A group of retired state troopers has sent a letter to State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson pointing out inconsistencies in Edmonson’s version of events surrounding the amendment to a Senate bill that bumped his retirement income up by $55,000 per year while at the same time, calling on Edmonson to demand that the Louisiana State Police Retirement System (LSPRS) board take “immediate action to legally enjoin Act 859 and further seek a ruling on this unconstitutional law.”
In their letter, the retired troopers even dropped a thinly-veiled hint that they would file legal action to have the new law declared unconstitutional in the event that Edmonson and the LSPRS board do not take it upon themselves to have the new law stricken.
At the same time, LouisianaVoice has obtained records which reveal that four state police officers closely affiliated with Edmonson have enjoyed rapid advancement through the ranks and have been rewarded with combined pay raises totaling more than $115,000 (an average of $28,750 each) in the 6 ½ years since Edmonson was appointed superintendent on Jan. 14, 2007, the same day Bobby Jindal was sworn in as governor.
Those increases came during a time that covered a five-year span in which merit pay increases were suspended and state civil service employees had their salaries frozen.
The four state troopers’ pay raises, it should be pointed out, were for promotions and not merit increases and do not include the $42 million appropriated this year by the legislature for pay raises for all state troopers.
Senate Bill 294, which became Act 859 when Jindal signed the bill into law, was authored by Sen. Jean-Paul Morrell (D-New Orleans) and dealt specifically with disciplinary procedures to be taken in cases in which law enforcement officers came under investigation. The bill was never properly advertised as a retirement bill as required by the State Constitution.
That’s because the bill in its original form did not address retirement issues but when it was referred to a conference committee of three senators and three representatives, conference committee member Sen. Neil Riser (R-Columbia) inserted what has come to be known as the “Edmonson Amendment” because it allowed Edmonson and one other trooper to rescind their decisions to enter the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) which had frozen Edmonson’s retirement at 100 percent of his captain’s pay grade of $79,000 and instead allows him to retire at 100 percent of his current colonel’s salary of $134,000.
All other troopers, teachers, and state employees who entered DROP years ago and subsequently received promotions or pay raises do not have that option available to them and still have their retirements frozen at the pay level at the time they entered DROP.
LouisianaVoice recently received a series of emails from State Police headquarters through a public records request that revealed that Capt. Jason Starnes, while questioning the motives of LouisianaVoice reporter Robert Burns in attending last month’s LSTRS board meeting, also issued a laundry list of talking points as a response to the controversy arising from the Edmonson Amendment.
Starnes was a state police sergeant in 2007 but on Feb. 3, 2009, he was promoted to lieutenant. Less than four years later, on Oct. 19, 2012, he was again promoted, this time to captain. Over that period of time, his salary has gone from $59,800 to $81,250, an increase of nearly 36 percent.
And then there is Paul Edmonson, Mike Edmonson’s brother. He has done even better than Starnes.
A state police sergeant when his brother was named superintendent, Paul Edmonson was promoted to lieutenant on July 25, 2008, just six months after his brother was appointed superintendent by Jindal. He was promoted again on Sept. 7, 2011, to captain and again just two years later, on Oct. 9, 2013, to major.
During his brother’s tenure as superintendent, Paul Edmonson has seen his salary jump from $63,500 per year to $93,000, an increase of 46 percent.
But even that pales in comparison to Edmonson’s Chief of Staff, Assistant Superintendent Charles Dupuy.
Dupuy was already a captain when Mike Edmonson was appointed superintendent and was promoted to major on Jan. 28, 2010—two years after Edmonson’s appointment. But less than a year later, on Jan. 10, 2011, Edmonson moved him up to Deputy Superintendent for Operations Planning and Training.
Edmonson kept Dupuy on the career fast track, promoting him again on April 9, 2012, to Assistant Superintendent and Chief of Staff.
Over that span, Dupuy’s salary went from $80,000 to $122,000, an increase of 52.5 percent.
Dupuy’s wife, Kelly Dupuy, even has gone along for the ride. A state police sergeant making $59,800 a year when Mike Edmonson was appointed superintendent, her acceleration through the ranks in a relative short time has been equally impressive. She was promoted to lieutenant on Oct. 27, 2009, just three months before her husband was promoted to major. She made captain last Oct. 25 and now earns $80,500, an overall salary increase of nearly 35 percent.
Moreover, the current positions held by Paul Edmonson and Kelly Dupuy did not exist before their respective promotions. The positions were created especially for them to be promoted into—which should go a long way in explaining why the state has nepotism regulations in place to govern such favoritism in the workplace.
Charles Dupuy, it should be noted, represents his boss on the LSPRS board and might seem predisposed to look the other way on the Edmonson Amendment issue. Others who might be expected to take a similar “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” approach to the amendment are Andrea Hubbard who represents Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols and State Sen. Elbert Guillory (R/D/R-Opelousas), chairman of the Senate Retirement Committee. State Rep. Kevin Pearson is chairman of the House Retirement Committee but has expressed surprise at the content of the Edmonson Amendment. Other unknown qualities on the board are board Chairman Frank Besson, president of the Louisiana State Troopers Association, Kevin Marcel, vice chairman, and Thurman Miller of the Central State Troopers Coalition.
The retired troopers, in their letter to Edmonson said the perceived reluctance on the part of the LSPRS board to act on the amendment is “seriously eroding the public’s confidence in the integrity of the state police.”
“That is unfortunate because Louisiana state police troopers are dedicated and professional men and women who risk their lives every day in service to the citizens. They deserve better than this and we demand better on their behalf,” the letter said.
“We look to you (Edmonson) to resolve this but make no mistake, we will not allow this unconstitutional and damaging law to stand until we have availed ourselves of all options and all avenues have been pursued. We feel it does no good to the long history of honor and integrity of the Louisiana state police for us to have to resolve this instead of the legislature, the LSPRS board, or you. But know this: we will support and protect the other retirees, surviving spouses and orphans as well as the citizens of this state, as we once took an oath to do, by any legal means at our disposal.”
Here is the complete text of the retired troopers’ letter to Edmonson:
Colonel:
There is much attention on and discussion of anticipated action by the LSPRS regarding legislation passed during the recent (2014) session of the Louisiana Legislature. We specifically refer to Senate Bill 294, now Act 859. While there are still unanswered questions regarding when and how the amendment evolved, and who the participants were, what is clear is this bill as amended provides for you and one other Trooper to now revoke a previously irrevocable decision to enter the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). The effect of this change increases substantially your retirement benefits, and most disturbing, the funding for it is from the same fund that provides cost of living adjustments (COLA) to state police retirees, surviving spouses, and orphans.
You have been quoted in various reports as saying you “didn’t ask for the change to state law” and you “didn’t know who initiated it.” Later that same day you revised your statement to say you “did not request the change”, but your “staff” told you there was legislation available that would ‘fix not only you but other members,” (We would find out two weeks later from State Senator Neil Riser, who had mounting pressure from media investigations that he “was asked by Louisiana State Police Deputy Superintendent Charlie Dupuy to offer the amendment, which became part of a bill to address rights of law enforcement officers. It was presented to me as addressing broad retirement issues”.) If, as you and Senator Riser have publicly stated, Dupuy provided false information, what he has done is at best unethical and possibly illegal.
You have also said, “Let’s let the board review it and make sure things are the way they should be, if not, let’s correct it.” A little over a week after your initial comments you issued a statement, “…regardless of what comes back from the review by the attorneys for the retirement committee, I’m going to follow my heart and not accept it…” noting that you want to let the legislature review it next session based on any proper protocol.” Contrary to erroneous briefing points provided to you by Captain Jason Starnes, as reported in the media, this bill was not advertised as a retirement bill. It does not meet constitutional requirements; the same Constitution you have sworn to uphold, therefore things ARE NOT “as they should be.”
Every legislator that has commented on this issue has said they were unaware of what they had voted for and expressed concern and outrage that the true facts and impacts of the bill were hidden from them. Some have vowed to introduce changes to ensure in the future, this process is transparent. Additionally, several attorneys familiar with federal and state retirement laws and court rulings have agreed this is blatantly unconstitutional and suggested that the unintended consequences of this bill as it remains today could likely lead to a class action suit by all other state retirees who had the same decision as you regarding DROP, under federal equal protection guidelines.
If they should prevail, the results would be catastrophic for all state retirement systems and detrimental to the state’s credit rating. This would in turn ensure significant impact on the citizens of Louisiana with most likely drastic cuts in public services and higher education along with tax increases. In the face of all this, Colonel, it is being reported, and we have been told that the LSPRS may not be planning to conduct a meeting to hear the results of the investigation and take action.
Other reports concern us in that board members who work for or contract with the department are purportedly being pressured by your “staff” to be loyal to you at all costs. In your statements, you encouraged an investigation, and further declared you would not accept the benefits provided for in this legislation. Therefore we don’t understand why action by the board would be of concern to you or your staff unless your intent is other than you’ve stated. In fact based on your previous statements it would appear that board action to challenge and enjoin legally this unconstitutional, ill-conceived and poorly thought out law is consistent with what you have said publicly and is in the best interests of the other state police retirees and all citizens of Louisiana.
This matter and the subsequent actions surrounding this law are seriously eroding the public’s confidence in the integrity of state police. This affects not only department trust from the legislators, essential to the future success of state police, but also the trust of the public that reflects on every trooper who puts on that uniform and badge each day. That is unfortunate because Louisiana state police troopers are dedicated and professional men and women who risk their lives every day in service to the citizens. They deserve better than this and we demand better on their behalf.
Colonel Edmonson, you have said this is a distraction to our troopers. We agree and therefore call on you to openly and publicly demand the Louisiana State Police Retirement System Board take immediate action to legally enjoin Act 859 and further seek a ruling on this unconstitutional law.
If your intent is to pursue this openly next year in the legislature, this action will clear the air for that to occur in an open forum without the hint of impropriety. You know that should Act 859 remain as law, the legislature could simply not act next year, or should some change occur (even not of your own making) to require you to retire before you plan, the law as passed is binding on the LSPRS and on you. To ignore this subjects the state to liability.
We look to you to resolve this but make no mistake, we will not allow this unconstitutional and damaging law to stand until we have availed ourselves of all options and all avenues have been pursued. We feel it does no good to the long history of honor and integrity of the Louisiana state police for us to have to resolve this instead of the legislature, the LSPRS board, or you. But know this: we will support and protect the other retirees, surviving spouses and orphans as well as the citizens of this state, as we once took an oath to do, by any legal means at our disposal.
Louisiana Voice 
TA: I disagree that the retired troopers’ letter contained a “thinly veiled hint” I don’t think it was “thinly veiled” at all… hope the follow through goes well…
I sincerely pray that these retired troopers can get through the murky mud that these six legislators along with the office of the chief requiring workers to support their leader who is suppose to be creditable and honest yet has shown his True Colors of GREEN greed. Most people would be satisfied with just being able to have the increase in pay for eight years, retire and be content with the blessing given to them. Greed is something most of us have seen in state government. It tends to go to ones head and the funny part is they become more greedy and power hungry. Never satisfied and always thinking up a scram to get more. When you have jindal to help you by signing off on something like this you know there is a reason. A hidden agenda perhaps or a secret that should not be exposed to the public. Whatever caused an employee to come up with this idea should think of ways to save the State money, not illegal tricks to spend money. What would their agenda be next time not saving a state so deep in debt they allow a company from China to build in Louisiana!!! So much going on in my mind I can’t put it all down. Tom please edit this so I don’t get thrown into jail for stating my beliefs.
Another well researched and clearly presented article. As a Retired State Trooper, I completely agree with the letter they have written. I get calls daily from other Retired Troopers who are as embarrassed as I am. I feel for the Troopers still on, who must see the public daily and can’t hide behind canned phrases that just get repeated and have no real meaning or value. I saw a report on one of the New Orleans TV stations tonight and instead of addressing what they posed to him about telling his 4 active troopers on the board, (not counting the position he holds) they should proceed with a meeting and take action, he repeats that he supports an investigation. Their investigation means nothing if they won’t allow a meeting to hear the attorney recommendations and proposed action. If he really meant he wouldn’t take the money, why does it matter if this law goes away. That’s politician speak for “maybe I can drag this out far enough that no one will remember and I can still get the money.” Someone needs to saddle up and require a direct answer to a direct question. Just like the House Speaker saying no investigation is needed by them because it was a Senate bill. Well you had 3 of 6 people in the Conference Committee approve it and your House was deceived by the presenter when your House approved it. I’m just amazed that all these politicians who were deceived and lied to don’t really care. Sounds like Transparency isn’t working out to well for the “Governor who would be President.” Typical politician, all talk, no action. And Edmonson isn’t concerned that according to his story, apparently his Chief of Staff gave him false information, and according to Riser, Dupuy also misled him? Nobody at the Capitol minds being made a fool of? Maybe the stories aren’t true…. Maybe they are just covering for each other. I’m still betting Jindal’s office was involved. Just my opinion. I am also surprised at the promotions and how they all tie together. If some of this isn’t Nepotism, I’m not sure what would be. Thanks for staying on this, Tom. I’m sure by now they just want it to go away. Doesn’t appear like it will from where I view it. This sounds more like the Obama group every day.
Jerry—you called it by the right name…Nepotism augmented by cronyism. Ever since Terry Landry gutted the LSP senior leadership training there seems to be too few who qualify to be a double hatted superintendent of LSP and the appointing authority of Public Safety. Perhaps the leges should consider breaking up this cabal and putting a civilian over Public Safety (the agency does handle over $2B in collections). Another option is to eliminate the requirement put in by Col. Thibodeaux in the 70’s that the head of state police come from the ranks. The leges certainly have a good model of what NOT to do….!! What say you?
Completely agree, Nancy This position is too large and encompassing to be handled as it is. Sometimes it is the lesser of several evils…based on political connection either directly with the Governor or with an agency the Governor looks to appease for other reasons. Just being a good policeman and climbing the internal supervision, management ladder without skill specific administrative training is a recipe for disaster for an agency with the scope and reach of Public Safety/ State Police. It would be hard to find one of our own who has not only had a career in State Police but also the Business and Management training required. While an officer may rise to understand and implement strategies for effectiveness in carrying out the agencies mission, knowledge of the deeper issues such as efficiency of mission, acquisition and planning within available budgets and how that integrates into the overall mission of the agency is usually missing. While there are exceptions with individuals, it would be the exception rather than the rule to find someone with all the qualities to oversee an agency like Public Safety/ State Police. There are no existing training or development strategies employed that would bring these people to the top and ensure they have sufficient knowledge and abilities to ensure organizational success. The skills/ strategies to rise in our organization usually have nothing to do with management ability and more with political connection. Things complicating effectiveness of the Organization are things like Budget and Strategic Planning. These tasks are done within the individual environment by those officers who mean well, but who don’t have the necessary understanding of or access to integration of diverse strategies necessary for overall mission success within budget limitations and political environments that are part of any current large agency, especially one with the scope of ours. Acquisition of resources—men/women, equipment, and supplies—are usually accomplished as a reaction to existing or past need rather than anticipation of future needs to accomplish dynamic changes forced by society and political climates. Sometimes these departmental changes are a part of compromise that renders the addition useless to accomplish the goals required for success. These usually languish as failures and are then incorporated elsewhere where there are more sufficient resources to accomplish the tasks. What is needed is real training (not seminars) that ensure understanding by all rank levels and encompass Budget and Planning as part of an integrated process. Currently, each disparate section tries to react to the other, where each is limited in vision and scope to their specific area of knowledge. Maybe we’ll have this opportunity with a new administration. My experience with our present Governor is that before he enters a room he is already convinced he will be the smartest person and will have all the good ideas. I’ve always found that the best ideas are those that are part of a collaborative process. Listening to others will always do one of two things. As they provide their perspective and information, you will either realize you have thought of the same options and reviewed the same information and this will fortify your confidence in your decision, or you will hear information or options not already known to you, consider them, and incorporate them into your plan and make it a better one than it was before. Jindal doesn’t seem to have that ability. He is stuck on “I know it all so why listen.” Nobody is an expert on everything and smart people listen more often than they talk. I’ve noticed Jindal talks a lot….
Agreed. Your understanding of the internal challenges beyond the law enforcement profession qualifies you to lead more than the top tier in place today! The slow boil “Sherification” of State Police may leave the agency as a mere “State Patrol” at this rate!
What do you mean by civilian? Last time I looked ALL State Troopers were civilians as well. Did y’all all join the armed services? If so, I missed that memo.
It is a term in state and local governments used to distinguish “commissioned officers” from “non-commissioned personnel” and from the citizens they serve. No military comparison is intended. What Nancy W correctly pointed out is State Law was created many years back to require the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Safety/ State Police Superintendent to come from those commissioned officers of Louisiana State Police current or past. Those are actually two different jobs. under the Cabinet Position of Department of Public Safety & Corrections for which there is a Secretary. They have simply been combined and given the status of a cabinet level position not reporting to the Secretary but directly to the Governor. In most occurrences of State Government the Deputy Secretary would report to the Secretary and be more of an Administrator rather than exhibiting Operational control as the Superintendent would and report to the Deputy Secretary. The administrative role of the Deputy Secretary would be to oversee Budgeting, Planning, Finance, etc, that are commonly done by those with that type oversight experience. In current practice the State police Superintendent wears both hats, overseeing those administrative functions of the Deputy Secretary with one hat, and Operational functions as Superintendent reporting to himself essentially with the other hat. To successfully perform that range of responsibility requires not only a good administrator but also a strong team. Nancy’s point was that you narrow the pool of quality individuals with the experience, training, and ability to do both jobs and often, as is the current case, the pool was empty. Poor leaders surround themselves with other poor leaders by transfer and promotion until the top of a poorly run organization has no talent at the top so that as the next administration comes on board they find the same pool conditions. The position is appointed by the Governor, not based on stellar talent or ability, but on political connections, as in this case, the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association was one of the most powerful interests driving this decision. Under the best of circumstances, it would be very challenging to perform both jobs. These were not the best of circumstances and won’t be for some time.
Great post, Tom. After this post, I think we can all now better see why the unfunded accrued liability (UAL) increased from $198M @ 6/30/08 to $323M @ 6/30/14. All these raises drastically increase the pension amounts, yet for years the contributions by the troopers were at much lower salaries and the State doesn’t cut a check for its share. That’s a recipe for profoundly negative impacts on the UAL. I’m not sure how Edmondson could say on Jim Engster’s show that the “State Police retirement system is in sound financial condition.” Given the two UAL figures above (with the lower one being when the market was tanking and the higher one when it’s hitting new highs — one would expect it to be the other way around), the system is ANYTHING BUT on sound financial footing. How ANYONE can say that it’s sound, with 922 active troopers and $323 million in unfunded liabilities on the pension plan (representing an astounding $350,000 per trooper), is beyond me!!!
Lastly, I’m sure everyone read Mr. Forgotston’s post yesterday wherein he itemized the five (5) board members who are solidly defying holding a meeting to discuss the matter at all. Once I read his post, I was disheartened and decided to call Go Daddy and find out if the domain “LSP rip off” was available. It was. Accordingly, I purchased it for two years. I then transferred the webpage previously on auctioneer.org to the new website, and even the most recent letters are all readily available to click on and download (as are the names of the “gang of five” and all the applicable names and emails for folk to send correspondence to — just see August 7, 2014 entry). The whole website is a chronological itemization of all that’s happened in this scandal current through today, and it will be kept current as future developments arise. The URL is now VERY easy to remember, so that will enable anyone to easily pull it up (from mere memory) or tell others about it so they can get “up to speed” easily. Just remember, it’s LSP, followed by what Mr. Forgotston has repeatedly referred to this whole scandal as (a “rip off”).
http://www.lspripoff.com
Jerry’s right. They all want this to just die. Let’s all work together to ensure it doesn’t!!
Love your website. Any way to sign up to get updates
Hi Nola!! Thanks for the kind words and, based on your request, I added an option for anyone who so desires to be alerted of updates. It’s at the very top of the homepage right below the broom photo.
Feel free to be the first to test it out (after my test, of course ).
http://www.lspripoff.com
Here’s a copy & paste of an email I’m sending out in waves of 40-50 recipients per day for the next 35-40 days or so (Jerry, I tweaked it a tad after some feedback from a couple of friends):
Subject: Jindal’s Latest Corruption Train Stop: Louisiana State Police (LSP)
From: “Robert Burns”
Date: Sat, Aug 09, 2014 12:41 am
Good Morning:
Remember the Good Government Train (GGT) a young Bobby Jindal promised in the 2007 gubernatorial campaign? It was designed to provide the equivalent of fresh water at its destinations via transparency, ethics, and a “zero tolerance” corruption policy. What we’ve gotten instead of fresh water (transparency, ethics, etc.) has been a Jindal Corruption Trail (JCT) which has dumped toxic poisons (corruption, cronyism, nepotism, etc.) upon our citizens.
The JCT has repeatedly barreled over the Louisiana Constitution demonstrating its absolute reckless disregard for same as it flies down the tracks. Thereby, the JCT has mainly enriched lawyers who have to fight the JCT’s reckless operation. As if that’s not bad enough, some crewmembers of the JCT hop off (Jimmy Faircloth comes to mind) to defend the JCT in court after having been a key part of the reckless JCT operations in the first place!!
JCT’s latest stop? Louisiana State Police (LSP), where JCT offloaded yet more toxic poison. JCT’s goal at this stop was rewarding a loyal crew member, State Police Col. Mike Edmondson, who is one of the VERY few (if not maybe the only one) who has been on the JCT since it first pulled out of the station. The JCT sought to reward Col. Edmondson with a $55,000/year boost to his retirement pension. The JCT sought to do this through a stealth (i.e. nontransparent) amendment which (again) demonstrated reckless disregard for Louisiana’s Constitution (unethical and illegal) to an unrelated bill literally in the dark of night right before the JCT pushed off to its next destination for offloading more toxic poison.
Learn much more about the latest JCT corruption stop (which will be updated for as long as the JCT stays parked at LSP headquarters on Independence Boulevard in Baton Rouge) at the following website:
http://www.lspripoff.com
Thanks, have a great weekend, and be sure and look both ways if approaching a railroad track in the State of Louisiana!! The JCT has been known to release toxins even when in route to its next corruption destination.
Robert…superlative effort all around. Your website is awesome. How about allowing a blog post sequence like we are doing here?
Glad you are keeping the flames under the Governor’s Office here, since the real problem starts at the top…what is the quality of the people that have been appointed to this administration?
Excellent article! Thank you for not letting this issue go away. This info needs to be as widely disseminated as possible.
Thank you, Tom! And thank you, retired troopers!
If my understanding and memory of how state retirement benefits work I do not think you can “refuse to accept the benefits” that the “system” computes you are due based on the existing rules, regulations and statutes. To simply say you would not accept them is at best meaningless if not disingenuous (especially for someone who should be very well versed in them as the result of leading such a large group of state employees) because once computed and set by the system they are sent to the retiree. I know of no provision that exists to allow a retiree to reject the payments. Excellent post. My take is they, i.e. the whole cabal is waiting and hoping that this just blows over and that people forget. Each day that passes, I would argue, makes that more likely.