The Justice Department’s decision to yank local FBI Special Agent in Charge Jim Bernazzani back to D.C. on the heels of his public flirtation with a race for mayor was entirely foreseeable. What I don’t understand is why Bernazzani, who must have known that anything beyond the vanilla “no comment” he gave to Gambit Weekly in “Scuttlebutt” last week would land him in trouble, went ahead and talked even circumspectly with local TV reporters about running for political office. As Allen Johnson noted in his initial Gambit article, these kinds of things take on a life of their own. The Bernazzani-for-mayor story was just too tantalizing for the local broadcast media — and Bernazzani himself — to leave alone. I’m told that Bernazzani is close to FBI Director Robert Mueller, but Justice has a very strict policy about some things, and the Hatch Act is one of them. The reaction was swift and certain. Read the rest of this entry »

If you kept a blue tarp, they’re still useful at Jazz Fest.

Jon Cleary was able to finish his jazzy R&B set on the Acura Stage before rain started to fall. By the end of Dr. John’s set it was a torrential downpour. Some people headed for the tents. Those who went to the Ponderosa Stomp showcase in the Blues Tent were rewarded with some great New Orleans R&B from Tami Lynn and later the frenetic James Brown-style act of Roy Hood. Others fought the rain and stuck it out for Billy Joel’s greatest hits. Still others split the difference and finished the day in the Acura showroom tent. By the time Jazz Fest pulled the plug on all stages at 6:30 there were still plenty of people braving the elements at the Fair Grounds.