CityBusiness magazine, independent blogger continue questioning councilwoman’s legislative earmarks

A reporter for New Orleans City Business and an independent blogger continue to raise questions about the use and propriety of earmarks secured by District B’s interim City Councilwoman Diana Bajoie during her legislative career.

Reporter Ben Myers of New Orleans City Business has been questioning the connection between earmarks approved by Bajoie’s Senate Finance Committee several years ago and the funding for a position held by her niece at Southern University.

“Nicole Bajoie-Ford was paid more than $60,000 in 2009 for a part-time job at Southern University at New Orleans, a job for which she was paid $25,000 annually in subsequent years,” Myers wrote Tuesday. “Bajoie-Ford’s aunt, District B Councilwoman Diana Bajoie, helped to fund the position by pushing for earmarks when she served in the Louisiana Senate.”

Meanwhile, blogger Jason Berry of American Zombie and his ranks of anonymous contributors have been examining how many nonprofits are housed at a Jackson Avenue address where at least one nonprofit connected to Bajoie earmarks is located.

“I think we are officially up to at least five non-profits that are domiciled at 2020 Jackson Ave.,” Berry wrote last week. He notes in a later post, however, that the practice of domiciling multiple nonprofits is “commonplace around the city.”

Bajoie had previously come under scrutiny from the Times-Picayune for her possible connection to the Jefferson family’s “sham charities.”

Bajoie has responded by saying that she has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and she told CityBusiness that she does not remember the earmark that funds the SUNO program.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who appointed Bajoie to the interim council seat in early June, offered an oblique rebuttal to the ongoing questions last week in a postscript to his surprise appearance before the New Orleans City Council to promote speedy approval of the Costco project on South Carrollton.

“You are a person of great experience, of great expertise, and most importantly, a person of unquestioned integrity,” Landrieu said. “I have known you my entire life, and I trust you implicitly.”