It may seem strange that out of the blue, I began to post a lot about the so-called Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen "Blab and No Ethics" Blanco. Please allow me to explain because in a moment, I'm about to drop some unbelievable information. Immediately after Katrina I was astonished, blown away by the liberal reaction to Hurricane Katrina. I could not believe that while reports were on the media about New Orleans flooding, women being raped, people being shot, looting, lack of food, and more. Through it all, the only thing Liberals could think to do was blame Bush? Despite that, I had decided that I was going stand with our leaders, at least until the end of the year.

From August 29th on, it has been especially difficult to support Blanco with gaffes and missteps over the last four months. It was next to impossible to blog about anything other than Katrina and impossible to open my mouth concerning the aftermath without being critical. I wanted to give them my support and the best way for me to do that was to keep my mouth shut, hence the lack of posts since the Hurricanes.

But it's a new year and I have kept my word to be as supportive as possible till the end of the year. I haven't even began to start on Kathleen Blanco's performance as Governor over the last three months and already she's dominating 75% of my YTD blog posts.

That's because she consistently remains in negative news, even on the national level. NOT HURRICANE RELATED STORIES but the ABRAMOFF STORY. Let's go back to Kathleen's testimony in front of congress on October 18, 2005 "First, during my administration, the financial operations of the state of Louisiana have been highly rated for governmental accountability. But I want to emphasize that the financial affairs of Louisiana will be transparent and wide open. I believe that we will stand well to the expected scrutiny by the public, the Congress and the media."

And yet the Governor retained a potential witness (Stephanie Leger) in the Abramoff scandal, despite the absolute necessity that our state be more than ethical? According to Sourcewatch.org, Stephanie Leger Short is Lousiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's Director of State/Federal Relations. Though I provided a link, there are some key things that I want to point out.

In March 2002, "Breaux, whose legislative aide, Stephanie Leger Short, had just gone to work for Abramoff as a Coushatta lobbyist, sent [Secretary of the Interior Gale] Norton a stack of anti-Jena constituent mail. Breaux received $14,250 from the lobbyists and their tribal clients," Susan Schmidt reported in the March 13, 2005, Washington Post.

Since March 13, 2005? Kathleen Blanco doesn't see the problem with this? The problem was glaring enough for Sourcewatch.org to pick up this post from Politicsla.com As cited by Sourcewatch.org

On March 25, 2005, a poster on the Politics LA Forum wrote:

"In an AP story today, the Louisiana Democratic Party talked about glass houses. The sound that you are hearing now is the Democrats and their Governor's glass house breaking. What they neglected to tell the AP reporter was the fact that the real Abramoff tie to Louisiana is Governor Blanco's top Washington, D.C. staffer, Stephanie Leger.

It was obvious enough for the Louisiana GOP chairman, Roger Villere to make that statement. Mr. Villere pointed out that it couldn't possibly be good if Stephanie Leger is under investigation.

While some might dismiss her ties to Mr. Abramoff as past history, it is clear that the cloud over his investigation is continuing to follow Ms. Leger. Despite telling the Baton Rouge Advocate on March 6th that she was never brought into Mr. Abramoff's inner circle, the Washington Post reported differently a week later. The Washington Post cited emails between them showing a clear and direct link to each other on behalf of these clients.

Why did Governor Blanco hire someone who is involved in so many investigations? How can this be good for Louisiana?

To remove all doubt in the State's credibility, I call upon Governor Blanco to place Stephanie Leger on administrative leave until all federal investigations and Senate investigations are complete.

stated Roger F. Villere, Jr., Chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana

That statement was on March 23, 2005. Despite that Kathleen Blanco chose to retain Stephanie Leger, even through the aftermath, while our state was being called corrupt by national figures, and through the escalation of the Abramoff story.

"Four former Greenberg Traurig lobbyists besides disgraced former colleague Jack Abramoff took improper side payments in violation of company policy and have been referred to the Justice Department, a top law firm executive has disclosed," Julie Kay reportedNovember 17, 2005, for Law.com. "The four other lobbyists now being questioned" are Kevin A. Ring, Jon W. van Horne, Michael D. Smith and Stephanie Leger."

To quote Kathleen's in front of congress once again....

"I believe that we will stand well to the expected scrutiny by the public, the Congress and the media." -- Kathleen Blanco

Despite her promise, and despite the ineptness and inability of her administration to get their act together and get the state back in order, she keeps Leger in a major position on her staff even though she's a part of a federal investigation. Isn't an investigation just an added distraction?

The Indian Affairs Committee's next hearing on Abramoff, slated for Oct. 26, is expected to focus on the lobbyist's dealings with the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana. A principal lobbyist working on the account with Abramoff was Stephanie Leger Short, a Democrat married to Toby Short, a legislative assistant in Dorgan's personal office. *Source

My gut instinct is that the Abramoff story will slowly fade away as the press realizes that this isn't just a Republican scandal, but rather a DeeCee scandal. The press and the politicians are a strange couple, they love to hate each other but they won't burn any major bridges.

As for Kathleen, is it any wonder why her administration screwed up so bad? I'm sure this will somehow be Bush's fault because she's a woman. There is one more story that I just would love to comment on but I can't take it anymore...

Blanco complains again. This time she's complaining about how much the federal government sent her. I guess the federal government doesn't pay for granite countertops from Sweden?.

I don't know what Kathleen is planning on renovationg next, but I think it has something to do with the kitchen. Her administration asked "FEMA do everything possible everywhere" and made a point to "ask for the kitchen sink,".