A BIT OF LIGHT
Yes, Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler is burning taxpayers’ money by chasing a minor, minor league basketball team, which, if she “succeeds,” will cost us $25,000,000 for a “required” arena they can play in.
As if to underscore the ever-increasing such wackiness from notable spaces in City Hall, Caddo District Judge Mike Pitman green-lighted a class-action lawsuit against the city in the water / sewer billing scandal.
Tyler and her handlers continue to pooh-pooh the notion that any of the several lawsuits brought by Scott Pernici and Michael Wainwright in this matter have merit.
Most of us who pay a water / sewer bill in Shreveport know better.
Although anti-corruption legal battles here only rarely find help from courts, Judge Pitman is not known as a part of that very serious Shreveport and Caddo malady.
Behind the scenes, what continues to rock our sizable crew of public corruption is the deposition last Dec. 21 of Lynn Braggs.
Braggs was one of the handlers-in-hiding of ex-Mayor Cedric Glover, both in his campaigns in 2006 and 2010, and throughout his eight years in office. Braggs played the same role in Mayor Tyler’s campaign, and does so in her administration.
The highlight – which is to say, lowlight – of the Braggs deposition was explained this way by KTBS-TV reporter Vickie Welborn:
“Lynn Braggs, the campaign manager for former Mayor Cedric Glover and the campaign coordinator for current Mayor Ollie Tyler, testified he was on the payroll of Triton Water Technologies of Hammond, which during the Glover administration got a $7.4 million contract to provide water meters to the city. A Triton subcontractor, Systems & Software, was brought in to set up the technology used in the water and sewer billing system, a nearly $3 million contract, documents show.”
With real care, I add this … … The Shreveport / Caddo corruption explosion can in no way be slowed, much less stopped, unless and until that 10-year local history is fully exposed / investigated / prosecuted.
Here are article / broadcast links of note: Ms. Welborn’s report for KTBS, March 20, 2017: www.ktbs.com/…/article_df606c8cfd46-5f8a-9c3c-55f1… KSLA-TV report by Carolyn Roy on the decision by Judge Pitman: www.ksla.com/…/ judge-denies-city-of-shreveports-moti… KTBS’ report from Gary Hines on that ruling: www.ktbs.com/…/article_c1f36170- 4fa9-11e7-832c-3f84 From KSLA, the statement by Pernici/ Wainwright attorney Jerry Harper on that ruling: ksla.images.worldnow.com/… /0a77f98d-a2b5-4d2b-99d1-9 KSLA report by Josh Roberson on City Hall reaction to that ruling: www.ksla.com/…/ city-attorney-speaks-on-shreveport-wa
Elliott Stonecipher is a native and resident of Shreveport, La. A graduate of Louisiana Tech University and Louisiana State University, he is president and owner of Events Management Services Inc. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Stonecipher has committed to pro bono work on a range of local, state and national issues, including reform of governmental and political ethics, and reform of national policies governing the U. S. Census Bureau. His work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on CNN and Fox News Channel. © 2017 Elliott Stonecipher.
