It is show time! The corrupt house of cards has begun to fall with the departure of our fearful leader, King Eddie Price. After causing complete embarrassment and surrounding our city with shame for the last 18 months or so, it took a plea with the Feds to make him leave. I was glad to hear he pleaded guilty in court yesterday and will hopefully do a few years in the pen. Lord knows how many tax dollars were wasted because of him or how much potential revenue was lost. Now, my guess has been that he was the bottom feeder, the little guy, the school yard drug dealer when the authorities are looking for the kingpin in this whole big picture. I would gather that he has been singing and ratting everyone and their grandmother out so he could get off easy. My tipsters tell me that the rest is coming swiftly and I am breaking out the popcorn and going to sit back and watch. No, I do not enjoy seeing people destroyed. But, I do think it is a wonderful thing to see criminals (and that is what they are), get what they deserve. You use your position to steal and do shady crud – you pay!

On a personal note here. No, I do not hate anyone, including Eddie. I do not even know him personally or any of his other upcoming jailmates. He may have “done his job” after Katrina. He may have done you favors over the years. He may be a lot of fun to hang out with (this is all stuff I have heard from people who would not sign the petition), but he is a criminal – period! Now, for the rest of the City Council….I can’t bite my tongue any longer – they may all be honest, they may all be innocent, but none of them are stupid! They sat back and continued to let Eddie embarrass our city and they could have held a vote of no confidence or publicly stood up and said enough is enough – but they did not! Not one of them. Instead they sat back and tried to “shine shit” (much better when my dad says it in Yiddish). But, it is the only way to describe it. Do I think they all need to go? Yes. Even if it is guilt by association or lack of intestinal fortitude to stand up and speak up against King Eddie – that is enough for me to say they should wave their white flags. But they will all do their council time unless they go down too (& I think at least 1 may).

As for me, I honestly would have put my resume in (and had every intention of doing so), if Coogan’s pal Lyons was the only candidate for Interim Mayor. There are a couple of good people in the mix and I look forward to the debacle at 1:00 today in City Hall as the council either 1. swiftly has 3 to agree on Lyons or 2. sends all the resumes to Jindal to select. I have a good candidate for Mayor I will get behind and 1 potential new City Council member….so far! Will I ever run for office….probably not….but never say never.

Posted by kissmygumbo on 01/01/09 at 10:19AM

What is truly sad is that this is the 5th Police Officer to lose his job with the name “Eddie Price” tied to their loss. Are we all forgetting about the 4 cops from the “Causeway incident” that are also without jobs in 2009?

The City Council is spineless when it comes to the Mayor and used Buell as a scapegoat to take some of the heat off. Unfortunately, it has worked. They will never take a vote of “no confidence” for Mayor Price nor will they put their names on a petition to recall him (which they can do as tax-paying citizens).

How quickly people want to look the other way and forget the real problem in Mandeville – the corruption and entitlement way of doing business.”Business as usual” is not OK.

I anxiously await for the legal system to expose the rest of the corruption and hope that all parties involved are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There can’t be 2 sets of laws in the world.

Mandeville is a wonderful place to live.

I’m sure he did some great things, he’s been in office long enough that he should have. But the proverbial “cat is out of the bag,” we now know how he did all these things and it is WRONG!!! This guy started spewing off his war record and his resume (which is always a bizarre way to prove your point). Then the police pulled him in the building. Amazing that people are so intimidated by a group of determined citizens.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 23rd 6:30:
Come to sign the petition and/or to support our efforts by showing up in front of City Hall on Thursday from 6:30 and 7:00. Afterwards, we encourage everyone to attend the City Council meeting. Petition packets will be available at this time.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1st:
This is our official “Recall the Mayor Movement”. We ask all Concerned Citizens of Mandeville to go door to door or set up a table on their front lawn for signature collections. This will be a massive push for our efforts. Please feel free to spread the word any way you can: e-mails, signs, word of mouth.

DOOR TO DOOR EFFORTS:
If you would like a petition packet, please e-mail us at mandevillerecall@gmail.com.

DONATIONS:
Donations are being collected for PR expenses. All remaining monies will be donated to Toys for Tots. Make checks payable to “Concerned Citizens of Mandeville” and send to:

Mike O’Connor
634 Carroll Street
Mandeville, LA 70448

If you need to reach Mike or would like to arrange to sign the petition, you may contact him at (985-259-0051) or gmoconnor@charter.net

I sent the following questions to Carla Buchholz, my City Coucilwoman today.

1. Why hasn’t the City Council asked for the money “borrowed” from the cruise to be paid back yet?
Answer: It has been returned.

2. Why is the City Council not conducting a vote of no confidence for the Mayor?
Answer: He is elected by the people. A recall petition is a vote of no confidence.

3. Are the Citizens of Mandeville still paying for Mr. Sexton and Associates?
Answer: No

Originally published 10/14 6:39 PM

Tomorrow I will have Toby Nunn, the first soldier to lead the Iraqi training mission. I will also have Joy McCann, author of Little Miss Attila. She has all the latest dirt on the movie, An American Carol’s SNAFU (you’ll have to hear it).

*Antoinette Puglia Fundraiser is Saturday October 11th. Here is all the information on where to get the tickets. A great cause and it looks like a fabulous event.

* Another great site to follow local New Orleans fundraisers is Friend in Need.

* Check out this cute and silly site called Pets in Clothes. Don’t forget to check out Cute Overload too.

* Why are some people so angry? During the City Council meeting this week, I was standing at the recall petition as usual, when an angry man came over looking for trouble. He started out being mad that we were standing in front of the Memorial at City Hall, which I would have had no problem moving from. Then he started spewing crud out his mouth, ripped up our sign, tossed the metal stake at a group of women standing there and told me to move my ass in front of City Hall. I thanked him for his service from the beginning, but let’s face it – you can’t reason with an irrational supporter of Mayor Price who seeks violence as a way to deal with things. Creepy. FYI The recall petition is moving along – but we need more volunteers and more signatures – so come on and help!!!

OK, I fess up, but until I became involved with the efforts of recalling the Mayor of Mandeville, I never attended a City Council meeting. Also, until we settled in Mandeville in January of 2007, local politics were never something I could sink my teeth into. Why? Well, because as a military family, by the time you go your last box unpacked, you were getting ready to move again.

Last night was another Mandeville City Council meeting. They occur the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month at 7:00 and are open to the public. These meetings are so important because they are discussing about how they are spending our hard earned tax dollars. We elected City Council members and the Mayor, and a system of checks and balances between the Executive and the Legislative branch goes on right in front of your eyes. You, Joe Q Taxpayer sit at home (as you should because you worked hard all day) and “assume” everything is running smoothly until something such as an audit shows your tax dollars were being used and abused, suddenly gets your attention. In Mandeville’s case, State & Federal investigators step in to figure out what the heck has been going on and if there has been criminal behavior. “The Audit” did not paint a pretty picture of how your tax dollars have been spent and the City Council automatically assumes an even more crucial role. They realize that your tax dollars have been being abused under their watch, while doing the job you hired them to do.

Now, Jane Q. Taxpayer, like myself becomes outraged at the behavior reported in “The Audit” and suddenly jumps into local politics by helping recall the Mayor of the City. It is my responsibility as it is every other taxpayer, to demand to demand top performance from those elected official. It is also as American as apple pie, to conduct a recall and get them out of office when they do not meet our expectations. It is also our responsibility to watch those that are watching others – the City Council members. After all, they ARE talking about us. And we all know, it is human nature to act differently when nobody is watching than when someone is watching.

The City Council meeting right before Gustav had a decent turnout of J Q. Taxpayers, who felt it was in their best interest to get involved. The juicy headlines stemming from the conduct of the Mayor attributed to this surge in attendance of citizens and the media. Roll ahead to the City Council meeting after Gustav, on the heels of Ike, and only a half dozen concerned citizens were in attendance, Cindy Chang & a reporter from the St. Tammany News.

Cindy wrote:

Outside City Hall, a campaign to recall Price continued, but attendance at Thursday’s council meeting was sparse, and organizers gathered few new signatures for their petition.

NO WAY have I or anyone involved with the recall petition, given up hope that the recall will be successful. After all, we have until February to collect the signatures, and people will have tons more opportunities to sign the petition. Also, the odds, unfortunately, are in favor of more Mandeville headlines that will convince residents that they need to make the effort to sing the petition.

Oh – and here is a little secret (don’t tell anyone), but the past 2 City Council meetings were more exciting than any reality show on TV!!! Can anyone tell me why they aren’t on a public television channel? You must attend one – please make a point to do so!