Oliver Thomas Enters Prison Today
by Frank Donze - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Surrounded by a small circle of relatives and friends, former New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas sat down for a final home-cooked meal of red beans and rice Wednesday night as he braced for the start of a three-year jail term today at noon.

"I just want to pay my debt to society," Thomas said by phone from a cousin's home in Douglasville, Ga., a small town about 25 miles west of the federal prison in Atlanta where Thomas is headed. "I'm not angry at anybody. I've asked God to forgive me and I'm working to forgive myself. I want to move on with my life."

A popular politician widely viewed as the early front-runner to succeed Ray Nagin as New Orleans' mayor after the 2010 election, Thomas pleaded guilty in August to taking $20,000 in bribes and kickbacks from a businessman seeking to retain a public parking garage contract. In November, U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance sentenced him to 37 months in prison.

The U.S. attorney's office asked the judge to hand Thomas, 50, a longer jail term to punish him for his alleged refusal to "rat" out other corrupt officials.