It looks like the old democratic political machine in New Orleans is continuing to self destruct.
Thomas has court date; expected to resign council seat http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl081207jboliver.2a5163ec.html City Council Vice-President Oliver Thomas was expected in federal court Monday to enter a plea on charges that he demanded payments from a parking lot vendor. Sources tell Eyewitness News that Thomas is expected to plead guilty and resign his council seat. Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino said Thomas likely violated the Hobbs Act and could be charged with wire fraud and/ or mail fraud involving a city parking contract â charges that could still be within the five year statute of limitations to prosecute. Cioliono said it was likely Thomas was not in the direct aim of the feds, but was likely "sold out" by someone else involved in the City Hall corruption probe. âI would doubt that Oliver was someone who was in the sights of the U.S. Attorney's Office,â Ciolino said. âProbably after some indictments started coming in and some guilty pleas started to roll in - particularly with Mr. Barre. The information started to accumulate that some other officials have been involved in wrongdoing. And that's typically how these cases develop.â Ciolino was referring to Pampy Barre, the owner of Pampyâs Incorporated â a restaurant and concession business that also operated out of Louis Armstrong International Airport. Barre pleaded guilty to skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from a city contract. Eyewitness News attempted to contact Mayor Ray Nagin and every City Council member Sunday to get reaction to the allegations against Oliver Thomas. Mayor Naginâs office said it would not comment until Thomas released an official statement and most council members agreed to comment after official proceedings on Monday. Council President Arnie Fielkow released the following statement: "I have become aware of the reports which have just recently come to light regarding Councilman-at-Large Oliver Thomas. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on or speculate beyond what has been reported at this time. However, as Council President, I am closely monitoring the current situation, and will have further comment as developments warrant.â Councilwoman Shelley Midura said âno comment.â Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said she was âstill in shock,â and added âItâs such a travesty and terrible thing.â Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis said they are still allegations and âitâs an unfortunate situationâ and she is prayerful for Oliver and his family. Eyewitness News also contacted former Mayor Marc Morial who acknowledged he heard about the allegations, but also said âno comment.â Former District A Councilman Jay Batt worked with Oliver Thomas and said he knew the councilman to be a good family man who had been through tragedy with the death of a child. Batt described Thomas as a good business leader and a public servant who worked to build coalitions, especially between the black and white communities. He also described Thomas as a man of character. âNone of us saw this coming,â said Batt, who believes it creates a negative national perception, and will be another black eye for people who are working hard to rebuild the city. âItâs not very positive,â Batt said, âand as you know Nancy Pelosi is I think arriving today and besides Ray Nagin, Oliver Thomas is the other face of the city. I mean President Bush referred to him as the Big âOâ â I mean he is well known.â Batt said the local perception about government is suffering as well. âYou saw everybody who was aghast at the new assessments that they received from Nancy Marshall and the other assessors â well most of the people I know said they wouldnât mind paying that if they saw the money being spent wisely and utilized for the schools and the streets and the police, but they havenât seen that kind of responsible spending from our elected officials in quite some time.â Batt said for years the national business perception was that you have to âpay to playâ in Louisiana. âItâs going to take a while for it to change that mentality nationwide, weâre probably going to have to do marketing campaigns once all this corruption is cleaned up. Weâre going to have to do marketing campaigns just to tell people that we are clean and that we work hard and itâs not the same ole same ole.â Ciolino said the latest allegations involving Thomas add to a continuing problem plaguing the city: âThe real problem is this corruption cancer that we seem to have in our city that leads people to be skeptical and cynical about their government, and perhaps make them not want to come back or make them want to leave if theyâre here.â ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion 8 - Build next generation apps today, with easy PDF and Ajax features - download now http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/coldfusion/cf8_beta_whatsnew_052907.pdf Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:240107 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
