Everybody Knows About Mississippi Goddam

It's simply disgusting the way those corrupt Louisiana politicians are getting rich off Hurricane Katrina relief. Wait… what?

Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina…among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in June raided a company owned by the wife of a third nephew, which maintained federal emergency- management trailers.

Meanwhile, the governor's own former lobbying firm, which he says is still making payments to him, has represented at least four clients with business linked to the recovery.

Read the whole Bloomberg piece… there's nothing illegal, just the usual "whale-bellied southern governor using his power to enrich his clan" story.

Mississippi records show that Henry and Austin Barbour, sons of Haley's older brother Jeppie, registered as state lobbyists soon after their uncle was elected in 2003. In January 2004, Henry, who managed the gubernatorial campaign, and Austin joined Capitol Resources LLC in Jackson, located less than a block from the governor's mansion, which represented such big- name clients as Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.

In July 2005, Capitol Resources signed on to represent Government Consultants Inc., a local firm that advises Mississippi and Louisiana on state bond issues. Deborah Phillips, president of Government Consultants, praises the work of Capitol Resources, saying Henry, 43, and Austin, 31, have "good resources." Haley Barbour is "naturally not going to be disinclined to help those boys when he can," said Ed Brunini Jr., the governor's lawyer.

When he says "those boys," does anyone else picture Henry and Austin jumping the General Lee over a ravine and shouting "YAHOOOO"?