Where does Ike find the time?

It's remarkable that Ike Spears has the energy and time to devote to this petty business.  Dover must have really pissed him off.

On Tuesday, the criminal defense attorney and political operative filed a defamation lawsuit in Orleans Parish Civil District Court against a prosecutor over a courtroom confrontation that has already spawned a Louisiana Supreme Court reprimand. Spears is seeking more than $50,000 in damages from Iain Dover for calling him a “liar” during a routine hearing in Criminal District Court last year.

The lawsuit revives a year-old beef between Spears, a political ally of U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, and Dover, who prosecuted cases in New Orleans before he took a similar job in Washington Parish.

This is a busy time for Ike.  He's already got his hands full suing half the people who qualified to run for office against his and Cedric's favored candidates this month. Yes, Ike, we know it's usually you even though you say it isn't. Please don't sue us for saying that, though. We only know what we read in the electronic papers.

The hour-long hearing did reveal a hectic few hours leading up to Jones’ qualifying, including clearing fines with the state Board of Ethics and driving through the rain to enter the race at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office.

Linnell Steib, a resident of Jones’ district who also has grandchildren in the public school system, said she filed the suit after learning Jones did not. She said she was informed of the issue by former City Councilman James Gray and defense attorney and political consultant Ike Spears.

Reached by phone, Gray and Spears both denied that they provided the information to Steib. Both said they were not working for either Ashonta Wyatt or Shawon Bernard, Jones’ opponents in the fall election.

We do remember noticing the scrap between Spears and Dover back in May.  Spears threatened to "punch the shit out of" Dover and offered only this hilarious non-apology after the judge got the two of them back under control.

When Pittman tried to stop the fight, Spears told her he was going to be the bigger man than Dover — but also offered to settle the exchange "outside the courtroom."

"Perhaps, you shouldn't, Mr. Spears," Pittman said. The judge then ordered the two men into her chambers. They both apologized on the record after meeting with her.

"Your Honor, let me first apologize to the court for losing my temper with Mr. Dover, threatening to kick his butt after using profanity in the courtroom. It won't happen again," Spears said.

I'm sorry I almost had to kick his butt.  Still cracks me up.  Anyway, here we are months later and Spears still isn't ready to let it go. How big of an asshole must Dover be?  Pretty big, actually.

In September 2016, Assistant District Attorney Iain Dover and an investigator showed up at the victim’s house in a neighboring parish, according to a transcript of a court hearing.

They brought a so-called “DA subpoena” ordering the girl to come to the DA’s office for an interview, Pensanti said.

The girl and her mother had retained Pensanti, who was recommended by a friend of the family, to act as a liaison between them and the DA’s office. The Lens is not identifying the girl or her mother because of the nature of the charges.

The Lens hasn’t seen the document delivered that day, but Dover described it in a court hearing. “The State went out to the house to attempt to contact the victim, short of issuing an Article 66 subpoena,” he told a judge.

The prosecutor didn’t explain what he meant by that. Later in the hearing, he called the document a “subpoena.”

Sorry nobody kicked his butt.

Gotta write it down or it's like it never happened

Lately, there have been too many days when I don't get around to putting things on the blog I would like to. The primary reason I type things here in the first place is so I can remember what I've read in the news along with maybe some of the other things that happened each day. More crucially, I put those things here so I can find them later if I need them.  A person can tweet until they're blue in the thumbs but until there's time actually sit down and makes some notes, it ends up being so much just tossed into the void and too many days that feel like they may not have actually happened.

One deterrent to doing the posts is I often want to come over here and write only when it's something that needs a a lot of links and a lot of a fair amount of well at least some explanation beyond, "LOL get a load of these wankers!" Which is why a lot of stuff I'd prefer to have listed here where it's easier to find ends up in a dang tweet hole somewhere. It's also why there are (checks) 670 unfinished posts in "drafts" right now.

A few of those will be up soon. I absolutely have to get the stuff about the tourism "Grand Bargain" finished.  But also I need to remember to just put stuff here so I remember that it existed at all. Gonna have to do better at that before the brain cloud finished eating me. So with that in mind, here are some items I wanted to flag today.

• Yesterday, the Times-Georges-Dotcom informed us that accounting mega-firm Ernst &Young was planning to expand its New Orleans offices.  Which, okay, fine. But why were the Mayor and the Governor there to announce it?



Gov. John Bel Edwards, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the economic development group Greater New Orleans Inc. announced the deal, which comes as Ernst & Young is set to mark 100 years in the city.

Brian Rotolo, Ernst & Young’s Louisiana managing partner, said in an interview that New Orleans was chosen for the firm’s expansion because of its long presence in the city, the available talent pool in the metro region, and access to affordable commercial real estate.

Everyone on hand emphasized that E&Y had not been granted any of the special incentive payouts or tax breaks that we've grown accustomed to watching state and city officials hand out like Republican Presidents hand out breath mints.  So, again, why were they even there?  Why does it say they were announcing a "deal"? They must want credit for having done something, right? Maybe they just wanted to throw a property state ceremony to honor such a prestigious international firm.  


The Danish Business Authority started its investigation into EY last year as the full scale of the Danske scandal became known. Denmark’s biggest bank is at the center of a $230 billion Estonian laundering saga that spans the years 2007 to 2015. The financial watchdog has more recently warned that smaller lenders are also at risk of being targeted by launderers, as the biggest banks beef up their compliance efforts.

Ernst & Young is on the hook for its work auditing Danske’s accounts for 2014. KPMG has been reported to police for its audit of the 2017 annual report of Kobenhavns Andelskasse.

Well that part makes sense, at least.  If you are looking for a good place to expand your international money laundering operations, New Orleans is a good place to do it.


• Here's what else New Orleans is a good place for.  Comically combative lawyering.
  

  The two attorneys were arguing over whether Pittman should increase the bail for a defendant in a domestic violence case, according to a transcript. Spears claimed the accuser had previously been convicted of filing a false police report against his client, but Dover said Spears had no proof of that.
  
  "Excuse me, sir. You're a liar," Dover told Spears.
  
  "I will punch the (expletive) out of you if you call me a liar again," Spears replied.
  
  Dover responded by calling Spears a liar again.
  
  Spears raised a fist to Dover, who raised his arm up "in a blocking motion."
  
  When Pittman tried to stop the fight, Spears told her he was going to be the bigger man than Dover — but also offered to settle the exchange "outside the courtroom."

  That episode is funny enough as it is. But it's more fun because of the notable status of the players.  Dover is a senior prosecutor at the DA's office and a prominent figure in the controversy over its use of  "fake subpoenas" Spears is well known local political kingmaker. He's also apparently sorry for almost kicking Dover's butt.
  

  "Your Honor, let me first apologize to the court for losing my temper with Mr. Dover, threatening to kick his butt after using profanity in the courtroom. It won't happen again," Spears said.



• Finally, in other legal news, real estate investor Ron Von Kurnatowski is no longer being sued specifically for running a Ponzi scheme.  But there are other problems.
  

  Businessman and former Tipitina's owner Roland Von Kurnatowski has had mixed success in recent weeks in two of his numerous ongoing legal battles, with one New Orleans judge ruling he owes nearly $850,000 to his sister and nephews, while claims he ran a Ponzi scheme were dropped in a separate lawsuit.
  
  Movement on both cases comes less than six months after he sold off Tipitina's, the famed Uptown music club he owned for about two decades, to the band Galactic.
  
  Last year, he also sold off his share of the Orpheum Theater — which he helped restore following Hurricane Katrina. The sales came amid questions about whether he mingled his private business interests too closely with a nonprofit that has shared a name with Tipitina's and was best known for donating thousands of musical instruments to local school bands.

  Sounds like somebody needs to call Ernst & Young.

Anyway. Happy GiveNOLA Day!  Choose which pit you want to throw your money into wisely.