[StBernard] Bayham is a crock! and MORE!

[Westley Annis]

Jer,

I love ya but I have to correct you on this one - because I'm one of the few
people who knew everything that was going on after Katrina.  There was NO
other website on behalf of the St. Bernard Parish Government immediately
after Katrina, except for website created and managed by Ray Garofalo.  Ray
did EVERYTHING on the behalf of the parish - either Alan Abadie, Junior
Rodriquez or myself can confirm this.  It was Ray's idea to do this and he
contacted Abadie to get a website going for the parish.  He realized if he
was having trouble getting information on St. Bernard and trying to contact
other family members, then just about everyone else was in the same boat.

If I'm wrong, then where else was information coming from on other
"supposed" parish websites?  The "ONLY" person who was feeding ANY
"official" information out of the parish government was Alan Abadie - and
the "ONLY" person he fed information to was Ray Garofalo.  And, I can
personally attest to the fact that Ray had to pay for all this out of his
own pocket, especially the extra cost to expand the bandwidth to handle all
of the hits his website was getting - and he was doing all this out of a
hotel room in El Dorado, Arkansas, stranded with his family.  

Your reference to Ray's mailer about his website being the "ONLY way for our
evacuated families to stay in touch" is dead on accurate - BECAUSE it was
Ray's website for St. Bernard government that was the ONLY website where
people could "first" get "official" information from Junior and the parish
government.  It is NOT a "half-truth" as you state, but in fact a FULL
truth.

Yes, I'm well aware "you" also had a website, which I frequented, but I also
specifically recall that much of the information you posted on your website
typically came straight off of Ray's St. Bernard parish website - often
verbatim - "after" Ray first posted it on the St Bernard parish government's
website.  I recall Mike Bayham had a blog where he too was claiming to have
"firsthand" information from the parish government, but in fact was only
reposting information Ray had already posted on the parish's official
website.   The website Ray created on behalf of the parish and for the
people of St. Bernard was getting over 1,000,000 hits per day for at least a
two week stretch - and I'd like to know how many daily hits were other
people's websites getting.  

Yes, for MANY people it was the ONLY source of information about what was
going on in St. Bernard because little media coverage was being given to St.
Bernard parish - and certainly it was the only source of information anyone
could trust!  And Ray did this totally out of his own pocket and absolutely
REFUSED to allow advertisements -even though he got numerous contacts from
vendors looking for ad space.  Jer, did your website have any advertisements
on it?  I think I recall it did.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I recall Junior Rodriquez gave
Ray authorization to contact you to use a website you already had up, where
Ray was to take it over and feed officially released information from the
parish government - but you declined the use of your website.  As a result,
the very next day Ray then created the parish's ONLY official website from
where he and his family was stranded in Arkansas - and the rest is history!

If ANYONE doubts what I'm saying here, you can contact Alan Abadie or Junior
- but Alan would know all the details.

Also, I will not allow Ray to say anything in this campaign that is not true
or even slightly exaggerated.  We're running a straight-up campaign where we
can back up everything that is claimed!  Jer, please don't take this
personally, but after your comment, I felt compelled to set the record
straight and provide everyone the details of the facts in case there was any
misinterpretation.  After all, it's my job to do so.

Take care,

John Scurich
Director
Ray Garofalo for State Representative, District 103 Campaign



-----Original Message-----
Oooh, choices, choices, right?  Nah!! Doh!!

Normally, I don't like to get involved in St. Bernard Politics, and with
state representation at hand, I don't actually see a clear choice.

This guy, Garofalo seems also to be telling half-truths.  St. Bernard needs
honest representation from someone who can qualify as a decent politician at
this position<G>

Firstly, his ad says, "went into action, creating 'official website' ..
which was the ONLY way for our evacuated families to stay in touch". 

Firsthand, I have firsthand knowledge that there WAS already an official
website before, during and after the storm in place and up and running
successfully.  There's something wrong with a "proven leader - a Man of
action" who can take credit for "saving St. Bernard Parish" as if the second
coming had arrived. 

It's beyond having an opinion about a campaigner.

Something to think about, perhaps. 

As to everyone else, geez, isn't someone with good qualifications for the
position living in St. Bernard that can do a credible job of representation
and support for the help it needs? Maybe we can check the lodging at the
local Salvation Army to come up with qualifying politicians.  Drawing from
the same old group of has-beens, half-truthers, tired career politicians and
wanna-bees leaves fewer choices, in fact.

--jer--