Contractor Aaron Bennett doesn't grasp his right to silence: James Gill

Reporters are not required to read dubious characters their Miranda rights, which is too bad for Aaron Bennett. An attorney would certainly have told Bennett to dummy up when a Times-Picayune reporter came calling. Instead, speaking from vast experience, he explained that pay-offs were the secret to landing public contracts.

aaron-bennett.jpgBenetech owner Aaron Bennett

When the story was published, it included only one revelation that failed to shock: Bennett did not make it through high school.

At the time of the interview, Bennett had not yet been indicted for bribing Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle, but he must have had an idea of what was coming. A few weeks later he and Hingle were charged in a bill of information, a sure sign that they had negotiated a deal with the feds to plead guilty.

In the circumstances, Bennett would have to be an idiot to allow that his company, Benetech, had suddenly prospered post Katrina by suborning various public officials. So that is what he did.

Willie Sutton denied that he ever said he robbed banks "because that's where the money is," but Bennett strongly endorses the sentiment. He handed out sweeteners, because politicians "have all this money, in charge of all this recovery."

The strategy appears to have worked, for Benetech was suddenly ubiquitous in the scramble for Katrina cash, landing a wide range of fat contracts from the city and other government agencies. "It's about time, access," Bennett explained. "That's why you put them on the private jet; that's why you wine and dine these people."

The trouble with offering gratuities to public officials, of course, is that there is always a chance you might encounter an upstanding one and get kicked right out the door. Bennett was prepared to take the risk and never seems to have had any reason to regret it.

The private jet remark was an obvious reference to the trip Bennett laid on for then-Mayor Ray Nagin and his wife in 2007 to watch the NFC championship game in Chicago before flying on to Las Vegas.

It is unlikely that Bennett is a keen student of the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, but he used a phrase straight out of it when he explained that he was out to secure the inside track for city work by giving the Nagins "something of value." That is precisely what the code prohibits.

The trip paid dividends for all concerned. When the party arrived in Las Vegas, Bennett introduced his pal Frank Fradella, owner of a Home Depot contractor. A firm owned by Nagin and his sons wound up with a deal to supply granite countertops for Home Depot, while Fradella and Bennett went on to make millions from the city. Fradella is now under indictment for securities fraud in Texas.

That was altogether a most unsavory planeload. Also along was Greg Meffert, who had recently quit as City Hall's IT chief. If Bennett had any qualms about offering free travel to the Nagins, Meffert was well placed to offer reassurance, having vacationed with them in Hawaii on Mark St. Pierre's dollar.

St. Pierre was sentenced to 17 1/2 years last month for bribing Meffert to obtain City Hall computer contracts on Nagin's watch. Meffert will find out in January how long he must spend in prison.

The Hawaii trip was in 2004; so much for the theory that Nagin was an acceptable mayor until he flipped his lid in Katrina.

As for Bennett, his candor in the newspaper interview left the impression he believes expensive favors are a legitimate tactic in public contracts. The bribery charge he faces, after being caught on tape handing cash to Hingle in exchange for a $1 million deal to build a new jail, ought to have wised him up on that issue.

There must be a few public officials in the metro area fearful that Bennett will blab to the feds. They'd better be. Imagine trying to tell him he has the right to remain silent. He wouldn't stop bragging long enough to listen.

