Both Parties Put Politics Above Country In Syria Debate

I’m always hesitant to write about the military or any potential military conflicts. I’ve never served in the military and, at this stage in my life it’s probably a safe bet that I never will. No, I was born too late for Vietnam and too early for Iraq.

I did register with Selective Service when I turned 18 and, while I considered the possibility of entering one of the military academies, I knew that I was probably not disciplined enough for a military life (though there is a school of thought that says that discipline would have helped my life at that point).

So, it’s always difficult for me to objectively discuss the military. Thankfully, I’ve never been in a position where I needed to kill someone (wanted to many times but never needed to) or where I was shot at, so I really don’t know what it’s like to be in combat and I would struggle with the decision to send anyone’s son or daughter into harm’s way particularly in a faraway foreign land to protect one of our nation’s many vital interests (which seem to change depending upon who is trying to justify military action).

Ronald Reagan was the first person who I ever cast a Presidential vote for and I’ve always believed that America is strong because we have a strong military. Like it or not, we are “The World’s Policeman” and there is a reason why our President, unlike other Heads of State, is called the “Commander-In-Chief”.

That being said, I also realize that any military conflict needs to have a goal and reach a desired outcome. Vietnam had a goal (stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia) but not the desired outcome.

The same with Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq is heading into a self-induced chaos regardless of the Billions that we’ve pumped in there and Afghanistan, I thought that we were there to catch Bin Laden. Last time I checked, he’s still dead and we’re still there.

For years, I’ve said that we should recall our troops from the Middle East and put them in encampments along our Southern border to secure our own country. It would fix two problems: get us out of the Middle East and stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country.

In the debate involving Syria, I see both sides. No one should be allowed to commit genocide. But, we’ve turned a blind eye to African genocide for years. So, clearly, according to our elected officials at least, genocide alone is not enough of a reason for our country to get involved.

Is the use of chemical weapons enough? Can the U.S. force a sovereign nation to uphold a worldwide treaty that Syria did not sign?

Clearly, again, whether we like it or not, the United States is being looked at to provide leadership and commit our military assets in a potential conflict that does not directly impact the interests of the United States.

And, just as clearly, rather than addressing the issue and doing what is right for our country, Republicans and Democrats are capitalizing on the situation to score political points.

Republicans, who strongly supported President George W. Bush when Bush, in the view of many people, circumvented the Constitution and passed the “Authorization for use of Military Forces Against Terrorists Act”, and who conversely fought President Bill Clinton for Clinton’s bombing of Iraq in retaliation for Saddam Hussein’s action against the Kurds and alleged use of chemical weapons, are now not supporting President Obama’s call for action against Syria.

Democrats, who were opposed to President Bush’s intervention in Iraq and spread to Afghanistan, are now vociferous supporters of Obama.

When both parties put politics above country, it’s hard to tell who is who without a scorecard. 

President Obama, for his part, has backed away from unilaterally ordering a bombing raid and is now seeking Congressional approval for military action. The President, while seemingly vacillating, is following the Constitution.

How can any Republican Conservative, particularly a Constitutional Conservative, criticize President Obama for seeking Congressional approval as mandated by the Constitution? Forget whether a war in Syria is just or not or whether it will be bombs from planes or troops on the ground. If the President follows the Constitution, how can a Constitutional Conservative criticize him?

Similarly, how can Democrats, who have long fought U.S. intervention in world conflicts, now fall over themselves to support President Obama?

Neither side has heard all of the evidence that our intelligence community has gathered.

Polls show only a slight advantage to the anti-war side and, while now poll shows that war weary Americans want a prolonged intervention into a Syrian civil war, where we really don’t know if any side is better than the other, there is support for a conflict which does not result in significant U.S. casualties.

In Louisiana, our elected officials are similarly abdicating any real leadership and also choosing party over country.

Senator David Vitter (R-Metairie) and Congressmen John Fleming (R-Minden) and the soon-to-be ex-Congressman Rodney Alexander (R-Quitman), are opposed to military action. In fact, Vitter will be in Washington and have a briefing from Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel although he has already stated that he is leaning towards voting “No”.

Congressman Steve Scalise (R-Metairie) wants to hear more information before deciding. 

Congressman Charles Boustany (R-Lafayette), while admitting that "Syria is a mess",  is also cautious.

“Unless we have a very clear military strategy going in and what we want to achieve with that and how does it relate to getting a peaceful settlement in Syria where we have a friendly Syrian government to the U.S.,” he said.

 

“Lobbing missiles because we want to look tough is not the answer.”

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-New Orleans) has said that she wants to hear the evidence before voting but, no one really believes that is her honest position.

Congressman Cedric Richmond (R-New Orleans) who is an ardent supporter of President Obama, has said that he will also support the President on Syria.

Republican Senatorial Candidate and Congressman Bill Cassidy(R-Baton Rouge) is “actively monitoring” the situation and has been involved in classified meetings involving Syria.

“There are still many questions left unanswered so I will continue to engage with my colleagues in D.C. as well as discuss this issue with the people of Louisiana,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy’s response, while prudent, drew criticism from fellow Republican Senatorial Candidate Rob Maness (R-Madisonville). Maness, while claiming to be a “Constitutional Conservative”, has already stated, despite his not seeing any military intelligence and President Obama following the Constitution and seeking Congressional approval for any military action, that he is opposed and would vote “No” on any military intervention in Syria.

Maness called Cassidy’s actions “dithering” and said that he would provide more leadership than Cassidy.

"We already have a senator who dithers on major issues, tries to be all things to all people and seems not to embrace a single principle Louisianans would recognize," Maness said. "We certainly don't need to replace her with another Washington insider who can't - or won't - make up his mind for fear of offending someone."

Perhaps someone should ask candidate Maness how listening to all of the evidence and then making up your mind is “dithering” or how not seeing any intelligence and determining that you are against something is showing “Leadership”?

Don’t we expect jurors to listen to the evidence, debate the evidence and then decide?

If President Obama and his Administration can make a clear cut case for military action in Syria, whether it’s a three-day bombing like President Clinton utilized against Iraq or a limited 90-day action as is being proposed, and the President receives Congressional approval as is required by the Constitution, we must all put aside our party labels and support the President, whether we agree with him or not.

And, if that makes me a “ditherer”, so be it.

The decision to take any military action, potentially put American troops in harm’s way and get involved in the internal government of a sovereign nation is not a decision that should be taken lightly or entered into with preconceived notions.

And, it’s not a decision that should be determined by your allegiance to a political party or your attempts to score political points either.

Mayor Yenni Skips Council Meeting For Mexican Buffet - Can't Blame Me This Time

You know, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

Two years ago, many Kenner residents were upset that Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni would get up and leave the City Council meetings at the point in the meeting where the general public could go up and address the Mayor and the Council on city issues.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever written about Mayor Yenni arriving late to a council meeting.

That is, until now.

In July, Adriane Quinlan of the Times-Picayune penned a piece about Mayor Yenni where the Mayor blamed the stress that I caused him for binge eating, his robust size 40 waist and twice daily trips to a gym.

People at City Hall scoffed mightily at the suggestion that I was the reason that Mayor Yenni was hitting the gym twice daily. Everyone knows that I am far too old for Mayor Yenni and, with my leg in its current condition, even with a 40-inch waist, the Mayor could still outrun me. At least, in a foot race anyway.

At last night’s Kenner City Council meeting, Mayor Yenni made his entrance with about 5 minutes left in the meeting and announced that he had a far more important thing to do than attend a mere Council meeting.

It seems Mayor Yenni was at the “soft” opening of a Mexican buffet in Kenner, for “VIPs only” according to the Mayor. The restaurant, Two Amigos, will open in the old Come Back Inn restaurant space on Williams to the general public (that is, all of us non-VIPs) on Monday.

Yenni even boasted about the restaurant having “great Flautas”.

No real surprise that the Mayor enjoys Flautas, the cigar-shaped tortilla that is filled with meat and deep fried. 

Now Flautas are OK in my book but I would never order them in a restaurant nor would I shirk my official duties as Mayor of Louisiana’s 6^th largest city to eat one (or 6 in Mayor Yenni’s case). Since they are not part of the “1910 Revolution” combo plate that I normally get at Casa Tequila (3229 Williams Blvd. in Kenner), my local Kenner Mexican Restaurant hangout for many years, I rarely eat Flautas.

Until at least Monday, I will just have to trust Mayor Yenni’s judgement – at least when it comes to Flautas and what makes a "great Flauta".

And two-a-days at the gym.

Little Ben Just Can’t Stop Fighting With People – This Time It’s The Ladies of CFGG

Perhaps he has a Napoleon Complex but, for whatever reason, Jefferson Parish District 4 Councilman Ben Zahn just can’t seem to get along with people, especially those who criticize him.

I speak from firsthand experience.

Until Zahn heard that people were encouraging me to run for the Jefferson Parish council seat that he himself coveted, I actually had fairly cordial relationship with then-Kenner Councilman Zahn. We weren’t best friends by any means, but I didn’t think we were mortal enemies either.

Sure, I disagreed with some of his council votes but, I disagree with a lot of things the Kenner City Council does, and we disagreed on Mayor Yenni’s plan to double property taxes, but that shouldn’t make someone despise you, unless of course, your name is Mike Yenni.

Then I started writing about the Kenner Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (KCVB). Zahn was one of the Council’s representatives on the KCVB and the Officers of the KCVB were alleged to have misappropriated funds and paid for Kenner Recreation invoices without going through the proper bid channels.

Zahn also advertised his flower business on the KCVB web site which, since he voted on funding issues for the KCVB, some people considered that a possible conflict-of-interest.

In addition, it was odd that Zahn said that the KCVB board hadn’t held any meetings for 3 years but he never reported that to then-Mayor Muniz or Mayor Yenni.

Too many things weren’t adding up with the KCVB and Zahn and there were even more questions than answers. 

When I contacted the State Legislative Auditor and asked him to investigate the KCVB and Zahn’s role in the group, it really hit the fan.

Even though it was about a month before the qualifying for the election, Zahn said that I was using the incident for my own political gain and he filed a lawsuit to try to stop me from writing and talking about his role in the KCVB.

Zahn claimed that I violated a state law that said that candidates couldn’t knowingly lie about another candidate. Given the lies that Zahn told about me during the campaign, that fact alone is ironic.

Since I simply asked the Legislative Auditor to investigate (which isn’t against the law), I wasn’t yet a “candidate” for anything, and Zahn was a public figure and I had the right to express myself under the 1^st Amendment, a Judge ruled against Zahn’s attempt to get a temporary order to stop me from discussing his role and the KCVB mess.

Four days before the formal trial, and knowing that he would lose again, Zahn offered to settle. It then took Zahn months to pay the legal fees that were the result of the settlement and live up to his agreement.

After he won the election, Zahn continued for months to criticize me and Citizens For a Better Kenner (CFBK) in the Kenner Pravda, aka the Kenner Star.

Last year, when there was a special election held to fill the remainder of his term on Kenner City Council, Zahn again criticized me and CFBK even sending out an email to residents of his old council district calling myself and members of CFBK “political operatives”. Since, during the campaign, I was in the hospital being operated on, I could hardly be called a "political operative".

Then, for a year, Zahn laid low and, aside from the occasional spat with a JP Councilmember or three, he stayed out of sight.

The Lafreniere Park “Vision” and The Mother Of All Public Records Requests

Last month, he came out of hiding with a vengeance, firing a long-time volunteer Lafreniere Park board member who disagreed with Zahn’s attempts to politicize park events and give out contracts to Zahn’s friends and contributors.

In typical Zahn heavy-handedness, he blasted the two volunteer boards that operate the public park and told them that they needed to align themselves with his vision for the park, or else.

"It occurred to me recently that some Lafreniere Advisory Board members and patrons may not yet realize my mission to improve the park," Zahn wrote.

Advisory Board member Mettery Sherry summed it up best.

 “I have no inkling as to what (Zahn's) vision or plans are."

Then, Zahn’s council assistant filed a massive PublicRecords Request seeking all communications between myself, officers of CFBK, our attorney, other Kenner residents, and Kenner District 2 City Councilman Joe Stagni. Councilman Stagni happens to be my district councilman and I am his appointee on the Code Enforcement Committee so, obviously, we do communicate.

But, seeking all correspondence between individuals and a councilmember, even if it is not related to official city business, is unusual especially considering that the Public Records Request sought all communications between any 2 of 12 people that were listed on the request. 11 of the 12 are not elected officials or government employees, meaning any communication between any 2 or the 12 or even 11 of the 12 are not public records.

So, what was the purpose of the massive Public Records Request, especially after Zahn's Political Consultant Greg Buisson has been so critical of other Public Records Requests? Probably a veiled threat and an attempt to either distract or shut down/shut up the targets of this inquisition.

Good luck with that one. 

Next Up – The Ladies of CFGG

Now Zahn is attacking another good government group, Citizens For Good Government (CFGG).

For the record, I know three principals in CFGG personally. I’ve known Margaret Baird, Margie Seemann and Betty Purcell for several years and I’m a proud member of CFGG myself. I respect the work that they do and I’m proud to consider them “friends”. In fact, when I ran for office against Zahn, all three supported my campaign, walked neighborhoods and made phone calls.

Obviously, that didn’t get them off to a good start with Zahn.

At every council, as they’ve done for several years, the ladies read a list of campaign contributions to JP Councilmembers from businesses and individuals who are receiving Parish contract at that meeting. The ladies do meticulous research and have pushed the JP Council to be more proactive in their approach to contracts, contributions and ethics.

At this past Wednesday’s JP Council meeting, CFGG noted over $293,000 in campaign contributions to the seven JP Councilmembers from companies that would receive parish contracts at that meeting.

Some members of the council are obviously embarrassed by the exposure of these contributions and CFGG has gotten under the skin of a few councilmembers.

Pinch Hitting For Chris Roberts – Number Double Zero Ben Zahn

A few years back, Councilman Chris Roberts blasted the ladies of CFGG and their insistence in reading the campaign contribution list at every meeting.

“Anyone with a laptop can sit on the toilet at 5am and read the campaign finance reports,” Roberts said.  “It’s not a secret.”

Well, now Zahn is complaining about CFGG too.

In what is typical for a client of Political Consultant Greg Buisson, if you don’t like the message – attack the messenger.

At issue is about $2,000 in contributions out of over $160,000 in contributions attributed to Zahn from contractors who had business before the council during the past three meetings.

While Zahn doesn’t dispute receiving these contributions, he still has the audacity to claim that CFGG is “inaccurate.”

It seems that Zahn is upset that, some of the contributions listed by CFGG occurred while he was a Kenner City Councilman and before he ascended to the JP Council. Little Ben claims that this is just not fair.

"You don't know what accurate means," Zahn said.

To which CFGG Vice-Chairman Margie Seemann replied, "We showed you how we computed every single figure," she said. "If you can't understand it, then it's your problem."

When it comes to “accuracy”, I would put my money on the ladies of CFGG before I would consider betting on an undocumented florist who for years claimed that he owned a third-generation flower shop that actually closed in 1999 and who was paid almost $50,000 from the campaign account of Aaron Broussard for “flowers”.

I don’t know about you but $50,000 is a lot of daisies bought purchased from an undocumented florist.

Because of Zahn’s continuing complaints, CFGG now separates the contributions that were received prior to someone’s election to the JP Council. Wednesday they noted that Zahn had received $35,329 in campaign contributions from companies seeking parish contracts at that meeting. Only $1,000 was contributed to Zahn before he became a JP Councilman.

But, whether you agree with CFGG or not, no matter how you slice it, it’s not good for an elected official to publicly argue with a citizen, or three, especially when the citizens in question are determined, honest women. But, whether it’s on the Kenner or JP Council, Zahn has shown a pattern of attacking anyone who dares to disagree with him.

I’ve seen Zahn shout at Kenner residents and other Kenner Councilmen when he was on the Kenner City Council and turn redder than a beet when someone addressed the council at criticized him.

As I’ve said, I admire the ladies of CFGG. I admire that they spend their time acting as watchdogs for the rest of us knowing that they will get verbally attacked by the likes of Zahn.

And, while the CFGG ladies certainly don’t need me to defend them, I would like to ask Zahn to pick on someone his own size and gender.

Since I know that is difficult for him, I’ll try to make it easier by getting down on my knees. This way, Zahn won’t need to jump or be lifted up on the shoulders of Chris Roberts.

But, knowing Zahn as I do, my gesture will probably be moot.

People like Little Ben never fight their own battles or write their own statements. They just attack and then hide when their lies are exposed.

But, they keep getting campaign contributions and we keep electing them. So, we’re as much to blame as they are.

Perhaps even more.