Jindal And Jimmy

From the Times-Picayune:

BATON ROUGE -- Before becoming executive counsel this year to Gov. Bobby Jindal, Alexandria lawyer Jimmy Faircloth was a key figure in a high-risk business venture that is sparking new controversy in a Louisiana Indian tribe still shaken after becoming the victim of a national scandal.

From 2005 to 2007, Faircloth advised the Coushatta Indians to invest $30 million in a formerly bankrupt Israeli technology firm called MainNet, which so far has shown no financial return for the tribe and is dependent on monthly installments of Coushatta cash. The company also hired Faircloth's brother, on the attorney's suggestion, after the tribe began investing.

Faircloth is the executive counsel to our Governor Clean, who promised to govern according to the "gold standard" of public ethics, who would not countenance even the appearance of wrongdoing, and who would lead the legislature to enact laws that would clean up corruption in Louisiana.

Jack Abramoff, (you do remember him) a friend of Bush, who is now in jail for various transgressions, also had dealings with the Coushatta Indians, in which the Coushattas paid him a lot of money to lobby for them with the Bush maladministration. I believe that at one point, Abramoff was lobbying for the Coushattas and against them at the same. The story is complicated as is Jimmy Faircloth's story of his relationship with the Coushattas. I've wanted to write about this for a while, but I'm getting to be a lazy blogger, and it looked like hard work.

All of Faircloth's dealings with the Coushattas may well be sleazy, but they are probably not illegal. The Coushattas were suckered out of $32 million by Abramoff, after which the tribal leaders were voted out, and reformers were voted in. The reform leaders did the deals with Faircloth. The tribal leaders are out $40 million and are still paying money by the month to keep MainNet afloat. At one point Faircloth convinced them to invest another $10 million, which they would soon get back when a Nigerian general kicked in some money. Alas! The Nigerian general's investment never materialized.

Before Faircloth took his position in the Jindal administration, he severed his connection with his old law firm and relinquished his position as an investment adviser to the Coushatta tribe.

If you'd like to know more, read James Gill's column in the Times-Picayune.

If you'd like to know a lot more, here's another article from the Times-Picayune.

It's the hypocrisy, you see. After all his promises, Jindal turns out to be just another politician, which I thought he was all along. Before he was elected, I heard not a few people say that he would be the savior of the state. I hear folks talk about how smart he is, but I'm still waiting to see evidence of his smarts. I see a crafty politician, an opportunist, who is smart about promoting himself, but I'm not yet impressed with what he's done for the people of the State of Louisiana. If Jindal goes on to do great things for Louisiana, I will admit my misjudgment of him, but I don't see it happening.