There was room for pause Wednesday night when former Lafayette Parish School Board President Mark Babineaux, speaking during the board’s first regular meeting of the year, moved for his fellow board members to unanimously name Shelton Cobb as the 2012 president of the school board.
“This is significant ... I hope it’s in the spirit of getting along and unifying our efforts,” Cobb said after taking his seat in the president’s chair.
Though it’s common practice for governing bodies to name a new president or chairman by promoting the vice chairman or vice president, which Cobb served as last year, it was a welcome surprise for school board observers and other outside stakeholders to hear the suggestion of unanimity come from Babineaux.
Babineaux has joined board members Tommy Angelle, Greg Awbrey and Rae Trahan in consistently voting against the Gang of Five, a somewhat new majority on the board that comprises Cobb, Hunter Beasley, Tehmi Chassion, Mark Cockerham and Kermit Bouillion. (Worth noting: The Independent selected the Gang of Five as its Persons of the Year in 2011 for the group’s efforts to buck the status quo and central office to bring in the highly qualified Dr. Pat Cooper as the next superintendent of Lafayette Parish public schools.)
But immediately after the board cast its unanimous vote for Cobb, the often bitter cleft on the board returned. Beasley was named over Awbrey as the 2012 vice president of the school board by the same 5-4 vote that’s been surfacing at board meetings since the superintendent search unofficially began in May. The Gang of Five voted for Beasley, while Angelle, Awbrey, Babineaux and Trahan favored Awbrey.
The tensions between the two blocs on the board continued even after the meeting, when Awbrey — clearly not still sour from his loss — told The Daily Advertiser that “the vice president’s job is to keep the meeting moving and make sure that issues are resolved quickly, but that didn’t happen (Wednesday) night. Hopefully it happens in future meetings.”
JUNE 20 Here's the transcript of the esteemed journalist Rush Limbaugh's recent spot on Sen. Elbert Guillory. Guillory's video explaining why all black folks need to go running right over to the GOP (and no, one of the reasons given is not that you can't get elected Lt. Gov. as a "D" in this state) is "amazing" and a "tear-jerker" to Mr. Limbaugh. Of course, he doesn't mention that Guillory thought enough of the D party to join it so he could get elected to the state senate. But Rush doesn't disappoint; he does manage to make the spot about him in the end.
JUNE 20 Here's a WBRZ investigative piece on a foundation in Baton Rouge that may have some problems. Like what, you ask? How about under-reporting income by $700K or having a member who gets contributions by telling folks about her mystical experiences? This lady says it all began 30 years ago when a bishop who died "spoke" to her from his coffin, letting her know that she was not "out of her head." Um, OK.
JUNE 20 Here's another analysis (or post-mortem, as the case may be) for Gov. Jindal's recent post in Politico. This time, it's from the editorial board of the LSU Reveille. The kids say there were some problems with the column; mostly, they were related to Jindal insulting his friends, his enemies, and everyone in between, including himself. The contradictions Jindal displayed weren't lost on these students -- or anybody else.
JUNE 20 This post by the editorial board of the Picayune congratulates former Saint Steve Gleason on the "inspiring" way the man has responded to a mean-spirited and just plain appalling skit on a radio station about him and ALS, the paralyzing and fatal disease he has. As usual, the editorial states, Gleason directed attention from himself and to the disease, which he says is misunderstood, underfunded and ignored. Maybe this will bring some attention to the disease, the board writes.
JUNE 20 The Advocate posts this story about the sudden death of James Gandolfini, the television, stage and film actor probably best known for his role as Tony Soprano on the HBO series. Gandolfini died while vacationing in Italy, the story reports. He won three Emmys for the Sopranos role, but also was honored with a Tony nomination for God of Carnage.
JUNE 20 Clancy DuBos writes here about the legal, financial and political quagmire that is NOLA law enforcement these days. Sheriff Gusman and Mayor Landrieu are facing off in federal court, and as DuBos says, the stakes are high. Gusman's prison is "a hellhole," DuBos writes, and Landrieu claims the books there are "deliberately unfathomable." Gusman says everything's hunky dory, but it would be better if he got more money from Landrieu. What a mess.
JUNE 20 Blogger Tom Aswell says Gov. Jindal needs to quit touring the country bragging about his "gold standard" of ethics reform -- because it just ain't true. Aswell gives us a lot of statistics on our dismal ethics record, including a long list of violations committed by our fearless leaders and political groups. Taken all at once, it's not a pretty picture, and certainly not a golden one.
JUNE 20 This post in the Picayune reports that a contractor pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme that involved fake bids and kickbacks. The contractor said he cut a deal with a guy working for Orleans Sheriff Gusman to submit fake bids so his real company could "win" work for the sheriff, the story says. The former sheriff's employee already has pleaded guilty, the story says. Meanwhile, Sheriff Gusman says he hasn't been contacted by any investigators.
JUNE 20 Here's a Huff Post blog by Jason Linkins, taking a few shots at Gov. Jindal for his recent Politico column. For instance, he takes issue with Jindal's advice that the GOP "stop the bedwetting," pointing out that there were certainly some Jindal-positive patches on those damp sheets. But the main gist of the column is that Jindal was singing one tune back in November, but he's using a different score now. Either way, it's hitting a sour note with Linkins.
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