Keep that tar warm

It's been a while since I've added anyone to the tar and feather list, but here are a few new candidates.

Tar and feather: Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman

First of all, the guy's shifty eyes and expressionless demeanor give me the heebie-jeebies.



More substantively, he had absolutely no law enforcement qualifications before being elected sheriff the first time. His basic leadership qualities ought to be fundamentally questioned given the recent Juvenile Justice Project report which exposed the horrendous conditions allowed to exist in the Orleans Parish Prison for five days. Some 150 juveniles were locked up in the jail, standing in feces-infested flood waters for hours, jumping to higher bunks to escape rising water, and living for days without food and water.

Did it never occur to Gusman to do something? He has yet to respond satisfactorily to the report.

Notwithstanding his recent election win, given the new evidence of his incompetence, I think Gusman ought to resign.

Tar and feather: City councilman Oliver Thomas

I have much the same feelings about Thomas as I do Gusman. Thomas may be considerably brighter and more outgoing, but I don't trust him.

His "I'm right, you're wrong" defense of a contract criticized by the Bureau of Government Research absolutely reeks of patronage.

Rather than go through a public bidding process to select the best planners for the money at the most critical time in New Orleans' history to get its planning done right, the City Council voted to give the $6 million planning contract to Lambert advisory, simply piggybacking the new contract on top of an older 2004 $125,000 job to examine public housing investment.

The BGR complained:

It is absurd to suggest that one of the most significant urban planning contracts in American history can be awarded in 2006 under an RFQ issued in 2004 for totally different purposes under totally different circumstances. The contract should be rescinded or cancelled.

Thomas said the new contract was just a common "miscellaneous consulting procurement" which "increases government efficiency," accusing the BGR of being "simply incorrect," and of trying "to confuse the public" and "slow down a critical process."

Olly olly oxen free. It's time to come clean with the facts Oliver, and start acting in a manner consistent with the nation's expectations of a new New Orleans.


Tar and feather: State Rep. John LaBruzzo and state Rep. Steve Scalise

Both voted with the 6-4 majority on the House Appropriations Committee to pass LaBruzzo's House Bill 1187. The bill would prevent charity hospitals and other state agencies to bargain for rebates by buying in bulk.

Why?


A Times-Picayune editorial revealed that "LaBruzzo worked in the medical-equipment business when he was elected to the Legislature in 2003."

Hey guys -- didn't you hear? It's a new day here in Louisiana. We don't want your kind anymore.