State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson did a sudden about-face, the Louisiana State Police Retirement System (LSPRS) Board was unanimous in its decision to allow board member and State Treasurer John Kennedy sue the board, and before the board could adjourn, State Sen. and 6th District Congressional candidate Dan Claitor filed his own lawsuit but Kennedy said he would go forward with his litigation anyway.
Just another day in the soap opera we know as Louisiana state government.
And it could only happen in Louisiana.
The LSPRS Board was meeting to wrestle with the problem of Act 859 which started out as Senate Bill 294 by State Sen. Jean-Paul Morrell (D-New Orleans), a bill ostensibly dealing with police officer disciplinary matters but which morphed into what retired state trooper Robert Landry described as an “underhanded, unethical, unconstitutional” amendment giving Edmonson an extra $55,000 per year in retirement income.
Special legal counsel Robert Klausner, a renowned pension system authority from Florida, advised the board that it had no legal standing to file suit in an attempt to have the new law declared unconstitutional but added almost parenthetically that any citizen of Louisiana could file suit.
“Could I file?” Kennedy asked. “I’m a taxpayer.”
Klausner said that Kennedy could indeed initiate litigation and if the board failed to defend it, legal expenses would be minimal and the matter could be settled once and for all as opposed to waiting to see if the legislature would repeal the act next year and if Gov. Bobby Jindal would sign such a bill.
While the board was tossing the issue back and forth and speculating whether or not Attorney General Buddy Caldwell would take it upon himself to defend such a suit should the board refuse to, Claitor left the meeting and apparently called his attorney to instruct him to file suit on behalf of Claitor.
Earlier, Claitor had spoken to the board, saying that passage of the Edmonson Amendment was not open or transparent. “It was an unconstitutional act because it was not published in advance, and was not germane to retirement issue. “I would ask that you exercise your fiduciary duty,” he said. Apologizing for having voted for the amendment because he was told that conference committee had addressed his earlier concerns about police disciplinary matters, he said, “I’m sorry to ask you to clean up this mess.”
The “mess” occurred when State Sen. Neil Riser, a member of the conference committee composed of three members each from the House and Senate, inserted the crucial language that gave Edmonson his financial windfall.
Basically, the amendment allowed Edmonson to revoke his decision years ago to enter into the state’s Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) which froze his retirement at 100 percent of his captain’s salary of $79,000. The revocation would have allowed him to instead retire at 100 percent of his $134,000 colonel’s salary.
LSPRS actuary Charles Hall told the board that the upfront cost of fully funding the benefits at their present, or discounted, value would be a $359,000 investment to cover the increased benefits for Edmonson and a Houma trooper who also happened to qualify under language of the amendment. That amount is $59,000 more than the original $300,000 estimated cost provided three days after the amendment’s passage. Kennedy pointed out that the actual cost would be in excess of a million dollars and he asked Hall to provide him with a computation of those figures.
Hall said he received a request to “call a trooper to discuss a bill” on the Friday before the Monday, June 2 adjournment of the legislature.
He said it became clear in his conversation with the state trooper that “they wanted to introduce an amendment to enhance (Edmonson’s) benefits.”
After a few routine questions, Kennedy asked Hall if he knew the name of the trooper whom he was asked to call and to whom he subsequently talked.
“Charles Dupuy,” Hall answered.
Dupuy is Edmonson’s Chief of Staff who has benefitted from a 52 percent increase, from $80,500 to $122,200, since Edmonson’s appointment as State Police Superintendent by Gov. Bobby Jindal in January of 2008. Dupuy’s wife, Kelly Dupuy, also has received increases in salary, from $65,000 to $80,600.
It was the first time that anyone has officially identified Dupuy as the source of the Edmonson Amendment.
Dupuy, a member of the LSPRS Board, was not in attendance at Thursday’s board meeting.
Riser, who first denied any involvement with introducing the amendment during the conference committee meeting in June but later admitted his complicity but said he did not realize it would benefit only two people.
Hall, however, in speaking to the board on Thursday cast doubt on that part of Riser’s story as well when he said it was believed that the amendment would affect only one person—Edmonson.
“This act has hurt the reputation of the state,” Kennedy said. “Someone pushed hard for this law. If I sue and the attorney general decides to defend it, I will begin taking depositions. I will send out subpoenas and we will find out who was behind this.”
Kennedy said he would foot the cost of the litigation which he said would be minimal provided the attorney general does not opt to defend the law.
The board, which had been seen as heavily stacked with Edmonson and Jindal loyalists, had been expected to display reluctance to go against the two. Instead, board members were unanimous in authorizing Kennedy to proceed with personal litigation in his “individual capacity.”
But even as Kennedy was making his offer, Claitor was already setting in motion his own litigation which he obviously had instructed Baton Rouge attorney Jack Whitehead to prepare and to stand by to file with the 19th JDC clerk’s office.
In fact, Whitehead even prepared a press release to accompany Claitor’s lawsuit, making it obvious that Claitor had planned the move well in advance of the board meeting.
Claitor, in his petition, asked the court to find Act 859 unconstitutional on four grounds:
- Act 859 failed to meet the “one object” requirement of the Louisiana State Constitution;
- The act did not meet the germaneness requirement of the state constitution;
- No public notice was provided as required by the constitution for retirement-related legislation and the bill itself never indicated proper notice was given, also in violation of the constitution;
- The source of funding for the increased benefit is the LSPRS “Employment Experience Account,” which is reserved as the source of future cost of living benefits and payments toward the system’s unfunded accrued liability.
To read the full text of Claitor’s litigation, click here: Press Release Letter & Petition
Baton Rouge Judge Janice Clark issued a temporary restraining order until she can hold a hearing on Sept. 16. To read her order, click here: CLAITOR VS LSP
The real kicker came when a two-page letter from Edmonson to the board was read. In that letter, Edmonson said he fully supports assertions “from legislators and others that the bill should be repealed.”
Then, addressing board Chairman Frank Besson, Edmonson said, “Despite the special counsel’s (Klausner) recommendation, I would strongly urge that as chairman, you ask the board to authorize the system attorneys to file the necessary documents to obtain a final declaratory judgment on this amendment. That judgment will provide the necessary finality to this matter.”
That represents a complete 180 from Edmonson’s earlier admission that a “staffer” had originally approached him about the prospects of the amendment’s benefitting him and his instructions to proceed.
It was a move of necessity brought on by a groundswell of sentiment against the amendment by retired state troopers which forced Edmonson to have a change of heart in an effort to save face and to avoid further embarrassment to his boss, Gov. Jindal. Because make no mistake, he wanted that money and Dupuy, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, did not take this upon himself as a solo act. It’s pretty obvious that Dupuy initiated the amendment at the direction of his boss who in turn had the blessings from the Fourth Floor and Riser was simply the instrument by which the amendment was inserted. That makes Jindal, Riser, Edmonson and Dupuy all complicit in a devious little scheme to reward Edmonson at the expense of every other state employee, including state troopers and retirees across the board.
That’s the way this governor and his band of sycophants work.
To read Edmonson’s letter, click here: EDMONSON LETTER
Kennedy, when told after the meeting adjourned of Claitor’s lawsuit, said, “That’s great. I’m glad. But I’m still moving forward with my own lawsuit. This is a bad law and it must be addressed.”
Louisiana Voice 
Where does this leave Jindal, who signed the bill? What’s his excuse?
Probably Iowa or New Hampshire in his pursuit of the elusive Holy Grail. Or maybe at Faux News HQ prepping to hurl insults at Obama or the GOP or maybe the people of Louisiana just because they’ll give him a platform. As far as the bill goes he’ll probably say he didn’t read it because some staffer told him it was good to go. One thing you can count on him not doing is accepting responsibility. This one is gonna be good.
Do our legislators have any idea how inept they appear (because they are) when after every single legislative sessions since Jindal took office there have been successful court challenges as to the constitutionality of laws they have passed at Jindal’s direction?
Well Tom you did it! You brought it to the attention of the people both private and pubic and helped in uncovering an injustice that flew under the radar of top newspapers,TV/Radio and/or AP reporters in the State of Louisiana. You can believe that in the future no one will trust any bill(s) and/or legislation(s) in this state without closer scrutiny of all, which is a good thing. Good job and thanks again. Let’s hope all parties now do the “right” thing.
Anyone that thinks this suit “won’t cost very much” hasn’t done battle with the Faircloth Group. Armed with unlimited AG funds, they will throw up motions to quash, motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, and any other tactic they can think of to delay, distract, and obstruct. The most unsuccessful litigator in Louisiana history will claim broad privileges that don’t exist just because he has been instructed to burn money and time. Half a million bucks and three years later, Jindal will have moved on to greener pastures and the only one that’s gotten screwed is the La. Taxpayer.
Thank you, Tom. And thanks to C.B. Forgotston, Treasurer Kennedy, and the retired troopers.
Thanks, Tom & thanks to John Kennedy, too.
High five to Tom for his great reporting! Can’t wait to see the final outcome. We all know there’s more dirt where this came from.
http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2014/09/04/state-police-leaders-pension-hike-challenged/15106625/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
Jindal claims the amendment is unconstitutional, hence; he didn’t know said amendment was put in place for just Edmonson! Jindal would have taxpayers believe he signed it before he read it? You would think Rhodes Scholars such as himself would read the “fine print” in such a controversial amendment! But for someone who has dismantled the State of Louisiana such as he has, and signed unconstitutional laws, we have to wonder, “where are the Feds”?
Indeed! Where ARE the Feds? Like Sriracha says above, we all know there’s more dirt where this came from. Let’s hope they have already begun and we just don’t know about it yet. What Jindal has done to this state is a lot worse than whatever former Virginia governor McDonnel did. For example, Jindal’s wife’s charity. I’m not saying there is proof it is illegal, but it sure has the appearance of being a scheme to enable legalized bribery. That’s just for starters.
I hope that Mr. Riser realizes that he should not aspire to future state service.
Many thanks to Treasurer Kennedy for his tenacity. Apparently, 2014 was a difficult session for our legislators.
How hard is it to do nothing except whatever you are told to do and then be able to blame your supreme leader when things go south, or use the excuse that you didn’t have time to read the things you were enacting that the rest of us have to live with? That’s the toughest over 2/3 of our legislators had it. Poor things. And, most of them will be re-elected because too many of their constituents neither know nor care what they do. It really must be rough.
It reminds me of the joke EWE is fond of telling about a visit he made to a country store while on the campaign trail. EWE walked in and said, “The 2 biggest problems in Louisiana are ignorance and apathy.” To which one of the old dudes sitting by the pot bellied stove replied, “Well, I don’t know and I don’t care.” Funny, but sad.
Good work, Tom. As a retired Trooper, I appreciate your efforts, as well as those of CB Forgotston, Lee Zurik, Robert Burns, and many of the other retired Troopers. I also commend Treasurer John Kennedy and Senator Dan Claitor for the courage they showed standing up for what is right. Without you breaking the story and the relentless pressure of all of the other participants, this travesty against the retirees and the citizens would have gone unnoticed.
I’ve seen many commending the Board for “taking action.” What action did they take? All they agreed to was not to argue for the law . Their own attorneys told them it was unconstitutional. Jeff Foxworthy had it as a question on his show and a 5th grader said it was unconstitutional. No one wants to argue for the law, not even the lawmakers who passed it or the Governor who signed it. In Louisiana, they have no part in defending the law, that is the responsibility of the Attorney General. All they did was reserve a cheap seat to watch. I’m not sure how that takes courage. And how can they not have standing to litigate it when every citizen of the state has standing?
There are many questions that still remain. I like you and others here am certain we don’t have all the facts. From their own versions… first Edmonson said he didn’t know. Then the same day, he said he did know, but didn’t know who it affected. Then no one knew who offered the amendment. Then we find out Riser offered the amendment, but we didn’t know who contacted him. Edmonson then knew about the amendment for a couple of weeks, but thought it affected others. Then Dupuy was given up by Riser, Then the story was that Dupuy misled Edmonson and Riser. Now we find out that Dupuy did it to only help Edmonson because they didn’t find out till later that another Trooper benefited
Then the Fiscal instrument was added after the bill was passed, but Hall & Associates was contacted prior to the amendment being added. According to the current version, as of yesterday, Dupuy called Hall, didn’t tell anyone else on the board, or the Director. Since Hall works for the Retirement system how is a Board member can contact them directly, have them perform work for the Board, but the Director and no other Board member was notified.
Then Governor Jindal gets the bill after it’s been reviewed by his attorneys and he signs it without anyone noticing that little constitutional issue. Later Jindal agrees it is was not done properly but isn’t willing to take any action to resolve it. After all this, I don’t believe any of them. Either they are all stupid, all incompetent, or think we are all stupid enough to believe this garbage.
I hope the A/G does defend this suit. I can’t wait to hear the depositions under oath. You talk about Rats off a sinking ship. So now they want to say, okay, you caught us stealing, but we didn’t get away with any money, so let’s just forget about it all. I’m just not satisfied with that and I suspect the citizens of this State aren’t either.
And this doesn’t even start to cover the other information that has come to light just because of this. You have questionable housing, purchases, contracts to friends/ political supporters, payments to employees, promotions, merit increases, nepotism, other unconstitutional bills for fee increases, out of town trips, department spending, expense reimbursements, all with either improper, immoral, illegal or all of the above, implications.
The letter from Edmonson appears to me no different from a criminal who fires every bullet he has, then when he is out of ammo, gives up. Has he really done anything worthy, or is he practicing self preservation because it is the only option he has left? Can he really proclaim that he “gave himself up”? I’m not impressed. The letter is nothing more than an attempt at damage control after all other efforts were exhausted.
It appears to me, one or many tried to cheat the citizens of this state by improper, if not illegal means, and there are investigations that are needed. The truth needs to come out, people need to be disciplined, people need to be fired, and if necessary, people need to go to jail. When the convicted felon in the room is not the least trustworthy person, you have a problem.
No one is monitoring them because you have a Governor who needs a GPS to see what state he is in each day, and they have apparently determined if no one catches them, it must be okay to do what they want for their own enrichment. I’m just waiting to see who gets fired/arrested as the Dork Dynasty Saga continues.
And Edmonson was planning to run for political office?? Only in Louisiana…
If I had realized that Jerry was so smart I would have tried to be a better friend when we all worked together
Don, I don’t know about the smart part but I plead guilty to being opinionated… and verbose. Besides, I thought we were friends. 🙂
Great job and comments. The repuglicans (state and national) will look at this and will take credit for correcting it. Problem with a one party red state. ron thompson
Hope the courts apply that “one object” rule the Act 1 lawsuits.