In a May 6 letter just obtained by The INDsider, the group urges Shapiro to immediately initiate a liquidation of Stanford Group Co. under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) and order the SIPC to pay claims to customers of SGC, which was an SEC-registered broker dealer and SIPC member. In supporting its position, the group reminds Shapiro of the recent SEC inspector general's report that uncovered the SEC's abysmal failure in stopping Stanford, despite knowing since 1997 that the company was likely running a Ponzi scheme.
Created by Congress in 1970, SIPC is funded by member brokers and dealers across the country. It offered more than $500 million in coverage to fraud victims of Bernard Madoff but has repeatedly denied coverage to Stanford victims in 46 states because most of Stanford’s investors lost money earmarked for Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. In reality, however, many of the funds were never even sent to the offshore bank, but were diverted to Allen Stanford himself or back to SGC.
The group of congressmen, which includes Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, and Reps. Charlie Melancon, Bill Cassidy, Rodney Alexander and Anh "Joseph" Cao, contends that SIPC was created to protect customers whose funds are stolen by a registered broker dealer. And in the Stanford matter, they maintain, customers' funds were indeed stolen by the owner of registered broker dealer.
The Stanford Victims Coalition has been the driving force behind securing this bi-partisan push. "It has been like moving a mountain," says one local Stanford investor who asked not to be identified. "It has been done without teams of lawyers. It has been done largely by a few dedicated people who have spent every day working on this since it has happened, and I think all the victims can finally say someone is listening."
Read the letter to Shapiro here.
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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