Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is a partner in a lobbying firm that works for AshBritt, the giant Florida debris-removal company. He’s also a big backer of Gov. Chris Christie.
After Hurricane Sandy, Barbour played matchmaker. Christie quickly hired AshBritt to help clear New Jersey’s storm-ravaged coastline.
Barbour might think that qualifies him to shoot down the criticism of Christie’s AshBritt deal. On the contrary: It renders his critique uniquely ridiculous.
Reader Interactions
47Comments
Comments are closed.
The Republic of Stupidity
And therefore totally credible in the only circles that matter… to them…
PurpleGirl
Good ole crony capitalism… while in office, one should always help one’s friends to make profit.
Roger Moore
You’re just trying to criminalize political differences!
jharp
I honestly don’t recall as juicy of a scandal as this.
Obviously Nixon’s was worse but can one of you smarter than me post where this one ranks?
Thanks in advance.
Mike E
Only a Republican would try to launder disaster debris.
Roger Moore
BTW, that editorial is almost a year old, so this stuff is not exactly news. I guess Barbour is still defending Christie, so it’s worth bringing up again, but it’s not exactly a recent revelation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m sure Haley Barbour will have to address this when he makes one of this daily appearances on EvenTheLiberalMSNBC to spew seven to eight minutes of unchallenged, almost uninterrupted Southern-fried good ol’ boy demagoguery. Andrea Mitchell will lay on a righteous smack down! Take it to the bank.
Corner Stone
More has to be coming. I wonder who is tied into the power at recently fired Hammerman and Gainer Inc?
Tommy
I think I was 4. I came out of a tumbling class.Gymanstics. Leavenworth Kansas. Mom was crying. I didn’t understand. John Lennon had been killed. It was one of those things. It is one of the few times I recall the second where I was when I learned of something. Always heard this:
http://youtu.be/n6j4TGqVl5g
John Cole
Obligatory video:
Tommy
@John Cole: I’ve never watched the Wire; I know. I know. Just not done it. I would like to start from the start and alas I need to get me some Netflix.
BruceFromOhio
I need bodies gotten rid of, I call a guy I know that can get of rid of bodies. What’s the big deal? Somebody’s gotta clean all this shit up, might as well cut in another member of the tribe.
Fuzzy
Bobby Jindel and Chis Christie should co-author a manual “Disaster for Dummies”. By the time it’s over I bet more corruption will be exposed from Sandy than Katrina. The Jersey Boyz learned from the Nawlins mob that guvment contractors have no oversight and are untouchable. “Treme” even spelled out the process.
Keith P
@Tommy: You should youtube the “Fuck!” scene some time. It’s several minutes of two characters investigating a crime scene saying nothing but “Fuck” with various inflections. Genius.
cathyx
@John Cole: So should we be calling Barbour Snot Boogie?
Jim C
The way it’s going, no one knows.
joel hanes
@jharp:
Iran-Contra was much, much juicier. From memory :
+ Congress specifically prohibits spending money on Contras
+ rogue actors in US Gov’t sell US armaments to our officially-designated terrorist enemies in Iran to create a slush fund not controlled by Congressional appropriation, in defiance of the Constitution. Bizarre role played by Rumsfeld.
+ slush fund and CIA used to set up separate paramilitary, private to Executive Department, in defiance of the Constitution
+ that private paramilitary force runs amok, murdering many thousands of innocent civilians, rapes nuns before murdering them
+ additional funding may have come from cocaine trafficing by US gov’t actors
+ Congressional investigation successfully stonewalled; chain of evidence leads to doors of Bill Casey and GHW Bush and stops.
+ Those doors remain locked; Congressional investigation stymied
+ The corporate press averts its eyes
+ The right makes a folk hero of treasonous bastard Oliver North.
The full story has not yet been told.
Reagan should have been impeached; GHW Bush and Casey should have been jailed.
Jewish Steel
@John Cole: I think enough time has elapsed that it is time for me to watch it again. Oh, and I was just rollin on pain meds last time I watched it. So it’ll be like the first time again.
The Republic of Stupidity
@joel hanes:
And Bill Clinton was nearly impeached over a hummer…
joel hanes
@joel hanes:
I got the bit about Rumsfeld wrong; it was Bud MacFarlane who went to Tehran with the Christian Bible signed by Ron Reagan and a cake made in the shape of a key, to open secret negotiations for the sale of the armaments.
Chris T.
Off topic, but I just checked out Krugman’s blog entry about Argentina.
I wonder if there’s a good analogy he could make about how economic policy depends on the circumstances. Maybe one to weather?
[RWNJ responding to K:] “YOU SAID IN JANUARY THAT I SHOULD WEAR A COAT! I WORE ONE IN JULY AND IT WAS TOO HOT!”
Villago Delenda Est
@joel hanes:
Not to mention just when the special prosecutor is about to get Caspar Weinberger to flip on Poppy Bush, Poppy Bush isssues a preemptive pardon.
jeannedalbret
Disaster clean-up (of Federal funds) is a growth industry for GOP Govs, present and past. Neat trick–deny climate change while investing in disaster clean-up.
Bleccch. LInk to http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/09/jeb-bush-forms-company-to-get-into-the-disaster-response-business.html
Villago Delenda Est
@joel hanes:
Rumsfeld was busy selling chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein at the time.
gogol's wife
@Keith P:
They stole that from Dostoevsky!
jl
Sure, the news is a year old, but if they can find the translator they used for the deal, it’ll crack wide open like a melon dropped from a ten story building.
MS wardheeler: Wayell, Mistah Bahbah sayd you downneeeeeed thaya’ competiayve biddn’ fer th’cooowwwntrac,, fellar showure kin do good bayness offa thishyear dee bree rmoooooovll raykaht. Hay bleeev wayh c’dooo som baynssshyear.
NJL wardheeler: waddy say? I don’ unnerstan waddy say. Wassiss fookin’ mook sayin’ anyways?
translator: he said Mr. Barbour said if you don’t need competitive bidding for the contract, a fellow sure could…
jharp
@joel hanes:
Thanks. I remember it but was not into politics then. Was just starting out in business.
kdaug
I’m going to put this here, with full knowledge that it will break Balloon Juice. Forever.
THIS.
Kitties, puppies, bunnies, SPCA,,, and ABBA.
It just rocks.
BGinCHI
CREAM, bitches.
jl
Speaking of dogs. I saw a funny bumper sticker today:
“Oh Lord, please make me the person my dog thinks I am.”
Jack Russell terrier owners might not get the joke, but other dog owners will.
I’be been trying to think of a similar bumper sticker for cat owners, but have been pulling a blank.
WaterGirl
@kdaug: Very fun! I watched the whole thing.
Misterpuff
But where its going, no one knows!
SiubhanDuinne
@Tommy:
Too many things to remember, but I do in fact remember where I was and whom I was with for every one of these national heartaches:
JFK
MLK
RFK
Lennon
Challenger
OKC
Columbine
Columbia
Tucson/Gaby Giffords
Newtown
Boston Marathon
I expect I’m leaving out a lot, but these are the ones that pop immediately into my mind. I wish I were incapable of remembering this litany.
kdaug
@WaterGirl: It was a lot of choreography work. A 5 minute continuous shot is not trivial.
And it’s badass.
jl
@kdaug: Sweet video. Thanks. It broke me down. After the ending with that cute mutt, I was going to run out and get me a dawg. But then I remembered I’m in a no pets rental situation.
slippytoad
@joel hanes:
The Bush clan only knows one trick: how to war profiteer. Grandaddy Prescott sold shit to the mother-fucking Nazis (but apparently bought his way out of a hanging for treason) . . .They are some of the most despicable, untrustworthy, morally bankrupt parasites this nation has ever suffered from.
Ken
@Fuzzy:
With a special foreword by Michael “Heckuva Job” Brown.
jharp
@SiubhanDuinne:
My list.
Bobby Kennedy.
Man on the Moon.
Lennon.
Challenger.
Oklahoma City bombing.
Operation Desert Storm starting.
911.
J.Ty
@SiubhanDuinne: 9/11, for one…
J.Ty
Hm, won’t let me edit, but my own list is, in no particular order
OKC
Desert Storm, now that you mention it, jharp
Shuttle Columbia
Columbine (just headed to lacrosse practice not far from there)
9/11
Aurora (used to see movies there)
Newtown
Giffords
With the exception of the shuttle and possibly Desert Storm, it’s all senseless violence and I’m sure I’ve forgotten more than I’ve remembered.
ETA: Boston marathon, Iraq 2
J.Ty
@slippytoad: Technically, he just laundered Nazi money so they could use it to buy things themselves…
Citizen Alan
As loathsome as Haley “Boss Hogg” Barbour is, I still wish he were governor of Mississippi instead of the ignorant Talibaptist we have today.
catclub
@jl: bidness.
bk
Adding to the list:
Lee Harvey Oswald.
Princess Di.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: What kdaug said. Impressive, even. And sweet as heck.
Fair Economist
This is odd, and maybe a little embarrassing, but the only big events where I remember where I was when I heard about them were Challenger, Lady Di, and 9/11. And in all 3 cases that’s because something very odd or unusual happened to me personally while I was learning about it.
For example, with 9/11, right before I left for work that morning, I thought “I need to check the news on TV”. And I almost NEVER watch morning news on TV before work or school; I literally mean less than once every 5 years or so. When I turned it on, I thought “Oh my god!” and then I started wondering what the *&*# made me want to turn on the TV. Did I hear something subconsciously through the apartment wall? Did I subconsciously notice a difference in traffic or something? It was really weird, and so I remember it.
The other events – zoop, gone from the memory files. I remember caring about the events, but not what I was doing when I found out. Even as recent as the Boston bombing. I remember following the story closely for a couple of days but what I was doing when I first read about it – no idea.
demit
@Fair Economist: That happened to me too! For some reason I turned on the tv, which I never do in the morning. I guess I had some time before having to leave for my temp job. It was more for background noise, tho, and I wasn’t really listening, so I thought I was looking at a file video. It was only after listening to the radio on the drive to work that it sank in what had happened.