Louisiana Voice

Just as Gannett breaks the scandal of American Legislative Exchange Council influence on Gov. Piyush Jindal, it appears to have missed an even bigger story currently developing in St. Tammany Parish.

It’s taken awhile, but Gannett Louisiana papers have become the first of the metropolitan dailies in Louisiana to finally take notice of the incredible influence that ALEC holds over the legislative process in Louisiana.

Not that Louisiana is the only state in which ALEC’s agenda has surfaced in the form of proposed legislation calling for the privatization of education, prisons and Medicaid as well as radical employee pension “reform,” but it just happens to be the state that LouisianaVoice has been writing about for the better part of a year now.

We were beginning to think no one was listening—certainly not the New Orleans and Baton Rouge dailies.

But in the last few days the Monroe News-Star (and probably sister publications as well) have begun running teasers to that effect that beginning Sunday, Gannett papers in Monroe, Shreveport, Alexandria, Opelousas and Lafayette will launch a weekly series “Education for sale: How big business shapes reforms.”

The promotional blurb went on to say that since Jindal first ran for governor in 2003, he “has been funded by the American Legislative Exchange Council.” It said Jindal’s education reforms “also bear a striking resemblance to ALEC’s model.”

LouisianaVoice, of course, has been saying that all along, even giving examples of model legislation passed at various ALEC conferences from San Diego to Washington, D.C., from Chicago to New Orleans.

We have repeatedly hammered on the tens of thousands of dollars ALEC poured into campaigns of not only Jindal but Louisiana legislators who are members of ALEC. The immediate past president of the national organization is former State Rep. Noble Ellington (R-Winnsboro).

But an even bigger story is that of the possible laundering of as much as $95,000 in illegal money into Jindal’s 2007 campaign for governor.

What’s more, Jindal political advisor Timmy Teepell says Jindal isn’t giving the tainted money back.

Federal prosecutors have charged a Covington businessman in a Bill of Information with bank fraud.

Richard Blossman, Jr., is accused of funneling $55,000 through Central Progressive Bank of Lacombe into Jindal’s campaign.

Central Progressive, after becoming a “troubled bank” last year, was taken over by First NBC Bank of New Orleans in November.

Last month the Louisiana Board of Ethics said Jindal received $40,000 in campaign contributions from River Birch, Inc. when the company formed six “straw man entities” to launder illegal donations to Jindal.

River Birch Landfill had its offices in Gretna raided by federal agents in September of 2010 after landing a controversial $160 million garbage disposal contract with Jefferson Parish in 2009.

The federal Bill of Information says that Blossman, while CEO of Central Progressive Bank, gave each of his 11 board members a $5,000 bonus. In reality, however, none of the $5,000 bonus payments ever went to a board members, according to Raphael Goyeneche, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission.

Immediately after the bonuses were announced by Blossman, federal prosecutors say 11 checks of $5,000 each were sent to Jindal’s campaign in the names of each of the board members.

“The defendant well knew the ‘bonus’ was to funnel illegal political contributions and was not a bonus, as he caused it to be inscribed in the board minutes,” prosecutors said.

“That is a felony,” Goyeneche said.

The limit for political contributions is $5,000. But with all of the board members donating their $5,000 of Central Progressive Bank funds, the donation came to $55,000.

While it was not immediately clear if the board members knew the money was being contributed in their names, there was at least one indication that they were unaware of the contributions.

CNS attempted to put that question to each of the board members. No one answered at seven of the numbers called, two numbers had been disconnected. One board member, Raymond Fontaine of Slidell said he had no comment. At another, CNS at first reached Douglas Ferrer, Sr., father of board member Douglas Ferrer, Jr. The elder Ferrer referred to Central Progressive as “that no-good bank” and added that his son was unaware of the contribution made in his name.

When contacted, Douglas Ferrer, Jr. of Lacombe at first explained that he had been involved in litigation against the bank and that the settlement agreement contained a non-disclosure clause that prohibited him from commenting. When told that he father had said he knew nothing of the campaign contribution, he then said, “My dad doesn’t lie. You can take that for what it’s worth.” Given the fact his father had already commented, the younger Ferrer finally said, “I think none of the others were aware of the contributions.”

Besides Fontaine, Ferrer and Blossman, the other eight board members who ostensibly made $5,000 campaign contributions to Jindal, all on April 6, 2007, according to Jindal’s campaign finance report, included Welton Brumfield, Jr., address unknown, Charles Law Ponder of Kentwood, Edward Amar, Jr., of Tickfaw, Brandon Faciane of Slidell, Ralph Menetre of Covington, Jim Venezia, Sr., of Pearl River, Henry Powell, Jr. of Lacombe and Mark Perrilloux of Ponchatoula.

The Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions, which provided the names of the board members pursuant to a public records request by CNS, noted that Menetre was elected to the board on January 29, 2007 and that Perrilloux left the board on December 10, 2007.

Goyeneche said the fact that Blossman was charged in a bill of information as opposed to being indicted indicates that he has not only agreed to a deal, “but is cooperating with authorities.”

Goyeneche also said that while Jindal does not have a legal obligation to return the money, he feels the governor does have a moral and ethical obligation to do so. “I would say that ethically, if any public official realizes they received inappropriate campaign contributions, the ethical thing would be to return that money,” he said.

Teepell, who ran Jindal’s 2007 campaign, says that ain’t happening.

He said that neither he nor Jindal knew that the donations from the 11 board members might be tainted.

“We accept every contribution in good faith and in accordance with the law,” he sniffed.

When asked if Blossman received anything in return for the donations, Teepell said, “No, absolutely not. Everybody who donates to our campaign gets the same thing and that is good government.”

Really?

Let’s review.

• LaShip, owned by Gary Chouest was a direct beneficiary of Jindal’s $10 million state investment in the expansions of the Port of Terrebonne in 2008. Chouest, his family, and his various business ventures combined to contribute $85,000 to Jindal;

• Lonnie Pilgrim and Foster Farms of California made generous contributions to Jindal’s campaign and when Pilgrim’s Pride decided to close its chicken plan in Farmerville, it was Jindal put up $50 million of state money so that Foster Farms could take over the plant’s operations;

• Former State Rep. Noble Ellington, he of the ALEC national presidency, did not run for re-election last fall after 24 years in the legislature but he did have the presence of mind to contribute to Jindal’s campaign. Upon leaving office, he settled comfortably into a $150,000 position in the Department of Insurance;

• Former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor but hedged his bets by contributing a couple of thousand to Jindal and another thousand to the Republican Party. He now serves as Jindal’s $165,000 Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP);

• Former St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro (who lost his re-election bid) contributed $2,000 to Jindal’s choice for lieutenant governor William Nungesser and was appointed the new Director of Hazard Mitigation and Recovery (whatever that is) at $150,000 per year;

• Former State Rep. Kay Katz (R-Monroe) contributed $1,000 to Jindal and $3,000 to the Republican Party. She is now a member of the Louisiana Tax Commission at a salary of $56,000 per year;

• Former State Rep. Jane Smith (R-Bossier City), term limited, was by no means limited in her largesse. She gave $3,000 to Jindal, $2,500 to the ABC Pelican Political Action Committee (PAC), $1,000 to the AT&T PAC, $500 to the Health Agents PAC, $500 to the Louisiana Association of Wholesalers PAC, $1,000 to the Louisiana Realtors PAC, $500 to NORPAC and $2,500 to North PAC, a political action committee controlled by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Her reward? She was appointed Deputy Secretary in the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation at $107,500;

• Former Rep. Mert Smiley (R-St. Amant) did not seek re-election, choosing instead to run for Ascension Parish tax assessor. He was elected but won’t take office until later this year. He contributed $2,000 to the Republican Party and Jindal was grateful enough to appoint him to the part time position on the State Pardon Board at $36,000 per year;

• And, of course, there is the Stelly Plan. One of Jindal’s first acts was to repeal the plan despite warnings that it would cost the state $350 million the first year. His rationale was that the repeal would save single income tax filers up to $500 year on their state income tax and joint filers as much as $1,000. What he did not tell us was that single filers would have to make $90,000 to save the $500 and joint filers would have to pull in $150,000 to reap the $1,000 savings. Louisiana’s median household (that’s household, mind you) income was $43,635 in 2010.

And we haven’t even mentioned the 200 or so who contributed nearly $800,000 to Jindal’s campaigns and were rewarded with plum positions on choice state commissions and boards.

Nor have we mentioned Penny Dastugue’s actions just this past week. Dastugue, president of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), said she conferred with other BESE members and they would urge the Senate to reject the House decision to strip a provision that allows future state funds to pay college tuition for students who graduate early.

What’s wrong with that, you ask? Well, for starters, it is strictly forbidden (as in illegal) to take a straw vote outside of a public meeting.

And finally, there is the little matter of vouchers. The ink had not even dried on Jindal’s signature enacting the voucher law when the Department of Education was rocked with its very first voucher scandal. The New Living Word School in Ruston was approved for 315 vouchers worth about $2.7 million.

The school does not have classroom space, teachers, or computers to accommodate the students but the school’s principal, Rev. Jerry Baldwin, said the school is moving forward “on faith.” Apparently that was the only criteria considered by the department in awarding the vouchers.

Oh, and lest we forget, there’s that matter of a $2,500 ethics fine that Jindal paid less than a month after taking office in 2008 for campaign violations when his campaign failed to timely disclose more than $100,000 spent on his behalf by the state Republican Party.

Could these be the prime examples of Jindal “good government” to which Mr. Teepell alluded?