Posted on 10/27/2005 10:52:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS - The head of the Orleans Levee Board has quit amid questions about no-bid contracts to his relatives in the days after Hurricane Katrina.
The final days of board president Jim Huey's tenure also had been marred by his collection of nearly $100,000 in back pay several weeks before the storm. Huey had led the board for nine years.
Huey defended the contracts and said he was legally entitled to the back pay.
"Every single decision made during this crisis situation was made in the best interest of the levee district, and that will be proven in time," Huey said Wednesday after sending his resignation to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who controls six of the eight seats on the board.
Huey, 55, said he resigned because the furor over his post-Katrina maneuvers had become "a sideshow" for the board as it struggles to recover from a disaster that destroyed levees and laid to waste much of the agency's real estate holdings, including Lakefront Airport in eastern New Orleans.
Huey said he welcomes investigations into both contracts as well as the back pay.
"I didn't want to leave under these circumstances, but I fell victim to some other folks who don't know what they're talking about and they have to live with themselves," he said.
Huey would not say whom he was referring to.
On Sept. 1, three days after Katrina came ashore, Huey leased 3,000 square feet of office space in Baton Rouge from board legal consultant George Carmouche, a cousin of Huey's wife.
Huey said he authorized the $30,000 contact to ensure that the agency's executive staff would have a place to operate after its lakefront headquarters was decimated by Katrina's storm surge. He said he signed the lease only after state government failed to provide him a base of operation.
About a week later, Huey approved a business arrangement with Carmouche's son, Scott, to coordinate the salvage of boats damaged or destroyed by the hurricane at the board's two marinas. Huey said he was forced to move quickly on the salvage contract because the recovery of boats by insurance companies and owners was threatening to devolve into chaos.
I really don't understand why they had a levee commission or board. Seems like another political hack show where you could help some good buddies get contracts dealing with the levees.
Well done.
Two down, four to go.
Huey and Compass, out on the street.
The clock is still ticking for Landrieu, Nagin, Broussard, and Blanco.
Once they're out of position to steal the reconstruction money, rebuilding New Orleans becomes at least theoretically possible, unlike now.
Then we can see about indictments.
You left out one! There are two Landrieux ... Lt.Gov Mitch and Sen. Mary. While we are at it, why don't we just go ahead and clean house ... LOL
"I didn't want to leave under these circumstances, but I fell victim to some other folks who don't know what they're talking about and they have to live with themselves," he said. Huey would not say whom he was referring to
-----Wonder who he means?
It's going to be very difficult to hang anything on brother Mitch. He's been keeping such a low profile that he's off everyone's radars.
That's one of the problems involved in getting rid of Blanco.
I've been checking into the Landrieu's business holdings, and while I haven't found any smoking guns, I have noticed that the holdings companies are set up in an incestuous manner. Find one company and there's Mitch, Moon and Mary, all listed as officers, along with several other family members.
With any luck at all, when it comes time to hang Mary, it'll slop over on to Mitch and take him down too.
WasDougsLamb wrote:
"I didn't want to leave under these circumstances, but I fell victim to some other folks who don't know
what they're talking about and they have to live with themselves," he said. Huey would not say whom he
was referring to
-----Wonder who he means?"
Probably ex-levee board members, one in particular, but it's a red herring. She's not in play anymore, outside of tell-all interviews relating past mis-deeds.
Consider this; had the levees not failed, the biggest post Katrina story would be the incredible damage levels in Mississippi. New Orleans got a few trees down and broken glass, till the water started rising. However, once New Orleans flooded, it eclipsed everything else, including mile after mile after mile of utter devastation along the Gulf Coast. That makes the levees the overwhelming key issue involving hurricane Katrina.
The levee issue is like an elephant in the living room, or the US-Soviet standoff in Germany during the cold war. Great powers in a staredown, locked eye to eye, while the real prize sits elsewhere, the Persion Gulf in the simile, and the levee failures in the Katrina debacle.
None of the players are talking publicly. Everything is hidden behind a cone of silence. The only people talking are the professors from Berkeley and University of Louisiana, strawmen for the Liberal stronghold in Louisiana, and the Times Picayune, followed by the rest of the Liberal parrot media, repeating everything the professors say.
But something changed. Huey was under fire for blatant greed and stupidity, trying to collect back pay and dishing out contracts to family members when the whole world is watching. But that was weeks ago and had dropped off the radars. It's possible that it simply took time to maneuver Huey out and set him up as the fall guy for the whole levee mess. That's pretty much what happened with the NOPD and Compass. Stupidity, the Cadillac and ghost employee scandal, and everyone's need for a scapegoat landed the title on the first one to appear weakened.
It's also possible that something new has occurred behind the scenes which we don't know about. When it surfaces, there may not be an obvious connection. The Times Picayune may as well be written by Blanco and the Landrieu twins themselves. If information isn't beneficial to the powers that be, you won't see it in the TP, and frontline sources drop off fast in post Katrina New Orleans after that.
Stay tuned, the real battle is yet to come.
Another humble Public Servant leaves behind a legacy of great works.
Word of advice Mr. Huey...you might want to leave "Head of the Orleans Levee Board" off of your resume.
Thank you. :)
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