Louisiana Voice

LouisianaVoice’s disdain for the State Ethics Board has been no secret since Bobby Jindal gutted the board’s power only days after taking office in 2008, causing the board’s membership to resign as a group.

But even the toothless Ethics Board did what Natchitoches attorney Taylor Townsend, paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to conduct an investigation, could not do, according to a Thursday (December 8) newsletter from none other than the Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA).

Almost a year to the day after LouisianaVoice broke the STORY on December 9, 2015, of illegal campaign contributions made by LSTA through its executive director and lobbyist David Young, the Ethics Board imposed a $5,000 fine on LSTA for its clumsy manner of funneling more than $45,000 in campaign contributions to various candidates over a period of several years.

LSTA is a tax-exempt organization and is allowed to make political contributions but the manner in which it did so has raised major legal issues and may even have prompted a federal investigation, LouisianaVoice also learned.

While the Ethics Commission has yet to issue a formal announcement of the fine, word was received via a newsletter sent to LSTA members.

At the same time, word was learned for the first time of a federal investigation of LSTA, presumably also over the association’s method of making the prohibited contributions. In the paragraph immediately below word of the fine the newsletter said: “Federal Grand Jury—Nothing new to report.”

The newsletter also announced for the first time the troop-by-troop vote to oust four retired troopers who lodged the initial complaint about the political contributions:

Louisiana Board of Ethics complaint – The Ethics Board has completed its investigation and has ruled against the LSTA. The LSTA was fined $5,000.00 on how political contributions were made in the past.

Federal Grand Jury – Nothing new to report.

Troop A made a motion to remove LSTA members (REDACTED), Blaine Matte, Leon “Bucky” Millet, and Tanny Devillier and for each member to be voted on separately. Troop L seconded the motion.

• (REDACTED TO PROTECT RETIREE): Troops B & C voted no, Troops A, D, E, F, G, L, & HQ voted yes. (Troop I and the Retiree Representative were absent for the board meeting) Motion passed 7-2.
• Leon “Bucky” Millet: Troops B & C voted no, Troop E Abstained from voting, Troops A, D, F, G, L, & HQ voted yes. Motion passed 6-2.
• Tanny Devillier: Troops B & C voted no, Troop E Abstained from voting, Troops A, D, F, G, L, & HQ voted yes. Motion passed 6-2.
• Blaine Matte: Troops B & C voted no, Troop E Abstained from voting, Troops A. D, F, G, L, & HQ voted yes. Motion passed 6-2.

A letter will be sent to all four members who have been removed from the organization advising of such.

The cowardly action to revoke the membership of the four troopers who served honorably only serves to underscore LSTA’s determination to:

• Silence the voice of dissenting opinion within the organization, a course that flies in the face of the law enforcement organization’s oath to protect the rights of citizens, including the First Amendment right of free speech;
• Throw a cloak of secrecy over LSTA’s agenda and its actions;
• Facilitate the transformation of LSTA’s mission from a benevolent organization to one with significant political clout.

LSTA laundered the political contributions by having Young write personal checks to candidates, including more than $10,000 each to Bobby Jindal and John Bel Edwards. Young would then submit an invoice for “expenses” equal to the amount of the contributions so as to conceal the true source of the campaign contributions—LSTA members who are active and retired state troopers but who are prohibited by law to engage in political activity.

Upon learning how the contributions were laundered through Young’s personal bank account, Edwards returned his contribution but Jindal apparently did not.

Young subsequently admitted to the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), the state police equivalent to the State Civil Service Board, but which has oversight only of state police, that the method was employed as a means of circumventing state law which prohibits political activity by individual state troopers.

LSPC eventually voted to retain former State Senator Townsend, now a private attorney in Natchitoches, to conduct an investigation of the contributions and to report back to the commission. Instead, after a cursory investigation, Townsend declined to submit a written report and recommended verbally that no action be taken.

His failure to find enough evidence against individual members of (LSTA) was nothing short of a shameful whitewash, given the thousands of dollars the questionable investigation cost Louisiana taxpayers.

When LouisianaVoice made a public records request for Townsend’s report and a copy of a key audio recording of a meeting of one of the affiliate members of LSTA at which it was openly admitted that the organization had “violated the law,” Townsend responded that there was no report and that the recording was “never entered into evidence,” and therefore was not a public record.

Because of the manner in which Townsend’s “investigation” received such superficial treatment, skeptics immediately speculated that the probe was quashed from a higher authority, possibly by Edwards himself. State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson, who is closely allied with the LSTA leadership, was reappointed by Edwards who in turn, is closely tied to Townsend.

But the sham of an investigation by Townsend takes on even more significance in light of the message sent by the Ethics Commission’s action and raises serious questions about the wisdom of engaging an ally of the governor for such a politically explosive matter as illegal contributions.