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Last month, Clarence A. Hunt Jr., a repatriated California businessman and New Orleans native opposed to Mayor Marc Morial's bid for a third term, reportedly told The Times-Picayune: "I'm coming down to shake things up."
Hunt's return to his hometown as executive director of Citizens to Preserve the Charter has left a paper trail, however. Anonymously mailed packets of documents pertaining to Hunt's personal and financial life in Oakland have turned up in local newsrooms recently. Gambit Weekly received papers relative to Hunt's 1997 consumer bankruptcy filing, state and federal tax liens against him, and a personal restraining order he obtained against a former girlfriend five years ago.
"All of those tax lien issues were resolved favorably to myself," Hunt says. He adds his federal bankruptcy was "resolved favorably as well."
In fact, Hunt is only partly correct. Hunt still has not paid off California state tax liens of $32,973 for five taxable years ending in 1992, according to Denise Azimi, a spokesperson for the California Franchise Tax Board in Sacramento, Calif. "That lien is still good and outstanding," Azimi said last week. "But probably if you try back in couple of weeks things might change. We are working with the taxpayer [Hunt] right now."
Federal bankruptcy records, meanwhile, support Hunt's claims his debts there have been resolved. A check of records for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of California (Oakland) shows that Hunt filed for protection from his creditors under Chapter 7 on Nov. 13, 1997. Hunt filed for a total of $546,902, including $246,900 owed to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Hunt listed no assets. He met with his creditors one month later. The case was dismissed by the bankruptcy court judge on May 8, 1998. Four federal tax liens on Hunt's Oakland home were also dismissed.
In 1996, Hunt went to Alameda County Superior Court and filed for a restraining order against his estranged girlfriend, a 29-year-old woman who was an employee of his business at the time she allegedly attacked him, documents show. In written statements, Hunt told authorities that the woman physically attacked him in his home after he "refused to have sex with her." Hunt added that he fired the woman after the incident, but that she threatened to disrupt his business. A Superior Court judge issued a restraining order against the woman one month later, records show.
Hunt says his personal life and financial dealings have no relevance to his group's crusade against the mayor's bid for a third term. "I don't see where that's relevant to anything that I'm doing with respect to the third term opposition," he says. He also suspects "the Morial camp" is behind the anonymous mail-outs: "Those are typical tactics used by a frightened and nervous mayor who is trying to hold onto his desk by his fingernails, knowing that the tidal wave of opposition is going to sweep him out of office very shortly along with all of his cronies."
Graymond Martin, an adviser to the mayor and an attorney for the pro-Morial group, People for Continued Progress, emphatically denies Hunt's allegation: "I can tell you unequivocally that I know of no one who sent that information out. And it wasn't done on behalf of the mayor or People for Continued Progress."
But Martin adds that Hunt's personal background is relevant to the battle over the October charter election, which Hunt is challenging in court. "When people assume the position of public advocates they have to be able to withstand a scrutiny of their character," Martin says.
University of New Orleans professor Douglas Brinkley has taken his name out of the running for the presidency of South Carolina's College of Charleston. The remaining candidates for the College of Charleston presidency are former U.S. Department of Education leader Lee Fritschler and former Wall Street banker Lee Higdon.
"It was a tough decision," says Brinkley, who first came to the school's attention last year when he delivered a speech about civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. "Most of all, it was an opportunity to bring some innovative curriculum approaches. But in the endgame, I had to say no."
Among the factors cited by Brinkley were his overall satisfaction at UNO and his current freedom to pursue a number of writing projects. He noted financial considerations, as well. The Post and Courier in Charleston reported that the president's salary at the College of Charleston is relatively low, compared to the national average; the state-mandated pay range there is between $110,000 and $170,000.
Brinkley is currently under contract with Viking Press to complete Wheels for the Road: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress: 19032003, scheduled to be published in 2003. In addition, Brinkley is collaborating with fellow UNO prof Stephen Ambrose on a book about the Mississippi River, and with NAACP chairman Julian Bond for a book about race in America. Also, he reports that he is currently is in discussion with "California Governor Pete Wilson and some other Reagan people" for exclusive access to Ronald Reagan's White House diaries.
With a political question mark hanging over its head, the privately funded Committee for a Better New Orleans (CBNO) presents two public forums aimed at tackling the city's most vexing issues.
The CBNO is scheduled to conduct its first public hearing on its "Blueprint for the Future of New Orleans" at 6 p.m. Mon., July 15, at the Arthur Ashe Cultural Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Community activist Barbara Major, co-chair of the CBNO, will direct the first forum.
Alden McDonald, president of Liberty Bank & Trust and economic development chair of the committee, will present the panel's report on economic development beginning at 6 p.m. Thurs., July 19, at the Delgado Community College, 615 City Park Ave., in the Student Life Center's Lac Maurepas Room.
The Committee, a diverse group of 140 New Orleanians, has taken pride in its ability to keep politics out of its 18-month-long study process. But Joe Canizaro, a developer, co-chair and key financial backer of the committee, has not closed the door on endorsing political candidates to advance the panel's agenda on housing, race relations, economic development and other issues.
"He hasn't closed the door but we are moving toward merging with another nonprofit that would broaden the base of the committee and would not be involved in any type of partisan politics," CBNO spokesman Bill Rouselle says. He declined to elaborate on the merger but says it would allow the CBNO to "publicize those candidates who have endorsed the agenda."
As a prisoner of war held in Poland, Claude J. Letulle witnessed the notorious medical experiments conducted by the Nazis -- considered to be among the most atrocious acts ever committed. Letulle, who now lives in Jackson, La., will discuss his experiences in a special presentation at 7 p.m. Wed., July 18, at the Uptown Jewish Community Center (5342 St. Charles Ave.) The event is free and open to the public.
Letulle, author of the 1998 book Nightmare Memoir: Four Years as a Prisoner of the Nazis (LSU Press) is speaking in conjunction with Southern Institute for Education and Research's annual summer seminar for teachers, which is conducted by Southern Institute education director Plater Robinson. The Institute decided to open this talk to the public after hearing Letulle's story. "Joining the resistance after being held as a prisoner in camp was considered exceptional, because he was subject to immediate execution," says Denise Chetta, associate director of the Southern Institute. "Even that didn't deter this man from fighting the good fight."
The Jewish Community Center is a co-sponsor of the event. For more information, call 865-6100, ext. 4.
Contributors: Allen Johnson Jr., Michael Tisserand
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