John Georges supports the troops

Tom Aswell speculates an Advocate editorial thanking the State Police for beating up Shamarr Allen protecting New Orleans this summer is really more about John Georges looking to butter up State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson.

Certainly the timing of the editorial had nothing to do with the controversy swirling around the secretive passage of an obscure Senate bill during the last day of the recent legislative session that proved financially beneficial to Edmonson.

And certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that Advocate publisher John Georges wants to keep Edmonson happy because Georges holds a majority ownership in seven firms which provide video gambling machines and other services to gambling establishments—and because Edmonson oversees gaming through the State Gaming Control Board chaired by Ronnie Jones who served as Edmonson’s confidential assistant prior to his appointment to the Gaming Control Board. He is still listed as Edmonson’s confidential assistant on the State Police web page even though Jones says he resigned from that position last August.

Okay, maybe.  But it's going a bit far to say the Advocate has swept the business about Edmonson's retirement under the rug.  It's not a difficult story to find in their archives.  Although, there is this prior Editorial blurb that more or less just says everything is OK.  I was looking to post a Gill column which was more critical of Edmonson but it's not currently accessible on the site.

Whatever the reason, Georges' paper is thanking the troopers. And that seems dubious enough as it is.