Monday, August 25, 2008
Does the Times Picayune owe Una Anderson an apology?
Yesterday, the Times Picayune endorsed Cedric Richmond, in part because he understands the vital importance of integrity. I was leaning toward Richmond, but endorsing a politician because he promises to be honest seems a little silly. That alone wouldn't have been noteworthy, but this was:
I'll admit that what follows is a little bit tenuous, but you may recall that Richmond spoke on behalf of Metro Disposal and Richard's Disposal* before the city council approved the new garbage collection contracts and after the contracts came under fire.
You may also recall that the Times Picayune endorsed Walker Hines for State Representative after his opponent, school board member Una Anderson, was accused of taking bribes from a representative of the two disposal companies. The Picayune didn't mention the alleged bribes in its endorsement, but they must have factored into the decision to endorse Hines. At any rate, at least one of the paper's op-ed columnists sure thought that the allegations were important.
Frankly, I'm not sure whether this is significant or not. At first glance, it sure seems either sloppy or inconsistent for the Times Picayune to pillory Anderson for allegedly taking bribes as a school board member and to praise Richmond for his work on a committee that "pressured the school board to clean-up its finances." However, I don't know if the audit committee looked into specific contracts or merely looked into accounting procedures. If the committee merely looked into accounting practices it's probably irrelevant, but if it looked beyond that, it raises questions about either Richmond's judgment or his integrity. Unless Barre's accusations against Anderson have come to seem baseless, in which case, the Picayune should spell that out. It's not just Anderson's reputation that might be dependent on it -- Richmond basically worked as an unpaid spokesman for the two companies involved.
*The owner of the company is Alvin Richard, but I've seen the company referred as either Richard's Disposal or Richards Disposal.
as a member of the Legislature's Audit Advisory Committee, he put pressure on the Orleans Parish School Board to clean up its finances pre-Katrina.
I'll admit that what follows is a little bit tenuous, but you may recall that Richmond spoke on behalf of Metro Disposal and Richard's Disposal* before the city council approved the new garbage collection contracts and after the contracts came under fire.
You may also recall that the Times Picayune endorsed Walker Hines for State Representative after his opponent, school board member Una Anderson, was accused of taking bribes from a representative of the two disposal companies. The Picayune didn't mention the alleged bribes in its endorsement, but they must have factored into the decision to endorse Hines. At any rate, at least one of the paper's op-ed columnists sure thought that the allegations were important.
Frankly, I'm not sure whether this is significant or not. At first glance, it sure seems either sloppy or inconsistent for the Times Picayune to pillory Anderson for allegedly taking bribes as a school board member and to praise Richmond for his work on a committee that "pressured the school board to clean-up its finances." However, I don't know if the audit committee looked into specific contracts or merely looked into accounting procedures. If the committee merely looked into accounting practices it's probably irrelevant, but if it looked beyond that, it raises questions about either Richmond's judgment or his integrity. Unless Barre's accusations against Anderson have come to seem baseless, in which case, the Picayune should spell that out. It's not just Anderson's reputation that might be dependent on it -- Richmond basically worked as an unpaid spokesman for the two companies involved.
*The owner of the company is Alvin Richard, but I've seen the company referred as either Richard's Disposal or Richards Disposal.
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you're thinking about supporting the guy who supported jefferson in 2006 and who calls jefferson his mentor? really?
# posted by 
: 11:07 AM
: 11:07 AM
I don't know, or didn't know, much about Richmond since he's not my rep. I was leaning that way by process of elimination because I think that James Carter's rep as a reformer is undeserved. The more I find out about Richmond, the less I like. Frankly, I don't know if I'm going to bother to vote. But I wouldn't have recommended Richmond, or any other candidate, without learning a good deal more about him.
In the post, I wanted to make it clear that i didn't read the editorial looking for reasons to criticize either the Picayune or Richmond, but the endorsement ended up giving me doubts about him.
I will point out that OPDEC's endorsement of James Carter had a similar effect since it was the BOLD princess who sang his praises.
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In the post, I wanted to make it clear that i didn't read the editorial looking for reasons to criticize either the Picayune or Richmond, but the endorsement ended up giving me doubts about him.
I will point out that OPDEC's endorsement of James Carter had a similar effect since it was the BOLD princess who sang his praises.
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