we saw that...

louisiana legislative graft & corruption now an official state secret

www.thedeadpelican.com

House: Public has no right to see records

American Press sought documents on certain requests for spending.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The American Press on June 6 submitted a records request to House Appropriations Committee secretary Janis Batchelor for copies of the amendment forms legislators must provide to the committee to secure state funds for nongovernmental organizations in the state budget. Batchelor forwarded the request to House of Representatives Clerk Alfred Speer, who responded the next day. Below is the complete text of Speer’s letter sent to the American Press:

On June 6, 2007, you requested “all NGO Amendment forms submitted by legislators to the House Appropriations Committee in 2007.” I am the custodian of the records of the House of Representatives (House Rule 2.10D(2)) and am responding in lieu of Ms. Batchelor.

R.S. 44:32(D) requires I inform a requester of any privilege which exempts documents from disclosure under the Public Records Law.

LA Const. Art. III, Section 8, as interpreted by the LA First Circuit Court of Appeals in Copsey v. Baer, 91-0912 (Dec. 27, 1991) 539 So.2d 685 (La. App. 1st Cir.) protects the internal communications of legislators with their staff and exempts the background information provided by legislators to their staff from public disclosure.

Based upon these authorities, I am denying your access to the records you requested.

Sincerely yours,

Alfred W. Speer

cowboy town to become worship center

click here and view louisiana cowboy town website via the internet archive wayback machine

rags to riches wins the 139th belmont stakes

UPDATE: video: 140th running of the belmont stakes 07 june 2008 da'tara upsets big brown

benoit & associates photo
click here for rags to riches from thoroughbred times

screen grab from belmont video
rags to riches beats curlin to win the belmont stakes

click here to read more from thoroughbred times
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see also
national thoroughbred racing association
rags to riches beats curlin and the boys
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and also
new york racing association
girl gone wild! rags to riches makes belmont history
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ruffian

earlier today we followed a link via the dead pelican to the chronicle journal out of thunder bay, ontario, canada. the story here is about a new abc television movie filmed partially at louisiana downs called "ruffian".

ruffian was considered the greatest female race horse of all time. she ran eleven races and was undefeated until the eleventh. the eleventh race is when someone got the bright idea to race her against "foolish pleasure" that years (1975) kentucky derby winner. the race was billed as "the great match" a sort of a battle of the sexes.

"ruffian" airs on the abc television network at 8:00 pm central time saturday 09 june 2007.

RUFFIAN
17 April 1972 - 7 July 1975

rapides new teachers

kalb's diana iles has a video report about a recent rapides parish teacher job fair. one new teacher who caught our eye, daina kroll, says that "you get to touch so many lives and for me, in math, there are a lot of students who dont like math and so my goal is to be a teacher who inspires kids to love math."

if we had a math teacher this cute by now we would be rocket scientists, or something.

homeboy picks up on this too...

"they're getting younger and they are getting better looking and thats a little different from the way that i looked and hopefully if they come and they are able to perform the way they look we gonna be alright."

blogosphere to alexandria city government: 'time for some answers'

uss liberty attack 40 years ago today

**updated** on 08 june 2007, the fortieth anniversary of zionist israel's attack on the uss liberty, the national security agency (nsa) released more uss liberty information.

www.nsa.gov/liberty
UPDATE: 20 april 2009: this url appears to have been moved to: http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/declass/uss_liberty/index.shtml

uss liberty agtr-5

shameless cabrini hospital plays at racism in bid to steal youth complex from alexandrians

we see from the announcement on the town talk website (see link) that st. francis cabrini hospital: "officials are hosting an open forum at 6 p.m. today at the Broadway Resource Center on Broadway Avenue, where the public is encouraged to express their views." broadway avenue and the broadway resource center is in a black neighborhood.

this shows you just how sorry and just how low the st. francis cabrini hospital administration is and will go, to have their way in what amounts to a raping of the city of alexandria out of its youth baseball complex in order for cabrini to build whatever they want to bring into their coffers even more revenue.

cabrini's strategy appears to be to drive a racial wedge between alexandria's black and white communities. the ol' divide and conquer routine.

black people and whites too dont fall for this cabrini bullshit. you're being scammed. the youth complex is an important component in establishing race relations because it is a place where kids of all racial and ethnic persuasions and backgrounds can come together in the spirit of friendly competition and learn about one another and become friends. its a gathering place. think about it.

cabrini does not give one damn about alexandrians' they are only in it for the money.

sb14 vote shows who the senatorial rats are

**updated 6:26 pm cdt thursday 07 june 2007**

sec'y kennedy and state senator "doc" hines appeared on wwl.com's garland robinette "think tank" show today.

here is a link to the .mp3 audio file of todays show

after-interview caller "randy from uptown" (talking about senator hines): "was that a commercial for legislative term limits? you just kind of repackaged it? the longer he talked (hines) the better kennedy looked. i've never met a worse advocate for his position, he basically threw the temper-tantrum that kennedy accused him of having thats why hes doing this"
garland robinette: "two things were amazing, number one he (hines) never did answer the question. one of his biggest things is, kennedy has to be taken out of this position because he selectively stops people from getting their agenda on the board." "randy from uptown" "GOOD!"

----ORIGINAL POST----

sb14 is a bill filed for revenge against state treasurer john kennedy by senator "doc" hines and representative joe salter.

last year senator hines and agricultural commissioner bob odom (who recently the state supreme court reinstated theft, bribery and money laundering charges against) wanted to squander $135 million [100.2 eur] taxpayer dollars on a syrup mill that was to be located in senator hines district. according to sec'y kennedy who did "two financial studies indicated that the mill would go bankrupt." also senator hines son-in-law had a "vested interest" in the syrup mill. so sec'y kennedy kept it off the state bond commission agenda.

so in typical louisiana corrupt fashion senator hines and his sidekick state representative joe salter filed sb14 which would take away most of sec'y kennedy's power and authority at the state bond commission. this is despite the fact that the state bond commission eventually overrode sec'y kennedy and added the syrup mill to the agenda and it was (after a public outcry) eventually killed.

this vividly illustrates the fact that louisiana politicians are more interested in corruption than in honesty and morals. louisiana politicians arent interested in creating a better louisiana because they dont know how. after all, you cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. indeed, all they know is corruption because they are corruption.

click link to view from the legislatures website

disgustingly, our own senator joe mcpherson voted for corruption and the good ol' boy network.

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By MARSHA SHULER
Advocate Capitol News Bureau
Published: Jun 6, 2007 - Page: 7a

Senate President Don Hines on Tuesday backed off his attempt to oust state Treasurer John Kennedy as permanent chairman of the state Bond Commission.

But the bill the Senate approved on a 25-9 vote would still give the Legislature’s top leaders majority control of what projects end up on the commission’s agenda.

And the Senate added another twist, deciding a majority of the Bond Commission members could place an item on the agenda with a week’s written notice.

The bill now heads to the House for debate.

“It’s only 50 percent as bad as it was but it’s still bad,” Kennedy said after the vote. “It just politicizes the Bond Commission.”

The Bond Commission oversees borrowing for projects using public money.

Kennedy added: “I don’t think most people are fooled about what this is about. This is Doc’s payback for me not supporting his sugar mill.”

Hines is a physician and his nickname is “Doc.”

Kennedy kept a Bunkie syrup mill project — pushed by Hines and Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom — off the Bond Commission agenda.

The two-year dispute ended when the commission rejected the $135 million project in November.

As Senate Bill 14 came up, Hines asked senators to strip the provision that would have rotated the chairmanship of the Bond Commission among the state treasurer, the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate.

Hines said he was taking the step in response to senators’ reluctance to embrace the idea because of “news media and conservative talk radio” questioning “of the motivation of this bill.”

Hines said the executive committee that he proposed is needed because of “the arrogant and arbitrary manner,” in which Kennedy decides what the bond commission should hear.

Kennedy’s approach is “not in the best interest of the people of this state,” he said.

Other people have complained about Kennedy’s treatment of projects, Hines said.

“People should be able to make applications to the Bond Commission and not be hassled,” Hines said.

Kennedy said backers of the Bunkie mill project would not submit required paperwork. The commission overrode his decision and added the project to the agenda.

Hines’ son-in-law had a vested interest in the project and two financial studies indicated the mill would go bankrupt, Kennedy said.

Kennedy said he had no objection to the amendment offered by Sen. Reggie Dupré, D-Houma, which allowed a majority of the Bond Commission members to place an item on the agenda by filing a written request with the treasurer.

Under Dupré’s change, the item would have to be in compliance with commission rules and regulations.

Dupré originally offered an amendment that would have eliminated Hines’ executive committee but it was withdrawn.

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related posts

john kennedy: truth teller

treasury sec'y john kennedy video blogged!

sec'y kennedy takes dotd to task

draft kennedy!

gov. blanco not to run

sb14 treasury sec'y kennedy needs your help!

sec'y john kennedy on lra & the road home

unanswered

cutting the budget kennedy puts pressure on blanco

more on la state treasurer john kennedy

state treasurer 'in shock' by the budget

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walter boasso commercial

its nice to see that state senator and louisiana gubernatorial candidate walter boasso, isnt afraid to take on and take a jab at the piyush scam. others could take a lesson from senator boasso.

click link to watch the video
length 1m03s
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related posts

walter boasso video blogged!

forgotston is still getting it!

a reason not to vote for walter boasso

get it done meeting in alexandria

jim brown on jeff crouere show.mp3

gov blanco's address to the joint session of the legislature

doc hines shows his true colors

rino watch: walter boasso

cleco stock trading

we received this information in an email about ten days ago by way of "pointecoupeedemocrat" whom many of you know is a frequent commenter here and who has written over at the daily kingfish blog. we didnt post this information right away because we dont own any public stocks and stock charts, graphs, symbols etc are a mystery to us -- they might as well be in egyptian hieroglyphics as far as we are concerned. so, we forwarded the information to someone who is more knowledgeable of these things for an opinion. however many days have passed and we havent heard back from our source. we dont know what to make of that. so, anyway we are presenting the information just as we received it; in the public interest; with the disclaimer that, as always, you have to investigate and decide for yourself the accuracy or not of this information.

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Dear PCD:

I hope you will take the time to review the following documents. This could be proof of serious insider trading. Despite the regulations to which a publicly-trading company like Cleco must adhere, the recent deluge of stock selling, coupled with the media's refusal to even understand or acknowledge the story, has forced me to look to someone like you, who I believe should instantly understand the pattern of deception involved here.

Yesterday, Forbes and the Houston Chronicle reported that on May 21, 2007 the VP of Cleco, Keith Crump, sold 12,400 shares of his stock, valued at approximately $354,000. I have attached supporting documents from both Yahoo Financial and Cleco's own website which will back this up. In addition to VP Crump, 2,125 shares were sold Anthony Bunting, Cleco's VP of Customer Care. That sale totaled $60, 243 and occurred on the same day.

If one digs just a little deeper, one finds a brazen pattern of insider selling, mainly within a three week window. There are two interesting news items which will likely be coming up that could affect the value of Cleco stock: the deadline for FERC compliance is rapidly approaching, and KPMG's audit of Cleco regarding pending litigation with the City of Alexandria was released on February 23, 2007. Only a handful of individuals know the contents of the audit report, those in the upper echelons of Cleco management and those representing the City of Alexandria.

Sarbanes-Oxley requires anyone in upper management to disclose stock sales, lest a repeat of Enron occur. For their part, Cleco has adhered to the full disclosure required by Sarbanes-Oxley, but the pattern of large stock dumps, in many cases representing 25-75% of one's entire Cleco portfolio, by upper management should be cause for immediate concern.

Michele Godard, a local journalist with KALB, believes she has solved the case. In today's Cenla Media blog entry, she writes this is not news and mistakes the FILE SIZE of the documents containing disclosure statements with the DOLLAR amount sold by those in charge. In other words, a 15K file is reported as $15,000 in sales. It's an embarrassing mistake for someone who fashions herself as a journalist. I have also attached documents which back up this assertion. If Ms. Godard had simply clicked on the links provided on the right hand side of the screen, she would have immediately seen that this is indeed a BIG news story, one that every Cleco shareholder should be aware.

Regarding the other sales, this is what I have found. This is posted, for the public, on Yahoo Finance.

*INSIDER TRANSACTIONS REPORTED - LAST TWO YEARS
*Date Insider Shares Type Transaction Value

*21-May-07 CRUMP KEITH D
Officer 12,400 Direct Option Exercise N/A
21-May-07 CRUMP KEITH D Officer 12,400 Direct Sale at $28.41 per share.$352,284

21-May-07 BUNTING ANTHONY L.
Officer 3,000 Direct Option Exercise at $16.13 per share.$48,390

21-May-07 BUNTING ANTHONY L
Officer 2,125 Direct Sale at $28.35 per share.$60,243

9-May-07 FONTENOT WILLIAM G
Officer 66,000 Direct Option Exercise N/A

9-May-07 FONTENOT WILLIAM G
Officer 66,000 Direct Sale at $28.25 per share.$1,864,500

8-May-07 JAMES F BEN JR
Director 3,000 Direct Option Exercise at $14.75 per share.$44,250

8-May-07 JAMES F BEN JR
Director 3,000 Direct Sale at $28.32 per share.$84,960

7-May-07 NOLEN KATHLEEN F
Officer 6,333 Direct Option Exercise N/A

7-May-07 NOLEN KATHLEEN F
Officer 4,705 Direct Sale at $28.48 per share.$133,998

7-May-07 MILLER JUDY P.
Officer 14,000 Direct Option Exercise N/A

7-May-07 MILLER JUDY P.
Officer 14,000 Direct Sale at $28.59 per share.$400,260

7-May-07 DAVIS R RUSSELL
Officer 18,000 Direct Option Exercise N/A

7-May-07 DAVIS R RUSSELL
Officer 15,075 Direct Sale at $28.53 per share.$430,089

7-May-07 GARRETT J PATRICK
Director 20,834 Direct Option Exercise N/A

7-May-07 GARRETT J PATRICK
Director 20,834 Direct Sale at $28.59 per share.$595,644

7-May-07 WESTBROOK W L
Director 6,750 Direct Option Exercise N/A

7-May-07 WESTBROOK W L
Director 6,750 Direct Sale at $28.49 per share.$192,307

When one examines Cleco's own website, one gets a better picture of the magnitude of these stock dumps. Please note Cleco must track the total number of shares held by its upper management, and then please also note how these sales have affected these employees' portfolios. This is the link:
http://www.shareholder.com/cnl/governance/transactions.cfm

Date Filer Transaction Shares Traded Price Total Shares

5/21/07 BUNTING ANTHONY L Sell 2,125 $28.35 17,342
5/21/07 BUNTING ANTHONY L Option Execute 3,000 $16.13 19,467

5/21/07 CRUMP KEITH D Sell 12,400 $28.41 14,032
5/21/07 CRUMP KEITH D Option Execute 12,400 N/A 26,432

5/9/07 FONTENOT WILLIAM G Sell 66,000 $28.25 33,460
5/9/07 FONTENOT WILLIAM G Option Execute 66,000 N/A 99,460

5/8/07 JAMES F BEN JR Sell 3,000 $28.32 18,363
5/8/07 JAMES F BEN JR Option Execute 3,000 $14.75 21,363

5/7/07 DAVIS R RUSSELL Sell 15,075 $28.53 24,738
5/7/07 DAVIS R RUSSELL Option Execute 18,000 N/A 39,813

5/7/07 MILLER JUDY P Sell 14,000 $28.59 12,606
5/7/07 MILLER JUDY P Option Execute 14,000 N/A 26,606

5/7/07 NOLEN KATHLEEN F Sell 4,705 $28.48 33,097
5/7/07 NOLEN KATHLEEN F Option Execute 6,333 N/A 37,802

5/7/07 GARRETT J PATRICK Sell 20,834 $28.59 66,672
5/7/07 GARRETT J PATRICK Option Execute 20,834 N/A 87,506

5/7/07 WESTBROOK W L Sell 6,750 $28.49 21,626
5/7/07 WESTBROOK W L Option Execute 6,750 N/A 28,376

When one examines Cleco's own website, one gets a better picture of the magnitude of these stock dumps. Please note Cleco must track the total number of shares held by its upper management, and then please also note how
these sales have affected these employees' portfolios. This is the link: http://www.shareholder.com/cnl/governance/transactions.cfm

Cleco may not disclose how much money these employees have made on these stock dumps, but they do paint a good picture of how much is truly being unloaded.

Here are the titles and positions of the individuals who have sold stock:

Chairman of the Board- Patrick Garrett
Treasurer- Keith Crump
VP Customer Care- Anthony Bunting
VP and the head of Cleco Management and Traning (in charge of Roedemacher III) - William Fontenot
Board of Directors- Ben James, Jr.
CFO- Kathleen Nolen
Corporate Sec/ Former Assistant Controller- Judy Miller
Controller/Head of Accounting- Russell Davis
Board/ Head of the Audit Committee- WL Westbrook
Board Member- Elton King

Many, if not most, of these people know the contents of the KPMG audit, and this looks highly suspicious, particularly when one looks at the past two years worth of disclosures; up until this month, the single largest sale was by David Eppler, who was given stock and then promptly sold it as part of his severance package when he resigned as Cleco's CEO.

It is a damn shame Cenla doesn't have a reputable media outlet to report this story, but I trust you will do the right thing with this information and maintain the privacy and confidentiality of my identity.

The attached files are for your viewing pleasure.

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related posts

city of alexandria & cleco talks collapsing

kalb mysteriously quiet on latest alexandria / cleco lawsuit controversy

cleco is being shafted

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