Sunday, March 18, 2007

$170k for a bodygaurd

Gordon Russell brings us news today that Greg Meffert paid a bodygaurd/welder/fencer/yacht interior designer/wifi technician 170,000 post-K city dollars in 2005 alone. He was making $75.28/hour and registering hundreds of hours of overtime. As Russell points out...that's more than our Police Cheif makes. Hell, I think thats more than our Governor makes.

Meffert provided his typical response...he lied. He claimed the man, Jimmy Goodson, a former welding instructor at Louisiana Technical College, was "Never my driver". Russell then goes on to interview former Nagin communications director, Sally Forman, and others who confirm Goodson was indeed serving as some kind of hybrid driver/bodyguard/personal assisstant.

Meffert commented on Russell reporting on the story, "If this is what makes front-page news now with everything else that's going on, you guys need to go all Anna Nicole or something," he said by e-mail. "Unbelievable."

What's unbelievable is that he doesn't think funneling 170k in city funds to a fucking bodyguard is a problem.

In the WWL radio interview, Meffert said people are painting him to be a Tony Soprano. Truth be told, I think he views himself that way, not the TP or anyone else. Why the fuck would a city CTO need a bodygaurd? I can understand it right after the storm...maybe. I really think this guy thinks he's some kind of mafia don.

Also..he keeps saying "with everything else that's going on in this city...why are you coming after me?" If you know about "stuff going on" Greg, why don't you inform of us of it? If you're an ethical guy why don't you spill the beans and help root out corruption in the city?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, did you happen to notice the name Tami Frazier, Nagin spokeswoman, listed in the article?

Anonymous said...

If Meffert was a mob guy, he'd be the laughing stock of the gang. They'd have him starting cars for everyone - not running anything.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Yeah....I'll be damned! Tami may be the caller. Hah...that's even more interesting because it would suggest Nagin is trying to cover for Meffert as well.

Professor Zero said...

I heard that FEMA was paying nearly that much to the bodyguards assigned to the FEMA workers - fancy hotel and per diem for restaurants, 'entertainment' money, plus salary, for months on end!

bayoustjohndavid said...

Tami Frazier has a P.R. business in Houston, according to the article. WWL's broadcast reaches that far, but I'd hope that a P.R. pro wouldn't be so obvious. However, my comment is about Nagin. I hate to ask you to criticize Gordon Russell, but can he really say with any certainty that Meffert duped the mayor?

Anonymous said...

the caller wasn't tami frazier wasn't her voice. don't think it was greg's wife linda either. maybe one of the other Imaginary Boys put their old ball & chain up to it. Domke? Kurt? one of the many women in the Muppet fan club? hmmmmmm

Jason Brad Berry said...

David,

I noticed that too....I think it was a strategic jab. The whole issue here is what Nagin knew and what he didn't. I think he knew most everything....he certainly knew who paid for his free Xmas trip to Hawaii. I think Russell may be throwing ego bombs at them.