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Archive for December, 2016

LSPC member Grafton accuses LSTA of ‘corruption,’ accuses LSP Superintendent Michael Edmonson of ‘not being honest’

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Commissions, Corruption, Elections, Ethics, Public Records, Retirement, Transparency on December 21, 2016| 13 Comments »

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.

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LouisianaVoice wants to hear from you about your insurance/FEMA experiences with August flood

Posted in Uncategorized on December 18, 2016| 5 Comments »

Louisiana Voice is seeking your help so that we may, in some small way, try to help you.

Like my veterinarian Michael Whitlock and others of whom I am aware, there are many other victims of the August floods who have been victimized again by FEMA and insurance companies.

Whitlock’s home, his vet clinic, two vehicles and most of his equipment were lost in the flood. Some of the equipment he managed to save was subsequently stolen by looters. Despite all this, he was stiffed by his flood insurance company which refused to pay the full policy limits despite six feet of water in his home, leaving him to fend for himself. FEMA was worse than useless; he got nothing.

Yet, because his home and clinic each were more than 50 percent losses each (yet, less than total losses by his flood insurance carrier), he has been ordered by the City of Denham Springs to elevate each structure. “The cost of elevating the clinic would cost more than the entire structure is worth,” he said.

Another Denham Springs business had $500,000 flood insurance coverage but received only about half that in settlement despite not being able to re-open for four months.

LouisianaVoice had a post a couple of years back about the 3-D strategy of insurance companies: “Delay, Deny, Defend.” The strategy works this way:

Delay paying claims as long as possible;

Deny in the hope the claimant will give up out of sheer frustration and go away;

Defend vigorously if the claimant sues. Even if the insurance company loses the individual lawsuit, it’s worth it when you consider the number of claimants who cannot afford the money and time necessary to pursue what is rightfully theirs.

If, for instance, after a catastrophe like Katrina or the August flood, a thousand homeowners file claims and each is denied by the carrier and only one of that 1,000 sues and wins and 999 simply throw up their hands and walk away, who do you think is the winner in the long term?

In the case of Katrina, for instance, the two companies who wrote the book on the 3-D tactic, who were the absolute worst companies with whom to deal, were Allstate and State Farm.

And as for FEMA, who could ever forget the debacle of Katrina? Does anyone not remember President George W. Bush telling FEMA Director Michael Brown “YOU’RE DOING A HECKUVA JOB”?

And just so you know, the FEMA response to the flood hasn’t been much better. With an whole new round of FEMA trailers (950 square feet) costing anywhere from $126,000 to $170,000, depending on where the trailer is set up, you have to wonder why FEMA doesn’t just build small but reasonably price permanent housing for victims?

This is not to suggest that everyone is entitled to free stuff, but it makes no more sense to spend that kind of money on flimsy trailers.

With this in mind, LouisianaVoice would like to have your experiences with both FEMA and insurance companies for a future story.

And while you have more important matters that demand your attention (like getting back into your home or business), if you have encountered difficulties getting either FEMA or your insurance company to respond or if you’ve been ordered to elevate your home or business at unaffordable costs to you, we’d love to hear from you.

Send us a narrative of your experience to:

louisianavoice@yahoo.com

Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation or spelling. We do all needed editing.

 

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Pulitzer finalist Stanley Nelson publishes exemplary book ‘Devils Walking’ about racial murders in Concordia Parish

Posted in Book Review, Corruption, Crime on December 17, 2016| 6 Comments »

A giant walks among us.

In the ever-shrinking roster of investigative reporting, Stanley Nelson towers over the rest of the field.

Who is Stanley Nelson, you ask?

He is the editor of that shining beacon of dogged, undeterred journalism, the 4,700-circulation Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday.

Before you laugh, Nelson holds the singular distinction of being named as one of three finalists for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his decade of seeking the truth behind the racial killings in and around the Ferriday-Vidalia-Natchez area during the Jim Crow South’s Ku Klux Klan-led resistance to being pulled against its will by the growing riptide of desegregation—and, some would contend, civilization itself.

Among all the political leaders of the South (Orval Faubus, Ross Barnett, George Wallace, Herman Talmadge, Strom Thurmond, et al), only Louisiana Gov. Earl Long had the political acumen to understand the writing on the wall. He was resigned to the inevitable. It was Long who, when a New Orleans delegation approached him to ask for a public university in New Orleans, said he would do it on one condition: that the new school be fully integrated. Thus did the University of New Orleans come into existence.

But in the decade of the 1960s, hatred among the races was fanned by the KKK and condoned by then-Sheriff Noah Cross and his chief deputy, Frank DeLaughter. DeLaughter, in fact, was a KKK member and remains a suspect in the heinous murder of a shoe repair shop owner, Frank Morris, who in December 1964 was burned alive when his shop was incinerated in a gasoline-fueled fire set by a gang of whites who held a gun on Morris to keep him from escaping the flames.

Both Cross and DeLaughter would go to prison for corruption, but not for the murders and beatings of blacks.

When Morris’s name appeared on an FBI list of cold case murders, Nelson went to work.

No “outsider stirring up trouble,” Nelson is a native of nearby Sicily Island and a proud graduate of Louisiana Tech University’s fine journalism school headed up by the late Wiley Hilburn, himself an advocate of fairness and justice for all human beings.

Whether influenced by Hilburn or by his own code of ethics and integrity, Nelson began digging into Concordia Parish’s dark history, a history local whites would’ve just soon he leave alone.

The blood-soaked trail he happened upon led to other KKK-sanctioned killings. It is those killings—seven blacks and one white KKK member who, it was feared, had discovered a conscience and was about to name names.

His discoveries, written about in some 190 stories over seven years (and supported wholeheartedly by the Sentinel’s owners, the Hanna family), have led to an extraordinary, if sometimes difficult to follow by the necessary phalanx of names, times and places, book.

Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s (LSU Press, 280 pages) is anything but a “delightful” book; it is disturbing, at its best. And it should be.

To say that Nelson has done an exhaustive job would be understating the obvious. Along the way, he realized he needed help. Enter the LSU Manship School of Mass Communications, Syracuse University, Emory University, the Center for Investigative Reporting and others too numerous to include here. Student interns, as obsessed as Nelson, plunged into the project with a zeal that only young bodies and minds could call up.

At the end of it all, Nelson freely expressed his frustration with the FBI for its failure to follow through on leads but at the same time praises the efforts of two FBI agents in particular who infiltrated a dangerous subsect of the KKK, the Silver Dollar Group, which actually carried out much of the carnage inflicted on innocent blacks.

Nelson’s reporting instincts, fueled by a burning curiosity and unimaginable courage, cast him as a hero of unmatched integrity and compassion in the chronicling of one of the most shameful chapters of Louisiana—and American—history.

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State Inspector General defends use of state vehicle while drawing $500 per month allowance in lieu of state car use

Posted in Ethics, Transparency on December 16, 2016| 10 Comments »

We’ve seen how the Office of Inspector General has a travel budget for out-of-state conferences and conventions that is more than twice the amount budgeted for in-state investigations of official corruption. (See story HERE)

Now, LouisianaVoice has learned that even though Inspector General Stephen Street receives $230.77 per two-week pay period—$6,000 per year, or $500 per month—in addition to his regular salary of $132,620, he also makes generous use of state vehicles while traveling on state business.

Mileage allowances for certain state officials is optional and is paid in lieu of their use of state vehicles.

One former employee said Street was told that it was improper for him to use state vehicles when he was receiving the mileage allowance. As a result of that exchange, the former employee said, Street would have subordinates check cars out in their names and accompany Street on trips.

Two of those, the ex-employee said, were former agency attorney Robert Collins and current legal counsel Joe Lotwick.

Records obtained from OIG show Collins and Lotwick each checked out state vehicles on numerous occasions in 2013 and 2014 and Lotwick also checked out a vehicle on three occasions in May of this year.

Street, contacted by LouisianaVoice, said, “Whoever told you that Joe Lotwick and Robert Collins checked out vehicles in their name so that I could drive them in order to ‘circumvent’ a ‘prohibition’ is an unequivocal liar. Robert and Joe are both honorable and honest men with distinguished legal careers and impeccable reputations. Neither I nor they would do such a thing.”

Street’s name was not listed as checking out a state vehicle in either 2013 or 2014.

In 2015, however, Street is shown as having used a state vehicle on 10 separate occasions over five months.

Those trips and the dates in 2015 they were made included:

  • January 21: Trips to the New Orleans FBI offices and to the Louisiana District Attorney Association in Baton Rouge;
  • March 2: To Covington, New Orleans and back to Baton Rouge;
  • March 3: From his home to the OIG office;
  • March 3 and 4: Destinations for three trips redacted but mileage driven was two miles for each trip—the same district as the mileage reported for the trip from his home to the office;
  • March 9: Baton Rouge to Crowley, Crowley to Port Allen, Port Allen to Baton Rouge;
  • March 16: Baton Rouge to Opelousas, Opelousas to Port Allen, Port Allen to Baton Rouge;
  • August 28: New Orleans FBI offices;
  • September 3: New Orleans and return to Baton Rouge;
  • November 2: Trips of 2.6 and three miles to destinations that were redacted;
  • November 10: To New Orleans and return to Baton Rouge and an additional trip of two miles, destination also redacted;
  • November 17: Trip of three miles to destination that is also redacted.

So why the destination on a two-mile trip be redacted?

“On the occasions you asked about in 2015 when I used an OIG vehicle, I had time-sensitive OIG official business and my personal vehicle was not available,” Street said. You have the records that show the combined fuel cost for those trips was $95.88.”

If he was taking the state vehicle home and driving it to work, he would be in violation of the provision prohibiting him from both using a state vehicle and receiving an allowance for mileage.

In the past, the OIG’s office has steadfastly refused to pursue a matter concerning a state board employee who turned in time sheets showing she was working in the office while simultaneously posting Facebook photos of her and her family on vacation trips. The investigator on that case was ordered to re-write his entire report.

The office also refused to even investigate complaints of two board members each claiming mileage to meetings even though they rode together.

LouisianaVoice has also learned of other apparent illegal activity that OIG failed to pursue or issued reports of no wrongdoing.

Of course, the office spared no expense or effort in attempting to prosecute former Alcohol and Tobacco Control office director MURPHY PAINTER at the express wishes of Bobby Jindal. Jindal desperately wanted to discredit Painter over Painter’s refusal to grant a liquor permit that would have benefitted New Orleans Saints owner and generous Jindal campaign supporter Tom Benson.

That PROSECUTION fell flat and the state ended up having to pick up Painter’s legal expenses.

“I‘m glad that you decided to contact me before posting another column,” Street said. “Had you done that before posting last week’s column on OIG travel, you would have learned quite a bit.”

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In case of national disaster, don’t worry: FEMA will save us when it emerges from M-WEOC underground bunker in VA

Posted in Audit Reports, Corruption, Economy, Fraud, House, Media, Waste on December 15, 2016| 5 Comments »

Okay, class, listen up. Today’s lesson is about a place called the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center—so called because it originally was constructed as a weather station..

For the sake of simplicity (and because I’m too lazy to write it out every time) we will hereafter refer to it as M-WEOC.

If you are of my generation and you read the book or saw the 1964 movie Fail Safe, featuring Henry Fonda, Larry Hagman, Walter Matthau and Dom Deluise, among others, it  was called Mount Thunder, but the reference was obvious.

M-WEOC is a civilian command facility located in Virginia and is a major relocation site (read: a place to run and hide) for high-level (not you and me, noooo) civilian and military officials in the event of a national disaster so there may be a continuity of government. (Some—any—continuity of government would be pretty nice right now.)

The underground component—the bunker—contains 600,000 square feet. Following the 9-11 attacks, most of the congressional leadership (read: cowards) was evacuated to Mount Weather by helicopter. Being elected Speaker of the House does carry certain privileges.

The National Gallery of Art from 1979 to 1981 developed a plan to transport valuable paintings in its collection to Mount Weather via helicopter. (Are you kidding me?). While I approve of the arts, there are a lot of things I would be trying to save before some painting of a limp pocket watch or a Campbell soup can or something painted by a guy with only one ear. Apparently those high-level civilian and military functionaries plan to sell the artworks when they emerge from the underground bunker at M-WEOC—if there’s anyone left to sell them to.

Would you like to hear who else is included among the A-list to be evacuated to M-WEOC?

FEMA. That’s right, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the same people who brought you those splendid recovery efforts for Katrina and more recently the devastating floods of Southeast Louisiana.

M-WEOC, it seems serves as FEMA’s center of operations.

If an enemy ever attacked this country, FEMA, with its unprecedented record of ineptitude, might be spared just so it could finish off what the bombing missed. Given its performance record, that scenario may be closer to the truth than we would like to believe.

A friend and regular reader of LouisianaVoice observed somewhat caustically, “If we have a nuclear attack or other disaster that takes most of the rest of us out. High-ranking FEMA officials will be among those saved. What a waste.”

The Baton Rouge Advocate’s REBEKAH ALLEN wrote on Tuesday (Dec. 12): “For the amount of money FEMA is spending on temporary mobile homes for flood victims, the federal agency could buy displaced residents modest houses in some parts of Baton Rouge.”

The basis on which she wrote that was a document provided to U.S. Rep. Garrett Graves which revealed that FEMA’s typical cost for the purchase, transport and installation of each FEMA trailer placed on the property of a flood victim is a cool $129,200.

If the “manufactured housing unit” (a FEMA euphemism for trailer but hey, a rose by any other name…) is placed in an existing commercial mobile home or travel trailer park, the cost of leasing the site pad increases the tab to $149,000 and if placed in FEMA designated group sites, then the price jumps to $170,000.

That’s for a living space of a whopping 980 square feet. My 2,300-square-foot home cost me less than $129 thou.

(And John Kennedy thinks the state has a spending problem.)

“You’re saying, ‘We may be slow, but at least we’re more expensive,’” Graves said.

Here’s the breakdown, according to Allen:

  • Cost of FEMA trailer: $62,500;
  • Installation: $23,000;
  • Maintenance: $15,400
  • Transportation: $5,000
  • FEMA’s administrative overhead cost: $23,000.

Tito Hernandez, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer (how’s that for a snappy title?), had a well-reasoned, logical explanation.

Of course he did.

The FEMA trailers meet strict safety standards set by the federal government.

Well, Tito, every doublewide mobile home sold on every commercial lot in America meets “strict safety standards” set by the federal government. “The FEMA unit is strong, it’s a higher quality, it’s more solid than many being sold commercially,” he said.

Sure they are, Tito. And we still remember those pieces of crap foisted off onto those wretched Katrina victims. Weren’t we also told then what a great deal those were?

Borrowing the mantra of former Wisconsin Democratic Sen. William Proxmire, Graves calls the money spent on the trailers the “fleecing of America, example no. 10,000.”

That same friend/reader that I alluded to earlier experienced his own FEMA nightmare when his 33-year-old rental trailer flooded in Central:

“We had little choice but to get a new one at 100 percent our expense or walk away from the property entirely. Why didn’t we have flood insurance you might well ask?  Even if we had, we would have gotten nothing because a 33-year-old trailer has no value. We replaced this old trailer with a brand-new, but smaller one (1,000 sf living area) – ordered it a week after the flood and it still is not ready for occupancy since we still don’t have it plumbed so there is no water.

“Everything about this has been a nightmare from permitting through trying to get people over there to do site prep, electrical, etc.  We are very lucky to have finally convinced the City of Central to give us a “temp to perm” electrical connection so the air conditioning could be installed last Thursday. I could go on and on and on, but to get to the cost:

“I had a slab poured, lot work done, including demolition of the old trailer, paid extra to have the new trailer elevated to 2 feet above the basic flood elevation, paid and engineer to do two flood elevation certificates during the permitting, have done extra work on the trailer, including adding two porches at a cost of $7,000 and doing other extras like fence repairs, putting in blinds, buying new hardware for the washer/dryer, etc. I project with all this, my total cost will be about $62,000.

“This whole FEMA thing is utterly and completely stupid. With all the extras I did that FEMA isn’t even doing, it cost me less than half what they paid for doing a piss-poor job of installing some trailers. And what are they going to do with them when they get them back in 18 months? FEMA is another of the many fine reasons people have absolutely no faith their government can do anything right. Everybody would have been a lot better off if FEMA had simply given them $129,000 and, based on the total costs, it would have probably cost taxpayers less and would certainly have been less hassle for everybody. Don’t you think somebody could rent a pretty nice place for $7,166.67 per month for the 18 months they are allegedly loaning people the ridiculous trailers for? I am disgusted and angry about this whole thing. I don’t know what the answer is at FEMA, but some ass-chewing and firing might help.”

But not to worry. When the next national disaster hits, our critical congressmen, generals and FEMA will be safely ensconced in that underground bunker at M-WEOC (with sufficient food and drink) while the rest of us kick into survival mode.

We can only hope FEMA has a better contingency plan for that disaster than it does for hurricanes and floods.

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