the mosquito coast

Diaper Dave wants to use his campaign money to pay his legal fees

maringouin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:28:57 +0000

On the 4th of July weekend this story hits the airwaves - how convenient that it appears while everyone is off and not turned on to the media - courtesy of the Times Picayune

WASHINGTON — Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is asking the Federal Election Commission whether he can use campaign money to pay fees related to legal issues and bad publicity he confronted after being linked to a prostitution ring. The letter from a Vitter attorney mentions $207,177.50 in costs, mostly legal fees, $70,000 of which the senator already has paid with his own money. The letter indicates that some of the money relates to legal representation before the Senate Ethics Committee that is “not the subject” of the request to the FEC.

As of March 31, Vitter listed $1.6 million in cash on hand in his campaign account. His office declined to comment on the FEC request. In the letter Thursday to the FEC, Washington lawyer Jan Witold Baran wrote that the bills came about after Vitter’s phone number appeared on the client list of an escort service operated by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Baran said Palfrey tried to generate publicity by “targeting her subpoenas to well-known public officials” such as Vitter and a deputy U.S. secretary of state.

“To this end, Ms. Palfrey was wildly successful, ” Baran wrote. “Even though the senator never testified (at her trial or in a related civil case), a Google search conducted on June 12, 2008, of ‘David Vitter Deborah Palfrey’ produced 79,200 hits.” By contrast, he said, similar searches for Palfrey and two witnesses who “actually testified” at her criminal trial, produced 1,230 and 939 hits, respectively.
Baran said the fees involved legal representation, including help with a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, and advice on how to deal with news coverage. Palfrey, who was convicted April 15 of money laundering, mail fraud and conspiracy, committed suicide two weeks later. In his letter to the commission, Baran said Vitter retained legal assistance in April 2007, when the media began reviewing Palfrey’s phone list. Three months later, after a media inquiry, Vitter held a news conference and apologized for “a very serious sin.”

Baran noted that the Federal Election Commission has traditionally approved expenditures for elected officials connected to “their campaigns for federal office, their duties as federal officeholders, ” as long as they are not for personal use. Were it not for Vitter’s position in the Senate, Baran said, Palfrey wouldn’t have tried to subpoena him for court appearances, nor would he be subject to a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee or intensive news media coverage. The Senate Ethics Committee decided to take no action against Vitter because his involvement with the escort service occurred between 1999 and 2001, when he was a member of the House.

Baran said the FEC allowed former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey to use leftover campaign money on fees relating to questions about his military service in Vietnam because the issues were raised as a direct result of his elected office. Vitter’s situation is similar, Baran said. Baran said Vitter is seeking reimbursement for expenses related to “monitoring the (Palfrey) case and quashing subpoenas, assisting in the defense of an Ethics Committee complaint, or advising Sen. Vitter in connection with managing press attention and public communications.” He said the expenses “are the direct result of the senator holding office.”

Vidalia onion pie

maringouin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:17:50 +0000

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Here’s an onion recipe that makes a savory pie, yummy!!!

Vidalia Onion Pie

3 to 4 medium Vidalia onions
salt
nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
chilled unbaked pie shell for 2-crust pie
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled (can use ham)
8 oz. shredded gruyere cheese or swiss (can use reduced fat swiss)
3-4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream (or 1/2 and 1/2 - can use fat free 1/2 and 1/2)

Halve the onions and slice thinly. Sauté in bacon drippings (use 1/2 stick butter if you use ham) until tender. Add bacon (or ham), and salt and pepper to taste; spread onion mixture in chilled pie crust. Sprinkle the onion mixture with shredded cheese. Whisk together the eggs and cream, then pour over the onion mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg then cover the pie with the remaining chilled pastry and fit it over the filling as a top crust.

Cut a 1/2-inch hole in the center of the pastry. Bake the pie at 450° for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and continue baking until the custard is set and the crust is browned, about 30-40 minutes. Serve warm or cool.

FYYFF to the Louisiana legislature

maringouin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:20:11 +0000

So PBJ drops his poison pen and vetoed the ginormous lege payraise. And he pulls their money plug the day before the raise kicked in. Good for him, he gave us a glimpse of his cojones…

However this statement in the following text demands vehement protest…

‘I thank the people for their voice and their attention,’ Jindal said of the public outcry against the raise. ‘I am going to need your help to move this state forward. … The voters have demanded change. . . . I made a mistake by staying out if it’ originally.

Jindal said that legislators ‘are going to be angry I broke my word to them’ by promising to stay out of the pay raise issue. ‘Let them direct their anger to me and not the people of this state,’ Jindal said.

The governor said that although he originally promised to refrain from injecting himself in the issue because a veto may threaten his future legislative programs, he was wrong.

‘The bottom line is that allowing this excessive legislative pay raise to become law would so significantly undercut our reform agenda and so significantly diminish the people’s confidence in their own government that I cannot let it become law, so I have vetoed the bill.’

LET THEM DIRECT THEIR ANGER TO ME AND NOT THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE???? What in the hell does THAT mean? Do the legislators believe they are so untouchable, that if their voting base pisses them off then they will retaliate against them??? Have those assholes in the Baton Rouge capitol forgotten that it is US the VOTERS that put them there, and we can just as easily yank them out of office??? According to this link, courtesy of Suspect Device, apparently the leges have forgotten who sent them to Baton Rouge…

I swear to gawd, every one of those leges should be tossed into the Mississippi River. FYYFF to every damn one of them…

March in Baton Rouge - Monday July 7, 2008 2pm - 4pm - CANCELLED

maringouin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:51:52 +0000

Stephen Sabludowsky over at Bayou Buzz is leading an anti-pay raise march on the Louisiana Capitol in Baton Rouge on Monday July 7, 2008, the day before the deadline for PBJ to veto the pay raise.

This march has been cancelled since PBJ vetoed the lege pay raise

Creationism, chemical castration for rapists, HUGE paychecks for PBJ staffers and the elected leges, private school vouchers, what the hell is wrong with the pols in Baton Rouge? I guess they forgot THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF like the lower half of Louisiana is falling off into the Gulf of Mexico, and well over half of New Orleans and along the coast, residents are still rebuilding their lives from natural disasters. How about some relief for the people, maybe a little coastal restoration, some tough action against thieving building contractors, bulking up the state ethics enforcers, adequate funding of ALL LEVELS of education for EVERYONE, HEALTH CARE INITIATIVES and a couple of new hospitals, yada, yada, yada…

never a dull moment in the gret stet…

PBJ is pissing off his core voting base

maringouin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:37:28 +0000

Sitting around the table today during lunch with 4 elder family members, and the main topic of conversation was how quick they could get PBJ’s head on a platter for his inaction, his ineffectiveness and lack of leadership up in red stick. And these folks mind you are staunch Catholic conservatives! I just sat back and listened quietly with a poker face while they got all riled up. When the conversation eventually turned to the presidential election, that’s when I chose to drop the bomb telling them all I was voting for Obama…

PBJ, you start pissing off the “greatest generation”, the ones that put you where you are today, and you are going to have a long hard road ahead for the next 3 1/2 years.

Cenlamar points out a recent wonkette piece on the very same topic…

Did someone mention recall?

(check out NOPD police chief Warren Riley craning his neck to get a look at who was taking PBJ to task in the video)

and for another vantage point, complete with twinkle toes Nagin, watch the WWL-TV video