the devil and una anderson November 1, 2007
What is it about garbage contracts that brings out the worst in people? Now Una Anderson is accused of taking a bribe when she was on the school board, in exchange for giving the the public schools’ garbage contract to the same two characters who are currently ripping us off via the city garbage contract.
Unlike Oliver Thomas and Ellanese Brooks-Simms, Una denies being on the take. The feds don’t seem to have a lot of evidence on her except for the word of the disgraced Pampy Barre, but why would Barre just decide to pick on poor Una? She admits she went to his restaurant and collected several thousand dollars for her campaign. Why did she get mixed up with such a gangster? She used to work for Oliver Thomas. Was there a culture of corruption around Thomas’ office?
I don’t live in the district where she is running for the state legislature and I haven’t paid much attention to that race. It might be unfair of me, but I sure as hell would not vote for Una Anderson, just in case. I don’t know a thing about Walker Hines, but unless he is a child molester or a terrorist we might be better off with him in Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, we clearly cannot trust our elected officials with the awarding of garbage contracts. Something about the garbage goes to their heads and turns them into greedy, small-time morons. Perhaps it’s the mercury in the discarded light bulbs. I’m afraid that anyone here could be vulnerable, so it can’t be turned over to a committee of citizens either. We need to bring in some outside agitators to evaluate proposals for trash pick-up. I suggest we bring in a busload of church ladies from Nebraska, or maybe a class of 9th graders from Vermont. We give them the proposals from the bidding companies and a map of New Orleans and tell them to chose the best one based on the price and the companies’ records of past performance. Features such as GPS garbage tracking and the latest in garbage nano-technology will have to wait until the city’s population climbs above 400,000 again.
While they are evaluating the proposals, the Guest Committee on Municipal Garbage can be sequestered in bugged suites at the Windsor Court Hotel. They can get meals catered by New Orleans finest restaurants and served by FBI agents, but they will not be allowed to have any phone calls, letters or e-mails. If they need to ask a garbage contractor a question, they can write it down and someone from Jim Letten’s office can take it over there and wait for the answer, also in writing. When Jim Letten’s staff member returns to the hotel, he will be strip-searched in case he’s carrying a bag of cash.
I wonder what a church lady from Omaha would say if you told her you wanted her to buy a $96 garbage can?
- Posted in : main, new orleans
- Author : dangerblond
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