Monday, January 18, 2010

Meanwhile in District C

It seems most of the attention in the N.O. blogosphere has been on the mayor's race this year...it's been so dramatic it's hard not to focus on it.

My primary concern as a blogger in this election is that people at least know the candidates this time before they cast their votes. If there is anything dubious about their past, I think it's important the voting populous is made aware of such information.

Such is the case with District C.

A couple of weeks ago, I had heard the District C race between Kristin Palmer and Tom Arnold was being plagued by whisper campaigns from both sides. But most of those whispers turned out to be idle gossip regarding relationships and as a rule of thumb I don't like to discuss those matters on AZ as I think they rarely have any pertinence to a person's ability to perform a civic duty.

There was, however, one story of an incident which took place at the Algiers Courthouse which caught my attention and I decided to look into it. Two weeks later, I am confident the event took place but even more disturbing than the event itself, is that there is no official record of the event taking place....and there most definitely should be.

Here is the story as confirmed by two confidential, independent witnesses:

In April of 2008, around noontime, an incident took place at the Algiers Courthouse in which Tax Assessor, Tom Arnold, was brandishing a gun in his office. An employee of Judge Bobby Jones named Buck, told the witnesses that Mr. Arnold was locked inside his office with a gun to his head. Reportedly there were two employees of the courthouse in the office with Tom, Ray Giacontiere and Louis Ivon, as well as two of Arnold's staff members, Kelly Byrd and Roy Allen.

The witnesses report that two caucasian NOPD police officers appeared on the scene and they appeared to be detectives, dressed in pants, shirt and tie. The witnesses report that the situation was diffused and the officers left in an SUV with a security camera videotape.

That is all I have been able to verify, so far, through the eyewitnesses.

The problem I have here is that it appears there was no police report filed on the incident. Combined with the report that the security videotape was removed from the courthouse, it concerns me that there was an effort by multiple law enforcement officials to cover the incident up.

If Mr. Arnold used his influence to quell the reports of the incident or if he was shown special favor by law enforcement officials.....this needs to be public knowledge.

Also, I would ask why was the tax assessor carrying a weapon in the Algiers Courthouse in the first place? Was he authorized to do this?

There seems to be a pattern of abuse of privilege with Arnold:

Tom Arnold fails to quash charges of misuse of police lights

Blue light not-so-special

These are two incidents which show a clear abuse of privilege by this man who is wanting to hold one of the most important public offices in our city government. I think this issue needs to be known by District C voters.

I have made repeated attempts to contact both Mr. Arnold and his campaign to comment on the incident but I have received no official response on the record.

I encourage Mr. Arnold or his campaign to please comment on this issue or contact me personally if they wish to respond.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arnold is a general old-boy slimeball. The question is going to be, assuming Gisleson Palmer wins, whether she is in the pocket of the VCPORA and real estate folks in the Quarter.

Anonymous said...

Wow, really scary

Anonymous said...

The old codger's wife caught him porkin' another bimbo from Covington. When shed showed up at the courthouse to tell him shew was leaving him he pulled the gun out and threaten to blow his brains out. Viva Viagra baby!!!

Anonymous said...

Rumor on the street is that his mistress was a former beauty queen. I hear she is smoking hot.

Anonymous said...

Hot like a pile of steaming poo.

Anonymous said...

i guess that explains using the police lights to speed across the causeway, the cialis was wering off.

Anonymous said...

Even better than that. Tom's son (State Representative Jeff Arnold) sent a scathing text message to Kristen Palmer. I can't remember being told why he sent it, but it involved cursing and other epithets against female virtues. Only problem - Jeff had the wrong number! He sent it to Kristen's teenage daughter who was mortified and showed it to her father. Haven't heard what fall out was, if any.

Anonymous said...

Whoever coined the term "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" never saw Arnold's mistress.

Unknown said...

And then Robocop punched through the wall...

Sam Jasper said...

I watched the WDSU debate Sunday night as I live in District C. A LOT bothered me.

All three candidates were very Westbank leaning. They, of course, said the FQ had to be preserved, but they made few comments about the Marigny, Bywater, parts of Mid-City and parts of the Ninth Ward, neighborhoods that are within Dist. C lines.

When I lived on the Westbank, Tom Arnold had a reputation for being a bit of a bully as the assessor. Can't remember all the ins and outs of that as it was years ago, but I didn't like him then. I don't like him any more now.

Kristin Gileson-Palmer was very articulate, BUT worried me in that she did seem a bit real estate oriented and what we don't need is another condo-maniacal Clarkson type in there. She was, however, very kind to Nathanial Jones, who was clearly out of his depth. She had the grace to ask him if she was elected would he be willing to work with her. She could have overlooked him, as Arnold did. I thought it was a classy move.

I'm not liking any of my choices. It feels like I have to roll the dice and hope she doesn't a. sell of the rest of the historic districts to out of towners leaving renters in trouble and areas virtually uninhabited by year round residents, and b. that she isn't so involved with the Westbank that she ignores her constituents on the East Bank.

I looked for the video. WDSU doesn't have it up yet.

civitch said...

There's going to be a forum next Wednesday at NOCCA with Palmer and Arnold. 7 p.m. More details as I get them.

Anonymous said...

I've heard Kristin Palmer and Tom Arnold speak and I don't get the impression that she is a dangerous pro-real estate candidate at all. My take on her is that she is a considered thinker, frankly, and aware of the needs of preservation of New Orleans neighborhoods, and not at all in bed with real estate interests. Most of the big investors in the Fr Qtr don't even live in Orleans parish. The Karno Family lives in Jefferson, they own a lot of Bourbon St. The hotels are owned for the most part by out-of-towners, with the exception of the Valentinos and some of the small hoteliers.

The VCPORA is a group of do-gooders and preservationists who frankly try to keep nutty people from destroying their neighborhood even more.

No, Kristin seems like the candidate for me in this race, especially after reading this wild, wonderful tale of Arnold with his blue lights and gun craziness.

Thanks AZ!

Anonymous said...

I understand that Tom had a neverous breakdown...a one time event that had to do with his personal life. Never heard about the "gun to the head". He took a coulple a days to regroup and was fine.Fact is that he was seperated from his wife then, and is now divorced... may be part of the emotional distress. I understand that his wife is very supportive of his campaign and is activily campaigning for him. The sad thing is that his family has been through a very rough spell, over the past four years. But they seem to be pulling it together.

Anonymous said...

The only bad thing I've heard about Palmer is that she's used to being a boss and therefore maybe needs to take a humility lesson and play well with others. She's got my vote, as Tom Arnold gives me the creeps.

The regular use of the blue lights (the time he was stopped isn't the only time he did it, by FAR) is allegedly due to his girlfriend living over the bridge. Rumor is that he pretty much lives over there with her and so he needs to speed to work every day...

Word verification "illig". Yes indeed.

Anonymous said...

Just called Jeff Arnold and he read me the text message. It was not scathing, no cursing and was sent to the cell phone number Kristin Palmer gave him a few years ago. She got a new phone number and gave the old one to her daughter without telling anyone. The message he sent was polite and asked her to stop anonymous personal attacks that involved non-elected members of the family by her over zealous supporters. He did not accuse her. Jeff said he also sent her a private message on Facebook, she has not replied to either. That same known Palmer supporter was caught Monday night defacing Arnold campaign signs, police were notified and given the pictures that identify him

Anonymous said...

Ok, from the blog:
"Here is the story as confirmed by two confidential, independent witnesses:....."
"An employee of Judge Bobby Jones named Buck, told the witnesses...."

It is a confidential, independent witness or is hearsay from a witness of a witness?

More Blog:
"That is all I have been able to verify, so far, through the eyewitnesses.

The problem I have here is that it appears there was no police report filed on the incident."

What if there was nothing to write on a report, let us write a report about nothing. Oh wait, that is what this blog just did!

Congrats to Palmer camp for getting someone to write about nothing, free press is free, it does not matter if the facts are true or not.

Another trash bloger, just what the internet needed.

Sam Jasper said...

Hmm, AZ, looks like the Arnold camp is reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to put that "trash blogger" post and the text message sent to Kristin Palmer's phone through some computerized language analysis. My guess is that the same person wrote them both.

Jason Brad Berry said...

-
It is a confidential, independent witness or is hearsay from a witness of a witness?

two witnesses independent of each other (their stories corrborated), both were confidential. I'm guilty of bad syntax.

- What if there was nothing to write on a report, let us write a report about nothing. Oh wait, that is what this blog just did!

Great, I hope that was the case. How do you explain the removal of the videotape and the multiple testimonies stating he was brandishing a weapon.

- Congrats to Palmer camp for getting someone to write about nothing, free press is free, it does not matter if the facts are true or not.

Another trash bloger, just what the internet needed.

You have an open forum here to challenge anything I've written in that post. If something is not accurate or true, and you have knowledge of that...then by all means call my ass out on it.

Just what the internet needs...another astroturfer whining that lies are being told about his peeps without having any substantive information to show for it.

Anonymous said...

I am sickened by the thought of Tom Arnold having sex. This is the equivalent of Mose Jefferson having sex with Elenese Brooks-Sims.

For those who have seen Arnold's mistress the question must be asked....which one should be banished first?

rcs said...

More details on the gun incident from the Times-Picayune:

City Council candidate Tom Arnold had gun in courthouse, official says

Anonymous said...

Where does Kristen Palmer stand on the CCCD? Tom, his son Jeff, and Jeff's Attorney Ken Pickering have been in control of the CCCD for years and all they do is protect those clowns who make us wait in line and take our money each morning. And, what do we get for our tolls? The answer - nothing but high weeds and floods on DeGaulle. If Palmer promises to bust the CCCD up, she has my vote.

Anonymous said...

Palmer cannot bust up the CCC, she is running for City Council. The Bridge is a state entity and the tolls are set to expire in the next few years. Tom Arnold and Ken Pickering cannot bust up the tolls either, Pickering is the attorney for the CCCD. We will have to wait and see what Jeff Arnold does, if and when a vote comes up to extend the tolls, he was not elected yet when they were extended last time.

Arnold is the best candidate for Dist. C and if this is your one reason to vote for either one, at least Arnold can put pressure on his son to vote no. After how negative Palmer has been against the Arnold family I don't think Jeff will listen to her.

Anonymous said...

Palmers Dirty Tricks now extend to sending out unsigned dirt 'against Arnold' to voters in Algiers--in post boxes today, January 30. Just that fact that Palmer wont sign her dirt is enough to make me not vote for her-- this will back fire on her.

Jason Brad Berry said...

hope that works out for you