Friday, May 13, 2011

Bomb is dropped

Just got word that Jimmy Goodson testified that he hired a landscaping company to do work on Nagin's house, paid for by St. Pierre.

Correction, Goodson didn't testify but the contract workers for the company, Custom Transportation, confirmed that lawn work was done on Nagin's yard.
Bye Bye Ray.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good news.

Any word on benetech and frank fradella and the rest of the story on that chicago fundraising trip yet?

Anonymous said...

Benetech = pass through company

Fradella = no info

Chicago Fundraising trip = CIBER & Ed Burns are going underneath the jail.

Kevin said...

This came out in 2009, but Nagin denied it (not under oath, of course). Home lawn care, pool care and housekeeping were alleged to have been provided by St. Pierre.

Anonymous said...

have they asked about the email erasure yet?
thanks for the great reporting Zombie!

Anonymous said...

Last anon - yeah that emaelstrom story is not over with.

Jason Brad Berry said...

I don't think the email issue will come up in this trial.

bruthas_back said...

is nagin really burnt toast! I would have thought politically he would be safe as long as no move had been made on broussard, but maybe not.

also who were/are letten's kingmakers in JP. is it vitter and vitter only or is there more to he story?
i find it telling that heebe was the first choice u.s. attorney, as corrupt as corrupt as he seems to be, when that blew up in his face letten was the next choice. as politicized as the DOJ was under rove i find it hard to believe that letten got the job on merit alone, but i could be wrong.
what say you?

Anonymous said...

Oh, who cares if there is something wrong with Letten, as long has he is bringing all this to light and holding feet to the fire?

So many people got hurt by the people who worked at Nagin's City Hall-- they worked AT City Hall but FOR themselves-- that all the dirt needs to be flushed out of the wound.

If you want to squint hard at a Rove appointee, I get that. I personally think you have to be batshit insane to be a Republican of any kind.

But Jim Letten appears to be getting it done, so I'm all for letting the man do his job.

nolajoe said...

i would be shocked if nagin was "busted" in any sense. first because I recognize that "plausible deniability" is the SINGLE skill an executive has to master. if he cannot then he's all kinds of toast...which is they're all so good at it. 8 years in office, I'm betting nagin learned it well.

second, because I don't think he was really part of the scams. other than the home depot thing, I don't think he was involved in the scheming around him...I think he was an incomement politician whose very "captain-less ship" nature leant itself perfectly to those who would attempt to capitalize on the situation.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Nagin is busted. Write it in stone.

Bruthas_back, JL definitely plays politics and River Birch/Heebe is a glaring example. I think River Birch is a hornet's nest and once the DOJ stuck their finger in it, they started looking for ways to get out.

Having said that, the wheels of justice grind slowly and I think there may be a lot more to come from the Jim Letten show. I can tell you that in this trial, they are specifically asking questions and getting things on the record from witnesses which don't necessarily pertain to St. Pierre but do pertain to Ed Burns/Ciber and Nagin.

These guys work methodically...if you get a chance you should stop by the court house and watch the lead prosecutor in action....it is a thing of beauty.

Anonymous said...

I hope it all comes out, and every carpetbagger and disaster profiteer with any connection to the Nagin years at City Hall goes down so hard they hide their crooked faces from the sun for the rest of their lives.

But I pity their kids. It is sad for these kids that their parents are notorious douchebags.

If these greedy assholes had made being solid role models for their children their first priority, it would have made them better public servants.

Anonymous said...

Following high profile people need a criminal defense attorney from thus trial so far:
Eddie Sapir
Ray Nagin
Ed Burns
Donald Evans
Kieth Thibadoux and wife
Aaron Bennett
Jimmy Goodson
Keep an eye on several Gretna officials

There is a reason numerous criminal defense attorneys are sitting in the audience from what I understand

Unknown said...

What about Jay Batt? I understand that he received a 9k watch as part of a bet with Meffert, who was a City contractor. In Louisiana, bets are not enforceable contracts. So, this may be construed as a gift, not a contract, to Batt by a City contractor paid from a budget that the City Council had to approve. Should Batt be seeking a criminal law attorney as well?

Anonymous said...

Rex, I get that Jay Batt is a douche...but I think we have enough real criminal activity to pursue here that taking baroque approaches to turning a bet into an indictment just seems like a distraction.

In a way, I can at least respect Batt for being more or less up front about his douchebaggery. He is what he is, and people vote for him or not based on that. Unlike e.g,. various city council members that claim to be representing the interests of their districts but are in fact way more interested in the interests of garbage vendors who contribute heavily to their campaigns, etc.

stalker said...

the bomb has been planted

Anonymous said...

It appears Ray Nagin's reelection was funded out of Chicago (D), not Dallas (R). I wonder if ANYONE is comfortable with exploring this theme since it doesn't fit the conspiracy meme.

Also, people should take note that Ray St. Pierre got mentioned as the other pol getting funded (besides Nagin) - that putys this thing squarely in JP. Someone should send a hat tip to SLABBED on that.