The NYT's piece on Bill Jefferson is a ridiculous apologia for corruption.
I've said it here before, he and his family have been as crooked as a dog's hind leg for years.
The incredible thing very few media have reported is that the Nigerian telecom deal according to the documents made public by the DOJ was only one of several allegedly corrupt deals for which he is being investigated. His Nigerian scam, however, is notable because they've got the slimeball dead to rights on video and caught red-handed with marked cash in his freezer.
Ask anyone minimally familiar with Louisiana politics, they'll tell you the same thing.
A crook is a crook is a crook, low or high born.
Another La. pol getting what has been getting what should have been his due a long time ago is a federal judge, G. Thomas Porteous. He is taking a six month leave of absence which I bet will be permanent, claiming he is too distraught over losing his wife, etc. Yeah, right. The grand jury investigating him has been taking testimony from lawyers, and I suspect he's been offered a deal: go away or go to jail.
Fact is, the feds have been after him for years.
Another small time crook. A boozer not averse to doing favors for his friends for who knows what consideration. Popular, smart, and funny but........who cares? A crook is a crook.
What you'll read below is the tip of the iceberg as respects Porteous.
nola.com
Federal judge takes leave
Recent 'tragedies' cited in Porteous' decision
Saturday, May 27, 2006
U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous, beset by the recent loss of his wife and dogged by a federal grand jury, took a six-month furlough from the federal bench this week.
Chief Judge Ginger Berrigan granted Porteous temporary medical leave on Monday and reapportioned his entire docket of 248 cases to the other judges at the Eastern District Court. In her signed order, she cited "recent personal family tragedies" as reasons for the leave of absence.
Porteous, 59, has retreated to private life after a trying year in which he lost the roof of his Metairie home to Hurricane Katrina and then mourned his wife, Carmella, who died of a heart attack in December at age 56. His lawyer said he currently lives in Houma.
As Porteous grappled with his private grief, a grand jury was hearing testimony from his longtime secretary, Rhonda Danos, and several lawyers with whom the judge is friendly.
While the subject of the investigation is not known, the grand jury convened at least three times in March and April. Several sources monitoring the case say the prosecutors are from the public integrity section of the U.S. Department of Justice, not the office of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
Kyle Schonekas, Porteous' attorney, said the six-month medical leave might become permanent.
Berrigan said Friday that she did not know if Porteous might permanently quit the bench, adding that she had authority only to grant temporary leave. She characterized the reasons for the furlough as emotional and psychological, rather than physical.
"He is, frankly, exhausted," she said.
Berrigan said it was not unusual to distribute Porteous' caseload rather than appoint an ad hod judge to hold hearings in his absence. That might be done in a smaller court, she said, but not in a court as large as the Eastern District, with 15 other judges.
Gene Smith, the court's deputy chief clerk, said some of those cases could return to Porteous' courtroom when he returns from medical leave.
This week was not the first time that Porteous has relinquished cases since President Clinton appointed him to the federal bench in 1994. The judge recused himself in 2003 from all cases involving the federal government shortly after The Times-Picayune published allegations that Porteous had accepted gifts from the corrupt bail bonds company that was later brought down in the federal Wrinkled Robe investigation.
Louis Marcotte, owner of Bail Bonds Unlimited, allegedly paid for fence and car repairs for Porteous while Porteous was a judge at the state district court in Gretna. Schonekas has said the FBI dismissed those allegations before Porteous took the federal bench.
Porteous declined to comment when reached Friday by phone. |
