Feds probe Una Anderson bribery allegation

About six weeks after DeCay's sentencing, former City Councilman Oliver Thomas pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Barre, based on information Barre provided to the government.

The next day, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office subpoenaed a raft of School Board records involving Metro Disposal and the award of the trash-collection contract, according to a copy of the subpoena.

Since then, Letten's office has twice requested that Barre's sentencing be delayed. Such delays are often a sign that investigators are still following leads provided by a defendant.

The School Board awarded the trash-hauling contract to Metro in February 2001, with Richard's receiving a subcontract for at least 35 percent of the work. Before landing the deal, Metro and Richard's had for years worked as subcontractors to Waste Management.

Anderson questioned the timing of Barre's allegation becoming public, as she is in the middle of a runoff campaign against Walker Hines for the 95th District state House seat. She acknowledges that she has been interviewed by FBI agents on three occasions about the contract, which she said the federal government seems to suspect was rigged. The most recent interview was about three months ago, she said.

Her husband, banker Dave Anderson, has also been questioned. He said he doesn't know Barre well and has never done any business with him.

Una Anderson said she doesn't know Barre well either. Neither of the Andersons could recall having quarreled with Barre, politically or otherwise.

Anderson said she was assured by federal investigators that neither she nor her husband are targets of the inquiry. Her attorney, Blake Jones, said federal investigators have routinely turned to Anderson to learn more about the School Board's process for awarding contracts. She has been a "pristine source" federal investigators have relied on for solid information, Jones said.

2001 contract examined

But the feds' questioning of Anderson is different in the trash probe, said sources close to the case. The sources said Barre told investigators that he collected bribes from the two trash haulers and delivered them to Dave Anderson. In return, Barre told investigators, Una Anderson agreed to push for Metro to serve as the lead vendor on the School Board's garbage collection contract, worth $525,000 annually.

Barre, who was friendly with both Woods and Richard, did not profit from the deal, he told investigators.

In late 2000 and early 2001, Anderson, then a relatively new member of the School Board, headed a board subcommittee that reviewed contracts and made recommendations to the board. The subcommittee recommended Metro.

The investigation described by sources marks the second recent criminal probe into an Orleans Parish School Board member. Former School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty in June to accepting bribes from Mose Jefferson, the brother of indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson. Brooks-Simms said she took the money in exchange for supporting the district's purchase of I CAN Learn, a computerized algebra tutorial.

In that case, federal sources said, Anderson and the other board members were called before the grand jury purely as "fact witnesses," telling prosecutors what they recalled of the transactions and explaining the purchasing process.

Brooks-Simms is the only School Board member to be accused of any wrongdoing in that matter. Sources close to the trash-hauling probe said it is based on a separate allegation.

Metro and Richard's held onto the deal for more than four years, landing two renewals, until the work was rebid and awarded to River Parishes Disposal just before Hurricane Katrina.

Last year, Mayor Ray Nagin's administration hired Metro and Richard's to handle residential trash pickup throughout most of the city, except the French Quarter and other Central Business District neighborhoods. The city garbage contracts are worth a combined $24 million, more than twice what the city paid before Katrina for similar service.

Vocal critic of corruption

Anderson, along with most other School Board members at the time, championed an anti-corruption stance during a time when the system was plagued with thefts and kickback deals. The schemes -- some petty, some brazen -- have resulted in more than two dozen convictions in a still-unfolding probe.

Early in her tenure, Anderson teamed up with Brooks-Simms, Jimmy Fahrenholtz and a revolving cast of other members in a reform-touting faction that, for a time, controlled the board. Eventually, Anderson and Fahrenholtz split bitterly with Brooks-Simms over their support for then-Superintendent Tony Amato and became a vocal two-member minority.

Some School Board records on the trash deals were lost or damaged in the storm, officials said. Those that remain shed little light on what role Anderson, one of seven board members, played in the hiring of Metro.

A graduate of Harvard University and a former aide to Thomas on the City Council, Anderson was a relatively new board member when the trash contract came up in 2000, having been appointed a year earlier to serve out an unexpired term. She has since been elected twice, most recently in 2004.

Incomplete records

School Board officials could not locate the request for proposals issued in October 2000; also unavailable were staff scoresheets and recommendations about which vendor to select. Board Secretary Thelma French said many records were destroyed by roof leaks caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Board minutes indicate that three companies submitted proposals: Browning-Ferris Industries, Metro Disposal and Waste Management, which held the contract at the time.

Joe Bekeris, then the system's chief administrative officer, said he remembers that Metro's initial bid was deemed nonresponsive by staffers because of a "failure to comply with certain provisions."

But the board voted to allow Metro to resubmit its proposal, Bekeris said. Bekeris said he recalls board member Elliot Willard speaking in favor of cutting Metro a break, but he doesn't remember much else about the vote.

Willard and Anderson both said they did not recall that discussion.

Board officials could not locate the minutes of the meetings of late 2000, which have also been subpoenaed by Letten's office.

At the board's meeting on Jan. 8, 2001, Anderson sponsored a motion to temporarily extend the contract for pickup held by Waste Management while the process of reviewing proposals was finalized.

"Mrs. Anderson stated she will be scheduling a Purchasing and Procurement Committee meeting as soon as possible to handle this issue in a very expeditious manner," the minutes say.

School Board officials could not locate minutes of the Purchasing Committee's meetings.

At the regular board meeting Feb. 12, 2001, the board approved a deal with Metro. The minutes indicate that Metro was deemed the "lowest respondent" -- apparently meaning best-priced -- by the Screening and Evaluation Committee, composed of board administrators.

The motion to hire Metro came from Brooks-Simms; it was seconded by Anderson.

Barre hosted fundraiser

Anderson said she doesn't remember much about the process, which occurred nearly seven years ago. But supporting a locally owned company such as Metro would have been in keeping with her beliefs, she said.

"I'm sure we looked at many factors," Anderson said. "I'm sure there was an evaluation of the proposals brought by the administration. In addition, I do believe that working with a local company is preferred. It leaves more money in the local economy."

Anderson's campaign reports show that she received five $1,000 contributions on May 2, 2001, three months after the initial contract was approved. The contributions came from Richard and his firm; Woods and his firm; and Woods' brother, Glenn Woods, who is an officer with Metro.

Anderson said the $1,000 checks were given to her at a campaign dinner held at Pampy's Creole Kitchen, Barre's 7th Ward restaurant that was the base of his political operations. She said she remembers "eight or 10 people" being at the dinner.

Dave Anderson said the FBI's questions to him all centered on that dinner. Agents wanted to know why he was there, he said.

He said he told the FBI "that it was normal for me to accompany my wife to dinner." Dave Anderson said federal agents did not ask him about anything else.

The checks from Metro and Richard's and their principals were the only contributions Anderson received that year, according to her reports. No other board members reported contributions from the trash haulers that year.

Anderson said it would be a mistake to read anything into the donations or the dinner.

"In no way do campaign contributions influence my decisions on contracts," she said. "Those decisions are made on what I believe to be the best service provider for the entity, in this case the School Board." |Read more|