Political News
THINK504 Editorial Board
Think 504, today requested from Entergy New Orleans and the New Orleans City Council the names of the persons Entergy has paid as consultants during the past eight years and the work they performed for the company. Paid consultants became an issue when Entergy cancelled a check to WBOK radio, a black owned AM station in New Orleans. The check was cancelled after the station interviewed opponents of the proposed power plant. The issue is whether Entergy uses its money to buy support and stifle dissent.
Entergy’s paid consultants becomes more important as an issue when one considers the actors paid by Entergy’s contractors to influence the City Council to pass approval of a new gas fired electric plant in New Orleans East. Are our political leaders informed about true public opinion? Or did Entergy misrepresent perceived public support to influence the City Council. Entergy has every right to try to influence legislators, but deception and distorting reality are out of bounds.
The next meeting of the City Council is today at 10 am. Think 504 encourages all citizens of New Orleans to attend and express any concerns they may have. The next meeting of the City Council’s Utility Committee is on June 14 at 10 am. Both of these meetings should have broad public engagement.
The Think 504 request seeks to discover whether the Fortune 500 company has used its economic might to not only influence but to corrupt the political process. Rumors abound. Have current members of the new City Council and their colleagues been paid large sums of money for doing little that can be documented?
For its part, the New Orleans City Council sent its letter demanding information from Entergy. A local media outlet requested documents relating to Entergy’s claim that Entergy did not know that a Virginia public relations company Entergy hired, the Hawthorn Agency, hired paid actors to flood City Council hearings and testify in support of Entergy’s proposed electric plant. The paid actors caused an open meetings law suit to be filed by several public interest non-governmental organizations that say Entergy and the actors corrupted the public decision-making process by quieting community opposition to the plant.
There are other key issues we must also consider. First the $210 million is an estimate which Entergy has given the City Council. The price of construction could be substantially higher without penalties for deays. Second, Entergy says the plant is only needed to back up the city’s grid in case a hurricane or some other natural disaster would sever New Orleans from the national grid. But the connection to the national grid is extremely secure and easy to fix in the event of a disruption. Also, some plant opponents say that Entergy should supplement power in such circumstances with environmentally friendly power from alternative sources like solar, wind and power from the Mississippi River. Third, the plant would be located at the site of the old utility plant near Bayou Savage, National Refuge, and a large community of Vietnamese, African-American, and Latinos. Fourth, the environmental consequences for the plant built in the wetlands, opponents say would be disastrous for New Orleans and would increase flooding risks.
Complicating City Council consideration of all issues is the fact that many of the new council members may have now or in the recent past had financial relations with Entergy; thereby jeopardizing their objectivity.
Entergy gives millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in New Orleans. Many of these groups mobilize their members on Entergy’s behalf on important issues. An unbiased City Council needs to be aware whether groups and individuals, like the paid actors, who come before the council also are paid for their opinions.
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of Executive Appraisers Louisiana, an MBE-certified real estate appraisal firm, and EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu