LL’s boss forgot that LL had last year’s scoop-of-the-year when he unearthed a lawsuit against Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. for allegedly not paying back his students loans.

A court hearing was scheduled today on the case, and LL’s boss thought it might be worth covering Thomas’ other legal worries. (If you are just joining us, Thomas was accused last week by Attorney General Irv Nathan in a civil suit of pocketing $316,000 in city funds that were earmarked to help inner-city kids learn baseball.)

Reading back on last year’s story, LL was struck by some of the similarities between Thomas’ response to the student loan lawsuit and Thomas’ response last week to Nathan’s lawsuit.

Last year, Thomas brushed off the student loans problems saying all his debts have been “satisfied” and lawsuit arose out of an “administrative error.” Thomas predicted that the government’s case wouldn’t amount to anything.

Last week, Thomas said he’s not done anything wrong and had the evidence to prove it. His attorney, Fred Cooke Jr., brushed off Nathan’s lawsuit as some sort of misunderstanding over the definition of “business” and said that the AG’s case wouldn’t amount to anything.

But LL wonders, if Thomas’ students loans had really been “satisfied,” why is this case still proceeding a year later? And if Thomas really has proof that he didn’t steal city funds, why hasn’t he yet produced it?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery