The controversy surrounding the sweeping changes being proposed for the Office of Group Benefits just got a little dicier with new information obtained by LouisianaVoice about the departure of Division of Administration executive counsel Liz Murrill and the possibly illegal destruction of public records from the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) and the involvement of at least two other state agencies.
While it was not immediately clear which OGB records were involved, information obtained by LouisianaVoice indicate that Murrill refused to sign off on written authorization to destroy documents from OGB.
We first reported her departure on Oct. 14 and then on Oct. 22, we followed up with a report that Murrill had confided to associates that she could no longer legally carry out some of the duties assigned to her as the DOA attorney.
But now we learn that the issue has spilled over into two other agencies besides OGB and DOA because of a state statute dealing with the retention of public documents for eventual delivery to State Archives, a division of Secretary of State Tom Schedler’s office.
Reports indicate that Schedler became furious when he learned of the destruction or planned destruction of the records because records should, according to R.S. 44:36, be retained for three years and then delivered to the state archivist and director of the division of Archives, records management and history. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=99704
Schedler reportedly became so upset with the decision to destroy the records that he copied Attorney General Buddy Caldwell with a letter he wrote to Nichols directing that DOA comply with the statute but Caldwell for his part, refused to intervene, saying he did not want to become involved.
If that indeed is the case, then LouisianaVoice goes on record here and now as contending that Caldwell is unfit to serve in that capacity and should resign immediately.
We made every effort to allow Caldwell to respond. We called his office and asked to speak to Buddy Caldwell or his son, Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell. We were told, “We don’t put calls through to them; we take a message and they may call you back.” They never did. We also spoke with AG Press Secretary Laure Gerdes and explained the story we were working on and told her if we did not hear back from Caldwell, we would suggest that he was unfit to serve as AG. Again, we never heard back from either Caldwell.
The attorney general simply cannot cherry pick which laws he feels should be enforced and to allow the destruction of vital public documents, particularly at a time when so much raw emotion has erupted over changes to the OGB benefit structure. To sit idly back and allow the administration to flout the law in the faces of 230,000 OGB members, retirees and beneficiaries is unconscionable and if Caldwell allows such action without at least advising DOA of the consequences he is not worthy of calling himself a public servant. He should take his Elvis impersonation act back to Tallulah.
And if Caldwell is reluctant to give legal advice to DOA, then Hillar Moore, as District Attorney for the 19th Judicial District, has all the statutory authority required to prosecute state officials should he ever decide to exercise that authority. The state government, after all, is domiciled in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Too much is at stake and those records could hold the key to the motives behind the administration’s decision to dramatically increase co-pays and deductibles. LouisianaVoice made requests for certain OGB records on Oct. 14 and those records have yet to be produced by DOA. We have no way of knowing if the records we requested are part of those documents which were ordered destroyed but if so, we plan to initiate legal action against the state promptly.
DOA has been habitually reluctant to produce public records at our request in a timely manner and this action could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. Without the support and backing of the state’s highest legal authority, we are powerless to force compliance other than through the courts.
But the question that should be uppermost in the minds of Louisiana’s citizens is this: If those records were important enough to fire an attorney over her refusal to sign off on their destruction or for that attorney to place her career in jeopardy over that same issue, we are more curious than ever to know the contents of those documents—and we have the right to know.
And even more significant in this entire affair, if Liz Murrill did in fact refuse to compromise herself and her reputation by refusing to sign off on an illegal act, then we can only say good for her! She has shown far more integrity than our attorney general.
Louisiana Voice 
So, AG Caldwell will use all the power of his office to intervene when Louisianans’ health won’t be harmed by the incinerated belongings of an ebola victim, but he won’t when the administration actively, through deception and illegal acts, undermines many Louisianans’ health. Good grief! What a parcel of rogues.
Tom, If I’m not mistaken, Tom Schedler was heavily involved in insuring that OGB had a surplus from when he chaired the Senate H&W committee. Sandra
*Sandra Slifer* sandraslifer@gmail.com 116 Tulip Drive, Covington, LA 70434 985-875-9388 985-285-3552 – text please! League of Women Voters of Louisiana, President, http://lwvofla.org League of Women Voters of St. Tammany, Voter Services Chair, http://lwvofst.org Association of Associations (AOA), Convener, https://www.facebook.com/AssociationofAssociations Women of Infinite Possibilities, http://womenofwip.org
In any other state this would be UNBELIEVABLE! What’s up Caldwell’s political sleeve??
Word is the feckless Caldwell changed parties (to lock-step R) when the third-world tyrant threatened to de-fund the AG office. If he and other gutless whores had ever stood up to the man who would be pres. LA wouldn’t have been so looted by the carpetbaggers. Don’t look to fuddy-duddy Buddy. Justice will have to come from the feds.
Tom: is there anything we “mere mortal” citizens/retirees can do about this thing? Would a legal injunction to stop the destruction of records? Anyone able to help us file such if that would stop this action? Could Schedler file? Guess I’m at the point of believing there is no one in any authority that cares about anything but their own skin. Hellava way to have to spend your “golden years” – at the mercy of the “boy who would be king”.
Maybe the people need to employ some drones to fly over the Capital, Claiborne Bldg and the Livingston Bldg to watch the traffic between the three.
All I can say is “WOW”. First, Caldwell looks like he might be an okay guy by rendering his decision that the DOA & OGB were illegally implementing the insurance changes without going through the APA, now he crawfishes on the Public Records Act? Somebody must have crawled his a$$ severely about the first opinion!!
This is a state wide issue. The Secretary of States Office sets statewide policy regarding record retention while charging agencies for providing services to the agencies. The law pertains to “public” records. Health information is private not public.
Let’s talk about employee personnel files.
The SoS mandates that agencies retain paper personnel files for 70+ years after separation from public service. Their policy does not allow for agencies to maintain electronic copies of person files and destroy paper files. This has created a warehouse effect.
According to SoS, they do not approve electronic files. If an agency maintains files electronically, agencies still have to send files to them. Upon receipt of agency files, the SoS microfilmes the files then returns files and film to the agency. Agencies can then destroy paper files. Now we know how antiquated micro filming is, readers are not always maintained, the process is becoming obsolete. Also, the SoS charges per page for this process and the cost can be very high.
Agencies without adequate funding are forced to maintain paper files even though the files have been digitized and backed up.
Your article does not mention the types of files, nor the fact that the mentioned files are backed up electronically, and considered “private health information”.
Personnally I feel that the SoS needs to update their record retention policy to allow for electronic record retention and the legislature needs to fund the SoS so they don’t have to get funding from the agencies they regulate.
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Where are the feds…….someone needs to call them!!!! If the AG will not enforce the state laws on gov. records…….then they all need to go down! This is setting a record for how corrupt La. can get! Unbelievable…..where is law enforcement? AGAIN….CALL IN THE FEDS…..SOMEONE PLEASE!
This is a state law, so normally, the feds would not be involved. But since OGB does receive payment from Medicaid/Medicare, it could become a federal issue.
Kirk D. – that someone should be you. Contact the FBI Public Corruption Unit online. Everyone keeps saying “somebody” needs to do something. That somebody is each one of us. Each.one.of.us.
Keep diggin’ Tom, keep diggin’.
Too much! Keep their feet to the fire. Is Caldwell out of his mind? Do they have something on him? With a delusional maniac for a governor, we need a competent AG more than ever!
Where is the FBI when you need them?
Contact the FBI Public Corruption Unit. They don’t know about these things until brought to their notice. The Feds are not reading the news to see which government agencies are out of line. Each of us needs to do our part, step up and be part of the solution. Tom speaks for many but we all have a voice. Raise our voices and raise hell, y’all!
Rudy Giuliani had the records of his administrations deposited in a safe house in Queens-plenty of time to white wash.
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Does Mr. Caldwell have political aspirations of his own beyond AG? His priorities seem to be making sure that we prevent same sex marriage and reproductive rights are severely limited if not altogether void in Louisiana, throwing red meat to the far right as a lackey of Jindal.
There is no direct quote from The Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell, concerning this matter. There is no direct quote from anyone representing The Attorney General’s Office concerning any of this. You state that, “if this is indeed a fact”, which sounds, very much to me, that you are uncertain of claims made by the office of The Secretary of State, or his office.
I called the attorney general’s office as asked to speak to Caldwell. I was told that the switchboard “does not put calls through to Mr. Caldwell. We take a message and have him return the call.” I left my number and asked that either Buddy Caldwell or his son, David Caldwell return my call. I also called the attorney general’s press secretary Laura Gerdes and explained what I was working on and I also told her if I did not hear back from either of the Caldwells, I would suggest that AG Caldwell was unfit to serve if he does not intervene in this matter. Neither Caldwell ever called back.
As to your concerns about the veracity of the story, it was confirmed by Secretary of State Press Secretary Meg Casper who promised to provide us a copy of Shedler’s letter to OGB on Thursday. Saying “If this indeed is the case…” is simply a method of qualifying a statement when we rely on a source other than actual documents, not an indication of uncertainty on our part, that is necessary because of DOA’s consistently concealing documents until they are forced to relinquish them—but always on their own schedule.
Tom I’m starting to wonder if the state grand jury charges brought down in the CNSI are smoke and mirrors!
I an GUARANTEE you 100% that it IS smoke and mirrors, and I’ve stated that in prior posts on Louisiana Voice. David Caldwell withheld the fact the Feds had walked away by arbitrarily keeping critical documents under seal. Very early this year, at a hearing in Judge Kelley’s courtroom in which I was in attendance, David Caldwell had to reluctantly admit that fact to Judge Kelley (after Judge Kelley literally had to pry it out like a dentist pulling a wisdom tooth).
At the last hearing on the matter, David Caldwell stated in court: “Your honor, we’re not trying to rig a civil case.” What an intriguing quote for Mr. Caldwell to make! He most certainly IS attempting to “rig” (I’d use the word “fix”) a civil case based on a ludicrous side-show entailing the Bruce Greenstein criminal matter.
The indictments have ZERO to do with the awarding of the contract but rather deal EXCLUSIELY with his Senate confirmation hearing (long BEFORE the awarding of any contract) and testimony to the grand jury Caldwell impaneled (long AFTER the awarding of the contract). Listen, is anyone prepared to believe that a high-ranking official (even Jindal) would be so utterly stupid as to send a traceable text message with critical incriminating detail? Those texts are going to contain messages such as, “How’s your daughter been? Is she sill ranked high in state tennis tournaments?” Those types of communications do NOT violate any terms of not being involved in the awarding of the contract.
This trial is going to likely be a bigger farce than Murphy Painter’s trial. What’s motivating Caldwell? Jindal put him in a awkward position of having to defend the State of Louisiana after Jindal’s knee-jerk action of canceling the contract with no grounds for doing so whatsoever. So, Caldwell throws out this red herring of Bruce Greenstein and a criminal trial to minimize the probabilities of a large civil award in the CNSI trial (i.e. to “rig” a civil trial).
Similarly, the state awarded Murphy Painter’s accuser (who later admitted she falsely accused him) $100,000 so that it would make Painter SEEM guilty as sin. Didn’t work for Painter, and It’s not going to work on the Greenstein matter. They were (are, in Greenstein’s case) both mere pawns in a political game entailing Bobby Jindal. In Painter’s case, he was a pawn used in Jindal’s quest for absolute power (award Budweiser exclusivity irrespective of the laws prohibiting exclusivity). In Greenstein’s case, he’s the scapegoat pawn for Jindal’s knee-jerk stupidity of canceling a contract with no grounds.
In a nutshell though, you’re right, 100% smoke and mirrors!!
Actually, Robert, Greenstein’s confirmation hearing was after the CNSI contract was awarded. The contract was what the entire confirmation testimony hinged on—Greenstein’s refusal to divulge who the contractor was and then saying (after he admitted it was CNSI) that he had built a “firewall” and that there were no communications between him and CNSI during the selection process. He nearly didn’t get confirmed over that issue.
I am outraged by this whole thing, I will call the FBI myself since earthmother gave a dept to call. I have also thought about calling Jill Craft to try to get a stay or injuction to stop or at least delay this whole insurance mess. I am sure I can’t afford it so if anybody is with me let me know and I will be in touch.
YOY – already in that game. Contact me through Tom at LA Voice.
earthmother sending Tom my personal email address
There’s a rancid odor of corruption coming from Baton Rouge.
Tom: Excellent reporting, as usual. But the word “flaunt” in your post was poorly chosen. Next time consider using “flout.” I don’t mean to flout decorum here by flaunting my vocabulary, but I have a reputation to uphold as the Melville of Minnows.
Thanks. Sometimes my grammar ain’t to good. Appreciate the tip and the correction is made.
LIVE IT!!! Ain’t
Just imagine what other public documents, relating to all of these things Tom writes about, are being or have been destroyed, especially those that would corroborate these investigations. Things like electronic messages etc.