Yesterday there was a fun little present that Attorney General Liz Murrill and her team delivered to the good people of Baton Rouge – Metro Councilman Cleve Dunn, who has long been known as an especially egregiously dirty operator in North Baton Rouge politics, had an indictment handed down to him for some of his nefarious dealings with the sinkhole of corruption known as the Capital Area Transit System, or CATS…

WBRZ’s Investigative Unit uncovered new details investigators say link District 6 Councilman Cleve Dunn to a corruption investigation involving CATS.

In a 19th JDC courtroom on Wednesday morning, Dunn was indicted on two counts each of bribery and money laundering, as well as public contract fraud, illegal split commission of commodities, and malfeasance in office.

He is also being charged with multiple counts of conspiracy connected to the scheme.

WBRZ previously reported that Dunn is a previously unindicted co-conspirator mentioned in indictments of former Capital Area Transit System Chief Administrator Pearlina Thomas and CATS contractors Jay Colar, Terral “TJ” Jackson, and Erica Jackson, issued earlier this month.

According to documents obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, agents with the Louisiana Department of Justice say Dunn abused his elected position of power in order to secure a $50,000 contract with CATS.

Agents say Dunn introduced Colar to Thomas while she was CEO of CATS, used his influence as a councilmember to issue a contract to Supreme Solutions, and profited through kickbacks from the purported owner of that company, Jay Colar.

In addition, Supreme Solutions LLC was paid for work that investigators could not substantiate and that Colar reportedly admitted was plagiarized.

Colar is listed as the current owner, but records indicate Dunn and his wife were the previous owners.   Agents, however, allege Colar never had control of the bank account for the company.

In addition, documents obtained by the WBRZ Investigative Unit say the company was paid $50,000, at least $33,000 of which was converted to checks made out to “C.G.” Agents have confirmed what WBRZ has reported: “C.G.” is Core Group LLC, a company registered to Dunn.

Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Noel said that, while saddened by the news of Dunn’s indictment, he will not pass judgment on a colleague until he has his day in court.

“I have faith in our justice system to uncover the facts and root out the truth, whatever that may be,” Noel said over the phone while in Washington, D.C., where Councilman Dunn, Noel, and other Louisiana lawmakers are currently visiting for Washington Mardi Gras. “Should any wrongdoing be found, I feel that all involved should be held accountable.”

Gee, thanks Brandon. That sure was a strong statement of nothing.

We get it – maybe you don’t want to pile on Dunn when he hasn’t been convicted yet. But it’s not like Brandon Noel isn’t privy to lots of information about Cleve Dunn which would hold him in a worse light than Noel just presented him in – or refused to.

We were reminded of this…

And it’s appropriate, because Cleve Dunn is the Baton Rouge political equivalent of Dolly Parton’s Miss Mona character in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, in that everybody has been aware of his dirty little operations for a long time but nobody would ever do anything about it for some pretty obvious reasons.

Which is not to say Brandon Noel is involved in any of Dunn’s chicanery. It is to say that the “somebody somewhere needs to close her down” sentiment in that statement seemed pretty familiar.

And it turns out that Liz Murrill was that somebody.

Glad to see it. Sorry it took  so long.

We’re going to try not to aggressively characterize the statement issued by Baton Rouge mayor-president Sid Edwards about Dunn’s indictment, though if we were to do so we would be tempted to say that “barely hidden glee” wouldn’t be wrong…

I am limited in what I can say about these matters involving Councilman Dunn. As with all individuals, he is entitled to due process, and the justice system should be allowed to do its work.

What I can say is that since taking office, my administration has been contacted by multiple investigative agencies, and we have cooperated fully with requests from those authorities. These allegations are especially disturbing at a time when we are working to conduct government with integrity and respect for taxpayers’ dollars. I believe that anyone suspected of or charged with misusing taxpayer dollars or other resources should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I want to be clear that these matters relate to actions that occurred prior to my taking office. When I ran for Mayor-President, I told the people of this parish that integrity would define my administration. That is why, upon taking office, we conducted a comprehensive review of programs involving state and federal funding and put stronger safeguards in place to ensure integrity across city-parish government.

In a sane world, you’d look not just at the indictment but the long history of near-comic greaseballery that Dunn has inflicted on public life in Baton Rouge – before this, there was the Oklahoma Sooner-style land thievery he practiced upon his neighbors, and lots more – and pine for something we’re highly unlikely to get.

Namely, that he’d resign his seat on the Metro Council.

It really isn’t a lot to ask.

But Cleve Dunn – unlike Miss Mona, who ultimately moved on from running a house of prostitution and settled into a more honest life – isn’t likely to step down. Power is a hell of an aphrodesiac, you know. So he’ll be more like the abusive boyfriend who won’t go away, and unless Murrill succeeds in convicting him we’re likely to find that his constituents are like the abused girlfriend who just can’t get enough.

Or maybe we’re just too cynical.

Either way, thanks go to Murrill and her team for at least trying to rid us of one of the more corrupt Democrat politicians in the state.