Corruption, Politics, Big Business and Environmental Injustice
POLITICAL CORRUPTION IS A NATIONWIDE ISSUE AFFECTING ALL OF US. ALABAMA RANKS #5 AS THE MOST CORRUPT STATE. *DOJ 2007 stats Something is very wrong in the Land of Cotton PERTINENT ENVIRONMENTAL AND CORRUPTION ISSUES IN OTHER STATES ARE ALSO DISCUSSED
NO OTHER COMMUNITY, RICH OR POOR, URBAN OR SUBURBAN,BLACK, BROWN,RED, YELLOW OR WHITE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BECOME AN "ENVIRONMENTAL SACRIFICE ZONE." Dr. Robert Bullard Environmental Justice Movement Founder
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour left the presidential stage in favor of the more familiar big business defender stage according to his recent testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform last Thursday:
"Sometimes the federal government is not the easiest group to do business with," Barbour said. "In fairness to BP...everything we asked them to do. they considered, and almost every time, they did."
Barbour goes on to assert the "rest of the country is sucking the Gulf dry and we get nothing." Nothing Mr. Barbour or just not enough to suit your expensive appetite? Gulf states receive hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from wells in the Gulf, and rather than blame Obama and the democrats, perhaps Mr. Barbour should go after the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the outmoded system they use to determine royalty shares.
The MMS acts as a partner to big oil and gas rather than the regulatory collection agency for states royalties. Their controversial history ranges from pervasive corruption to sexual scandals that's became so bad Ken Salazar, at President Obama's instruction, ordered a review of the MMS in 2009. How did the MMS become so ineffective? It happened during the Bush years according to a statement from Ken Salazar:
"The president has made it clear that the type of ethical transgressions, blatant conflicts of interest, wastes and abuses that we have seen over the past eight years, will no longer be tolerated."
Barbour, always the consummate showman, is being disingenuous and looking for political points while protecting his former big oil clients from harsh criticism. He's going to need a job when his term expires in Mississippi since he figured out real quick vying for president wasn't going to be a successful endeavor. He has a lot to hide and running for president opens the door on all the closets full of skeletons in a candidate's house--in short, he would have gotten clobbered on his past actions and he knew it.
BP paymaster Kenneth Feinberg also found himself worthy of Barbour's praise when the Mississippi apologist refused to harshly criticize Feinberg and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility: "I think they're trying to do a good job. We don't get many complaints in Mississippi." Feinberg and his law firm have made a fortune off BP from the endeavor. Barbour's also made a fortune off big oil. Anything either of them says or does could be juxtaposed to the other's talking head.
Barbour continues to heap accolades of wonderful on BP and roundly criticizes the Obama administration and caution with everything he's got. When the administration ordered BP to put $20 billion in escrow to cover claims resulting from the spill, Barbour cried foul and thought better use of the money would be reinvesting the funds in exploration and drilling. People being made whole isn't as important as the lead act getting as much money as possible from royalties destined for state coffers, that allows for certain governors and their family members benefit first and foremost.
Haley Barbour knows a thing or two about benefiting through federal money from the Katrina disaster. When he says he desires to "position the Gulf states for the best possible recovery" what he really means is himself and his associates, which includes big oil.
And like big oil, Barbour is not in favor of increased regulations and wants permits to be ramped up to the pre-BP spill levels:
Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Elijah Cummings asked Barbour whether he supports an Interior Department requirement that oil companies prove they can cap a well before receiving and drilling permit.
"I would not be in favor of anything that reduces the production of domestic oil," Barbour said. "I think the risks are way too small compared to what you give up."
Barbour's mindset, while popular in certain political and business circles, is backward thinking from another era and seems out of place in the modern day of we really should know better now. He'll get cheers and applause from the audience he's playing to, but in the real post BP spill world his act is outdated and better left in the past.
Boss Barbour & his apologetic sidekick Roscoe P. Huckabee
The national media often takes jabs at the mental disability and buffoonery of southern politicians who make it too easy for them every time they open their big yaps--this time Mike Huckabee has come to the defense of Barbour's record on race, and it's our turn.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is not known for his racial sensitivities. In fact, just the opposite is true from this Eastland Democrat raised knucklehead.
Barbour's pal-ed around with the KKK rooted Council of Conservative Citizens in Mississippi, and when questioned about his involvement with the segregationist group, Boss Barbour commenced to some serious crawfishing about the whole affair. A picture that showed him 'smiling with the segregationists' at a 2005 BBQ, was quickly removed from the CCC site.
They replaced the 'offensive' image with a rebel flag.
That sure did quiet down the whole controversy adequately. Not.
Former Arkansas Governor and (shudder) 2012 republican presidential contender, Huckabee, has decided to be a good ol' bud to Barbour and stand up for him, in a weak attempt to maybe keep Barbour's rapidly diminishing chances at a 2012 run for the (oh so appropriate in this case) White House.
Definition time: Impeccable--
1.
withoutflaworerror;faultless:animpeccablerecord
2.
rareincapableofsinning
Here's what Roscoe P. (P. is for puffery) Huckabee had to say about Barbour on his race record in a recent article by TPM:
Mike Huckabee (R-AR), who may also be posturing for a presidential run, said Barbour's record on race issues is "impeccable."
On a conference call today with reporters about his new book, "A Simple Government," Huckabee defended Barbour and even went so far as to describe him as the smartest political mind in America today. "I'm not going to criticize Haley," he said, calling Barbour a friend."I would never be critical of Haley and would not second guess his experiences," he said.
Ever the faithful sidekick "Huck" also defended Barbour's imprisonment of the sisters. And for him to claim that Barbour is "the smartest political mind in America today" just confirms how delusional this simpleton is. Do you think these boys have been having conversations over BBQ about who is going with who to the top?
That's what Roscoe and Boss were always after in the TV series wasn't it? Besides those pesky Duke boys...the democrats will become the defacto Dukes.
Folks who watched the TV show "Dukes of Hazard" will remember that the main character, Boss Hogg, loved money and would do anything to get himself more of it. Money equals pow-ah, and a 'y'all better respect me because of it' entitled attitude, along with the self appointment of head boss who gets to tell everyone else to "get yer asses in line."
We envision that in a Barbour presidency, the White House staff would hear those same words bellowing out of the Oval Office every day, many times a day.
Barbour thinks that his big money lobbying past is a plum to his resume' and it uniquely qualifies him for the position of Big (and we do mean BIG) Boss of us all:
"Let me just make this very plain. I'm a lobbyist, a politician, and a lawyer. You know, the trifecta," Barbour said.
He's so full of nonsense we can't help but make fun of him, but if he did get elected, Dukes of Hazard would take on a whole new meaning, and it wouldn't be anything like the goings on in backwoods Missouri.
True to form, another conservative media outlet slobbers over Alabama's former 'Goobernor' and advances the nonsense of a presidential Bob Riley.
American Spectator writer Quin 'full of spin' Hillyer starts out his narrow-view puff piece by saying he will "let somebody not already enthralled with just-retired (term-limited) Alabama Gov. Bob Riley write the definitive piece, from a fresh perspective, about what sort of a choice Riley would be for president."
But he didn't wait one sentence before charging right ahead and writing it himself! This is not Mr. Hillyer's first foray into temporary blindness as reported by Raw Story in 2008.
He has an ongoing condition of distorted vision and this latest 'piece' is just more of the same from AS(s).
"Drafting Riley" is so full of the world through coke bottle glasses claims it's like hunting over a baited field, so let's just go ahead and have some fun with the absurdities shall we?
The next one may require anti-emetic medication before consuming so we'll give you a minute, which was less than what Mr. Hillyer did before launching into the article he said he would let someone else write.
(tick-tock, tick-tock....)
Minute's up. Ready? Steady now...
"The only reason he's not better known nationally is because he kept his focus on his job of serving as governor of Alabama, rather than scampering for the cameras and a national audience every chance he got. In other words, he's not all about his own ego: He's just about doing his job."
How about a picture being worth a thousand words? Here's Bobbo from the official Office of the Governor website, at almost 67 years old, and he's trying to present himself as a, as a, ummm, er....well, you figure it out.
05/15/2006 Photo Credit: Governor Staff - Robin Cooper
"Tom Cruise, eat your heart out," declared Governor Bob Riley as he rode the first 2006 F131 Hellcat to be produced in Confederate Motor's new Birmingham headquarters. Cruise recently borrowed the brand new Hellcat for the New York premiere of his latest movie. It is the first production motorcycle ever to be made in Alabama, and Governor Riley commemorated the event by taking the bike out for a spin.
No further explanation required.
"I covered his first race for governor and his first term at close hand, and kept very good tabs on his second term from a distance. I was tremendously impressed."
Maybe that view from a distance is why Mr. Hillyer claims he was "tremendously impressed" because if he had been a native Alabamian living under the rule of Riley he may have seen what most of Alabama saw--a typical southern rethuglican that used Alabama and the system like his own personal trust fund.
Right out of the gate early in his first term, Riley tried to hit Alabamians hard in their worn-out pocketbooks with a $1.2 billion dollar tax hike for a $675 million "inherited shortfall." Rather than fix the problem that caused it, Riley and the Alabama legislature did what they always do and turned to the citizens for relief.
Alabamians were immediately suspicious of the difference in figures and who was on line with their paw out for a favor at taxpayer expense. Alabama's schoolchildren's funds were a favorite target of this blowhard 'gimme your milk money' bully. Riley frequently misdirected education funds meant for classroom supplies and books for his own view of what education money should be for. Like handing over $705,000.00 from the Public School and College Authority Fund to good buddy Mike Hubbard for renovations to the Auburn High School football facility, complete with a $55,000 scoreboard.
Mr. Hillyer continues, in his blissfully unaware and idyllic view of Riley and writes, "The ONLY reasonable knock against him is that CATO's report card gave him some bad grades before giving Riley a "B" last year." The reality is that the list of "reasonable knocks against" him is longer than forty miles of bad road in your Uncle Charlie's chugger of a pick-em up truck. Who's writing this stuff Mr. Hillyer, you or Todd Stacy?
You did say you were going to let someone else write the definitive piece...
Towards the end, we get to the real focus of what this article is all about: "Riley has a sort or Reaganesque look about him, and he lights up a room in person and on a podium. His accent takes getting used to, but it sounds friendly rather than Haley Barbour's "backwoods tough" kind of Southern accent."
Riley is the best choice for the republican nomination of all potential southern candidates in the AS(s) view. Here's our definitive view, sans speculation: If Riley is capable of lighting up a room, we're envisioning a room with no windows and hoping the door is made of bars. (Thanks to Legal Schnauzer for allowing us to link to two of his enlightening articles) * Abramoff's Web Of Deceit and Riley connections In November 2005, Riley was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal when his former Congressional press secretary, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the matter. It further emerged that, as a Congressman, Riley signed a letter on behalf of the U.S. Family Network, opposing expansion of casino gambling in Alabama.[29] The U.S. Family Network was revealed to be an Abramoff front, funded by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which operated competing casinos.[30] Riley has denied knowing the source of this funding.
One week ago, the NAACP is furious with lily white dough boy Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour for his highly insensitive remarks about the Civil Rights era in Mississippi, and this week they are singing his praises and calling him "courageous" and a "shining example of a governor" for freeing two black sisters from prison after sixteen years.
Hell just froze over in Dixie.
Barbour gave himself away by saying that: "...Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi." Obviously her dialysis was costing the state of Mississippi a fortune in their eyes, and we would be willing to bet that was the big (and only) reason that the sparkling white Barbour commuted the life sentences of two black sisters in Mississippi on December 29th.
They were sentenced in 1994 to life for armed robbery that amounted to $11.00 and immediately deemed a threat to society which resulted in their lengthy sentence. We have to wonder how many black faces there were on the jury that arrived at a verdict of life for this huge heist that sparked a civil rights outcry of large measure.
The NAACP has been pushing for their release for years, while Barbour has been deaf to their pleas, and we understand their relief, but this fawning over Barbour is absolutely disgusting beyond words. Their accolades towards Barbour, given what the NAACP is supposed to represent, are shocking and repulsive to us.
No doubt Barbour will use this to his advantage in an attempt to run for the White House. It really will be white in the truest sense of the word if he takes up residence there. That's an equally repulsive thought...whitey mouse in the White House.
There is one catch in the sister's release though, one of them must, by condition of commutation, give up a kidney to the other. Never mind the fact that the healthy sister had previously offered to do so, it is now a binding condition of her release.
Or maybe not.
Barbour may have a bit of a problem with that stipulation:
One organ donation expert said Barbour was wrong. "This is clearly a violation of federal law, which prohibits the exchange of 'valuable consideration' in return for an organ," Dr. Michael Shapiro, chairman of the ethics committee for the United Network for Organ Sharing, said in a statement.
Shapiro said commutation of a prison sentence would "clearly" fall into the category of "valuable consideration" under the law.
The sisters have yet to undergo the important tissue typing testing. Only blood tests have been performed on them for compatibility so far. And that is raising an obvious question.
If they don't match, or if she backs out, will she be heading back to prison?
"All of the 'What if' questions are, at this point, purely hypothetical," Barbour said in a statement from his office late Thursday. "We'll deal with those situations if they actually happen."
No clear answer on what would happen to the sisters from Barbour if tissue type tests show the match as incompatible.
This is a very strange story, but it's crystal clear why Barbour decided to finally release these women to everyone but the NAACP. It had nothing to do with courage, compassion or his sweet lil' pea pickin' I'm tolerant now heart. He is and will always be a Boss Hog type who sees the world through dollar signs and racial lines.
*Updated Tuesday pm Filed under: Insensitive Dough Boy from Mississippi
Alabama's outgoing Governor Riley has a reason to rejoice today, Haley Barbour's racist insensitivity just moved Riley up the GOP list for possible hopefuls in 2012, which gives the rest of us reasons to worry--Riley is smart enough to keep his race opinions to himself, but Alabamians know he isn't far off of Barbour's archaic thinking.
No southern republican is. But Riley's image has been carefully crafted to resemble the GOPs beloved Reagan and he has folks like Joe Scarborough of MSNBC (video link) urging Riley to run and cheer-leading for him to "Do for America what you have done for Alabama."
Riley has to gain traction outside of the south and we just do not see that as a reality, but politics has become so unpredictable anything could happen.
Some things just should not happen and Riley is one of them, Barbour is the other.
Barbour's thinly veiled racist remarks are becoming more and more commonplace in the media and it's clear he does not listen to advisers who surely must be telling him to get off the race topics. (Washington Monthly December 20, 2010)
Barbour is an arrogant sot mouthed idiot, a product of the Eastland Democrats who were hard core segregationists, Klansmen and racists to the core of their black hearts. He seems to suggest white supremacists were responsible for keeping Mississippi "peaceful."
Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson did a number on Barbour about his revisionist history a few months ago that we covered, and it should have taught Barbour a lesson about think first, engage mouth second, but it didn't take. This is symptomatic of the disease a lot of southern republicans have--they believe that being elected to office in a large majority translates into going back to the days of segregation. If you listen carefully to what they say, it comes through loud and clear.
Barbour is just not as careful and calculating in speech as a lot of them are and he is rightfully getting ripped apart in the media for it.
Once again, Massa Barbour has opened his mouth and removed all doubt who he really is. He's embraced by the GOP for his political connections and his uncanny ability to raise millions, but what now for the GOP and Barbour?
Are they going to continue to stand behind this huge liability to their party?
*Update--Predictably Barbour is trying to distance himself from his remarks. Too late, the mule has left the barn.
Older brother Jeppie Barbour shows that it runs in the family.
Alabama’s“head polluter”(and looter) Governor Riley has assembled a group of yes men dubbed Governor Riley’s Coastal Recovery Commission [CRC] “Roadmap to Resilience” to examine the impact of BPs Gulf oil spill on Alabama’s coast. The CRC will focus on "helping the coastal communities create a post-oil spill economy while improving the quality of life statewide.” The plan includes “local governments and human health issues” and this group sounds very similar to the same commission Haley Barbour put together post Katrina and we’re willing to predict it will have some of the same issues.
Post BBQ face
Riley didn't come up with this idea all on his own and seems to be following good buddy Haley Barbour's lead in this latest scheme of his. We imagine a conversation that went something like this between the two of them probably at some undisclosed location where a regional governor's conference was in the works.
Haley Barbour and Bob Riley have pulled apart from the crowd for a private chat...
Barbour: Hey, ol’ buddy-- You know this disaster recovery stuff is a real sweet deal, doncha? You oughtta do whut I did.
Riley: What’s that?
Barbour: Y’all pick Ricky Mathews to head up a commission and call it a “Coastal Recovery” sumthin’ or ‘nuther. Throw in a little “I care about the little people,” and mix some environment and health issues in there, and y’all will be good to go. Them federal dollars will come rollin’ in like a storm surge, pardon the pun… heh heh. (slaps ol’ Bob on the back) Jes’ a lil’ hurricane humor , doncha know.
Riley: Haley, that’s a good ‘un -- heh heh-- listen, how do I git that goin’?
Barbour: Nothin’ to it, Bobbo-- you buy yourself a newspaperman.
Riley: Like that the one you got? What’s that ol’ boy’s name? Ricky, Rocky… what wuz it?
Barbour: You got wax in your ears? I jes’ tol’ you. Ricky Mathews.
Riley: He’s a newspaper man too, ain’t he?
Barbour: Man, you are thicker than red clay, I tol' you to cut down on the Aqua Net. ‘Course he is, an’ he’ll be right friendly. Y’all want a newspaperman ‘cause he makes sure the press writes good stuff and makes you good ol’ boys look like champeens of the little man. I tell ya right now-- ya can’t lose on this deal, and there won’t be nobody to figure it out until you git a bucket o’ money for your deals first. An’ here’s the beauty part-- when the federal money runs out, you can get the rest from the taxpayers.
Riley: Haley-boy, I knew there was a reason you were my goodest friend. Now y’all are going to git me a White House job when you run, ain’t ya?
Barbour: Why, sure thing, Ol’ Buddy. We gotta stick together, our kind does, if’n ya know what I mean. (he elbows Bob and winks at him). Man, I’m hungry. Whaddya say we go on an’ get us some BBQ?
This is my happy face go on an' take the durn picture already!
Riley goes on to describe the CRC as being charged with the ability to “make recommendations on how the state can strengthen its resiliency in the event of future catastrophes.” What’s really missing from the CRC is the importance of safeguarding the environment from irrevocable damage with future spills and more efficient recovery to the affected “average Joe” citizens before the grand plans of “world class” convention centers and an *aircraft consortium are moved forward.
Not to mention an impartial, non-Riley organized, watchdog committee to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
Current Gubernatorial candidates Ron Sparks-D and Robert Bentley-R have not been invited to be involved in the process of forming the CRC and will not receive any information about it until December 15th. The winner of the Governor’s race will, however, be receiving information directly from Governor Riley on the *EADS project (European aircraft consortium contract for Mobile) and “any other industrial prospect” in early November.
*(Note--this is thesame project that Senator "King of Pork" Shelby blocked 70 Obama appointees over until he was called out in the press about it and backed down.)
It’s comforting to know that Governor Riley has his priorities straight about what‘s really important for Alabama’s coastal communities and all of their citizens. Surely an aircraft consortium will benefit many fisherman and seafood purveyors who have watched their life’s work completely disappear.
And theirs really did disappear unlike the “mysterious disappearing oil" that actually didn’t.
Borrowing from Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s recovery commission Riley has picked the perfect person to head his commission, someone whose well-versed in post disaster recovery "opportunities."
The Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama, created last week by executive order, is going to craft such a plan. It is a group of citizen leaders led by another person who doesn’t always see eye to eye with public officials: Ricky Mathews, publisher of the Press-Register.
When Mississippi’s governor formed a commission to plan his state’s long-term recovery from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, he turned to Mr. Mathews to help lead that effort. We both believe Mr. Mathews has the experience and leadership abilities necessary to make the Coastal Recovery Commission a genuine success. (Riley/HammettEditorial October 2, Press-Register)
Ricky Matthews is the chairman of this newly formed CRC made official byExecutive Order # 52. Matthews has moved up the food chain from Governor Barbour‘s commission where he was vice chairman--Riley has appointed him to the highest level for Alabama's commission and he'll lead this time around;
Mathews, who is publisher of the Press-Register in Mobile, was tapped by Riley to lead the commission because he led a similar effort in Mississippi following the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina.
Let’s meet Mr. Matthews courtesy of a video posted on YouTube and theMississippi Renewalwebsite:
Please note who the Mississippi Renewalsponsorsare.
The obvious vested interest in a positive message, that leaves out much of the truth, along with any detailed 'spelling out' of the "lessons learned" are absent.
The same lessons that were, in actuality, illustrative of not even opening the book and honestly considering the impoverished and middle income citizens in Mississippi.
Citizens who were hit very hard first--some of the same ones who are still suffering today.
They were left to the slow-moving federal government's care for the most part, but the coastal Mississippi casinos and "incredible communities" weren't and received swift attention from Barbour's state government and commission.(more below on that in the SF Gate excerpt)
We would really to think Mr. Matthews is the best person for the chairmanship of this commission because he has done some good media work in the Katrina recovery, but what Mississippi's recovery commission was involved in and was a part of recommending fairly well outweighs any positives. Adding in the fact that this current commission is the idea of one of Alabama’s most controversial governors kind of seals the deal that this may not go well for all it's purported to help.
That said, we’re not going to assign major fault with any state by trying to revive their economies after disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or the Gulf oil spill--it’s to be expected and is indeed the duty of the state government to do.
What we do have a problem with is transparency and truthfulness in what the true agenda is-- is it people, the environment or big business and developers first?
We have additional problems with the process, or lack thereof, to choose non-industry friendly individuals from all professions and interests, and not simply form some body of mainly business "buddies" who use phrases like “human health issues” and “environmental impacts” as two of the commission’s big concerns.
In Alabama, big business always wins hands down. Mississippi showed us the same attitude. The environmental impact of disasters is minimized (unless huge piles of federal dollars are available) and they're under reported by the state’s largest newspapers.
Coastal citizens in the fishing business are often affected by disasters the deepest and their struggle to survive economically is an uphill climb for months, and sometimes years. Average non-corporate Mississippians were further injured by being relegated to marginal importance by Barbour and his CRC after Katrina. Gov Riley will likely follow suit in the wake of the BP spill.
Just because Riley will be out of office soon does not mean he will not be closely involved with his new commission. He's not one to walk away from his projects and is enough of a control freak to want to maintain control. His notoriously enormous ego won't let him completely hand it over to those who are not lock-step with his way of thinking.
Governor Barbour was all over the media after Hurricane Katrina crying for help for the citizens of Mississippi, deriding the federal government for "not doing enough" and dutifully following his spin masters directions while giving the appearance of a caring, and compassionate man of all the people, but that’s not the reality of what he and the recovery commission placed the greatest importance on and who they helped first.
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina. The $15 billion or more in federal aid the former Republican national chairman attracted has reopened casinos and helped residents move to new or repaired homes. Among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel.
Recovery and Renewal After the storm, Haley Barbour formed the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, appointing former Netscape Communications Corp. Chief Executive Officer James Barksdale as chairman and Henry Barbour as its unpaid executive director. *(Ricky Matthews, Mississippi Sun Herald publisher, was the Vice Chairman of this commission)
Among the commission's recommendations was the sale of bonds to finance the Katrina recovery. According to state reports and figures provided by Government Consultants, the firm landed about $2.4 million in Mississippi bond fees in 2006, including at least $400,000 from Katrina-related issues. Its fees were up 3.3 percent from 2005, the first year Barbour lobbied for the company, and 125 percent from 2004, the year before it hired him.
One of the projects recommended by the governor's reconstruction commission was a $3 million study of water management systems in six Mississippi counties affected by Katrina. Camp Dresser and Waggoner Engineering, another client of Henry Barbour's firm, worked on that project. CDM paid Henry $15,000 for the final quarter of 2006, according to state lobbying records.
Officials at Waggoner didn't return calls, and a CDM spokeswoman wouldn't comment.
CRCs Mr. Matthews is the president of Advance Alabama/Mississippi Newspaper Group which includes the Birmingham News and he also serves as the publisher of Mobile’s Press-Register.
We don’t see any environmental and humanitarian credentials in Mr. Matthews qualifications, however, we do note his position as being quite advantageous in being able to craft and direct Riley’s agenda. Just as he was instrumental in assisting Governor Barbour’s agenda after Katrina which included almost exclusively positive news stories of Barbour.
But not all of the press drank the Kook-aid. Many of the out-of-state mainstream news outlets and independent Mississippi newspapers reported on the truth of Barbour and the commission's activities that you won’t find much of in any of White’s newspapers, such as the following story excerpt from The San Francisco Gate;
In Mississippi the casinos were the first recipients of the state’s recovery efforts:
More than two years after the storm, the highly touted recovery of the Mississippi coast remains a starkly divided phenomenon.
Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, has hailed the casino openings as a harbinger of Mississippi's resurgence, and developers have proposed more than $1 billion in beachfront condos and hotels for tourists. But fewer than 1 in 10 of the thousands of single-family houses destroyed in Biloxi are being rebuilt, according to city permit records. More than 10,000 displaced families still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Now, long-standing resentment over the way the state has treated displaced residents has deepened over a proposal by the Barbour administration to divert $600 million in federal housing aid to fund an expansion plan at the Port of Gulfport. The port's recently approved master plan calls for increasing maritime capacity and creating an "upscale tourist village" with hotel rooms, condos, restaurants and gambling. "We fear that this recent decision ... is part of a disturbing trend by the governor's office to overlook the needs of lower and moderate income people in favor of economic development," 24 ministers on the Mississippi coast wrote in September in a letter to state leaders.
There it is in proverbial black and white--economic development, personal enrichment and certain like-minded business interests trump the needs of lower and moderate income people which is precisely our concern with the Riley controlled and conceived CRC.
One more additional story of note about Barbour and his recovery commission from The Sea Coast Echo July 2010 and yet another huge waste of post Katrina federal money spent to revive Mississippi‘s “ailing economy” that did not work is important to include;
It might surprise some Bay St. Louis residents to learn that the Old Town beach front, where millions of dollars have been spent since Hurricane Katrina for buildings, infrastructure and a brand-new Beach Boulevard, is a blighted slum.
But that's the official word from the City Council, which learned this week that the pretend designation is necessary before $15.6 million can be spent to build a 162-slip luxury marina at taxpayer expense.
Granted, business has been slow for Old Town merchants for months, held back at first by laborious hurricane reconstruction and then by recession. But while there may indeed be blighted areas of Bay St. Louis, the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Main Street, where the marina and a new pier are planned, probably is not one of them.
Now it’s going to be a 162 slip luxury marina on the site of the recently built Old Town? That's a much better idea isn’t it ? Just what Mississippi needs to “benefit all the citizens” and stimulate Mississippi’s economy after two devastating disasters.
Let’s ponder briefly (because that's all it takes) just how many ultra wealthy people will yacht to the coast of Mississippi as their first choice of getaway destinations. Barbour is dreaming with this pie-in-the-sky idea, but he knows that he (and his "good buddies" and maybe family too) will probably make a bundle off it thanks to the federal government's open checkbook.
As we have reported on before, state’s General Funds (where most federal monies are deposited) create a tangled web in how monies are distributed, and offer ripe opportunities to misappropriate funds for pet projects: like road building and controversial development schemes that benefit close alliances of the Governors.
We’ve seen the development of commission after figurehead commission, whose real purposes are not always initally clear in their actual intentions, unless one is paying very close attention.
Riley was very clear his commission of about 100 community leaders, hailing primarily from the business community, was created to draft a plan for the future administration as his second term in office winds down. "We must do everything we can to restore what’s been lost because of this disaster, but we should also use this moment to strengthen the resilience of our state and coastal communities," Riley said. "The commission will recommend ways that improve our ability to respond to future challenges and examine strategies that will mean far less suffering the next time a catastrophe threatens us."
Riley said the saddest words in the English language are “what if” and he challenged every citizen in the state to make his voice heard throughout this process. “This gives you an ability to take a huge amount of money and direct it into something that benefits everyone in the coastal community,” Riley said, estimating Alabama stands to receive its share of billions of dollars resulting from the oil spill.
Legacy building and the repaying of business and political favors is expensive work isn't it Mr. Riley?
As a general rule, most of Alabama’s coastal community’s are peppered with enclaves of the wealthy and influential who own luxury residences, second and third homes and vacation properties in exclusive, high dollar areas.
Real estate development in these areas has pushed out the economically disadvantaged and some of them have also had devastating effects on wetlands in these areas. It’s not a playground of the far less than wealthy and just trying to by populace, which makes us deeply suspicious of the Riley mantra that "everyone will benefit" from the decisions and actions of this commission.
Riley’s history and the eight longest years in Alabama of recent memory speak for themselves. An overwhelming majority of citizens want him to become a distant bad memory sooner rather than later.
Because Riley’s CRC is made up primarily of business groups it’s problematic from the start that what may occur in Alabama will turn out any differently than Barbour’s recovery commission.
In this state, big business is never on the side of the citizens--there are examples of that long enough to stretch from state border to state border and a few times back again just under Riley's reign alone.
Governor Riley’s record on Alabama’s environment is equally dismal and non-existent in favor of any environmental protections, but it’s certainly thickly laden with destruction as most of the republican and big oil influenced politicians policies are-- rightfully earning them the distinction of having their own particular style self-enrichment recovery after community tragedies. *photo credits: BaldwinCountyNow--Bob Riley and Salon.com--Barbour
*Dereliction of Duty-- Why Was the Coast Guard MIA in the Gulf? Blame Governors Jindal, Barbour, Riley and Crist
Subscribe in a reader
