Guilty Plea Filed In Bribe Case

From T-P:

Stacy Simms, a City Hall appointee under two New Orleans mayors and the daughter of former Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to helping her mother access a series of bribes that totaled $140,000 over several years.

Court documents have identified the source of the bribes as Mose Jefferson, the elder brother and chief political strategist of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who is awaiting trial himself in Virginia on 16 unrelated bribery-related counts.

Mose Jefferson was a consultant for the firm JRL Enterprises, which makes a computer-based algebra curriculum called "I CAN Learn." Court documents say Jefferson, who is usually identified as "Mr. A," was paid more than $900,000 for marketing the product to the New Orleans school system. Brooks-Simms urged the board to go along with the sale.