Tom Benson, Thief Who Treated New Orleans as a Cash Cow
By Gavrielle Gemma, New Orleans Workers Group
Occasionally, we see stories of corruption. Occasionally, a few are jailed. Though they may have stolen millions, these corrupt capitalists go to “Club Fed” and get out in months. Most of these are cases where the rich stole from the rich. None of these compare to the “legal” corruption carried out regularly.
Tom Benson died at the age of 90, the richest man who lives in Louisiana. (Oil company barons are richer, but they take their loot out of state, leaving us with their destruction.) When Benson started his parasitic career, he had $300 million, and when he died, it was $1.5 billion, a fortune built on and stolen from the labor of workers of Louisiana. Benson put his snout in the public trough and sucked it in, all with the consent of willing political “elected” officials, who were rewarded for their loyalty to Benson.
From 2009 to 2012, the state paid Benson $23.5 million a year to keep the Saints here, something he callously leveraged first while the city was still reeling from Hurricane Katrina. Deals like this are not unusual in places where teams are privately owned for-profit organizations instead of the property of the working people who support them.
A ruling class lackey, Doug Thornton, served as an agent for the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District (LSED), and was later rewarded by Benson with a vice presidency of SMG, the company that manages operations at the Dome and Smoothie King Center. While executives like Thornton enjoy our money and live in luxury, SMG pays $8.00 an hour to employees and no benefits.
The Scheme
Thornton became the bag man and negotiator for an even sweeter deal for Benson. After public protest at Benson receiving over $100 million from the state, Benson and Thonrton came up with new schemes even more lucrative.
The yearly payment was cancelled, and instead the state gave $85 million to upgrade the Superdome, adding 3,200 seats, club lounges, box suites, store and concession. All money from these upgrades went to Benson: an estimated $12 million a year. If Benson didn’t make $12 million, the state would make up the difference.
Benson was then given tax breaks, and his real estate company, Zelia, bought Dominion Tower. The state then leased from the now-renamed Benson Tower two thirds of the space for the next 15 years. The LSED also renovated a Benson-owned mall (now Champions Square).
So, Benson also got $3.18 million in profit from renting space, $2 million from Champion Square, and a $2.8 million tax refund (yes you read it right) from taxes collected on visiting players’ salaries—with the $12 million, that put him close once more to the $23.5 million a year in Benson welfare checks. Plus, he got valuable property and rights to the Saints name and sales.
The Gift to Benson that Keeps on Giving (Our Money)
The Benson dynasty keeps all revenue produced at the Superdome, paying no rent. Saints gate receipts alone are $63 million, revenues from parking and concession $14 million. They are sales tax exempt.
Of course, it would be wrong to only call out King Benson and not the politicians who, in exchange for bribes, set it all up. The capitalist ruling class and all their minions are weeping for Benson, secretly wishing they had thought up these schemes for themselves.
As they bow and weep phony tears at the coffin of a crook, weep for the workers at the Superdome, who are underpaid, usually working two jobs. Weep for the theft of money that should go to the workers of New Orleans,who keep it all running and struggle to survive. And then stand up and fightback.
International Communist Victories
Early 2018 has seen two major positive developments in the unity of the worlds revolutionary forces. In Venezuela, the governing United Socialist Party and the Communist Party have re-solidified their unity after years of harsh debate. In an accord established in late February, they both pledged to cooperate in many fields including elections, defense of the county, overcoming the economic crisis, and advancing the socialist revolution. On the other side of the world in Nepal the two major left parties, the Unified Marxist-Leninists and the Maoists, swept the country’s elections and decided to merge into a single party, which would make them the strongest political force in Nepal by far. The merger and the election victory have instilled a great sense of hope in the Nepalese people that their country will soon overcome much of the poverty and instability that they are accustomed to.
Anti-Fascism in Italy
In early February, reflecting the reemergence of fascism in Italy and across Europe, a man was detained after driving around Rome shooting black pedestrians. This sparked a massive wave of anti-fascist protests in Italy throughout February, with hundreds of thousands of Italians taking to the streets under the slogan “Never Again Fascism.”
Developments in South Africa
In February there was rapid succession of major political developments in South Africa. Under the intense pressure from the public and his party, President Jacob Zuma stepped down and was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa. Soon after his appointment, the new president announced that the African National Congress government would move to confiscate European land without compensation. This has always been a popular demand of native South Africans, but the government had previously hesitated to carry it out because of the power that rich whites still hold. The country also officially cut off diplomatic ties with Israel, recognizing the similarity between the brutal apartheid system that exists in occupied Palestine today and the apartheid regime that South Africans lived under until the nineties.
International Meetings Foretell Military Buildup
In mid-February, two international meetings cast a dark shadow over the future. First, at the NATO defense ministers meeting European countries agreed to increase their military spending, make it easier to move soldiers and military equipment across borders, further militarize the Atlantic Ocean, setup a NATO training base in Iraq, and other such war-preparations. Then the Munich Security Conference, where all the capitalist world powers were represented by their diplomats and heads of state, put forward a bleak image for the near-future that can be summed up in two words: military buildup (including nuclear weapons). Far from coming up with solutions or reaching agreements about the many conflicts and tensions in our world, the major capitalist powers are only preparing for the worst: a world war where we the workers would pay the ultimate price.
Syrian Conflict Continues as External Forces Continue Interference
The bloody war in Syria is continuing to drag along, mainly because of the actions of external forces. The main factors that have prolonged the war in recent months are the U.S. and Turkish occupation of Syria and revitalization of their respective terrorist proxies. The U.S. reignited its bombing campaign of pro-government forces, while Turkey and its proxies are fighting their way deeper into Syrian territory in their extermination campaign against Kurdish people. Meanwhile, the corporate media has reignited its propaganda campaign to obstruct the Syrian government’s military operations against terrorists and whip up support for U.S. warmongering against Syria and its allies.
U.S. Signals Aggression Against Venezuela
At the beginning of 2018, there were hopeful signs that Venezuela could be moving towards peace and stability. The socialist government and the counter-revolutionary opposition were making progress in negotiations that may have fulfilled the Venezuelan peoples’ desires for an end to violence and economic warfare. That is, until the U.S. stepped in with its puppets in Colombia to force the opposition, which they fund, to pull out of the negotiations. Since halt of the negotiations, the U.S. military and the Trump regime has made several statements that signal a move towards invasion. Venezuela is already surrounded by U.S. military bases and hostile governments like Colombia and Brazil, which has been increasing its military budget. Workers and progressives must prepare to fight the military industrial complex in the event of an invasion of one of the few independent governments in South America.
Major Victory for German Workers
In Baden-Wurtemberg, a southern region of Germany, the IG Metall Union won a huge victory for the German working class: the right to temporarily shorten your work week to 28 hours to care for family, with lost pay being partially covered by the company. And as a cherry on top, they won a 4.3% wage increase for all employees! IG Metall is the largest union in Europe, with 2.3 million members. Germany has recently had a growing economy, but workers hadn’t seen anything to show for it, still working the same hours for the same wages (not too different from here in New Orleans). Under constant stress trying to balance work and family life with wages that won’t budge, the workers decided to take control into their own hands. They started with mass walkouts on the job, which they escalated to 24-hour strikes, until their employers (industrial giants like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Siemens) caved into their demands for more pay and flexible hours.
Korean Unity at the Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang took a special political significance for the Korean people. The games opened up space for dialogue between the governments of North and South Korea on the topic of peace, space that would be hard to imagine a year ago. They even went as far as having their respective athletes march under a unified flag at the opening ceremony. This represents the deep desire of Koreans across the peninsula for peace and reunification. The U.S. government, however, made it clear that they were actively sabotaging the dialogue. They want to keep the South Korean government on a very short leash and disapprove of any independent moves on their part. And as long as the South Korean government refuses to act independently of the U.S. war-machine, which only wants to increase tensions, there will not be peace in Korea.