Cleaning Up New Orleans

We're not talking about the aftermath of Katrina or the BP oil spill. We're talking about the corrupt New Orleans Police Department that has been under fire for over a decade.

The Rove Republican Racket did nothing to the detriment of minorities and low-income neighborhoods. Just look at the photo of New Orleans cops roughing up a housing activist.

The Rove-Bush-Cheney Administration looked the other way and let the abuses continue, especially after the left over mess of Katrina.

Now U.S. Attorney general Eric Holder, the Obama Administration and the local Mayor have taken charge. NPR reports:

Federal prosecutors announced Monday that they are reviewing the long-troubled New Orleans Police Department.The  move comes after Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked the Justice Department to intervene earlier this month, saying the city's police force needed nothing less than a complete transformation. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Tom Perez said the investigation will include lawyers and nonlawyers with broad experience in police issues.The Justice Department's civil rights unit will investigate whether the police engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination.

"The investigation will examine allegations of excessive force, unconstitutional searches and seizures, racial profiling, failures to provide adequate police services to particular neighborhoods, and related misconduct," Perez said in a letter to Landrieu that was released Monday. 

The arrangements have prompted new training requirements and rules that govern when officers can use firearms. The fresh oversight comes as prosecutors continue to explore the shooting deaths of unarmed people on a New Orleans bridge in 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck the city. Four officers have pleaded guilty this year in connection with the incident.

Another Louisiana Prosecutor Permanently Disbarred

Last February, we wrote about an arrogant former New Orleans prosecutor who had his law license stripped from him and he was permanently disbarred from practicing law.

Well, it's deja vu all over again!  The New Orleans Times Picayune reported Saturday:

A former Jefferson Parish prosecutor who once ran for a state judgeship has been permanently barred from practicing law in Louisiana by the state Supreme Court. Richard Bates "knowingly and intentionally violated duties owed to his clients, the public, the legal system and the legal profession," the court wrote in 28-page decision released Friday.

Bates, whose wrongful actions are not tied to his four years as a prosecutor in the late 1990s, could not be reached for comment. Justices suspended him from practicing law two years ago and took his law license this week. The court spelled out 30 cases of professional misconduct and noted that Bates failed to account for or refund to his clients $51,525 in unearned fees. "He has abandoned his law practice and appears to have no intention of ever providing refunds of the unearned fees," the court wrote.

Permanently Disbarring an Arrogant Prosecutor

On the eve of Mardi Gras, the Louisiana Supreme Court permanently disbarred a former assistant city attorney of New Orleans, Darryl Jackson, who according to news reports was convicted of malfeasance in office in 2006 for accepting $500 to dismiss a drunken driving case.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jackson had the felony conviction expunged last year, but Louisiana's Office of Disciplinary Counsel had already filed misconduct charges against him in 2007. The state disciplinary board asked the state Supreme Court to permanently strip Jackson of his law license.

Why? Because of Jackson's arrogance.  The Times Picayune quotes Jackson:

"A city attorney can do whatever they want to with a case, at any time," Jackson said. "Yeah, I dismissed it. It was my church member. Did I take $500 for it? No. It's never been proven."

The Times-Picayune reports:

In an eight-page decision released Friday, a unanimous state Supreme Court revoked his law license. "Among the aggravating factors present is Jackson's absolute refusal to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his conduct," the court said. "We find this conduct amounts to intentional corruption of the judicial process."