Councilman booked in extortion sting

St. Tammany Parish Councilman Joe Impastato was arrested Tuesday for allegedly extorting a $100,000 kickback in connection with a Hurricane Katrina debris removal contract, a case that authorities called the opening salvo in a corruption crackdown by a task force weeding out fraud in storm-related contracts worth tens of billions of dollars.

Impastato was arrested during an FBI sting as he accepted two cashier's checks totaling $85,000 from a subcontractor cooperating with authorities, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said at a news conference Wednesday.

Impastato, 33, who represents the Lacombe area, is accused of extorting 50 cents on the dollar from a $200,000 debris-disposal contract awarded to an unidentified St. Tammany Parish businessman...

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1132300062115270.xml

Anyone for tar and feathers?

St. Tammany Parish Councilman Joe Impastato is accused of extorting a kickback from a subcontractor doing hurricane cleanup -- not treason.

But if he's guilty of shaking down an unnamed businessman for $100,000, as alleged in an arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, Mr. Impastato has certainly betrayed the people of Louisiana.

Recovering and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina is an expensive proposition that is going to require an ongoing and substantial investment by the federal government. Any sign of corruption or waste draws down Louisiana's account in the eyes of the rest of the country, and that account wasn't robust to begin with.

Our critics are quick to point to Louisiana's history of corruption. The scheme that Mr. Impastato is accused of engineering confirms that view, however unfairly.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said that the parish councilman was arrested during an FBI sting, after he accepted two cashier's checks worth a total $85,000 from a subcontractor who was cooperating with authorities.

Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, when many South Louisianians were fighting to survive, Mr. Impastato was already hatching his scheme, according to the arrest affidavit. He allegedly told a businessman on Sept. 1 that he would help him make a deal with OMNI Pinnacle LLC, which has a contract with St. Tammany Parish for storm debris removal. OMNI would dump debris on the businessman's land for a $200,000 fee, and Mr. Impastato would get half of the money.

OMNI began dumping debris on the land, but the deal unraveled when a relative of the businessman, who also has an interest in the property, told Mr. Impastato that there would be no kickbacks, the affidavit said. The councilman became "visibly upset," according to the affidavit, and soon after OMNI stopped using the property.

"We feel that this shows not only the threat of doing economic harm, but also the ability to carry that threat out," Mr. Letten said.

That might have been the end of the matter, but at some point, the businessman went to the authorities, and the sting operation was put in place. The new deal outlined in the affidavit involved a smaller kickback: $85,000, to be split among Mr. Impastato, an unnamed person who cleared the lot and an unnamed attorney.

The allegations against Mr. Impastato are shameful, and anyone who lives in Louisiana should be furious at the thought that an elected official would attempt to profit illegally from the misery and destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

What's even more depressing is Mr. Letten's assertion that this arrest is only the first. The Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force, made up of federal and local police, prosecutors and other officials, is cracking down on fraud in storm-related contracts, he said.

No matter how much that hurts to hear, though, it's exactly what needs to happen. Louisiana should not be judged on how many sleazy opportunists try to rape the recovery effort. We should be judged instead on how doggedly we pursue them and bring them to justice.

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