charles frederick smith is the president of the alexandria, louisiana city council and is an announced candidate for mayor of alexandria. the election is this fall. today councilman smith gave an interview to kalb.com in the form of one of their video blogs. click the link or the permalink to view it. if you like you can also leave your comment right there on the video blog.====
added 8:12 pm cdt tuesday 27 june 2006last night we watched councilman smiths video blog twice - we noted his mentioning that the heh heh heh ethics board had reversed their original opinion denying magnolia peace officers association receiving gaeda funding. we werent able to look for the ruling last night but found it earlier today and posted the link over at cenla antics blog. or, click here for that link. btw its docket no. 2006-279b.
the video opens with michele godard thanking us for joining them there on kalb.com and she mentioned that at the end of the vid we could leave a comment which we did last night. also in case you're the curious type, yes, you can leave your comment while the vid is playing (click the permalink up there and the comments section will already be open)
after introducing councilman smith ms godard dives right in asking him why are you running for mayor? "the experience and the leadership" he replies then councilman smith mentions how he has been on the alexandria city council for eighteen years and president for seven. he claims that hes "united this city" hmm ok and he says he "knows the issues and can face the issues" he says he was there back at england airforce base closing and was at the table negotiating for example star tek, union tank car, tri steele and "all these companies that we've brought forth." he says that right now the most important part of tying it all to together is the extension of versailles blvd. and hwy 28 west.
alexandria has a $166 (132mEUR}million dollar budget, councilman smith says "you cannot turn the city aloose to someone whos not experienced in government right now" michele godard said "that means you would be the ceo of a corporation with 166 million dollars what qualificatilons do you have to run such a large corporation?" he replied "as i said ive been there eighteen years ive been in government since '74 ive been there eighteen years, seven times president of the council this is a strong council mayor form of government so that means that you deal with issues and you deal with money when we had to deal with like union tank i was there at the table"
whats interesting is that when ms godard questioned councilman smith about his rumored inside deal at the holiday inn he sluffed that off as something about a "conflict of interest" with the provosty law firm. (the provosty law firm is one of the citys law firms and the law firm that the town talk reported that couldnt even locate the alexandria housing authority charter lol ) also he claimed that he never seen the lease.
when asked about the magnolia state peace officer deal (read caper) he explained it all away as "mr. robert thompson" applied for the money and the ethics board thought that he (smith) was salaried by magnolia state peace officers association (smith is the president of the non profit corporation) but when they found out that he wasnt receiving a salary from them they ok'd it.
now this shows you how sorry the la state heh heh heh ethics board is: the magnolia state peace officers is a fraternal organization councilman smith is the president of it and the president of the alexandria city council the city of alexandria formed the greater alexandria economic development authority or GAEDA. magnolia state peace officers association just a few days ago held their state meeting here in alexandria and gaeda paid for it. how exactly is this ethical or legal? you see what we are getting at? can just any fraternal organization or nonprofit corporation receive taxpayer money from gaeda? why do we need another taxing authority stealing what little bit of money we have by way of taxation to pay for political bigshots and their posse's big party? see this is the kind of leadership you get when you let a human being wallow in the taxpayer trough for 18 years. sooner than that for a lot of politicians. its graft and corruption right out there in the open in our faces, they think they are entitled to it, theres no remorse, no shame and they think we are too stupid to see it and if we do see it too powerless to do anything about it.
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edited 8:42 pm cdt tuesday 27 june 2006
edited 8:42 pm cdt tuesday 27 june 2006
CFS says the ethics ruling on GAEDA funds has been "reversed". What is the truth?
ReplyDeletehi thanks for your comment. we havent been able to locate anything on the heh heh heh ethics board website to confirm this - however we will continue to research this rather disturbing turn of events.
ReplyDeleteNot really a disturbing turn of events as I consider this to be the most benign of all CFS's sins. The real questions are and should be about the consulting contracts and his ongoing relationship with Patel when Patel was negotiating and executing multi-million $$$ contracts with the city. His other answers such as those concerning the ownership of the "Corner Office" are not truthful. The attractive young lady he was "financing" at the Patel hotel is the proprieter of the bar. Charles F. is a prime mover in that enterprise and everyone knows it.
ReplyDeleteHis position in the Sheriff's Office and the fact that he is the only salaried regular deputy that is not P.O.S.T. certified. The blame for this should not be with CFS but with the Sheriff who decided to give away our money for his own political ends. Talk to the deputies about CFS. I wonder if Slocum or Wagner plan to keep him.
One might also note that he is dressing much better since he told the Dist. 4 Neighborhood Assn's to go suck an egg and appointed Harry Silver. In that one move, he insulted 10,000 voters. Time to pay up???
It ain't gonna be pretty.
dont disagree with you at all. our thinking is that this gaeda/magnolia hijinks is the easiest of cfs's activities to document and show voters. proving the other stuff will probably only be able to be done via subpoena's etc and we know that like our sheriff our present district is just as sorry. if we run into mike slocum though we will be sure and ask him his plans for cfs.
ReplyDeleteIt's all there under oath in Smith's and Patel's depositions in the Cleco litigation. Reporter Billy Gunn has every deposition taken in the case(s). Talk to Jacques Roy. He's smart, decent, and pathologically truthful.
ReplyDeletethese depositions would also be a part of the lawsuit(s) case file(s) at the courthouse?
ReplyDeletePre-trial discovery isn't filed in the record unless it is put in evidence. Gunn at the Town Talk has a complete set and the lawyers that were involved at some level would have them: Jock Scott (related litigation) and Jacques Roy have them. The litigation is on-going so they may not be subject to a public records request but Roy is a straight shooter and would talk to you.
ReplyDeleteYou know, instead of reinventing the wheel, do a Town Talk search. Gunn quoted and cited those particular depositions in a story in the past several months. Make it easy on yourself.
ReplyDeleteah thanks we will try and locate those.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of audience seems to mostly concern touting his leadership over time and focuses on presenting a racial spin when he mentions the makeup of the city
ReplyDeletecouncil. Such appeals, in general, target the sympathies of the audience and only lend themselves to an emotional presentation that lacks substance over dialogue.
Mr. Smith never logically appeals to reason in his arguments concerning his bid for mayor. Most of his arguments center around his past and the things he has done for this city such as: bringing in jobs, unified the Chamber and state, etc. These appeals are sketchy and provide little exposition on any substantive
issues. One issue that seems to appeal to reason but is never fully put forth`involves his relationship with the so-called "private club". Smith never goes farther than stating "Lady own the club." If we are to believe him on this count, we find that he never addresses the issue any further which by all counts does not present a cohesive argument. Another deals with the relationship between the city
and the local school board. He presents a small solution, bringing in Dr. Cavanaugh,
by never progresses any farther in his thesis on this matter.
His ethical appeal, if there is any at all, centers around his past in local government. Mr. Smith never delves deeper into whether he truly has the knowledge base to adequately run the city. This exhibits an uncertainty factor
as it veils whether we can fully trust him in running the city.
Rhetorically, Smith suffers on many accounts as he fails to bring up a place or several places from which to draw knowledge bases. What is not presented are the cause and effect relationships between what he has done in the past and what he can bring to the city. Simply stating past experience offers the audience
few clues as to whether he has actually accomplished anything. In terms of presenting a persuasive argument, Smith fails on all accounts.
The most horrifying part of this interview has to be the speaking style of the candidate. In all cases Mr. Smith shows little regard to be a statesman and
paints a horrid picture of an orator. This is important as anyone in a position such as mayor has to provide a clear, well-thought series of statements while
also putting eloquence into the words. Being able to communicate with all sectors of a diverse polis only strengthens your position. The dialogue that took place appeared to only host passable arguments for a kindergarten classroom and
showed that Mr. Smith hardly possesses any academic merit to discuss, on the large, whether he can truly lead with both rhetoric and action.
Of what I can see of this candidate is nothing more than useless rhetoric meant only to provide a partial bit of meat to an otherwise starving voter base. Smith only pans a few nuggets of gold (his past with the council) in order to provide a wealth of experience. Such tactics do not confirm any bearing on his abilities. What he must do to strengthen his overall appeal is: a) learn how to speak in a
manner that sounds correct and provides clarity, b) provide more experience and clear up any doubts, and c) prove that he can debate issues rather than standing
on a pedastal hallmarking his past.
. . . and (d) get one of those devices that the Men in Black had that can totally erase memory.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete10. Official's business connection questioned
December 10, 2005 •• 810 words •• ID: alx20969143
By Billy Gunn bgunn@thetowntalk.com. (318) 487-6378. The business ties between Alexandria's City Council president and an owner of the downtown Holiday Inn could violate state ethics laws, a lawyer for a statewide good-government group says.. "I'm pretty confident in saying there is a problem," said Charlotte Bergeron, a lawyer for the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.. Council President Charles F. Smith Jr. said under oath
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 9:40:23 AM
thanks. we've been trying to locate this article online. (other than going through the town talks archive which we dont have access to.)
ReplyDelete