Mob boss Carlos Marcello. Wikimedia It’s transition time at the local U.S. attorney’s office, now that Jim Letten, the nation’s longest-serving federal prosecutor, and his top three lieutenants have retired in the wake of a scandal involving anonymous online comments. No doubt candidates aspiring to replace Letten have quietly expressed interest to U.S. Sen. Mary […]
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
9th Ward goat farmer's gripe: butting heads with powers that be
Cockeyed contest rules? Here’s lookin’ at you, kid. Photo by KKirugi, Flickr (Creative Commons) Since this article was first posted, the third paragraph from the last has been updated to reflect a connection between Goats of Progress and a fund backing Propeller. Bless my sweet wife for being so unlike me. I would have raised […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Letten lesson: Even the best officials need ‘terrible scrutiny’
Teddy Roosevelt aimed his elephant gun at elephants, not house flies. News stories have talked up the “irony” of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s resignation, which is effective today. We’ve been reminded that in 2001 businessman Fred Heebe was the top candidate to replace then-interim U.S. Attorney Letten. But allegations of domestic abuse derailed Heebe’s candidacy, […]
Posted inOpinion
Hey, mister! Throw me some hydrochlorofluorocarbons!
Recyclable beads would help mitigate Mardi Gras’ environmental damage. photo: Cathy Hughes, all rights reserved “Honey, don’t bother,” the older woman beside me said as I tidied up my bit of St. Charles Avenue turf after my first Carnival parade. Her hand swept downriver toward Canal Street, encompassing miles of plastic cups, food wrappers and […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
With staffers flacking online, Letten didn’t need enemies
Jim Letten I’ve read several lamentations about the damage Perricone’s activities might have done to the image of Letten’s office in the public mind. But if the image conjured is, in fact, a more accurate one than what Letten’s fans in the press tend to cultivate then what will we have lost besides a distorting […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Rants under yet another alias sound a lot like Perricone
Sock puppets—Internet lingo for pseudonymous commenters—seem to have abounded in the federal prosecutor’s office. graphic: Matt Buck Former assistant U.S. attorney Sal Perricone retired in March after businessman Fred Heebe filed a defamation lawsuit claiming Perricone authored anonymous online rants about targets of federal investigations, politicians, attorneys, judges, among other topics. In August, Perricone spoke […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Moral of the story: Even Letten’s office wasn’t ‘untouchable’
Not long ago Jim Letten was our local Eliot Ness, here portrayed by Kevin Kostner, in “The Untouchables.” Foolish underlings have cost him that reputation. photo: Paramount file. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office is embroiled in controversy over online comments made by his top lieutenants. The team he has long-trusted has let him down during […]
Posted inOpinion
Confessions of an armchair cynic: the voters proved me wrong
They’re calling it a “status quo” election. And some things about it are indeed quite predictable, including the rush to call the new dispensation status quo. Predictably: From deep within the Fox bubble, Karl Rove’s first reaction was to doubt that Obama’s re-election was really happening. Predictably: Within hours of Romney’s concession speech, Wall Street […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Four years is a split-second eternity—no matter who wins tonight
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson: Is the Libertarian a longshot for 2016? photo: Steve Terrell, Flickr I expected the 2012 race for national office to be a weird one. Instead, it’s been pretty stable. Sorry about that. I didn’t think Republicans would nominate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to lead their crusade against President […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Can new organization make lead safety a priority for New Orleans?
Halloween disappointed me; I didn’t see any kids dressed up as lead-poisoned blood. They missed a real opportunity too, because high blood-lead levels scare me more than witches or zombies. Nonetheless, this week I was delighted to learn about a new organization dedicated to raising awareness of the city’s lead problem and finding solutions to […]