Now, some fellow government officials suspect that Williams is orchestrating a shell game of his own related to his support of Lafayette Utilities System's fiber-to-the-home project.
"I think he was always looking for an excuse not to support that plan," says Council Chairman Randy Menard. "If he doesn't get his way, everyone suffers the consequences. I think he was never committed on the fiber plan. He always advocated Cox and BellSouth's position. He was always communicating with representatives of BellSouth."
At Tuesday's meeting, Williams stated he and other north side activists might reconsider supporting the LUS fiber plan.
"I was surprised when he made that comment," says LUS Director Terry Huval. "But I also think that it was a very emotional meeting, and I believe that Dr. Williams knows that this fiber initiative would be a benefit for Lafayette and help save his constituents money."
After last week's council meeting, Williams said he planned to meet with a group of north side leaders on Friday to plot a course of action in the aftermath of the Verot School Road funding decision ' including whether or not to support LUS' fiber initiative in an election. "There's going to be some major things happening in the next few weeks," Williams says. "This is not the end of this situation. We will take some action."
After losing a lawsuit over fiber bonding procedures, the Durel administration is set to present the council with a new bond resolution next month ' one that would set a July 16 public election on the LUS plan.
North Lafayette support will be crucial for a mid-summer, single-issue election. Housing Authority Director Walter Guillory, who heads a citizens' committee on the digital divide, says he doubts his fellow north side residents would vote against the LUS fiber initiative in retaliation over capital improvement funding.
"Sometimes one incident can trigger some negative things that have built up over a course of time," Guillory says. "But there's some intelligent people on the north side that will see the benefit of [the LUS plan]. It's two different issues. People are just too intelligent and not that mean-spirited."
One high-ranking government official who insisted on speaking anonymously was concerned about Williams' political acumen hurting the LUS fiber plan. "If I were LUS, I'd be very concerned," he said. "Historically, opposition turns out for this kind of an election. [Williams] is well organized and his thought process is good and you've got to admire him for that. He always gets the last word."
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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