"All I can tell you is the members of BRE-ARD requested I file it in the conveyance records to protect their interests," says Joe Bouligny Jr. BRE-ARD is the entity comprised of local businessmen Jerry Brents and Dan Menard, who were to get 36 acres of the horse farm after they bought attorney Davidson's 4 acres and exchanged them with the university. Authement called off the swap in mid-June ("Cover-Up," Sept. 27), which is why the court filing still has community members, especially those associated with Save the Horse Farm, scrambling for an explanation. The university claims it was blind-sided. "We don't know anything about it," UL spokeswoman Julie Dronet says. "Dr. Authement didn't even know anything about it."
The UL System, whose board approved the dubious land exchange in August 2005, also is in the dark. "We're trying to research that right now," says Associate Provost Brad O'Hara.
In the 34-page filing of Oct. 20, for which he paid $423 cash, Bouligny listed his address as 102 Park West Drive in Scott ' the address of several companies owned by Brents. Bouligny's phone number in the Louisiana Legal Directory is a number answered with the greeting, "The Brents' Companies."
Bouligny maintains that he does not work for former FBI-agent-turned-banker Brents, a who is his father-in-law, but Bouligny says his law office is housed at 102 Park West Drive. Bouligny, whose name appears on several pages of the exchange documents as a witness, says he did not provide legal representation to BRE-ARD in the horse farm exchange. While he appears to represent the controversial group now, Bouligny claims he is unsure whether BRE-ARD had its own representation in drafting the land swap documents, which were drawn up entirely by Davidson.
And just when it seemed this cozy group could not get any closer, The Independent Weekly has learned that George Parker, the appraiser who initially put the $3.25 million value on Davidson's land, is Joe Bouligny's godfather. Each of the properties (the horse farm was appraised by Russ Wilson) was originally valued at $3.25 million, but subsequent appraisals on both the horse farm and Davidson property revealed the university would be squandering $4 million in the land swap. Earlier this year, The Independent successfully sued the university for access to the new appraisal of Davidson's land, claiming it was a public record.
It's difficult to overlook the irony that Authement's close associates (including UL Foundation Board member Davidson) may be posturing to force him to uphold the tainted agreement by filing suit ' especially after Menard told The Independent Weekly last year that he had only the university's best interests at heart. "Everything is ethical, moral and legal," Menard said about the proposed swap, "and to be perfectly honest, I'm trying to help the university if I can."
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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