Posted on 12/13/2006 6:22:07 PM PST by Brilliant
A chance to dine with embattled Gov. Kathleen Blanco fetched a winning bid of $1 at a recent fundraising auction hosted by a group of business leaders.
The president of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, in northeastern Louisiana, said she called Blanco's office Tuesday to apologize for a "poor joke gone awry."
"It's something we deeply regret," chamber president Sue Edmunds said Wednesday. "Our organization has worked very well with the governor. We have been pleased with her efforts on behalf of this community."
Dinner with Blanco was the last item up for bid at the fundraising auction last week. Edmunds said the bidding opened at $1,000 and dropped to $500 before the auctioneer accepted a $1 bid from bank executive Malcolm Maddox, a regional chairman for Capital One.
Others were trying to bid on the dinner when the bidding abruptly closed, according to Edmunds.
"We were all stunned," she added. "It was at the end of the auction, so there was no way to go back and amend that."
An apologetic Maddox came forward Monday to donate $1,000 to the chamber, Edmunds said. He won't be dining at the governor's mansion, however: A chamber official will go in Maddox's place.
Maddox didn't immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The episode comes at a trying time for Blanco, who has been criticized for her response to Hurricane Katrina.
Republican lawmakers Wednesday blocked Blanco's attempt to spend $2 billion in newly available state funding, a plan she wanted to steer through a special session of the state Legislature before it adjourns.
Blanco spokeswoman Marie Centanni said earlier that the governor was too busy with the special session to be bothered by the apparent slight.
"She's really not even paying attention to it right now," Centanni said.
Blanco had wanted additional money for state employee and teacher pay raises, road repairs and health care, among other things.
Instead, the House passed a $300 million package of tax breaks for homeowners and parents and set aside money for incentives to attract a German steel mill to south Louisiana.
Bwhahahahahhahhahahhaahhahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahaah... Hahahahhahahhahahahahhahah.. sorry.. Bhahahhahahahhahahahhhahahhaahhaha.. snicker.. :)
Again? The bids were low the first time.
On the other hand, I might pay a few bucks to have dinner with one LA Senator...
There's no better way to find the real value of an item than at a Dutch auction.
Hee hee! I thought I'd misread and there were a couple of zeros missing. Guess the only zero is the guy who has to go to dinner w/Blanco.
Blanco spokeswoman Marie Centanni said earlier that the governor was too busy with the special session to be bothered by the apparent slight....."She's really not even paying attention to it right now," Centanni said.
BS.....Blanko is DREADING any direct contact with the press now because she knows perfectly well what questions she will get, LOL. So she will not be holding press conferences for awhile.......perfect!
"I would have given them at least $1.50 for this esteemed 'honor'."
Yes, but this was Malcolm "What's in your wallet" Maddox.
You don't really expect him to cough up "big bucks," do you?
Heck, take the gov to Taco Bell !!
At least she's concentrating on the serious issues. What a leader! - Also, I hope Aaron Broussard doesn't hear about this as he doesn't handle sad news very well...
It's the new spin; the olllllllllllllld botched joke.
Hey Governor Blanco, what's NOT in your wallet????
I think the bids were rigged to make the bids higher than they looked like.
Just think what dinner with Nagin will cost.
LOL
LOL!
Does somebody have the LA Freepers *ping* list ? This is great stuff.
We should try to give Aaron Broussard some slack here. As I pointed out in another thread a day or so ago, Aaron had reason to be upset and cry. He is the President of the Council in Jefferson Parish, nothing to do with New Orleans. He served at one time as Mayor of Kenner. Although I no longer live in the state and area, I knew Aaron and his family.
He was upset because the government and the national media were only doing the New Orleans part of the disaster. But he was crying about the lack of attention to Jefferson Parish and even more so, St. Bernard Parish to the east of New Orleans. Chalmette was under 10-12 feet of water. Dozens of old people were dead by drowning in the nursing home. Hundreds of sick people were trapped on the second floor of the underwater Chalmette Hospital. Hundreds were huddled on a dock at the river. None of these stories were being reported. Private people with boats were carrying people to helipads. The state and federal government were nowhere. Reporters were at the Superdome and Convention centers in New Orleans reporting on people who could have left town.
If you saw the dead bodies being pulled out of that St. Ritas's nursing home, you too would have cried. More so, if you watched TV and saw reporters visiting a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans which was serving drinks at a time hundreds of people were lying in a hospital without food or drinking water or medicine. Aaron Broussard is not the only person who cried that week.
Those tears were so fake (aka crocodile tears).
"tears were so fake"
Of all the insensitive things I have ever seen someone say, that tops it. I pray you never lose a close member of your family in a flood. The whole parish of St. Bernard was wiped out by that flood. People died there, dude!
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