The Banty Rooster Struts Again

W.D. Childers' conviction for bribery has been reversed by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Apparently, ten hours of cross-examination is not enough to satisfy due process.

Oops! No million dollar compensation for Escambia County.

Willie Junior's shade, wherever it may be, must be shaking its ghostly head in wonderment and muttering, 'The white guys around here always win, don't they?'

The 'Banty Rooster' may be "not guilty" in the view of two out three appeals court panel judges in Atlanta, but that sure doesn't make him "innocent." Bigger questions remain unanswered
and probably will go to the grave with Childers.

Louisiana MMS: 'A Culture of Corruption'

Buried on page A-16 of today's Times is an investigative news item by Ian Urbina claiming that an inspector general's report into misconduct by Minerals Management Service (MMS) had been transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. The report focuses on employees at the Lake Charles, Louisiana, MMS regional office -- the one which would have had the most direct conduct with BP oil industry officials and the Deepwater Horizon well.

As Urbina wrote, the report initially was "provided to The New York Times by a person familiar with the investigation who is not authorized to speak to reporters." And, it's a humdinger. What it describes is a culture of corruption, favoritism for the oil industry, and thorough incompetence.

As introductory materials in the report explain, "all of the conduct chronicled in this report occurred prior to 2007." The investigation had its origins in a whistle-blower's letter sent to the U.S. Attorney's office in Louisiana. The U.S.A. referred the matter to the I.G. for investigation.

Times reporter Ian Urbina describes one of the many deeply disturbing findings: "Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil — and then turned them over to the regulators, who traced over them in pen before submitting the reports to the agency." (emphasis added)

Other activities of MMS personnel at Lake Charles included:

• Inspectors accepting "meals, tickets to sporting events and gifts" from "at least one oil company while they were overseeing the industry."
• In mid-2008, "a minerals agency employee conducted four inspections on drilling platforms when he was also negotiating a job with the drilling company, a cover letter to the report said."
• An MMS inspector from the Lake Charles office "admitted to investigators that he had used crystal methamphetamine, an illegal drug..." and is believed to have been under the influence of drugs while conducting an oil rig inspection.
• Employees from the Lake Charles office "repeatedly accepted gifts, including hunting and fishing trips from the Island Operating Company, an oil and gas company working on oil platforms... ."
• At least two Lake Charles MMS employees "admitted... using illegal drugs during their employment."
• Seven or more inspectors who are "cited in the report as having been involved in inappropriate or illegal activities were still employed by the agency when the report was completed in March."

The full IG report now has gone viral. It's available on Scribd and ABC-News and probably elsewhere.
minor edit 5-25 pm

Categorial Surprise

WaPo, buried on page 4:

The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely.

The decision by the department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) to give BP's lease at Deepwater Horizon a "categorical exclusion" from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 -- and BP's lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions -- show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated an accident of the scale of the one unfolding in the gulf.
* * *
While the MMS assessed the environmental impact of drilling in the central and western Gulf of Mexico on three occasions in 2007 -- including a specific evaluation of BP's Lease 206 at Deepwater Horizon -- in each case it played down the prospect of a major blowout.

In one assessment, the agency estimated that "a large oil spill" from a platform would not exceed a total of 1,500 barrels and that a "deepwater spill," occurring "offshore of the inner Continental shelf," would not reach the coast. In another assessment, it defined the most likely large spill as totaling 4,600 barrels and forecast that it would largely dissipate within 10 days and would be unlikely to make landfall.

In recognition of BP's predictive skills, MMS gave it a safety award last year. Then, the agency probably invited BP to get back in bed with it.

Electoral Shock Therapy

Not long ago we mentioned a relative who was a lifelong Republican and a highly successful office holder until, as he says, "the party left me." He's not alone:

Life-long Republican Chris Currey has a thoughtful piece over at David Frum's place, explaining his belief that his party has lost its mind. Currey doesn't exactly break new ground -- his fears and concerns will no doubt seem familiar to most who keep up with current events -- but his piece is worth reading anyway.

Steve Benen is right. Republican businessman Currey's article is thoughtful and compelling. Bennen also is right when he says that when a political party goes bat-shit crazy, as the neo-Republican Party so clearly has, "the only way to bring it to its senses is for it to suffer electoral humiliation."

The GOP went sharply to the right after the 2004 elections, and it lost in 2006. Republicans then went even further to the right, and lost in 2008. In response, they went even further still to the right.

If 2010 is an electoral bonanza for the GOP, the party will assume that the way a party wins elections is to have its members become stark raving mad. If 2010 is another humiliating failure for the GOP, the party may be more inclined to identify their most ridiculous and dangerous habits, and consider where they went wrong.

Republicans appear to have lost Chris Currey, and with good reason. But unless Currey has a lot of like-minded friends voting in November, the party won't bother to try and get him back.

We've said it before. It needs repeating: in a two-party democratic system, both parties need each other to stay honest and responsive to the needs of the nation as a whole. Restoring the Republican Party's sanity is as important to the Democratic Party as it is to the nation's political health.

If it takes electoral shock therapy, so be it.

Hockey Grandpa Convicted

WaPo:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that tainted the 40-year Senate career of Alaska's political patriarch. The verdict, coming barely a week before Election Day, added further uncertainty to a closely watched Senate race.
* ** *
Stevens, 84, was convicted of all the charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor.
* * *

The month long trial revealed that employees for VECO Corp., an oil services company, transformed Stevens' modest mountain cabin into a modern, two-story home with wraparound porches, a sauna and a wine cellar.

The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Stevens said he had no idea he was getting freebies.

Husbands and U.S. senators are notoriously unobservant, of course, but that "Oh, gosh! Where did this second story come from?" was never a defense that would fly.

Dept. of Amplification

The Department of Justice, helpfully, has put the indictment and trial exhibits on-line.

Dept. of Further Amplification

It seems Alaska Senator Ted Stevens cannot legally vote for himself in Alaska because he's a convicted felon.

Four-Letter Words Dept.

Former Texas senator Phil Gramm, who "slipped an Enron-backed provision into the Commodities Futures Modernization Act" that made the Enron scandal almost inevitable, is now John McCain's "econ brain." He's also a vice-president and (until three weeks ago) a lobbyist for an investment bank that helped bring about the mortgage crisis.

George Touart's Sun Sets

The unmistakable threat in Thursday's PNJ editorial that if George Touart didn't resign county commissioners might be the next to go apparently worked. Local Pensacola channel 3, WEAR-TV, is reporting Thursday evening that county administrator George Touart "announced tonight he is retiring."

At once, it seems. Like, tomorrow.

"Touart says he'd like to take leave immediately," the TV report says, "and receive a severance package."

Wouldn't everyone? Not this way.

Notes the channel 3 web site --

Touart was under intense pressure over his personal business relationships. Some of the people he did business with, did business with the county.

Before breaking into wild applause, let's take a moment and stroll down memory lane. George Touart was a last-minute ringer thrown into the final round of new administrator candidates by (now) former county commissioner Tom Banjanin. Rumors Tuart had been forced out of a prior administrator's job elsewhere in the South were pooh-poo'd. Banjanin himself admitted he'd rather hire a good ol' boy with deep Pensacola roots than some highly qualified, well educated, honest administrator with a proven track record.

Well, he got what he wanted. Take a note, commissioners: maybe that wasn't such a good idea, after all.

End of the FEMA Line

Why Now? has the essence of the story:

"FEMA signed a contract for debris removal that pays $23/cubic yard, but by the time it went through multiple layers of subcontractors, the people who are actually removing the debris are making $3/cubic yard."

Read - "Corruption, Cronyism, & Incompetence."

Irriguous Minds Want to Know

Irriguous minds want to know -- where did the yachting photos of Congressman Jeff Miller go?

We're referring to the National Marine Manufacurer's Association, which has been aggressively hosting fund-raising parties for various incumbent congressmen with sumptuous, all expenses paid outings "at the helm of the yacht and group shots of other lawmakers posed on the boat with their smiling aides... ."

Apparently, the gay blade gallery of government goombahs included pics of Northwest Florida's incumbent congressman Jeff Miller (R-Chumukla):

"Other members of Congress whom the trade group's PAC hosted for fundraisers on the yacht included Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Reps. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., Jeff Miller, R-Fla., Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., and Don Sherwood, R-Pa., according to trade association and federal campaign finance reports.

According to the last week's Chicago Tribune, the photos were proudly posted on the NMMA's web site.

But now they're not. Did the photos of our incumbent congressmen nuzzling up to a lobbyist trough get deep-sixed after the Tribune's report? Or, are they hiding behind the "paid members" page?