Original at DailyKos, and hat tip to AmericaBlog for reminding me, and to Scout Prime for doing the legwork.
Oh, yeah. One more thing about the Bring New Orleans Back Commission that I failed to emphasize in previous diaries.
They’re not only just people like Wynton Marsalis and Reverend Fred Luter and Archbishop Alfred Hughes. They’re not only real estate developers, speculators and business boosters. They’re dyed in the wool Bush leaguers who give to get something. Anything.
And in the case of New Orleans post-Katrina, giving will eventually pay off in unmatched dividends to these GOP faithful.
And how much did they give to obtain what might turn out to be a concession on New Orleans much like the Marquis du Chatel had in Louisiana history?
Scout Prime went digging at the Federal Elections Commission data base and found:
Out of eight listed campaign contributors [from the BNOB]:
Three (3) African Americans contributed $12,400 or less than 1% of the total. A minimum of 80% of that 1% went to Democrats.
Five (5) Caucasians gave $1,265,864 or 99% of the total. A minimum of 95% of that went to Republicans.
Total of all Contributions……………………….$1,278,264
Total percentage
of all contributions
that went to Republicans………………………………….94%
List of commission members here.
Scout Prime shows which of the commissioners paid into the Repub war chest. And of these commissioners, Joseph Canizaro and his partner Donald Bollinger are increasingly running the show. The other three are Jimmy Reiss, the infamous president of the New Orleans Business Council and that WSJ quote: “Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way, demographically, geographically and politically”; and the lesser known but just as viperous Gary Solomon, and Mel Lagarde.
Bollinger was confident enough to say that when Bush sat down with the Commission during one of his visits to New Orleans, he more or less tacitly backed it (and them) with his presence at their supper.
Of course. You my boys. You scratch my back with campaign funds, and I’ll scratch yours with…
It is usually Canizaro and Bollinger who are perceived as part of an A team of commissioners and outsiders who meet secretly and separately with each other during private luncheons, while the rest of the commissioners, especially the black commissioners, are part of a B team that are usually not invited to these gatherings. This has naturally created some tension, and the New York Times recently reported that there was a possibility that the Commission might be falling apart because of the appearance of backroom dealing.
Canizaro and ‘nem were hardly stung by the double cross early this week on the Baker Bill.
According to Scout Prime, and the Times Picayune, Canizaro downplayed the bill’s importance January 12 and on January 26 in remarks that creepily echoed Bush’s recent refusal.
However, Canizaro also said that even without the Baker bill, he thinks enough federal money will be available — in the form of Federal Emergency Management Agency grants and other sources — to make homeowners whole.
This is a crock and both Bush and Canizaro know it. Half is not enough. Because now it appears that they are willing to wait longer in order to pay nothing at all to residents and seize the rest by eminent domain. That is, the city would take the land and then developers like Canizaro and Bollinger would bid for and buy it.
These grants are not enough for those residents fighting against their land and property being taken away, and for what ails New Orleans post-Katrina. And as observers have said, Bush has played coy and noncommittal with both sides regarding the bill or future plans about the beleaguered city, not wishing to tip his hand and failing to provide leadership, thus leaving it to the GOP donors on the BNOB and their supporters. No doubt, the Commission and Bush are riding the same pony. It’s not just supposition or speculation.
It’s real.
A landgrab in the making.
