A con-profit reckoning?

Looks like someone is digging up some old con-profit corpses and bringing them back from the dead:

Auditors:  Nonprofits with ties to current and former JP councilmen misused hundreds of thousands of dollars

Our old buddy former Jefferson Parish councilman and C-note Richmond wingman, Byron Lee, looks like he may have finally been snagged in the con-profit epic along with current JP councilman, Mark Spears.

AZ has covered some of Byron's con-profit meanderings ever since he came across my radar after I uncovered the NOCAP/NOCE con-profit scam perpetrated by Congressman Cedric Richmond and uber-political operative, Ike Spears.

Oh...that reminds me...in case you aren't keeping up, Nadine Ramsey announced her candidacy for City Council District C a couple of weeks ago.  I'm curious how she was going to justify residing over the Wisner hearing as an ad hoc judge in District D, offer ruling on that matter, then turn right around and announce her candidacy for city council.  I think I may have done her a favor by calling out the conflict when I did.  Also funny how no one seemed to care that the LA Supreme Court produced two separate, unstamped, documents on the same day for Justice Johnson's court order that had named Ramsey as a CDC ad hoc judge.   Both documents were requested approximately one month after the original order was supposedly created...one order was signed by the Clerk of Court, the order I received was unsigned.  Why were there two separate documents for the same court order?

Regardless,  Slabbed has been all over Byron , much more so than I considering it's a JP matter...waters I don't normally sail.  In fact, I think Doug originally broke this story.

I wonder if C-note will call in a favor to his new buddy in the local U.S. Attorneys Office to get some slack cut for Byron.  We'll soon know if this whole thing seems to magically go up in smoke like the elusive internal report on the commenting scandal that was supposedly being conducted by the DOJ.

Our old buddy and Apostle of the almighty, Leonard Lucas, probably won't be so lucky:

LOWER 9TH WARD ORG'S RECOVERY MONEY RAISES IRE OF STATE AUDITOR 

Thanks for the HT, Mr. Defender.

As readers know Lucas, the original Prophet of the Con-profit, is a long time target of AZ and I  reported back in June of 2012 that I had uncovered the motherlode of con-profit mining schemes when I started researching Lucas and his associate Audrey Walker.  Lucas had a whopping seven non-profits domiciled in a gutted building on 6030 St. Claude Avenue and between Walker and the Apostle I found 23 registered 501c3's back in 2010....earning them the infamous title of being the "Con-profit King and Queen of New Orleans".  I challenged anyone to outdo the Apostle and Walker and so far no one has even attempted to challeng the royal court.

That is until this report by the LA Legislative Auditor.

So it looks like the con-profit epic in New Orleans may be taking a turn for the worse...at least for some of those on the lower rungs of the ladder.  I'm sure you'll never see C-Note or Ike in that number...and should I even mention Bajoie?  Nah...no sense in bringing that zombie back to life, eh?

A non-non sequitur (you figure it out):

As I was writing this post it reminded me of the late night perusing I've been doing of the Michael Sherman email threads on Wisner and how in this city there seems to be only one degree of separation between just about everyone.

Retraction:  In this original post I posted an email from Michael Sherman's email chain and suggested a "Nadine" named in the email may have been Nadine Ramsey.  It was not Nadine Ramsey and I have deleted the email from this post.  Mea Culpa.

It seems like Sherman was a thread that weaved his way through all kinds of deals:

I'll do my best to avoid pointing out the sycophantic babbling to C-note (oops, I guess I just did) and just point out that Sherman seemed to be actively lobbying for Laney Chouest's NOLA Mortorsports park venture on multiple avenues.  That's curious considering Sherman claimed he had never met Mr. Chouest in a Wisner Trust Advisory Committee meeting.

It's also interesting because it's apparent from Sherman's emails that he had a significant interest in the JEDCO/JP Fairfield development which encompasses Chouest's NOLA Motorsports Park and is adjacent to Wisner property.  In fact, it appears as if Sherman may have even played a role in Chouest's purchase of the land from Joseph Marcello, who owns a massive portion of the property slated for development in the Fairfield footprint.  What's most important is that it appears he was conducting much of this business while holding a position as a City Attorney and serving as the appointee to the Wisner Trust Advisory Committee for Mayor Landrieu.

Doh! Double Doh!

Anonymous said:

Jason, Please see California v. City of New Orleans case (Court of Appeal, 1st Circuit 1952)
In this case the City takes the position that Wisner is private. I am confused... 

I remember hearing Lund refer to this case in the hearing but I wasn't sure what it was about...or maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention and I was thinking about where I was going for lunch.  Yeah...I was probably thinking about lunch....anyway...here is the case:

California v. City of New Orleans

I bet I know what question is burning in your skull right now....."I wonder what he had for lunch?"

I had the Cuban Cadillac at the Rouse's CBD.  And yes, I burped it up all the way through the remainder of the hearing.  A bad call in hindsight but man that is one rockin'-good sandwich. Rouses ain't afraid to pile the protein on, brutha.

But, personally, I don't think they have a great beverage choice.

I bought that Kombucha crap thinking it was some sort of simple, flavored tea with a funky, "new age" name....sweet Buddha, was I shocked when I took that first swig.  I went ahead and drank the whole damn bottle, minus that stuff at the bottom that looked eerily similar to the same stuff that was growing in the corner of the shower of my frat house back in college.  Where I grew up, I was always taught you had to take your medicine and clean your plate or ass-whuppins' would ensue but I think I'd rather take the ass-whuppin' than drink whatever that schmeg was in the bottom of that bottle.
      
You should read that whole case.  It's actually not the whole case, it's just a section of the case and it's not that long.  It's interesting because in this 1954 lawsuit the City basically argues not only that the Wisner Trust is private, it also repeatedly acknowledges that it must act with the consent of the Advisory Committee.  The exact two things they were arguing against in this 2013 hearing.  

I need to pay closer attention to these court room dramas but I get so easily distracted by trivial matters.  I suppose that's why I never made it to law school.  Hell, apparently I can't even be bothered to read the labels on tea bottles....hence the title of this post is apt for both the City and me.

Oh...on another note, I'm now curious about how the City of New Orleans acquired 5000 shares in the United Fruit Company and what in Billy Hell the "Institute of Mental Hygiene" was.  I'm thinking we may need to open that department back up if it actually lived up to its namesake, eh?  

You know, that Kombucha stuff is made and bottled in California....I wonder if we could sue them back for that?

UPDATE:  As I have been made aware of on Facebook, The Institute of Mental Hygiene is still in existence....fascinating.

The Advocate story on Wisner

City Hall battles Wisner heirs over valuable real estate

Very well written, a great job by Andrew Vanacore.

Some highlights:

1.  Chett Chiason confirmed that Michael Sherman was shopping the property to him in this Advocate story.  I also confirmed Sherman contacted Laney Chouest about it which is what Michael Peneguy asks him in the video.

Sherman claims he doesn't even know "Mr. Chouest".

Michael could have been referring to another "Mr. Chouest" but that's a stretch considering I confirmed the conversation took place.  I think Michael Sherman knew exactly what Peneguy was asking him and that's why he spazzed out.....yelling, "Mr. Peneguy, you are out of order!!!" :

The Wisner Trust - Committee Meeting, Feb, 18, 2013 - Peneguy asks Sherman about shopping the sale of the land from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

Incidentally, Michael Peneguy wasn't out of order...the point of order had been brought to the table.  If Sherman was shopping the sale of Wisner land I think it deserved to be talked about at the meeting, no?

I sent an email asking former Director of Communications for Mayor Landrieu, Ryan Berni, if the Mayor was aware that Sherman was playing real estate agent with Wisner property but I got no response.

From the story:

"Landrieu's administration denies shopping the property, but Chet Chiasson, director of Port Fourchon, acknowledged in an interview that the mayor's executive counsel, Michael Sherman, approached him before leaving City Hall in May about whether the port would be willing to buy the land."

That's two separate confirmations that the property was being shopped.

Either Michael Sherman is a liar, Mitch Landrieu is a liar....or both of them are lying.  That's ironic considering the Mayor's office is claiming they have been attempting to bring transparency to the Committee.

2.  Stacy Gerhold-Marvin went on the record about getting strong-armed out of the Committee by the Mayor's office and that was confirmed by Cathy Norman per her phone conversation with Roxanne Townsend.

She wouldn't go on record with me but I'm a lowly blogger...woe is me.

3.  Chiasson basically repeated his sentiments about what would happen if the Trust is dissolved.  I have speculated that the Port may get the state to take it over under imminent domain but this is what Chiasson told the Committee directly:

The Wisner Trust - Committee Meeting, Feb, 18, 2013 - Chett Chiasson Comments on Port Fourchon's intent for the Wisner Land from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

But let me give you another scenario.  If the City takes over the entire thing and Mitch is intent on selling it, who would realistically be able to buy it aside from the Port of Fourchon?

Hmmm....a massive oil company with interests in the Gulf could buy the land.  A massive oil company looking to buy the land in order to avoid a costly settlement for damage they may have caused from the largest oil spill in history?  Kind of like what happened with Cat Island in Mississippi?

That would explain a lot.

4.  "The mayor's spokesman could not say which firm Sherman works for, and Sherman did not respond to an email sent to his Tulane address."

I believe that would be Jones Walker?

But perhaps I'm wrong...from comment section:

Sherm the "worm" (or "superman" as he was once known at City Hall) is "of counsel" at the firm Middleberg, Riddle, Gianna. Fun fact: Dominic Gianna was a consultant on the film My Cousin Vinny. 

Comment section #2:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Advocate story on Wisner": 

Anon

According to the LSBA Membership Directory, the 'little guy' is not affiliated with any firm. 

http://www.lsba.org/2007MembershipDirectory/MemberDetails.asp?ID=2008540&Menu=MD 



Thanks to The Advocate for citing me....they could have linked to me but I guess that's asking too much :) .

UPDATE:  I found out The Advocate doesn't have a linking system on the website yet but they're working on that.  Cool beans.