Jackson Jambalaya

Uh-Oh...finger caught in the cookie jar....Mr. Graham should pack his clothes for a long trip to the pokey... I can hardly wait to see how this entire scenario will play out.

Additional Northstar customers - Great question. I think most of us would love to see an answer. However, judging from the glut of R Graham political signs out there, I doubt there will be a push for that info. Unbelievable the number of people who seem to have looked the other way and support this fraudster.

This sentence in the Ledger story is only partially correct:

Byram's new radios cannot communicate with other area agencies.

It is too bad in Davey's haste to cover-up the corruption, malfeasance and illegal no-bid contracts in Hinds County government that the Ledger tries to blur the line to make Byram look like the offender.

Goodbye Clarion-Ledger. You'll soon be shutdown.

Did the BOS get 2 quotations as also required? I know they didn't get the WCC approval. I'm assuming the second quote would have come from Motorola, but my memory is not good enough to drag up the facts of whether the Johnson bid was lower or whether there was no competing bid at all.

From
http://dsitspe01.its.ms.gov/its/RadioEPLOnline.nsf/MfgSellerSearch/CBC7E3866BA0CCC68625788400555493?OpenDocument

Comes this statement
The purchase limit is $200,000 per fiscal year (July – June) for the Two-Way Radio EPL without additional approval from ITS. For purchases over $50,000, the customer MUST obtain quotations from two or more EPL sellers. For any acquisition that results in an expenditure over $100,000 in a fiscal year, the customer MUST also receive written approval from the Wireless Communications Commission (WCC)
NORTHSTAR WIRELESS, LLC
(emphasis on "MUST" from original)

Delta

Maybe you ought to call EF Johnson King, explain how things here went awry and see if they'll comment once they've been made aware of the truth.

Because the bottom line is their distributor and his board insider screwed EJ Johnson over.

Maybe you ought to call EF Johnson King, explain how things here went awry and see if they'll comment once they've been made aware of the truth.

The bio of the EF Johnson VP may be found here at the bottom of this page. His email address is krangarajan@efji.com.

Delta,

There were no quotes. According to the board attorney, no quotes were needed since they call this a professional service.

The State of Mississippi, however, has a completely different definition of a professional service. Short answer: radio service provider/vendor/maintenance tech is not one of them.

Can share from professional sales management experience that outfits like Johnson or Motorola, etc don't hand out their local distributorships to any Harvey, Chokwe or Nathan that calls them off the street.

It is all about sales and the prospect that the distributor has the experience and connections to meet/exceed sales objectives.

In light that the direction of statewide efforts is to go Motorola there can be little doubt that Johnson was looking for a way to get a piece of the action in Mississippi no matter how small or convoluted. Because that is the sales game.

I doubt that Johnson would have given their local distributorship to someone like Hargrove had there not been some wink, wink conversations behind the scenes that he had an inside track for sales in Hinds County.

Perfect example to consider was the extreme lengths that Graham went to strong arm Byram. Remember that when Graham realized Byram was planning to go their own way with radios he tried to contain Byram (to buy Johnson more time) by attempting to derail Chief Thompson's efforts to establish BPD's own dispatch operations.

The Johnson association with Northstar has become a political liability that is doing more harm than anything else. They have very little to show for the association and an investment of time that delivered only meager sales. Johnson is smart by cutting their losses with Hargrove and with Graham. They are radioactive.

Maybe Hargrove can get Precious to file a shakedown lawsuit against EFJohnson.

ARE YOU LISTENING FBI DO YOU SEE A PATTERN

FBI?? That's a good place to go. But in the meantime, where is our state auditor? Isn't it his job to investigate and prosecute this stuff?

Sounds like from the article the BOS is looking at filing suit against Byram and Luke Thompson.

If anybody thinks the Eric Holder Justice Department -- or Jim Hood, for that matter -- is going to go after public corruption in a black-majority municipality or county, you're on drugs.

Forget it. Not happening.

Just seems that everytime something comes up with the BOS, it's always somebody else fault, responsibility, problem, issue, mistake or error. As Goverment Leaders they are........

I can't imagine an attorney stupid enough to 'file suit against Byram and Luke Thompson'. Can any of you? Just imagine how that would play out when Thompson stated on the stand that he steered clear of the BOS umbrella deal due to the perceived corruption surrounding it. Might there be follow-up questions? Does the BOS really need or want to invite that?

Seems like we are witnessing a board in Tutwiler, Winstonville or Leland rather than the capitol city of the state. How embarrassing for us all.

Let's credit the Clarion-Ledger for putting the story above the fold on page one, and then hope that they drill down a lot farther.

Before Mr. Travis played the race card, he should have pondered the fact that most of the people getting ripped off by the BOS are black taxpayers. Am I wrong to wonder why more (any?) leaders in the African-American community are not speaking out against these obvious abuses?

This black owned county has gotten out of control with these corrupt people . The black community is just ignorant to it and are just happy to say " We have black leadership." How else can you see people like Graham , Lewis and Stokes getting elected in Hinds . You just elected a man who committed perjury and used the Jackson Police academy as a dance hall for his son making money , can't wait to see how he handles funds now that he is Sheriff. If this was going on in Madison the people would be prosecuted.

Don't scream racist on this post cause I'm black. Just stating the facts.

Thanks for speaking up, 12:26. I will still try to take the long view, in which we have to bear the burden of history, but on occasions like this it is the short view that matters. We have good men and women of color who are not doing anything, even though we know from our history how dreadful may be the consequences of that kind of passivity. I cannot throw a stone, but I can, as you say, state the facts.

Seems the majority of the BOS 'represent' only a select group of Hinds citizens - themselves, cronies, and blinded individuals who vote by race alone. So we all get to live with the results of these duped and misguided supporters and voters. Sadly, the prospect for the future looks very bad.

@ 2:05 I concur there is great leadership of color but is gotten to the point of well since he is black I will vote for him . Choose the best candidate is my philosophy . One of the things that's make a good law enforcement Officer is integrity The incoming Sheriff can't have to much because of his exploits for financial gain . Robert Graham is a joke he is in it to lace his pockets and Stokes was a bad for city of Jackson and will be bad for the county of Hinds . I want all people to research the candidate don't just vote cause you like someone's color .

Accusations of racism used to shut people up. That no longer is the case.

I'm hearing rumors that the 2 gutta ensemble from Canton will be performing free concerts at the
JPD Training facility next month.

"It'z about'z da positive roze modelz for da lil' cheer'on " ..... said one of "2 Gutta's " spokesmen
to the WAPT investigative intern .

I hope that Clinton can hold out .

Crony Capitalist "Lieutenant" Robert Graham strikes again.

Jackson-based company Airwave LLC maintains on almost a daily basis the city of Jackson's emergency radio communications system, an Airwave representative told Hinds County supervisors this week.

But city officials say that's not so, and that the work is done by a city employee or Motorola, the manufacturer of the equipment that's under warranty through 2012.

Airwave, owned by Stacy Stowers, has a $4 million, six-year deal that ends in 2014 to maintain and program the county's emergency radio system. As part of the agreement, Airwave also is paid to maintain municipal police and fire department radio systems purchased with E911 funds and linked to the county system.

City of Jackson spokesman Chris Mims said Airwave has not maintained the city's radios.

Peggy Calhoun laid down some hard markers. Time for Graham's cronies to pony up.