health and putting food on the table.

“That’s why I’m proud to have the support of [the] Sierra Club as we fight to ensure clean air and water for every family, hold polluters accountable, and build a clean energy economy that puts our communities first.”

Carter Peterson has another twitter post that touts “unapologetic progressive champions – like @TeamKCP – that aren’t afraid to fight for working people.

“For too long too many workers and families have felt locked out of opportunities to thrive – not just get by,” she said. “People deserve to be able to thrive. We can’t wait anymore for our leaders to tiptoe around change. We can’t afford that any longer.”

Instead of branding herself as a Green New Dealer, perhaps Carter Peterson could gain some measure of credibility if she would just establish her own Chameleon Party. At least she wouldn’t surprise anyone when she underwent another political makeover.