Politickin’ in The Big Sleazy

Any one who has known me for some time knows that I rarely vote Republican. I usually use the choice issue as a litmus test. I figure any one who is that interested in what goes on inside my body really doesn’t deserve a voice in making public policy decisions. So, when I say that I am voting for an extremely pro-life Republican for Congress two times in a row, you have to know something weird is going on.

It’s basically because I just can NEVER EVER bring myself to vote for some one who is outrageously crooked. Last time, I voted for Joseph Ahn Cao over sitting Congressman “cold cash” Bill Jefferson. This time, I just can’t bring myself to vote for Cederic Richmond under any circumstances. It’s only a matter of time before this guy is perp walked like Jefferson and my city doesn’t need another example of a big sleazy politician.

Some of Richmond’s issues have hit the national media via Fox News. This doesn’t surprise me because they’re obviously partisan and would love to see as many Republicans hit Congress as possible. I only wish it were for the real journalistic reason of unmasking more political corruption in our city. There’s more behind the stories that are now in several newspapers and of course, the mother of all stations, Fox News the journalistic version of the Heritage Foundation. It’s probably just a numbers game to them. But Cao is no darling of the right.

Of all the Republicans in Congress, Cao is the maverick. He’s surprised me in many ways. I cannot tell you how many evenings that my cell phone has rung and I’ve entered a live town hall meeting with Cao speaking and asking questions of others who I assume are persistent voters. He’s done a good job of bringing much needed funds to the city and he’s voted for things that I’m sure have made Boehner’s orange skin turn red. As cited in the LA Times, Cao has voted for many of Obama’s legislative priorities.

The New Orleans lawyer said he wanted to work for the benefit of his constituents, whatever that took. So when it came time earlier this year to vote on the House floor on President Obama’s massive healthcare bill, the first Republican to hold that district since 1891 became the only Republican in the entire House to vote in favor of the Democratic president’s bill.

His wasn’t the deciding vote. But, yes, that bipartisan decision caused him some grief among GOP colleagues.

Michelle Malkin (arbitrary rubber rule here for right wing site cite) is critical of him which can’t be a bad thing in my book.

Yes, I was happy to see Dem corruptocrat William “Cold Cash” Jefferson booted out of office in December 2008. But the naivete, cluelessness, and obsequiousness of Jefferson’s replacement, GOP Rep. Joseph Cao, have been rather cringe-inducing.

Cao was the sole Republican vote for Obamacare. He backed the S-CHIP expansion, the $108 billion IMF bailout, and the omni-waste spending bill. And he voted to rebuke GOP Rep. Joe Wilson for calling out President Obama on his health care lies.

Cao also joined the Democrats in opposing repeal of the individual health insurance mandate. And he was one of two Republicans (Mike Castle was the other) who joined Democrats to vote for the $26 billion “Edujobs”/BigGovJobs bailout.

So, the partisan journalists and bloggers see the story as this. It’s basically the Chicago Way meets the New Orleans Way. Cao’s surprised the Obama didn’t stay out of the race. First, because Cao has come through for him some times. Second, because Richmond is not only sleazy, but he’s been caught being sleazy and has a pending investigation that’s likely to land him jail. Cao assumes that no one told Obama about Richmond’s antics.

I think Cao is naive. That’s about the only thing I can find to agree on with Malkin. But I come here today not to praise Cao, but to bury Richmond.

I mentioned some of Richmond’s “issues” while I was attending Rising Tide 5. That would be the local bloggers conference here in New Orleans. Any one with any interest in New Orleans politics–including local rags The Times Picayune and The Gambit–knows about Richmond’s issues. The problem is that this is a gerrymandered district and as it’s been proven, you can nominate crooks and as long as they are black democrats, they get elected. This is as hypocritical as the state-at-large which continues to elect David Vitter to represent right wing republican ‘family values’ while Diaper Dave is so sleazy that no good citizen would leave them near their young daughters. This continues to amaze me about Louisiana and New Orleans politics. There’s an almost built in assumption that if they don’t start out corrupt, they will be shortly so just vote based on the attributes you want.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a native. But, I just can’t get passed Cederic Richmond’s ‘lapses’ any more than I could put Edwin Edwards back in the governor’s mansion. Just to give you an example, current Governor Bobby Jindal decided to go on a purity jihad when he was first elected. He basically got tough ethics measures passed in the legislature for every one in office BUT the governor’s office. I can’t look pass that one either.

So, what’s the matter with Cederic? Well, he lies to voters and misplaces slush funds, and basically does shady unethical things for his own benefit and he’s the recipient of Obama’s first Midterm Campaign TV ad. If the black vote does not turn out in the election down here, he will not win. I still think Obama probably doesn’t care about Richmond’s shady dealings. He just wants the win. But, the dealings are shady and he’s been caught and disbarred for some of them.

Cao’s campaign is drawing attention to several reports about Richmond’s history, including a state Supreme Court decision suspending the state representative’s law license. The Times-Picayune reported that the court suspended his license for 60 days in late 2008 for falsely claiming residence in a New Orleans district before a City Council election in 2005. The court had earlier kicked him off the ballot in that race just days before the April 2005 election.

The newspaper also reported that a state ethics board ruled in 2008 that Richmond had violated ethics rules by not properly disclosing legal work with a state agency. But Richmond reportedly was planning to appeal and has argued that he merely filled out an incorrect form.

Richmond’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The White House also did not respond to a question on whether Obama knew about these incidents.

If the national press is really interested in this story, then then need to check the excellent work done by New Orleans Blogger American Zombie. Cederic appears to have used a slush fund from the legislature that was designed to funnel money to charities in a state senator’s district for his own benefit. This is something that many of the William Jefferson machine members have gone to jail for already including Mose Jefferson (Bill’s brother) and Renee Gill Pratt (former city councilwoman and state senator). What I find most abhorrent about this illegal antics is that the money was supposed to be used to help poor children. As an example, now Mayor Mitch Landrieu used his funds (these funds were residual from gambling levies) to buy students in one of the worst schools in the city new computers. These are people that still state funds from the poorest and the weakest of the poor; our inner city children.

If what American Zombie says is true, and I believe him because I’ve seen these kinds of citizen efforts turn into the basis for federal legal action, Richmond took $60,000 from a slush fund that was meant to use for poor children in our city and turned it into a diamond bezel for his rolodex. Let me just say that I’ve met Dambala (American Zombie) and he’s a liberal Democrat like me.

For the past four months, I’ve been researching a tip I received on current 2nd District Congressional candidate, State Rep. Cedric Richmond. I was told that Rep. Richmond took a chapter out of the Mose/Bill Jefferson playbook and set up at least one 501c3 (non-profit), then bilked the organization’s cash flow for personal use. That’s not a flippant allegation, and I was admittedly reticent to even look into the matter for fear of how much time I would have to put into finding the truth. I, of course, proceeded against my better judgment.

Four months later, I think what I’ve found is significant and worthy of being aired out…particularly because the last thing I want to see happen is Jefferson v 2.0 march off to Washington, D.C. and pick up where bilk-master Bill left off.

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Using children as a means to acquire cash from public entities so you can get your bling on….that’s beyond shitty….that’s McShitty shitty…that’s Filet o’ Fish McShitty. That’s fake theater popcorn butter shitty. That’s Airline Highway motel shitty. You get my point? Not only is it abhorrent, it’s in extremely poor taste

You can follow the link and you’ll see images of the documents and the paper trail. Supposedly, the Times Picayune and others are doing work on this but aren’t ready to spring the trap yet. I imagine United States District Attorney Jim Letten--hero of the anti-corruption movement down here–is working on this too. The deal is that these traditional channels usually have to find a smoking gun or three that will stick in court. In the mean time, we’ll get one more corrupt politician in office when what this city needs is real representation and serious federal help.

I’m not sure that much can be done to stop the election of Richmond if there is high turn out on election day. But I would feel completely wrong if I didn’t do what I could to bring this man’s past actions into the national spotlight. I also feel that now that the President is involved in this race and has given his blessing via his first televised endorsement that it now reflects on the judgment of people in the White House.