13 November 2007

local rats get some piyush payback


friday 09 november 2007, the alexandria daily town talk printed a piyush press release in which it "announced those louisianians making up the ethics transition advisory council under chair sean reilly of baton rouge and vice chair virginia shehee of shreveport."

two names that jumped off the page because they arent necessarily synonymous with "ethics" (at least as how the word is commonly understood to be defined) was jimmy faircloth and bonnie lemoine.

jimmy "the wizard" faircloth
well, lets see... in the first pineville public records and emails scandal lawsuit mr. faircloth and his firm faircloth, vilar and elliott, who represent the city of pineville, louisiana, have pulled every dirty trick in the book to keep certain city of pineville, emails from ever seeing the light of day. they even went so far as to take the unheard of step in suing the requester of the public records. they've made some pretty good money off the taxpayers for their service as well - over $17k so far...

in the second -- yeah thats right second, pineville public records embroglio, retired pineville police captain kenneth johnson, requested a list of people arrested by the pineville police department in the month of september 2007. captain johnson didnt ask for the investigative files or anything like that just what is commonly called the "police blotter." captain johnson specifically asked for "the arrest report and.or booking entry for any individuals who were arrested during the month of september 2007, as a result of a physical altercation with any member of the pineville police department."

pinevile's response was "all the records requested are part of pending criminal litigation or criminal litigation which can be reasonably anticipated and are therefore exempt from disclosure pursuant to La. R.S. 44:3 - "records of prospective, investigative, and law enforcement agencies , and communications districts."

one small problem - captain johnson didnt ask for any records which are part of litigation all he asked for was the police blotter which lists who was arrested and what the charges are. furthermore, the law that faircloth, vilar and elliott cite as a reason to deny those records specifically states:
However, the initial report of the officer or officers investigating a complaint, but not to apply to any followup or subsequent report or investigation, records of the booking of a person as provided in Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 228, records of the issuance of a summons or citation, and records of the filing of a bill of information shall be a public record.
additionally, louisiana code of criminal procedure article 228 (ccrp 228) cited within Ls. R.S. 44:3 states in part:
A person is booked by an entry, in a book kept for that purpose, showing his name and address, a list of any property taken from him, the date and time of booking, and the submission of a booking information summary as provided for in Paragraph C of this Article to the person making the entry in the police or jail book. Every jail and police station shall keep a book for the listing of the above information as to each prisoner received. The book and booking information summaries shall always be open for public inspection. ~ emphasis ours
for some mysterious reason the city of pineville doesnt want the public to know who they have arrested and what the charges are.

just because one has attorney representation doesnt mean that attorney can file anything into the record. the louisiana rules of attorney professional conduct (45 page .pdf) addresses this from page 30, rule 4.1 "truthfulness in statements to others:
In the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly:

(a) make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; or

(b) fail to disclose a material fact when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client, unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6.
rule 1.6 "confidentiality of information" states:
(a) A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent, the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation or the disclosure is permitted by paragraph (b).

(b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary:

(1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm;

(2) to prevent the client from committing a crime or fraud that is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another and in furtherance of which the client has used or is using the lawyer’s services;

(3) to prevent, mitigate or rectify substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another that is reasonably certain to result or has resulted from the client’s commission of a crime or fraud in furtherance of which the client has used the lawyer’s services.

(4) to secure legal advice about the lawyer’s compliance with these Rules;

(5) to establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer in a controversy between the lawyer and the client, to establish a defense to a criminal charge or civil claim against the lawyer based upon conduct in which the client was involved, or to respond to allegations in any proceeding concerning the lawyer’s representation of the client; or

(6) to comply with other law or a court order.
so rule 1.6 doesnt seem to apply; one would think that when word came out about pineville and their attorney's stance that the police blotter is not a public record contrary to law and common sense, that would have instantly triggered an investigation or several investigations. since this is something that everyone can easily understand -- so where's the media outcry? to borrow a line from eric hufschmid "the controlled u.s. media works with the...criminal network and allows it to flourish by failing to investigate, identify, or report on the companies and individuals involved."

captain johnson was left with the only one option which was to unnecessarily have to file suit against pineville at great personal expense.

searching the louisiana campaign finance contributions for piyush "bobby" jindal' reveals that mr. faircloth and his firm has given thousands of dollars.

and, oh yeah... mr. faircloth wants to be a federal judge....lovely. see also city of pineville attorney also casino attorney

bonnie lemoine
it was ms. lemoine you might remember, who, in the closing days of the 20 october 2007 open primary election, used her position as a manager at the kingsville, louisiana, proctor and gamble manufacturing plant to embarrass state senator and gubernatorial candidate walter boasso. screen grabs here and here.

ms. lemoine's ethics are further called into question by a local attorney and blogger, who, over a year ago called for her, and others arrest for shady dealings in water works district three upon which ms. lemoine sits as a commissioner. see also jindal's local appointees to his ethics transition team leaves much to be desired.

ms. lemoine is also an officer in the louisiana association of business and industry. this is the same gang that wants to do away with homestead exemption because its bad for bidness.

dr jo lea levy
not much is known about her other than she's a piyush campaign contributor:

so... hmmmm.

daily kingfish has found another person of dubious ethics credentials
Edward "Ned" Deifenthal of Metairie used a number of Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) under his control to make a series of contributions to Jindal's campaign in late 2006 that came to a grand total of $25,000. He also personally contributed $5,000 to Jindal's campaign. He also contributed $75,000 to the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, as well as a number of Republican campaigns for the Louisiana Legislature. ~ link
under a piyush "bobby" jindal scam administration you can expect a louisiana style corporatocracy. a government against the middle class and working people. a government by elites and for elites and their business interests.
one of corporatocracy's most important functions is to perpetuate and continually expand and strengthen the system. The lives of those who “make it,” and their accouterments—their mansions, yachts, and private jets—are presented as models to inspire us all to consume, consume, consume. Every opportunity is taken to convince us that purchasing things is our civic duty, that pillaging the earth is good for the economy and therefore serves our higher interests. ~ john perkins "confessions of an economic hitman" preface.
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see also
c.b.forgotston
reform and change
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