The legal counsel for the Louisiana State Troopers Association was true to the time-honored tradition of blaming the messenger for bad news during Thursday’s meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission.
According to lawyer Floyd Falcon, yours truly is the bad guy in all the flap about the LSTA’s contributions to political campaigns during the recent election cycle.
Never mind that active troopers as well as retirees who are members of LSTA have openly voiced their objections to the decision of the LSTA board to launder more than $45,000 in contributions through executive director David Young.
As publisher of LouisianaVoice, I apparently am the problem. I am a “common complainant,” according to Falcon, who said he would refused to respond to any questions put to him by me.
I guess we’re just supposed to sit still and shut up and not ask questions about how our public officials comport themselves. Perhaps Mr. Falcon spent so much time watching the legislature do just that during the eight years of the Bobby Jindal administration that he truly believes that’s how it should be.
Well, Mr. Falcon, my grandfather always taught me to question motives and to never accept things at face value. “Never listen to what a politician says,” he told me over and over. “Listen to what they don’t say.”
And at Thursday’s commission meeting, there was plenty that wasn’t said.
Never mind that the contributions were fronted by Young who was then repaid from a slush fund handed by LSTA: I am the one who writes “convoluted stories,” according to Falcon.
Never mind that Falcon, when asked point-blank, said he did not know why the checks to various political candidates, including Gov. John Bel Edwards, were made in Young’s name.
Never mind that Young said he made the contributions as a non-state employee so “there could never be a question later that a state employee made a contribution,” which is against state civil service rules.
But the fact is, the state employees, in this case, state troopers, did make the contributions since the LSTA is supported in large part by membership dues from troopers and retired troopers.
When retired state trooper Scott Perry of Opelousas, complained that he was refused copies of checks and receipts after making a public records request, Falcon said those records were available for the asking.
When I asked him to confirm that, and he responded in the affirmative, I then asked why the checks and receipts for reimbursement to Young were not made available, Falcon bristled. “Mr. Aswell is not a member of LSTA. He is a common complainant and I decline to answer his questions,” he said.
If exposing questionable activities of governmental agencies and officials defines me as a “complainant,” it is a mantle I wear with considerable pride, Mr. Falcon’s intended insult notwithstanding. No less a statesman than Thomas Jefferson said, if given a choice of government without a free press or a free press without government, “I would not hesitate to choose the latter.”
Mr. Falcon may not like it, but I am every bit as qualified as a member of the Fourth Estate as any reporter for any medium. I hold a degree in journalism and I spent more than 25 years as a reporter and editor of several Louisiana newspapers and even owned and ran my own news service in the State Capital for a number of years, providing coverage of state government for about 30 newspapers across the state. Along the way I’ve managed to pick up a few awards for feature writing, breaking news coverage, and investigative reporting.
I will put my credentials as a reporter alongside Mr. Falcon’s credentials as an attorney any day of the week. And I damn sure don’t mind being labeled a “complainant.”
At least I didn’t go before the commission to argue that there was nothing for it to investigate as did Mr. Falcon. LSTA, he huffed, is a private entity and not subject to public records requests and not subject to any investigation by the State Police Commission. Well, that certainly makes everything hunky dory. LSTA, he said, is no different than a teachers union or other union of public employees. Well there is one slight difference, Mr. Falcon. The teachers unions and other public employee unions, when political contributions are made, they are done in the name of the union and not through some straw donor. And the union membership generally knows about the endorsements and contributions—or at least knows there will be endorsements and contributions to someone.
One retired member of LSTA, when informed of the contributions said, “Holy s—t! We had no idea this was going on.” Another said LSTA’s membership had never been told of the contributions. “They knew nothing about it,” he said. “We’re not supposed to get involved in politics.” https://louisianavoice.com/2015/12/09/more-than-45000-in-campaign-cash-is-funneled-through-executive-director-by-louisiana-state-troopers-association/
Tanny Devillier, a retired state police deputy commander, said he was “one of two members still alive” who founded LSTA in 1969. “LSTA was not created for political contributions,” he said. “It was created to provide support for troopers who suffered misfortune.”
“It almost makes me think there was something suspect here because of the check writing,” said commission Vice Chairman Lloyd Grafton. “Why wouldn’t the association have made the contribution? It looks like someone was trying to circumvent something.”
Perry, who now works as an investigator for the Office of Inspector General, cited Louisiana revised statute 18:1505.2 which says, “No person shall give, furnish, or contribute monies, materials, supplies, or make loans to or in support of a candidate or to any political committee, through or in the name of another, directly or indirectly. This prohibition shall not apply to dues or membership fees of any membership organization or corporation made by its members or stockholders, if such membership organization or corporation is not organized primarily for the purpose of supporting, opposing, or otherwise influencing the nomination for election, or election of any person to public office.”
He said if LSTA establishes a precedent of making campaign contributions, it will encourage candidates for every office “to come to LSTA with their hands out and that’s not what LSTA is for.”
Leon Millet, a retired lieutenant who served more than 20 years with LSP, reiterated the payments were made without the knowledge or consent of the membership. At the same time, he said members who are still active troopers refuse to come forward out of fear of reprisals.
State Police Commission Chairman Franklin M. Kyle III said the commission lacks jurisdiction over private groups such as LSTA but that the commission and LSTA have a “common denominator,” which he described as the shared membership of state troopers. He requested that LSTA provide more documentation on its finances and issued an invitation to the unhappy retired troopers present to reappear at a future meeting.
A spokesman for Gov. Edwards, Richard Carbo, told the Baton Rouge Advocate that if it is determined that the contributions were made improperly, the LSTA contribution to the Edwards campaign ($8,000) would be returned. http://theadvocate.com/news/14574305-124/head-of-state-police-group-says-nothing-wrong-with-his-political-donations-gov-edwards-said-he-will.
Meanwhile, Mr. Falcon, I will happily continue being the “common complainant” whenever I see things that don’t appear in the best interest of the citizens of Louisiana.
Louisiana Voice 
Although I have the utmost respect for Floyd Falcon, the campaign rules are clear that you cannot contribute in someone else’s name. This rule has nothing to do with logic, law or ethics, it is just a Jindalite method of knowing who to hit up for contributions next time. Money always controls. And, you, keep on complaining which I see as much needed journalism.
Keep complaining Tom…your readers need you.
The telling part of the donations is the $2,000 to Cloyce Clark. Why would the LSTA donate to a long shot State Senate Canidate in Shreveport who placed 3rd? It’s simple – Col. Edmonson and Mr. Clark worked closely together while while Mr. Clark was employeed by the Governor’s Office. It’s pretty obvious who funneled these donations.
When one resorts to calling another names it usually means that one is doing something right. Please continue.
I didn’t make myself clear. Tom you must be doing something right.
I expect it’s only a matter of time before Edmondson himself embarrasses Gov. Edwards, but I hope my expectation is wrong. Maybe he’s on a tight leash. Keep up the good work, Tom.
Tom keep up the GREAT INVESTIGATIONS. You know the ropes and have fought with us all these years for nothing more than Good Government for Louisana. I appreciate your long hours of research and writings to keep us informed.. linda talbert
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
From:”Louisiana Voice” Date:Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 2:43 PM Subject:[New post] LouisianaVoice exclusive: At long last, it can be disclosed that the reason for all the problems at State Police is….us
tomaswell posted: “The legal counsel for the Louisiana State Troopers Association was true to the time-honored practice of blaming the messenger for bad news during Thursday’s meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission. According to lawyer Floyd Falcon, yours truly”
There was a 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Case in 1992, Cannatella vs. Civil Service Department, that most fire and police labor organizations in Louisiana use as their justification for saying that it is okay for the organization to endorse a candidate and that the officers of the organization would be protected from allegations of political activity. This case was based in New Orleans which has its own civil service system. Later, five career police officers on the governing board of the police union in the City of Kenner were fired by then Chief Nick Congemi because the union endorsed someone other than Chief Congemi for the office of Police Chief in Kenner. This case was in the Louisiana Fire and Police Civil Service System, which covers municipal police departments in cities with populations between 7,000 and 400,000, with a few exceptions. Kenner was one of only about 12 cities in this system having an elected Police Chief. The difference between the two cases was that the membership was polled in the Cannatella case, whereas it was not in the Kenner case. The local civil service board in Kenner felt that this lack of polling of the membership made this endorsement political activity, but felt the penalty prescribed in the law was too harsh and changed the disciplinary actions to suspensions. While this case also went to the Appellate Court, the issue at hand was whether the local board had the authority to change a penalty provided by law. The court refused to comment on whether or not the facts constituted political activity, but said the civil service board was without authority to change the penalty once they reached the decision it was political activity.
Regardless, Article X, Subsection 9 of the constitution tells us that political activity is any attemp to support the election or opposition of a political candidate or party. Running it through an organization of mostly classified employees just seems like money laundering to me.
Mr. Falcon cited the earlier case and Mr. Perry cited the later one, saying it superseded the 1992 case.
State Police, of course, has its own civil service system after it was spun off from State Civil Service through a constitutional amendment some years ago. I have to admit that all of my experience was with the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service, not LSP. I don’t know if the LSTA is affiliated with a national organization like the local fire and police unions are, but I noticed there was a considerable push from the national organizations in those cases to endorse candidates. It also seemed that these national organizations seemed to assure the local officers they were protected if they engaged in these political actions under cover of their organizations and not as individuals. That didn’t help those Kenner police officers, though. Because of the language in the constitution, it always seemed very dangerous to me, and I advised accordingly when I received those questions each year around election time. I retired three years ago, however, so can’t really speak to any changes that may have occurred since then. I proudly made MY first political contribution this year AFTER I retired from 35 years of state service.
“There’s questions regarding the ability of a state employee to make a contribution,” Young said. “So in order to avoid any of that, if I make a contribution as a nonstate employee, there could never be a question later that a state employee made a contribution.” – Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, January 15, 2016
Mr. Young also testified he has been making contributions this way for 15 years and that by including his business card in the envelope with his checks, he ensures the recipient knows the organization from which it came.
If Mr. Falcon was on the other side of the case, he would feed this to Mr. Young on a platter.
Tom if it wasn’t for you and three or four others the public would never get the real story. Mainstream media is certainly not going to do it. It is very much appreciated by many including the retired and active duty troopers who are disgusted and embarrassed by the self serving political antics of the top brass at LSP. It was very discouraging that the new governor has seen fit to let it continue. Evidently Mr. Falcon would fit right into the command staff at LSP where kill the messenger is a standard practice when it comes to exposing and attempting to correct shortcomings and wrongdoing. With the knowledge that laws have been broken coupled with the fact that coercion and intimidation has been used against the rank and file for the political gain of a few this surely should end up a criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s Office. It is the general consensus of the people involved that the State Police Commission is going to drag it’s feet and not do anything. There is talk of LSTA funds other than political money having been abused. One can’t help but wonder if the monetary assets of the Louisiana Trooper Foundation may not have also been victimized since some of the same folks involved in this caper are also in control of it.
Stay on it, Tom. The more they squeal, the more that is there.
Hm, wonder if the LSTA funds were used to “encourage” reappointment of the cheat Col. Edmonson?
NO!
Keep up the good work! I know that you are almost thrilled to be called by obscure legal names instead of the real epithets they want to hurl at you. It means that you have struck home and that they are afraid to deny your case with banality. I wished very much I could have attended your goodbye to the Jindalissimo.
Messrs Falcon and Young will be well advised to not attempt to intimidate Mr. Aswell with schoolyard mocking. A snapping turtle may not release its bite until sunset, but once Mr. Aswell figuratively bites into their collective derrieres, he won’t let go EVER!!! My advice to these two bumbling executive wannabes would be to clean up their act, quit trying to cultivate favor with Lieutenant (or whatever his rank is) Edmonson, and perform their duties in accordance with the intent or the organization and its members.
Tom,as a retired trooper I say keep up the good work.