It’s no wonder the Louisiana State Troopers’ Association (LSTA) decided to give the boot to Leon “Bucky” Millet and three other retired members of LSTA. It seems that the retirees, particularly Millet, have been asking questions that are making the LSTA and the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) members extremely uncomfortable.
And their questions are a helluva lot more intelligent than the answers the commission has offered.
Oddly enough, all the questions Millet has peppered the commission with over the past several months seem to leave LSPC legal counsel Taylor Townsend especially oblivious—even as the meter keeps ticking on his legal fees for attending meetings while contributing nothing of substance.
But one commission member, Lloyd Grafton of Ruston, has zeroed in on the problem even if his colleagues have not and in doing so, broached a subject the others would apparently rather not discuss—apparent misleading testimony at last August’s meeting from State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson.
LouisianaVoice, meanwhile, has come in possession of a recording of a meeting of an affiliate troop meeting at which LSTA Executive Director David Young received a much tougher grilling than he did from commission members. Throughout the 16-minute recording, Young is questioned as to how the checks were written and who authorized the budgeting of money for contributions before anyone even knew who the candidates would be in any given race. At one point, Young was advised to have an audit conducted of LSTA expenditures. The questioning of Young, it appeared from the tone of the voices on the recording, was anything but friendly.
Millet, of Lake Arthur, has regularly appeared at monthly meetings of the commission to challenge the association’s political contributions and the commission for its failure, on advice of Townsend, to act on the contributions.
Millet has repeatedly said the contributions, decided on by the LSTA board, each of whom are state troopers, are a violation of commission rules prohibiting political activity by troopers.
The commission—and Townsend—just as consistently, has responded by saying LSTA is a private entity and David Young is not a state trooper, meaning the commission has no jurisdiction over the association.
Never mind that the contributions were made by Young with checks drawn from Young’s personal account and he in turn would be reimbursed by the association for “expenses.”
And never mind that the decisions of who to support and to whom checks would be contributed were made by LSTA board members, each of whom is a state trooper.
Millet again raised that issue at the commission’s November meeting. “This commission allowed mike Edmonson and command staff to get out of control,” he said. “The citizens of Louisiana deserve better. The agency I was so proud of has deteriorated to such a point that the LSTA has voted to excommunicate four members (retirees), including yours truly. There is no criteria for termination of membership. Most members who voted weren’t born when I retired from LSP.”
Commission Chairman T.J. Doss interrupted Millet to say, “There’s nothing pending before the commission that we can address. If you think something, please let us know.”
That’s when Grafton waded into the fray.
“We have no authority over LSTA but we do have authority over individual troopers who are being paid by the State of Louisiana. Troopers are prohibited from political activity. I know what our counsel said about LSTA. State troopers are not supposed to be giving political contributions to politicians.
“What I see in this whole process is a corrupting policy that is going on and is guaranteed that this association of state troopers is going to become more corrupt as time goes on as they invest money and continue to wallow in politics. That’s why we have a civil service for state troopers.”
Doss again attempted to interrupt. “Correct me if I’m wrong; we not discussing political contributions….”
“Let me finish,” Grafton shot back. “Any time you give money to politicians, you allow yourself to become corrupt. You cannot have protection of civil service and give money to politicians because you have given up that protection at that point in time. That’s why civil service was created. In Louisiana, we want to have it both ways: ‘Oh, I’m protected by civil service. I get equal protection under law.’ But you can’t because you’ve already made a choice. That is corruption and that’s where we are today.
“People who come to us, and I’m talking about the top administration of state police and they say, ‘Approve this lieutenant colonel position. It won’t cost you a dime more.’ Then I turn around and (the new lieutenant colonel slot) has gone from $125,000 to $150,000. Somebody is not being honest. This commission is a stepchild. That’s not our role. Our role is oversight, not undersight. We are to look and decide if something is fair or not. When it’s not, we say it’s not.
Commission member Jared J. Caruso-Riecke said, “My colleague’s rant notwithstanding, we have two lawyers here and another (Monica J. Manzella) who sits on this commission, but she’s new so I won’t put any pressure on her (apparently forgetting that commission member Eulis Simien, Jr. also is an attorney), so tell me, do we have jurisdiction over LSTA?
When told the commission did not, he then tried to compare LSTA to the Knights of Columbus. “If we’re being asked to go after the Knights of Columbus, I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna open up this commission to a civil lawsuit.”
Millet reminded Caruso-Riecke that while both the Knights of Columbus and LSTA are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, the Knights of Columbus membership is made up of a cross section of the population while the LSTA membership is comprised exclusively of state troopers and retired troopers. Nor did Caruso-Riecke acknowledge that the LSTA board of directors is made up of only state troopers who made the decision to make the political contributions.
The bureaucratic shuffle was a perfect example of officials talking circle logic in an effort to avoid confronting the real issue. Except they weren’t very good at it, thanks to the anemic efforts of Chairman Doss.
“If what has happened doesn’t alarm you as commissioners, I don’t know what will,” Millet said.
Grafton then asked, “Do we have any authority over salaries? Did I hear Col. Edmonson say (in August) if we approve this new position (the promotion of Maj. Jason Starnes to lieutenant colonel and bestowing the title of deputy superintendent and chief accounting officer upon him), it won’t cost any more money? I understood him to say it won’t cost any more money. That means no raise. Yet my understanding is, he got a $25,000 raise. We did not approve any raise. It looks to me as if the administration doing as it pleases and we’ll get the word in some point in time. What part am I saying that is absolutely wrong? Did he say he wouldn’t get a raise? I don’t see a board member here who heard that.”
Simeon said, “That’s not an accurate reflection of what was said.”
“I know what I heard,” Grafton said.
At that point, members around the table suggested pulling up the recording of that August meeting and if what Grafton said was accurate, to get Edmonson back before the commission to explain the pay increase.
Commission Executive Director Cathy Derbonne told commissioners that Edmonson did indeed testify that the newly-created position would not cost State Police any additional funds.
In an effort to recover the high ground, Doss said, “We govern classified positions and we create unclassified positions but don’t govern them.
Derbonne said, “We create and we can take away. How can we create an unclassified position and not have control?”
“We have no authority over unclassified positions.”
Derbonne said, “We have jurisdiction only over classified positions that fall within pay grid. We cannot pay someone outside pay grid unless they come before the commission for approval.”
When LouisianaVoice reviewed a recording of that August, the revelations were damning to Doss and other supporters of Edmonson and showed that at least one commissioner, Grafton, was paying attention and not simply going through the motions.
In his appearance before the commission to request creation of the new position, Edmonson quite plainly said that he proposed moving Starnes into the position formerly held by JILL BOUDREAUX, but in a newly-created unclassified position. “We’re not creating any additional funding issues, no additional money,” Edmonson said. “He will be the CAO. No new funds will be needed. It is not my intention to even ask for that.”
It doesn’t get much plainer than that, campers.
At least Grafton was listening when it mattered.
Now let’s see how long he’s allowed to remain on the commission.
Louisiana Voice 
Edmonson is as crooked as a yard snake.
Needs to be fired.
Someone needs to look into a visit of Pope John Paul II in the 90’s
Look into missing artifacts and Mike Edmonson.
Quite a story.
Papal visit document, unless there was another subsequent visit (10-day suspension w/out pay): http://www.lspripoff.com/Ed1988.pdf
The whole house of cards is collapsing:
1. Edmonson hints at Daniel Edwards problems surfacing if he isn’t reappointed by his brother, JBE.
2. Daniel Edwards, with considerable sway with and over the LSA, leans on his brother (for obvious reasons) to reappoint Edmonson.
3. Edwards, despite widespread criticism from members of the general public ( many of whom supported him) entailing an Edmonson reappointment, reappoints Edmonson.
4. Edmonson, realizing his clout, gets a HUGE pay raise, enabling him to basically say, “Up yours, Tom Aswell,” for torpedoing his huge retirement boost.
5. FBI closes in on Daniel Edwards because one or more person (people), especially Chad Scott, can no longer remain silent and have any realistic shot at keeping his (their) Federal prison sentence below 10 years.
6. JBE publicly strongly defends his brother because that’s all he can do.
7. FBI cranks up the heat (which isn’t hard at all given what we know they ALREADY have) to obtain evidence of criminal activity by the biggest fish possible to obtain such evidence on.
7. ?????????????????????????
Stay tuned folks. It should get VERY interesting!!!
So the man that we thought would bring honesty and integrity and sound judgment back to the office of Governor seems to be unable to wash away the taint of political corruption and cronyism. If this were not true, Mike Edmonson would never be so open and bold about telling lies to those that are charged with overseeing the LSP organization and activities. Without stones, JBE will soon find himself a figurehead while Jeff Landry runs the state. And our hopes are dashed!
At least we have Lloyd Grafton to hold up as an example of how government is supposed to operate. Thank you Mr. Grafton.
There just isn’t much more to say about this. It was corruption when it was done. It’s been corruption since. The Commission is being ridiculous. There is no way to argue that Troopers can do anything as long as it’s through the LSTA and nobody has oversight. Ever heard the term “Pay to Play”? Does anyone think the donations aren’t provided quid pro quo?
Once the Trooper Board member votes to make a political donation, direct or approve a donation, or reimburse the Executive Director for Donations he makes on behalf of the LSTA (The Board) a Commission reviewable violation occurs. They know this but don’t have the nads to stand up to their obligation to the citizens of Louisiana.
This is an embarrassment to the State of Louisiana, the individual Trooper members who allow the Board (Troopers elected by the members) to approve it, the Louisiana State Police, and the State Police Commission.
I’m ashamed of all of them and apologize to the citizens I once proudly served and protected.
Spot-on observations, Jerry!! Also, I want to emphasize that the investigation entailing Scott has been reported to have “begun a year ago.” Anybody remember a major event transpiring at the now-known outset of this investigation? Something like maybe A Gubernatorial election?
Anybody watch Edmonson crowing about the new body cameras? If so, did anyone read JBE’s facial expressions behind Edmonson? He looked like his mind was a million miles away, and I have no doubt that it was.
WOW!!! What a difference a year makes, huh? Is the seemingly inexplicable re-appointment of Mike Edmonson seeming much less inexplicable with the benefit of hindsight? Seems Melancon isn’t a happy camper either lately! I guess anxiety is sky-high among Team JBE these days. Bottom line: Honor Code or no Honor Code — absolute power corrupts absolutely, so now you have a whole batch of hogs rolling around in slop!!
Honor and integrity. Those words were drilled into me throughout my career with State Police. Seems these days that honor and integrity only apply to people like Lloyd Grafton, Leon Millet and those retirees that tried to stand up against the corruption now taking over State Police. That starts at the very top from our “honor code” governor that continues to allow this disease to spread throughout the state (not just state police). I’m very proud of what the State Police have done in the past and felt privileged to serve and work with many of those troopers that are now being kicked out of an organization that they worked so hard to keep honest. Some of us still have to remain quiet for fear of retaliation against family and friends who still work for this once proud organization and the sheriffs’ departments that support him. And the LSTA attorney, Floyd Falcon, is very close to the administration. How else does the administration know so much about LSTA business? There is no separation of the two. I can’t express enough thanks to Tom Aswell, Lloyd Grafton, Leon Millet and all the others that have sacrificed so much to try and bring “Honor and Integrity ” back to both the Louisiana State Police and the LSTA.
Amen!
I’ve now read this article five times, and I cannot believe the similarities between this situation and the payroll fraud at the Auctioneer’s Licensing Board, to wit:
1. On 11/20/10, Patrick Lowery indicates if Sandy Edmonds’ time sheets, wherein she consistently reported working while actually vacationing all over the nation, were authenticated, that’s (his EXACT words), “blatant payroll fraud.”
2. Lowery says he’d prosecute immediately IF she were classified, but since she is unclassified, either LLA or OIG must handle (notice the “hands tied for unclassified” dialogue throughout Tom’s article).
3. I go to LLA (Calvin Moore), which ultimately writes a damming report, and turns the matter over to EBRP DA HIllar Moore for criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, I’m summoned before the LALB for a disciplinary hearing entailing my auction license for reporting the payroll fraud (prosecuted by convicted felon Larry Bankston): http://www.auctioneer-la.org/problems_robert_burns_91212_payroll.htm.
4. DA Moore refers the matter to OIG, which initially seemed VERY aggressive about wanting to prosecute, but ultimately backed down (after being ordered by Jindal to “totally rewrite your report”) and issues a report of basically suggestions on how to improve the office’s operations.
Basically, what the present members are telling Millet, Grafton and others is this: “We had a damn good thing going here. We even had a cooperative ED to disguise our payoffs, but oh no, you guys had to come in insisting things in here have integrity. You’re ‘outtta here and you need to STFU!!”
The response to Millet’s question to what will alarm commission members is apparently only FBI arrests and prison sentences. Fortunately, it looks like just may be a realistic possibility.
Why don’t the upper state police wear the new body cameras to come on every time they open their mouth? I’m full supporter of police but most higher ups are basically political hacks. Probably couldn’t even make a traffic stop on their own.
Edmonson: “No new money.” Sounds familiar to this 6/2/14 horse excrement uttered from the floor of the Louisiana House of Representatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9xySk9aHRQ#action=share.
Since the Troopers Assn voted to expel critical troopers by an apparent majority overall vote and since most of them knew it was wrong to so vote can we conclude that a majority of the state troopers now patrolling our highways are now suspect about the citations written and arrests made? I mean if you are going to screw a fellow officer for standing up for what is right then you are opening up yourself to questions about the validity your your official actions. Somewhere blacks are (correctly) saying “Amen brother, amen”.
Jindal/Teepell and the GOP just elected Trump. We can’t turn against all who participated in this rafFu**ing, because I still love 2 of them, but I don’t like any of them. It’s a process to correct the Jindalite GOP and it may take longer than my lilfetime, but we can’t become one of them, by giving up. love always ron thompson