Breaking news from the T-P:
An FBI agent testified in open court Monday that state Sen. Derrick Shepherd helped a twice-convicted felon launder nearly $141,000 in fraudulently generated bond fees last year, keeping close to half the money as part of the arrangement.
Shepherd was easily re-elected to the state Senate on Saturday, winning 61 percent of the vote. Last year, he finished a strong third in a 2006 run for Congress and then endorsed the embattled incumbent, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, helping him secure a ninth term.
Yeah, this is Jefferson Parish's "favorite son" for District 2, who many hoped would replace Rep. Dollar Bill Jefferson. When Shepherd didn't make the runoff, many of these voters strategically re-elected Jefferson over Karen Carter, hoping that Shepherd would be available later on for a rematch. They like him because he's "conservative" (read: hard on gays and baggy pants and other b.s.).
More than any other local pol, Derrick Shepherd is my nemesis, and I'm going to fully savor his demise. Kudos to American Zombie, who had predicted this would go down (much) earlier.
Updates to come.
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Last year, the T-P profiled Derrick Shepherd as he ran for Bill Jefferson's U.S. House seat. In the profile they touched on some of the controversies surrounding him:
For the past two years, Shepherd has been involved in a heated battle with the Jefferson Parish Council after he filed legislation in 2005 to secure some of the parish's casino revenue for, among other things, a YMCA center in Marrero. Council members griped that Shepherd was trying to usurp local spending authority for a pet project.
At the time, the group Shepherd wanted to funnel the money to didn't exist in state records, which made the bill suspect to critics.
The battle continued this year, as Shepherd again tried to secure the money against council members' protests that those dollars were already slated for hurricane protection projects.
The fight grew so intense that Councilman Chris Roberts accused Shepherd of "public extortion."
As I've said before, me and a couple friends were running a longshot state senate campaign (for fun) in 2005, and our entire strategy involved (a miracle occurring and us) getting into the runoff with Shepherd. We had the goods on him (names, numbers, documents), and were confident we could expose him during the runoff and get him to lose or withdraw. Unfortunately, this material was washed away in the flood. But ask yourselves: Why has Shepherd fought for two years to get a YMCA center for Marrerro, going so far as to propose diverting money from hurricane protection projects to his pet cause? If memory serves, I believe the answer could be found in the real estate records-- two years ago we found some familiar names of Shepherd family/associates who owned property near the planned location of the YMCA.
Then there's this:
In 2005, [Shepherd] helped lead relief efforts after a fire killed 11 members of a Marrero family, a point that a campaign radio spot reminds potential voters. After the blaze, he fought for legislation requiring that mattresses sold and built in Louisiana be fire resistant.
Yes, after the worst house fire in the state's history, which made national news because it claimed the lives of 3 adults and 8 children, Shepherd "helped lead the relief efforts". Over $150k was raised for the surviving family-members after this tragedy. But do you think Shepherd had the decency to keep his beak dry? Our research showed that he hadn't.
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Perhaps Shepherd will soften his position on baggy pants once he starts wearing them every day in prison.
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Here's an amusing Suspect Device comic featuring Shepherd.
Labels: crime, Cronies, Derrick Shepherd
