Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Director Troy Hebert, one of those former legislators to whom Piyush Jindal appointed to a six-figure state job, made a big production this week of his so-called “audit” of personal use of state cell phones by agents working under him.
Hebert, of Jeanerette, resigned from the State Senate in November of 2010 to accept the appointment as ATC director at $107,000 per year and has conducted a reign of terror in the ensuing two years.
While Hebert claims that only a half-dozen or so employees have left his agency, a survey by LouisianaVoice learned that the number was closer to 50. Some of those were fired only days after being hired by Hebert while others quit out of disgust.
Hebert obviously considers his status in more grandiose terms than most elected officials, much less appointed department heads, though there are rumors floating around that he considers himself as a potential candidate for governor.
Though he is merely a mid-level department head, he nevertheless requires his employees to stand when he enters a room and to address him with a cheery, “Good morning, Commissioner.”
Such courtesy is normally extended only to heads of state, not obscure state bureaucratic appointees.
This is the same guy who expresses such indignation at his employees’ use of state cell phones for personal calls who thought nothing of blowing a couple of thousand on low-profile, 22-inch rims for his state vehicle.
This is the same guy who, though he has zero training as a law enforcement official, demanded—and got—emergency lights installed on his state vehicle so he could play cop.
This is the guy who suspended an employee after her physician refused to provide weekly status reports despite the physician’s prior written certification that she was physically unable to work.
This is the same administrator who more than once transferred an employee from one end of the state to the other with as little as two days’ notice.
This is the same agency head who directed an agent to return to uniform status and to re-enter a New Orleans bar for inspections—after that same agent had purchased drugs during an undercover investigation in that same establishment—a directive that might well have served as the agent’s death sentence had things gone badly.
And this is the same guy who made a big production a few months back over a $10,000 expenditure to purchase and train a “synthetic drug-sniffing canine.”
“ATC Commissioner Troy Hebert says (the) new canine will be a great asset when it comes to detecting synthetic marijuana,” the news release said. ‘“It’s a very, very dangerous substance,’ said Hebert. ‘We think this new addition’s going to help us with some of that.’”
The only problem is, the “certificate of certification” from the National Police Canine Association in Waddell, Arizona, dated Nov. 2, certifies the new dog only for marijuana and cocaine, not synthetic drugs.
There’s a reason for that: synthetic marijuana is virtually impossible to detect reliably because the chemical ingredients of synthetic drugs is constantly changing, meaning there is no reliably consistent pattern for animals to learn.
LouisianaVoice earlier reported his propensity to fire employees with little or no reason and that he has settled a couple of discrimination lawsuits brought by former employees.
Hebert fits right into the Piyush Jindal mold of arrogance that permeates this entire administration, from cabinet members who refuse to divulge the identities of contract winners to administrators who refuse to provide reports to legislative committees to the governor himself, who ignores requests for information.
But back to those state cell phones.
ATC agents are often away from home for stretches of 12 hours or longer and upon their hiring, Hebert informs agents that as long as they handle ATC business, they may use their state phones for personal calls.
There you have it. It’s policy.
And now Hebert is trying to come off as a diligent agency head hell bent on keeping recalcitrant employees in line. This from a guy who consistently disregards civil service rules and regulations and gets himself backed into EEO corners that cost the state thousands upon thousands of dollars in payments to former employees and legal fees.
You do not tell your employees it’s permissible to use state cell phones for personal calls and then throw them under the bus for purposes of painting yourself as the noble guardian of the public trust—especially when your own motives are called into question.
The bottom line appears to be that he is setting up a few agents to persecute through a complicit news media at Press Release Central who simply takes press handouts and runs them with no questions asked.
There can be only one explanation for such action: he hopes to deflect criticism of his own administrative actions and misdeeds by tagging his subordinates with perceived wrongdoing.
To that end, he fits right in with this administration.
Louisiana Voice 
WOW!! What a leader…
Implying or threatening that someone will be fired, demoted, denied privileges, or given undesirable assignments-–-these are examples of using “Coercive Power”.
WOW!! What a leader…
The media doesn’t have to go looking for a leader that tattle tales on their agency when they get wind of wrong doings because that leader realizes that if he runs to the media first and the media likes him, the public will be more prepared to perform favors for him—these are examples of using “Reward Power”.
WOW!! What a leader…
You can’t help but wonder if this type of leader is setting up his subordinates for failure for his own personal gain….
WOW!! What a leader…
I often wonder what has happened to the major newspapers in this state. There was a time when reporters were not mouthpieces for the government. Is it, in fact, a free press or has Jindal bought influence within the fourth estate, too.
Jindal’s administration is full of these ignorant agency heads. Some are appointees only have high school diplomas, but are over state agencies. They violate civil service rules in order to carry out their authoritative missions against state employees. Civil service even instructs them on how to violate the very rules they are supposed to uphold and protect the employees with. Yes, an investigation should be done to see how many EEOC complaints and lawsuits have been filed against the state.
Based on my experience in state government, there is little middle ground in the management departments and agencies, i. e., there are few real managers because the chain of accountability is often broken at all levels. Mr. Hebert is obviously at one end of the spectrum. At the opposite end are those who actually do nothing to manage anything, sometimes out of fear of reprisal, sometimes because it is just easier. Based on my experience in the private sector, there is an intangible specter that was not present in state government in the past – the realization that you either tow the company line or you leave. Despite best efforts to implement sound management in state government, nothing has worked so far. Although there are inherent differences in the private and public sectors, bad management knows no boundaries. The difference is the proverbial bottom-line. If it is not where it should be in the private sector, the manager is gone.
Thanks again Tom for reporting what the press in Baton Rouge will not. Midnight 2 is right on about civil service. This administration has removed all checks and balances and/or itimidated whole agencies responsible for oversight of these “public servants”. Look at the OIG’S office and what happened last session. They were stripped of their operating budget and then right before the session ended, they were spared. Do you think they will go out and conduct investigations into the wrongdoing of any of Jindals’ chosen? I think not!!! Hebert has rehired an employee who’s only job is to go out and politic for him. I thought as a classified employee that was forbidden. I didn’t realize either that you could build a mansion on the LSU lakes on state time. I also didn’t know that you could receive an extra $10,000.00 in pay for not driving a state issued vehicle but then drive a new Tahoe with blue lights, siren and $2,300.00 dollar rims and tires that were purchased with a fuel card and then the cost buried in the maintenance cost when the monthly report was submitted to the LA Department of Revenue. I also didn’t know that you could pull up to the back of the ATC parking garage, hook up to a state owned utility trailer before workers began arriving to work then race off with it hooked to your personal vehicle and use it to haul supplies for that mansion you are building on state time. The press in Baton Rouge knows of some of these if not all of them and more examples like those above but do you see them reporting on those things? You let them get a report of some small town public official doing things like evil little Hebert has done and bam, they have surveillance video of them caught in the act on the 6:00 news. Evil little Hebert will continue to attack ATC employees so that when one day he is exposed, he can say that it’s because he fought against those corrupt employees. What a crock!
I gotta comment after hearing Wayne Lepriere pric NRA and thinking that Hebert has a gun and red lights.,The Conservatives or Republicans need mental health counseling. It won’t do any good. Didn’t Hebert once while a legislator lobby for Alcohol businesses, now he regulates them? As for as his administrative abilities, is right on with the rest of Jindal appointees…ron
And this is just ONE of the clowns Jindal has appointed!
I wonder what shenannigans the others are up to?
Good responses from Dedicated and everyone else; does he have an issued state cellphone and if he does how many minutes has he used for his own private business or personal use? Does he have a GPS in his state issued vehicle if he does I wonder if he travels all over conducting private business? Sure he’s a top official and should get something as a Commissioner but he should not be exempt from the very rules that he places upon his employees. “Do what I say, not as I do”. That type old school leadership is gone!!!!