The River Birch landfill and its chief financial officer, Dominick Fazzio, are asking a judge to place a civil lawsuit alleging the Waggaman dump made illegal campaign contributions to politicians on hold until criminal cases against the landfill and Fazzio are resolved. With the criminal proceedings hanging over their heads, Fazzio and River Birch co-owners Fred Heebe and Jim Ward would likely exercise their right to not testify, hampering their defense in the suit filed by the state Board of Ethics, according to motions filed by attorneys for River Birch and Fazzio.
The suit alleges Fazzio used seven shell companies to funnel illegal campaign contributions from River Birch to 24 candidates for a wide array of local and state offices since 2009.
State law prohibits making campaign contributions "through or in the name of another" entity. Some of the contributions also would exceed donation limits if all the money can be traced to River Birch as the suit alleges.
Fazzio's attorney, Stephen London, said there is "significant overlap" between the civil suit and federal criminal cases against River Birch, which is under investigation for its efforts to monopolize the local garbage-disposal industry, and Fazzio, who faces an Oct. 22 trial on charges that he embezzled nearly $1 million from a New Orleans construction management firm run by his brother-in-law.
London noted that the civil and criminal cases all involve Westside Construction Services, a Fazzio-controlled firm that prosecutors allege is a "sham company" that served solely as a "money laundering operation."
Pressing forward with the civil suit would "unjustly force defendants to pick and choose between protected rights," River Birch attorneys argued.
No federal charges have been filed against Heebe and Ward.
The Board of Ethics has yet to respond to the motions asking 24th Judicial District Judge Patrick McCabe to stay the lawsuit. The board opposed delaying the suit in discussions with attorneys for River Birch and Fazzio, according to the motions filed Friday.
The motions noted that three other civil suits filed against River Birch by rival firms alleging illegal business practices, including bribery, have been stayed by state and federal judges until the criminal cases are resolved.
The Board of Ethics suit grew out of an anonymous complaint that prompted the board to launch an investigation of River Birch campaign contributions in May 2011.
The suit, filed a year later on May 18, does not list who received the allegedly illegal contributions or the amounts. But a Times-Picayune review of campaign finance reports indicates that 24 candidates have received donations totaling $90,500 from the seven firms named in the suit since 2009, the cutoff date for the three-year statute of limitations.
Since 2003, the seven firms doled out more than $300,000 to about 60 candidates.
Topping the list of recipients were Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, who each received a total of $40,000.
Several Jefferson Parish Council members received donations shortly before voting to close the parish's competing dump and award River Birch a controversial $160 million, 25-year garbage-disposal contract in June 2009. The contract, which was negotiated by Broussard's administration, was rescinded after it became part of the federal investigation of River Birch's efforts to shutter rival dumps.
Former state Wildlife and Fisheries Commissioner Henry Mouton pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiracy for allegedly accepting $460,000 in bribes from River Birch to lobby for closure of the rival Old Gentilly landfill.
Another recipient of allegedly illegal River Birch contributions was former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. His campaign finance reports show he was given $5,000 in May 2006, shortly before he refused to extend an emergency permit for the Chef Menteur landfill that was competing with River Birch for lucrative contracts to dispose of Hurricane Katrina debris.