In Which 'Going Green' Is Not A Reference To Corruption

The City of Philadelphia recently took advantage of a state grant to replace - at no cost to municipal coffers - Center City's metal wire garbage cans with new solar powered trash compactors.

Called "Big Bellies," the new cans harness solar energy to compact refuse, so that each is able to hold more of it. Thus, they don't have to be emptied as often, which saves gas and manpower. Whereas the old wire cans held 55 gallons of trash, the new compactors can hold four times as much. They also are not open air like the old cans, eliminating the litter blown out onto the streets from overflowing receptacles.



The city is also installing solar recycling compactors at some sites, marking the first time pedestrian recycling services have been made available in Philadelphia.

--

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and his allies on City Council fell just short in the most recent attempt to ban plastic shopping bags after late lobbying from plastics interests and big supermarket chains. The bags take forever to break down in landfills, are often littered on city streets, and are especially damaging when they end up in waterways.

Though the measure fell short, even opponents acknowledged such a step was inevitable and would succeed in some form soon.

San Fransisco was the first American city to institute such a ban, in 2007. Hundreds of towns and cities around the world have already done so or may soon follow suit. San Fransisco has banned the bags outright, while other cities are levying mandatory surcharges in order to discourage their use.

--

San Fransisco, true to form as the nation's most progressive city on environmental issues, very recently became the first city to enact a mandatory composting program. By requiring residents to separate biodegradable foodstuffs from the garbage, San Fransisco appears on its way to fulfilling its goal of eliminating landfill waste by 2020.

When food scraps go to landfills, they unnecessarily take space and release methane gas as they break down. Compost is, of course, very useful to farmers and gardeners.

--

In January, Philadelphia debuted single stream recycling. The new initiative means an end to separating plastic from paper from glass and combines recycling day with regular trash pickup schedules.

Philadelphia has long had a reputation for filth, dating back to colonial times. Residents are notorious litterers and even though there has been curbside recycling pickup for a decade-ish, the city had embarrassingly low recycling rates.

Since the institution of single stream, recycling rates have doubled.

--

It's a good thing when cities reduce the amount of trash they produce. Not only does trash strain natural resources end energy, but it contributes to air and water pollution. It also costs a lot of money. Cities like Philadelphia and New Orleans pay landfills to take our waste based on weight. Reducing the amount of trash we produce reduces the amount we pay out of taxes for landfills.

Philadelphia has reversed a longstanding reputation for overall uncleanliness and residential indifference toward the environment. Mayor Nutter promised to set the city on a pathway toward becoming one of the nation's greenest and his initiatives since his inauguration indicate that the city is on a path to success.

New Orleans' very existence, more than any other city on the planet, partially depends on the world's ability to reduce greenhouse gases. New Orleans, more than any other city in the nation, depends on massive federal spending to protect it from the specter of rising seas and vulnerability to hurricanes. New Orleans, more than any other city in the nation, badly needs to take advantage of federal incentives promoting green industries by making itself attractive to environmentally-oriented start-ups.

Yet New Orleans is not examining mandatory composting laws, single stream recycling, plastic bag bans, or rain barrel distribution programs.

In fact, the City of New Orleans does not have any recycling services.

We're practically begging for the environmental movement to somehow solve our existential crisis while we continue gorge ourselves on the most wasteful consumption practices.

What kills me is more than simply not having the laws, is not even having a discussion about them on the agenda.

It's exceedingly hypocritical.

It's embarrassing and it's pathetic.

--

New Orleans pays exorbitant fees to dump trash at Old Gentilly Landfill, which of course, is co-operated by sanitation dept. contractor Jimmie Woods of Metro Disposal and construction caballer Steven Stumpf.

Though the city owns the landfill, they 'tip' the operators based on the amount of trash they handle. See the T-P:

In 2001, Stumpf and Woods formed a joint venture and submitted the only proposal to operate the new facility. In the final days of the Morial administration in early 2002, they signed a deal under which -- provided the landfill received a state permit -- they would keep 97 percent of the proceeds, with the city getting the other 3 percent.

Stumpf and Woods, as well as other contractors dependent on sanitation department contracts, are major contributors to political campaigns at all levels. Moldy City has blogged extensively about this over many moons.

It is not in the personal interests of private trash hauling and landfill operating contractors and their political allies to do anything that might jeopardize the volume of waste produced in the city of New Orleans.

--

Anyone considering a run for Mayor better have a detailed plan for how we can make up for lost time on these environmental quality issues, one that acknowledges the difficulty to navigate through the poisoned political waters that have contaminated all discussions around reforming how we do sanitation.

These are the types of things Mayoral candidates should start offering right now so that citizens have an opportunity to see if there is any substance to these people before the campaign gets reduced to lawn signs and robo-calls.

--

See also these two (1, 2) articles in the New York Times magazine about inner-city minorities taking charge of local green and good food initatives, busting negative stereotypes that poor people don't care about the environment.

Take this form from diagnostics over to the bakesale

This morning, I noticed a message on facebook from a friend of mine:

Nacho Mama's own Ms. S- has recently been diagnosed with cancer and needs our help. And you can help too by drinking wonderful adult beverages at Nacho Mama's Uptown tomorrow @ 9pm, $20 gets 4 drinks (house margaritas, draft beer, or well drinks). DJ Slice will be spinnin' away, plus snacks and prizes!

As if fighting cancer isn't tough enough... What a drag. (Not that I don't love DJ Slice)

What breaks my heart about this is that we all know how commonplace this stuff is. We all know people from our lives that bust their butts at work but don't have insurance or sufficient insurance. We all know people from our lives that have gotten sick and have been forced into fundraising for the life-saving care they need. It's called bullsh*t and someone as sweet as Ms S shouldn't have to go through any more of it than she already does. She's worked her whole life and she shouldn't now have to fight for funding for her treatment. She's got enough of a fight on her hands as it is.

I wrote about it yesterday but over the weekend a poll was released confirming that a truly overwhelming majority of Americans now supports substantive healthcare reform and increasing the availability of affordable healthcare. People don't just support the principle, they support the specific policy cure - a government administered public option plan that would compete to lower costs with the existing private insurance industry.

This isn't just Democrats and Independents. Even a majority of Republicans now believe that a public option is the only way to substantially reduce the cost of health insurance. It's not a partisan issue. We're all heartbroken when we have to donate toward someone's life-saving surgery or critical prescription drugs. We want to take care of each other.

In short, we have a national consensus for a public option plan.

Yet, for some reason, the US Senate appears poised to seriously dilute the healthcare reform we need. Our own Senators, David Vitter and Mary Landrieu, have voiced opposition to the public option. This, even though 1 out of 5 Louisianians lack basic health insurance.

In the case of Mary Landrieu, her stated opposition to the public option is an especially tough pill to swallow. She campaigned on a platform favoring healthcare reform. She even specifically pledged to support public option, a promise she has now admitted she's planning to break.

Given the truly staggering bipartisan consensus for the public option, critics - including this one - have questioned whether Senator Landrieu's broken promise can be traced to the $1.6 million she's taken from private healthcare interests and the ties between some of her former staffers and the private insurance lobby.

Landrieu's office has responded that the good Senator doesn't make policy decisions based on campaign donations.

To that I say put your money where your mouth is.

Give back the money you've taken from the private healthcare industry over the years so that the voters of Louisiana can be sure that your stand against working families and the astounding national bipartisan consensus for the public option is derived from a pure conscience.

See also the Daily Kingfish:

NEW ORLEANS, LA.- June 22, 2009 - Today, Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform called on Louisiana's two senators to return the millions of dollars in campaign donations they have received from the healthcare industry.

Senators Vitter and Landrieu have come under intense criticism for an alleged conflict of interest in their acceptance of millions of dollars in contributions from the health insurance lobby, while at the same time opposing the inclusion of a public option to compete with private health insurance companies as a part of President Obama's plan for healthcare reform.

To remedy this, the group has asked Senator Vitter and Senator Landrieu to return the millions of dollars they have received from the insurance lobby. Zach Hudson, a spokesperson for the group, said that it is the only way for them to maintain credibility if they continue to oppose a public plan.

"Senator Vitter and Senator Landrieu have disappointed the working men and women of Louisiana in their opposition to a public plan that would dramatically lower the cost and increase choice for their constituents' healthcare," he said.

"If it is true what they say, that contributions are not effecting how they vote on healthcare reform, then as an article of faith they should return the money they received from these companies. Only then can they vote with a clear conscience and without any personal or political motivations."

Hudson went on to add that there is still time for the two Senators to change their minds on healthcare reform. "While we obviously have low expectations of Senator Vitter, given his history, Senator Landrieu has a proven track record of fighting and winning for Louisiana's working families. We still have hope that she will continue to stand with them and not with the insurance lobby."

Louisianans for Real Healthcare Reform is a grassroots coalition of activists, bloggers, students, and concerned citizens dedicated to pressuring Louisiana's congressional delegation to support a comprehensive healthcare reform plan that will lower cost and increase choice for the citizens of Louisiana.

We're looking to you, Senator Landrieu, to fight for us and to fight for the passage of real reform including the public option.

Once again, here is how you can get involved:

1. Call Mary Landrieu's offices. Identify yourself as a constituent and tell her you feel betrayed.

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

2. Write a letter to Senators Landrieu and Vitter through the system set up by Dr. Governor Chairman Howard Dean.

3. Sign on to the petition that Change Congress and Karen Gadbois have started.

4. Multiply!!!!! Tell your friends and family to get on board. Hand them your phone and dial up Mary Landrieu for them. Tell them what's going on. Tell them how close we are. We have fallen short too many times on healthcare over the last sixty 60! years to sit idly by and fall short once more. Not when there is such broad-based agreement on what needs to be done. Phone, fax, email, beeper, postal service, telegraph, carrier pigeon, hologram - however you like to send the message - just do it!

Psst: Senator Landrieu

Nate Silver discusses the Times poll I linked to earlier today:

The bottom line is that the health care debate is not really being played out in the court of public opinion. If it were, Congress would pass a robust plan with a public option that was funded by raising taxes on cigarettes, booze, and people making over $250,000, and we'd live happily ever after (or not). Rather, this is a behind-the-scenes fight at the committee level, where certain senators who have ample financial incentives to please the insurance industry have a disproportionate amount of control over the process.

I'm generally not one to carp about special interest money -- seeing politics through that lens is often an overly reductive formulation that serves as a catch-all excuse any time Congress does something you don't like. But on something like the public option, which has broad public support and which would probably reduce -- not increase -- the long-run bill to the taxpayers, it is just about the only way to explain what's going on in Washington.

C'mon, Senator Landrieu. Come on. Your stance on public option is transparent bullsh_t.

Mary Landrieu's sell-out on public option touches a nerve

Last week, Senator Landrieu indicated opposition to the public option, perhaps the most critical measure being considered as Congress negotiates healthcare reform. Creating a public option would create an alternative insurance plan that would help cover those traditionally ignored by the private insurance industry and would increase the affordability of insurance across the board by encouraging price competition.

The Senator's aversion to the reform breaks a promise she made on the campaign trail leading to insinuations that she's been compromised by her reliance on campaign donations from and other ties to the private insurance and healthcare industries.

Landrieu's sell-out on healthcare reform has touched a nerve as many progressive bloggers have been hammering away on the issue non stop. Big organizations like Change Congress and Democracy For America have gotten in on the act as well and have launched a two-pronged campaign to pressure the Senator at the local and national levels.

I'm not sure that the Senator has ever really felt heat from her progressive base. She takes really bad votes all the time, on climate change for instance, on which she is not held accountable. I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb when I make the generalization that many of Landrieu's supporters understand and are willling to accept that there are going to be times where the Senator votes against progressive interests.

For me and many others, it would appear, the issue of affordable and accessible healthcare is not up for negotiation. For instance, this letter from a former full-time Landrieu volunteer was distributed by Change Congress:

"I'm a lifelong resident of Metairie, Louisiana, and I volunteered over 40 hours a week for Senator Landrieu's campaign from February through November last year.

I believed in her. But now I feel very disillusioned.

As a college student, I am currently being covered by my parent’s health insurance, but once I graduate that coverage will stop. In this economic climate, it's going to be hard enough to find a job. Now I'm worried about finding affordable health insurance, too.

If Senator Landrieu votes against the public option, I may not have a choice. Health coverage may not even be a possibility for me. I am very disappointed that not only is she opposing the public option, but giving no explanation as to why.

I hope her contributions from big insurance companies aren't leading her to vote against the interests of her constituents and supporters like me.”

You good friend and mine, Karen Gadbois, has also agreed to work with Change Congress on the issue.

I live in New Orleans and run Squandered Heritage, a non-profit that roots out post-Katrina corruption.

I'm also a breast cancer survivor.

And even though I work full-time -- I'm uninsured.

Just last week, Senator Mary Landrieu announced she is siding with insurance companies by opposing President Obama's plan for a universally available public healthcare option like Medicare. Obama's public option would force the for-profit insurance industry to compete by lowering prices and offering better care. It would also help families like mine get the healthcare we need.

I'm disappointed in Sen. Landrieu. The big health and insurance interests gave her 1.6 million in contributions and now she's siding with them against working families like mine.

But that's not all. Lamar White of the Central Louisiana blog, CenLamar, wrote a really beautiful piece about why the public option matters to him.

The Public Option Is Not A Political Issue; It Is A Human Rights Issue:

I am a 27 year old with cerebral palsy. Fortunately, my disability is very mild, and it does not affect cognition. I have degrees in Religious Studies and English from Rice University, and I’ve spent the past two and a half years working as the special assistant to the Mayor of Alexandria, Louisiana.

Until I was ten years old, I was covered by my family’s private health care plan, Traveler’s Insurance. Because of my disability, I spent much of my childhood either in hospitals or in physical therapy.

--

At ten years old, Traveler’s told my family that I was no longer eligible for coverage.

At ten years old, I was told that, essentially, I was the best I could ever be; as I recall, they specifically refused any additional payments for physical therapy.

I had metal screws and metal plates in my body– things that were implanted as temporary fixes, as a way of guiding and instructing my growth, things that needed to come out.

--

Access to health care should be considered a fundamental human right. And in the richest country in the history of our planet, this access should be unfettered and should include the services of the best professionals in their fields.

More importantly, this fundamental right to access should never be predicated on the whims and desires of a for-profit corporation.

When taking a stand against the public option, you are effectively standing against the poor, the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled. Period.

And most importantly: I know that I am not entirely unique. I know there are, right now, kids just like I used to be, kids filing through the doors of our publicly-subsidized hospitals, kids whose families can only hope that their child will be able to see the doctor who drove up in a Porsche (this, to be sure, is my experience with a certain doctor), kids who are deemed uninsurable, and kids who will never have the opportunities that I had because, fortunately, despite my disability, I belong to a family who believed in exhausting every option.

Mary Landrieu is alienating her core supporters. Her reelection campaign website continues to feature a blogroll including myself, CenLamar, Your Right Hand Thief, and the Daily Kingfish. Three of the four blogs featured on her own reelection campaign website have come out against the Senator's sell-out to healthcare profiteers over the last week. (I'm sure you're not far behind, Oyster.)

And the phone calls have been pouring in. Normally when you call her D.C. office outside of regular business hours, you're invited to leave a voicemail. Yesterday I made an attempt at 5:37 ET and was disconnected after being told that the Senator's voicemail was full and could not accept any new messages.

We must continue to flood her offices with our concerns. Tell your friends. We have got to change her mind on the public option. This is the most important domestic issue for me and nearly everyone I know, democrats, independents, non-voters, and yes, even a few pragmatic republicans. Mary Landrieu promised to deliver substantive healthcare reform and promised to fight for a public option. We must force her to keep those promises to her supporters and to the working families of Louisiana.

Washington D.C.: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427
Baton Rouge: (225) 389-0395
Shreveport: (318) 676-3085
Lake Charles: (337) 436-6650

The cynic in me says that this can't work but you don't have to look far back into history to see evidence to the contrary. Just weeks ago, another moderate Senator, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, was backed down from his own statements against the public option after a flurry of outrage from his constituents. We can do this. Keep making calls. Tell your story.

Senator Landrieu: Who's it gonna be?

Are you looking out for us or are you looking out for them?

I continue to make calls. Won't you join me?

Call her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.
Call her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Tell Mary Landrieu to do the right thing. Tell her not to betray her constituents and her state. We need a public option as part of healthcare reform. We need her help to fight for it.

The high cost of health insurance hurts me and nearly everyone I know.

I will not have Senator Landrieu sell me out to appease a bunch of special interest lobbyists.

Worse Than Originally Thought

Senator Mary Landrieu's refusal to embrace a public option as an integral piece of any substantive healthcare reform effort has had many of us fuming this week.

Ryan at Kingfish inferred that one reason Senator Landrieu might be so quick to sell out the working families of Louisiana might be that she has become beholden to the insurance interests that gave over $600,000 to her reelection campaign.

But it's actually much worse than that. The Public Campaign Action Fund, a non-partisan non-profit group devoted to strengthening campaign finance laws, has produced a far more depressing account of Mary Landrieu's ties to the private healthcare industry through campaign finance and the incestuous exchange of staffers.

Not good, Senator. Louisianians need serious healthcare reform. A public option is critical for reducing costs. This state has one of the highest percentages of uninsured in the country. It is shameful for the Senator to let her loyalties to sickness profiteers trump her responsibilities to the people of this state.

From the Public Campaign Action Fund:

Sen. Landrieu has depended on the insurance and health care industries to fund her campaigns for public office

• According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Landrieu has raised $1,668,693 from health care and insurance interests throughout her federal political career.
  
  
• Sen. Landrieu has received substantial contributions throught her career from leading health care industries, including HMOs and pharmaceutical companies:

Health Professionals	$600,366
Insurance	$376,731
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$266,645
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$228,446
Health Services/HMOs	$160,005

• Sen. Landrieu has also received $677,014 from registered lobbyists and their political action committees throughout her career.
  
  
• Sen. Landrieu has received large contributions from some of the largest companies and groups in the health care and insurance industries.

Tenet Healthcare	$26,000
American Optometric Association	$25,500
GlaxoSmithKline	$25,000
American Hospital Association	$23,000
Amgen	$21,000
Blue Cross Blue Shield	$20,479

• Sen. Landrieu’s leadership political action committee, Jazz PAC, has received significant contributions from the health care industry throughout her career.

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$13,000
Health Professionals	$10,500
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	$6,000

• Jazz PAC has also received $29,000 from registered lobbyists and their political action committees
  .
• According to the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Party Time website, a number of health care lobbyists hosted a $2000/$1000 fundraising reception for Sen. Landrieu on July 28, 2008. The lobbyist hosts (and clients) included: Nicole Venable of McAllister & Quinn (Novartis, SERMO), and numerous lobbyists from the Chamber of Commerce.

Former staffers for Sen. Landrieu have made lucrative careers as lobbyists for the health care industry and other major business interests

• Donna Denison, a former staffer for Sen. Landrieu, is vice president with lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates. The firm’s first quarter 2009 clients (and fees) include: BJC Healthcare ($60,000), Fairview Hospital and Healthcare Services ($80,000), and Memorial Healthcare System ($70,000).
  
  
• Jeffrey Wiener, a former legislative assistant for Sen. Landrieu, is a lobbyist with Fabiani & Company. The firm’s first quarter 2009 clients (and fees) include: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ($50,000), Lundbeck Research ($100,000), and Trius Therapeutics ($60,000).
  
  
• Jason Mathews, Sen. Landrieu’s former chief of staff, is director of congressional affairs with the Chamber of Commerce.

She has got to hear from us.

Call her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.
Call her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Vitter Maintains Friendships

There have been rumblings about the possibility of a tough primary challenge for Senator Vitter in 2010. It appears, however, that he's not having much trouble retaining support among other high profile Louisiana officials.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, 6:00 ‐ 8:00 PM
101 Constitution NW, 9th Floor Balcony, Washington, DC

General Admission- $1000 Pac /Individual

VIP- $5000 Pac / $4600 Individual, (Includes Private Reception and Photo with Governor Jindal and Senator Vitter from 6:00 ‐ 6:30 PM)

==

CO‐HOSTS:

Senator J. Bennett Johnston
Congressman Jim McCrery
Congressman Rodney Alexander
Congressman Charles Boustany
Congressman Steve Scalise
Congressman Bob Livingston
Congressman Billy Tauzin
Congressman Jimmy Hayes
Congressman John Cooksey
Congressman Henson Moore
Congressman Clyde Holloway
Congressman‐Elect Bill Cassidy

Billed "Mardi Gras in December," this private fundraiser is NOT to be confused with the annual D.C. Mardi Gras ball that occurs each January sponsored by the Mystic Krewe of Louisiana. In 2007, David Vitter, after months of reeling from a sex scandal, emerged to organize the ball and choose that year's king, his close ally Boysie Bollinger.

Again, it's important to make this difference clear. The Mardi Gras in December ball is a private fundraiser where David Vitter will appeal for campaign donations from an elite collection of businessmen and socialites. The Washington Mardi Gras ball is a private event where Louisiana politicians mingle with an elite collection of lobbyists, businessmen, and socialites.

The T-P once wrote about the ground rules for that event:

Sponsors pay $7,500 each and receive private booths on the raised perimeter of the oval ballroom underneath large banners bearing their names. They also get 40 tickets to hand out as they wish.

The extremely different private Vitter fundraiser is considerably more expensive as a singular GA ticket costs $1000 by itself.

Et Tu, Trashanova?

Lee Zurik files this investigative report.

SDT Waste Management is billing area parishes (and us, the taxpayers) for dumping fees as part of separate commercial contracts.

Oyster wrote my favorite Trashanova blog post ever:

As someone who was tracking twentysomething Sidney as he accumulated French Quarter hotels and "boutiqued" them during the real estate boom at the turn of the millenium, I've always wondered what his secret was. Impeccable timing? An innate business sense? Or did he simply leverage his connections and family money?

After the Federal Flood, Torres started a Waste Management firm. With the infinite need, it seemed like another potentially shrewd maneuver. But what captured the public's attention was Sidney's other qualities. Here's a young guy who is good-looking, stylish, local, and has a "can do" entrepreneurial spirit. He's a great post-Katrina story-- what's not to like?

Well, I dunno. Most people don't hear about SDT's large campaign contributions to Nagin (in 2007), SDT's highly advantageous service contracts, and SDT's curious choice of subcontractors.

I did a quick check of campaign contributions and just for a ballpark idea. Sidney D. Torres III and IV gave at least $28,500 to aid Mayor Nagin's campaign efforts from various LLCs based out of the 937 Esplanade Ave. HQ since 2002. Of that amount, $15,000 was posted to the Secretary of State as recently as 2007, during Mayor Nagin's fake gubernatorial rodeo.

Early suspicions about Sydney Torres appear to have been quite prescient. Oyster's larger point in that post about Torres' ability to generate fluff media is worth considering. I'll never forget choking on my coffee in the car listening to him nearly charm the pants off of NPR's Melissa Block in an All Things Considered report filed from the SDT command center during the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

What's remarkable about the NPR report is Torres' personal level of involvement in day-to-day operations, closely monitoring where his trucks are at all times from his state-of-the-art command center. So he's likely pretty well aware of the billing issues Mr. Zurik was attempting to flesh out.

I Think You Can Forget It

Not real thrilled about the sources of the campaign coffers for aspirant District Attorneys Leon Cannizzaro and Ralph Capitelli. Look at this from the T-P, kudos to Frank Donze and Laura Maggi. (sorry for the long excerpt)

All four candidates for district attorney are Democrats. But Cannizzaro has received support from several prominent Republican donors.

For example, the reports show that real estate developer Joe Canizaro; his wife, Sue Ellen; and companies they own have given Cannizzaro a total of $25,000. Phyllis Taylor and her company, Taylor Energy, contributed a total of $10,000. Edward Diefenthal, the chief executive officer of Southern Holdings Inc., and his wife, Nancy, each gave $5,000. Companies owned by Lockport shipbuilder Donald "Boysie" Bollinger have anted up a total of $5,000, and former U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston, now a Washington lobbyist, gave $1,000.

Joe Canizaro and Bollinger have been two of President Bush's most prolific Louisiana financial supporters.

--

Other notable Cannizzaro financial backers include businessman and failed gubernatorial candidate John Georges and his wife, Dethel, for a total of $10,000; former Jefferson Parish District Attorney Jack Capella, $5,000; movie theater operator T.G. Solomon, $5,000; and personal injury lawyer Morris Bart, $2,500.

Cannizzaro also received a total of $30,000 in contributions from St. Bernard Parish developer Joseph Georgusis and members of his family.

Among the big-name backers who individually made $5,000 contributions to Capitelli are Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, defense attorneys Pat Fanning and Ralph Whalen, and Edward and Nancy Diefenthal.

Other noteworthy names on Capitelli's donor list are St. Tammany District Attorney Walter Reed, $3,500; lawyer and former legislator Henry Braden IV, $2,500; New Orleans Business Council leader Jay Lapeyre, real estate developer Roger Ogden and lawyers Rob Couhig and Darleen Jacobs, $2,000 each; New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, businessmen Robert Boh and Frank Stewart, and banker Ashton Ryan, $1,000 each; and former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg and restaurateur Ralph Brennan, $500 each.

I don't really like this at all. WCBF has not yet made an endorsement in this race but this has me feeling pretty queasy about pulling the lever for either of these two gentleman. Such a huge percentage of Judge Cannizzaro's campaign is being bankrolled by a single social network.

Our next DA must Must MUST be committed to fairly prosecuting white collar criminals in politics and in commerce. How can I trust either of these two guys? Cannizzaro's list is especially nausiating.

Jason Williams has almost entirely funded his own campaign, save for one $5,000 check from his father-in-law, former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy. Barely objectionable.

We'll have to learn more about him...

Linda Bizzarro has no friends?

Southern Scrap: More Than Meets The Eye [updated]

According to the Coast Guard, all 70 of the vessels that broke loose in the Industrial Canal during Hurricane Gustav belonged to a company called Southern Scrap.

'Loose Ships Sink Levees'

The loose vessels produced some of Gustav's scariest moments as they careened around the waterway, with some crashing into an interior floodwall, a bridge and industrial warehouses. At least one barge knocked holes in a nonfederal floodwall -- one not responsible for protecting New Orleans residents -- and there were fears that the next big storm could unleash barges in an unprotected industrial area and sweep them across open parking lots toward a federal floodwall that protects the Upper 9th Ward.

The rest of the Times-Picayune article outlines Coast Guard suspicions that Southern Scrap may not have followed it's own mooring plan :

Capt. Lincoln Stroh, the Coast Guard's New Orleans sector commander, wrote in his order to Southern Scrap that the "company has not shown the ability to follow (its) Heavy Weather Protection Plan as hurricanes approach this Port."

But the Times-Picayune avoids providing critical context. People should know about Southern Scrap and it's history.

First, let's remember that Southern Scrap has a history of failure when it comes to securing it's Industrial Canal assets as storms approach. That link leads to a T-P story from just a few weeks that details a court ruling allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with a lawsuit against Southern Scrap dating back to an unsecured drydock that sunk during Hurricane Katrina. Two other companies are moving forward with their own suits against Southern Scrap because their barges were damaged attempting to navigate the drydock wreckage. Additionally, the Port of New Orleans is suing Southern Scrap for the damage done to the Florida Avenue Bridge.

After their failures during Hurricane Katrina, Southern Scrap was somehow given the latitude to implement their own plan to secure vessels on the canal for Gustav without any oversight. The ongoing lawsuits related to Katrina represent critical context that T-P readers were denied.


--


But unfortunately that's not the only boat the T-P's been missing in its coverage of Southern Scrap.

As the paper does point out, Southern Scrap is a subsidiary of Southern Recycling which is a subsidiary of Southern Holdings. Or I should say it was a subsidiary of Southern Holdings.

Briefly, Southern Recycling (and largely, Southern Recycling and Southern Scrap can be discussed as one and the same), is one of the largest recyclers of scrap metal in the United States. It is a major force within that industry and gets a lot of fat contracts to help the government dispose of old ships.

Southern Recycling and the above umbrella Southern Holdings were founded by the extremely politically-connected Diefenthal family. Edward L. Diefenthal is one of the most active and loyal Republican donors in the South, having given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates all over the country. The Diefenthals are also amongst the cabal behind David Vitter's Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (see this link also), a PAC that funnels untold amounts of money to Republican campaigns. Edward L. Diefenthal is amongst Governor Bobby Jindal's biggest financial boosters, which may be why we're not hearing much from the Governor's mouth about the barges.

It must be pointed out that Diefenthal and Southern Holdings sold Southern Recycling/Scrap in 2006 to a European company for just over $160 million and in no way am I insinuating that Diefenthal himself should have tied the barges. However, it may be helpful to ask whether or not his political influence had anything to do with the lack of oversight awarded to his companies, particularly since ownership only changed hands very recently and since Diefenthal still lists himself as CEO of Southern Scrap in campaign donations from this year.

It is also helpful to remember that Diefenthal only sold off Southern Scrap/Recycling after it became abundantly clear, especially to the politically connected, that it would be impossible to preserve the 'Hurricane Highway,' the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, on which Southern Scrap relied to move big ships. That was after Diefenthal and other monopoly men dependent on MR-GO like shipping magnate Boysie Bollinger worked desperately to prevent or delay work on this critical security project on which the future of all of SE Louisiana depends. (Boysie Bollinger is another principal behind Vitter's LCRM and served on the BNOB commission, ensuring that MR-GO closure was not made a priority by that body's levees subcommittee)

Though the push to close MR-GO has been ongoing for decades, one wonders why even after the Katrina disaster so sinisterly exposed the risks of continuing to preserve the man made channel, it has still taken over three years to begin work. And at a relatively reasonable $25 million, it certainly wasn't the funding or the price tag that held things up. Of course that $25 million only pays for the plug and does not fill in the channel or restore the wetlands around it, but it's a critical first step that we should have taken years ago but did not because of the inordinate political influence of selfish millionaires like Bollinger and Diefenthal.

Now I think that's pretty critical context.




UPDATE: Loose Links and the Greater New Orleans Republicans

1. Mouthpiece background bio on Boysie Bollinger

2. Article detailing the parties for and against closure of MR-GO

Yet for several maritime companies along the Industrial Canal, including Bollinger Gulf Repairs, New Orleans Coal Storage and Lockheed Martin's Michoud plant, the MR-GO offers the sole outlet for ships too large for an alternative route through locks leading to the Mississippi River. If the MR-GO closes without an alternative route opening first, Bollinger Vice President Robert Socha said the repair dock's 300 jobs could go, too. "If one or the other isn't met, Bollinger Gulf Repair would probably cease to exist," he said.

And here's Congressman Jefferson really fighting for the people:

But St. Bernard Parish Councilman Craig Taffaro said his parish cannot wait that long.

"Congress needs to understand the people of St. Bernard lost everything, including loved ones, due to the negligence and lack of responsiveness by the federal government and Army Corps of Engineers in the maintenance of that structure," Taffaro said.

But the port has an ally in U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. In a statement issued last week, Jefferson signaled his support for keeping MR-GO open until the locks are completed.

"I will continue working with the Port of New Orleans and other interested parties so that New Orleans does not lose valuable business at the port," the statement said. "In the interim, I will also seek funding for the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal lock, which will allow us to close MRGO to commercial traffic."

Jefferson spokeswoman Nicole Venable said the congressman also wanted a floodgate system such as Melancon described. But she warned "not to cut off the (Gulf Outlet) altogether in the face of irrational fears."

Nice to see Congressman Jefferson tending to his constituents - the Bolinger and Diefenthal families. Just look at Edward Diefenthal's campaign contributions from 2004 alone! He gave to the horrific Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and rained $15,000 on the Greater New Orleans Republicans Fund. (Anyone remember them?)

3. Here's a strike against Boysie Bollinger from Oyster's archives.

4. Here's a link to some work by Mike Davis. It's a long, well-researched article.

Here's a quick hit:

Power and status in New Orleans have always been defined by membership in secretive Mardis Gras 'krewes' and social clubs, with the Krewe of Comus and the Boston and Louisiana clubs at the apex. 'Perhaps more than any other city in America,’ historian John Barry has written, 'New Orleans was run by a cabal of insiders...Looking on as if from behind a two-way mirror, these insiders watched and judged and decided.’

Then in the early 1990s, civil-rights activists led by feisty councilmember Dorothy Mae Taylor forced the token desegregation of the Mardis Gras and some of the clubs reluctantly admitted a few African-American millionaires. Despite a few old-guard holdouts (like Comus, which preferred to stop parading rather than integrate), Uptown seemed to be adjusting, however grudgingly, to the reality of Black political clout.

But, as post-Katrina events have brutally clarified, if the oligarchy is dead, then long live the oligarchy. While elected Black officials protest impotently from the sidelines, a largely white elite with overriding common interests - especially prime real estate and Tulane University - has wrested control over the debate about how to rebuild the city. This de facto ruling krewe includes Jim Amoss, the publisher of the Times-Picayune; Pres Kabacoff, developer-gentrifier and local patron of the 'New Urbanism'; Donald Bollinger, shipyard owner and prominent Bushite; James Reiss, real-estate investor and chair of the Regional Transit Authority (i.e. he was responsible for the buses that didn't evacuate people); Alden McDonald Jr., CEO of the largest African-American-owned bank; Janet Howard of the Bureau of Government Research (originally set-up by Uptown elites to oppose the populism of Huey Long); and Scott Cowen, the aggressively ambitious president of Tulane University.

But the dominating figure and literal kingpin is Joseph Canizaro, a wealthy property developer with friends in high places. First and most importantly, Canizaro is a leading Bush supporter with close personal ties to Karl Rove and the White House inner circle. Secondly, he is the power behind the throne of Mayor Ray Nagin, a nominal Democrat (he supported Bush in 2000) who was elected in 2002 with 80 percent of the white vote. And, thirdly, as the former president of the Urban Land Institute, he mobilizes the support of some of the nation's most powerful developers and prestigious master-planners.


5. Notice when the monopoly men were finally forced to cave to reality, they made sure that their puppet David Vitter would take all the credit.

Oh and don't you dare miss this one:

6. The New Yorker describes the "broad-chested and jowly" Boysie Bollinger as also possessing the "carriage of a viceroy." The following passage indicates the repulsive perspective from which this racist dirtbag sees the world:

Bollinger held the view that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was pampering evacuees, by handing families two thousand dollars in emergency help. “I said to the President, ‘You’re empowering people not to come back to work.’ The President said, ‘I don’t think two thousand dollars will do that.’ I said, ‘Mr. President, these people haven’t had two thousand dollars in their lives.’ ” Rather than wait, Bollinger was hiring as many Mexicans as he could find. “I’m hoping the people of New Orleans come back and take a different attitude toward employment,” he said, pulling open the door to a small office building. “But until they do . . .”

Boysie then shot an infant and kicked her screaming sister toddler into the river.

Last one I promise:

7. An Advocate article on Believe in Louisiana, a 527 created to promote Governor Jindal's conservative agenda exposes both Edward Diefenthal and Boysie Bollinger as top contributors, each giving at least $100k.

-

What these guys are doing and have done, the inordinate control they have on our political process - it ain't right.

They have a racket and if they don't break the law as it is, we've got to write laws that make it illegal to do what they do. When a social cabal of millionaires can drop $15,000 a pop into a hat that magically produces a mayor and a congressman with original favors to owe, you've got a problem on your hands.

Not too many towns in America that have it quite like New Orleans.