Actually, it was Jacques Morial's (brother of Mark) apartment that they raided. According to Sybil Morial, they took a battering ram and broke through the door in riot gear. This, on top of the fact that the U.S. Attorney has brought nearly ALL of Mark Morial's "associates" in front of the grand jury over the last two weeks, tells me they're going after old Mark Morial. Couldn't happen to a more crooked, er......, I mean, NICER guy. I hope they get that SON OF A B!TCH and send him up to the same prison as Edwin. I'm sure Mark is SH!TTING in his pants up at the Rainbow Coalition headquarters right now. Now, if only they'd go after Jesse Jackson. They HAVE the goods on that LYING THIEF, but refuse to go after him. And, BTW, from what's been "said" about Mark, he might request a few weeks up at Angola so that he can "get to know" (wink, wink) some of the fellas up at a "real" prison!!!
BTW, I had someone "in the know" tell me that Mark was going after that THIRD TERM so hard due to the fact that he KNEW what they would find once he got out of office. And, one of the reasons he didn't actively endorse anyone was due to the fact that he didn't want to run the risk of "pissing off" anyone else. Having said that, I've got to believe that they're going after Morial and his LIFE Pac. It was reported during the Landrieu/Woody Jenkins Senate race that Morial's organization raised MILLIONS on behalf of Landrieu and didn't report ANYTHING. Further, his PAC had NEVER filed any required tax returns and had no records of where all that money went. At the time, Klinton was in office, so I didn't expect anything to come of it. But, now, with Bush's Justice Department in charge, they're filing looking into it. JUST MHO. And, BTW, Morial is in the Urban League's offices and NOT the Rainbow/Push Coalition's offices. In any event, here's an article that appeared in last weeks T-P -- Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) February 10, 2004 Tuesday HEADLINE: Insiders wonder; Are the feds after Morial? BYLINE: Stephanie Grace BODY: So why was Bob Tucker smiling? The question has nagged at many City Hall insiders since last week, when Tucker and two other close associates of former Mayor Marc Morial, recipients of lucrative governments contracts all, filed into federal court to deliver reams of documents to a grand jury looking into . . . well, that would be another question. In fact, there are many layers of mystery surrounding the secret grand jury proceeding. Among the questions being asked by Morial supporters and critics alike: -- Has the government's ongoing investigation into contracts signed during the former mayor's watch broadened, or is the grand jury looking deeper into deals that it seemed to zero in on long ago, covering everything from a massive energy-saving contract to a consulting deal with the Regional Transit Authority, which Tucker chaired, to disadvantaged business enterprise programs at the RTA, airport and levee board? -- Or is the new round of document subpoenas merely a fishing expedition, or even a technique designed to pressure the subjects into cooperating? And if that's the case, has it worked? -- Are the feds looking at others in Morial's inner circle? There's some evidence that may be the case, as two former federal prosecutors who now do defense work say they've been retained by clients whose names have not yet surfaced. -- And perhaps most intriguing, are feds hoping to nail Morial himself? The idea seemed inconceivable when Morial was tapped to head the National Urban League last year, after the investigation was already underway, and it certainly seems as if a Republican administration would be wary of hunting down the head of an esteemed African-American advocacy group in an election year. Still, the new round of subpoenas has prompted new speculation that Morial is in the hot seat, and there's some evidence he may be feeling it. Morial, who has always stridently defended his right and even duty to use the mayor's office to create an African-American upper crust, abruptly canceled appearances at Xavier University and McDonogh 35 High School on Thursday, which happened to be the same day as the grand jury session. He cited scheduling conflicts, but many observers wondered whether he merely wanted to avoid being greeted by a wall of cameras and media coverage that would have nothing at all to do with Black History Month, the occasion of his visit. Others involved in the probe seemed equally averse to the spotlight. While Tucker, who had a piece of the energy deal and a contract at the airport, stopped to chat with reporters, his cohorts remained mum. Stan "Pampy" Barre, a cop-turned-restaurateur who has a stake in the company that oversees concessions at Louis Armstrong International Airport and who also had a subcontract with the energy-saving firm, and Glenn Haydel, Morial's uncle and head of the company that got the RTA management contract, were most definitely not smiling as they pushed past the press stakeout into the courthouse. Attorney Roy Rodney, the fourth Morial insider who received a document subpoena, was participating in a civil case that day and postponed his grand jury appearance. Rodney did work for the RTA, the Housing Authority of New Orleans, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the agency that acts as landlord to Harrah's New Orleans Casino while Morial was mayor. The focus on these four men, as well as the sheer number of records requested, has made close City Hall observers take notice. Mayor Ray Nagin, a former partner of Barre's and Rodney's in the now-dormant New Orleans Brass hockey franchise, figures that "if they are doing what they are doing, they must be on to something." Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche said "it doesn't get to this unless they feel they have some strong information." As for Tucker, perhaps he knows the answers to some of the questions making the rounds, or perhaps he's just supremely confident that there's nothing in all those documents for the feds to find. Or maybe he just had his game face on last Thursday. In any case, Nagin and Goyeneche aren't the only ones who think something appears to be brewing. And from the outside, it sure doesn't look like the Morial crowd has much to smile about.
Didn't Morial take a job with Somethingruther, Phelps and Reese in BR as a consultant/lawyer/lobbyist?
Both Phelps and A&R have hired former political guys as "consultants" or as "of counsel" lawyers. From reading the link below, he had been with A&R but apparently left to become Presiden tof the NUL. I also read this weekend that Phelps had hired Tim Coulon as a consultant. Mark Morial was named as President of the National Urban League last year. He and Michelle Miller moved to New York back then. She's now on the CBS EARLY morning news show (I caught her once when I had to get up at 5:00 in the morning). Here's a cite to his new digs -- Morial's new cush job
