Standards for Leaders and Plans for Leaving

Everyone down here is depressed over having a congressman under indictment for fraud and racketeering. We’re still trying to keep Washington’s focus on helping us rebuild this city, and now our chief advocate representing Orleans and parts of Jefferson Parish will be using all his resources to stay out of jail.

William Jefferson has been charged by the FBI with a long list of corrupt activities, all of which he is denying. Half our people are calling for him to resign from Congress and the other half are trying to put the best face on this, saying things like: “You’re innocent until proven guilty.” Which is not true, of course.

In a court of law and only there, you are considered innocent until you are proven guilty. But it’s inane to say a person is innocent until he’s proven guilty.

Up in Mississippi, they’ve arrested some old KKK member for a 1964 murder of a couple of Black teenagers and he will be going to trial soon. Now, it’s been 43 years and he hasn’t been proven guilty. Is there anyone around who would say the guy is innocent because of that? No, the point is that the courts must treat him as innocent and the burden of proof is on the state. But whether they prove it or not has nothing to do with whether he’s innocent. If he did the crime, and even if he’s the only one who knows it other than God, he’s still plenty guilty.

Big, big difference. (You’ve just stumbled onto a pet peeve of mine. Sorry.)

The other pet peeve is congresspeople (is that a word?) and other leaders who try to subdivide their lives into categories–one part for my official functions, another part for my private business affairs, and so on. And so we have Mr. Jefferson on the front of Saturday’s Times-Picayune saying, “Did I sell my office or trade official acts for money? Absolutely not.”


Now, I don’t intend to lecture the congressman. He’s plenty smart and knows good and well he has just tried to pull a fast one there. He’s not being charged with introducing legislation in return for cash. He’s being charged with using his influence as a legislator of national prominence to manipulate business deals which were shady and outright corrupt. He’s being charged with telling Lori Mody, his millionaire investor friend, to give him $100,000 which he will personally funnel to a Nigerian official in order to grease some palms for their business deal in that country–all of which is plenty illegal–and then keeping the money in his freezer, which would indicate he was lying about the bribes and was bilking Mody out of the money.

Stuff like that. Sixteen counts of stuff like that, including racketeering, bribery, fraud, and obstruction of justice. Jefferson’s legislative assistant has already pleaded guilty for his part in these activities and is already comfortably resting in some federal prison somewhere. You don’t have to be judgmental about Jefferson to see how incriminating that fact is. We suppose the former assistant will give evidence against Jefferson.

Jefferson promised a year ago when all this began to come down that there was a good and honorable explanation for that money being found in the freezer, and that he would be giving it in time. We’d like to say, this is a good time, Congressman.

A writer to the editor this morning said the reason the money was in the freezer was simple: the crisper was full.

“That was my private life,” Jefferson is claiming, “and has nothing to do with my role as a public lawmaker.”

Uh huh. And I have some swampland to sell you.

This argument reminds me of the preachers who claim that their private activities have nothing to do with their role as a pastor. A acquaintance of mine once made all the newspapers because he had organized an association of liberal clergy in his denomination. What he had not considered is that the leaders of his church took offense to their pastor and their church name’s being brandished around as though they themselves had voted to enter into this relationship when this was the first they had heard of it. The preacher tried to defend himself: “This has nothing to do with the church. I did this as a private individual.”

Someone asked the pastor whose name was on the sign in front of the church. And would he like it to remain there?

People in professional sports and other high-profile activities sign contracts with provisions that they will conduct themselves by certain high standards in all areas of their lives. No segment of one’s life is off-limits to standards of integrity and right.

Other news….

Dillard University in the Gentilly section has received a $160 million low-interest loan from the federal government for the rebuilding of their campus. Two other historically Black colleges–Xavier and Southern–are nearing closing dates for their own loans. Dillard’s loan is for 30 years at 1 percent.

The levee board with responsibility for the west bank of the Mississippi and every waterway in that area has been called on the carpet about its neglect of the tiny, vulnerable communities of Lafitte, Crown Point, and Barataria. A quick glance at the map shows that these are located far south of Gretna and Marrero and would be impossible to protect from a major hurricane. Yet, the residents are taxpayers, too, and so the authorities will be doing what they can.

If I recall my study of the Battle of New Orleans, even Jean Lafitte used to pull his band of privateers out of Barataria Bay when major storms threatened.

(At the moment, I’m reading Winston Groom’s account of this battle. The book is “Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans.” And yes, he spells it Laffite all the way through. It’s a great story, well-written, and so readable. I recommend it for anyone wanting a quick handle on this key event in early American history. It’s in paperback.)

While I was away last weekend, the Times-Picayune ran a feature of several pages in which readers wrote their lessons for preparing for the next hurricane. Here’s a little recap….

Leave early. Choose a destination evacuation city not everyone else is headed for, some small town. Take your blank checks with you. (You’ll need them, and even if you don’t, best to protect them from looters.) Get a gasoline credit card; it may be a life saver. Take your valuables. Do not leave them in the bank safe deposit box. (Banks flooded, too.) Have a two-stage plan for evacuation: a town not far away in case the hurricane misses us, and then a secondary long-term site if we have a catastrophe. Avoid hotels; stay with friends or in campgrounds. Never let your children see you sweat; pull over at playgrounds and have picnics. Do not watch hurricane news of the situation back at home in front of the children.

Make sure your care is in good shape. When a storm enters the Gulf, keep your gasoline tank topped off. Buy walkie-talkies to keep in contact with family members in other cars while on the highway. Put your most recent invoice from creditors in your evacuation pack. Don’t forget your own pillow and your prescription sunglasses. Keep a journal of your experience. Bring along a portable DVD player. Do not under any circumstances stay with a friend who has recently had a baby, no matter how strongly she insists.

Stop right now and update your list of friends and family and their contact information. Remember, this includes not only their present phone numbers but their closest relatives who would know how to reach them in case we repeat the experience of Katrina. Buy a long distance calling card, because your cell phone is probably not going to work. Also, include a list of all your passwords for your various internet accounts; your memory is going to be a casualty of the stress of the excitement.

If you stay through the storm, expect to be without power for several days. Buy some of those solar-powered garden lights and bring them inside the house. They will burn for hours and you can set them back out the next day for recharging. Also, purchase some plastic tight-sealing food containers and prior to the storm–whether you leave or stay–put your refrigerator food inside them. If you determine that the food has spoiled due to the power outage, you just throw away the containers out and keep the fridge. (And of course, don’t open the containers!)

A lady who stayed through the storm and worked in the Kenner Police Department suggests you pack lots of perfume and keep it handy. Everyone working there went 10 days without even a shower.

Even if your primary banker is a local small institution, have a back-up account in a national bank. Bring extra clothes and your children’s shot records when you evacuate.

And finally….

Holli Castillo of Harvey–whom I do not know and who I suspect is writing with tongue firmly planted in her cheek–writes: “Finally, marry a man who is crazy enough to go back home armed with a shotgun before the authorities give permission to do so. This is the only way to ensure that our stuff is still there when you return, whether your house is damaged or not.” Then she adds, “If you are already married to a man who is not so inclined, divorce him and marry a man who was raised in a cave. It may be your only chance to survive on the West Bank post-Katrina.”

Okay, Holli, we gave you the last word. And the last laugh.