Louisiana’s Inspector General Stephen Street recently accused LouisianaVoice of not letting facts get in the way of a good story.
He should know.
It was Street’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that went after Corey Delahoussaye for overbilling for hurricane cleanup in Livingston Parish at the same time Delahoussaye was working as an informant for the FBI to assist in challenging more than $50 million in charges submitted to FEMA by Livingston Parish.
It was Street’s OIG that raided Delahoussaye’s home with the assistance of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office in the early–morning hours on July 25, 2013, even though nowhere in the statute establishing OIG is the agency authorized to obtain search warrants. The raid was conducted at 6 am with multiple agents bearing firearms in a home that was only occupied by Mr. and Ms. Delahoussaye and their two young children.
It was OIG that served subpoenas on Delahoussaye’s fitness club and his doctor seeking personal and medical records even though state law requires a judge to issue a written reason for the subpoena. No such written reason was ever obtained.
But never let law get in the way of a good raid.
The Office of the State Inspector General was established by the Louisiana Legislature. Its purpose is set forth in LA R.S. 49:220.1-220.26. Section 220.21 reads in part:
- The prevention and detection of waste, inefficiencies, mismanagement, misconduct, abuse, fraud, and corruption in all departments, offices, agencies, boards, commissions, task forces, authorities, and divisions of the executive branch of state government as specifically provided in Title 36 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, all hereinafter referred to in this part collectively as “covered agencies” and individually “covered agency” is an important responsibility of the state.”
- In the view of the responsibility of the state, it is the purpose of this part to establish an independent office of the state Inspector General in the office of the Governor to examine and investigate the management and affairs of the covered agencies.” (Emphasis added)
Livingston Parish, with whom Delahoussaye was contracted, is not part of the executive branch of state government. Accordingly, OIG had no authority to carry out a raid on Delahoussaye. None. Nada. Zilch.
The obvious solution was to claim he was contracted to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP). Except he was not and never had been.
Never let facts get in the way of a good witch hunt.
Of course Street was not alone in this exercise of the absurd. Scott Perrilloux, District Attorney for the 21st Judicial District which includes Livingston Parish, took his “evidence” to a grand jury which promptly refused to indict Delahoussaye. Undeterred, Perrilloux simply proceed to indict Delahoussaye on a bill of information. After all, there were $56 million in bogus charges for Livingston Parish cleanup uncovered by…Delahoussaye. But they thought they had Delahoussaye dead to rights for a couple of thousand dollars in unwarranted charges they said, incorrectly, it turns out, that he billed for.
Instead, all the charges were thrown out and now Delahoussaye is out for his pound of flesh as payback for the hell Street and Perrilloux put him through—as he should be. He has filed a DEFAMATION-LAWSUIT against OIG and now Street, after spending untold thousands of dollars pursuing criminal charges and now that the is suddenly a defendant in an unexpected turn of events, suddenly is thinking about the horrific costs to be incurred by the state in the discovery phase of Delahoussaye’s lawsuit. SAVING-TAXPAYER-DOLLARS
“For the sake of conserving judicial resources and preventing the waste of valuable taxpayer dollars, the OIG requests a stay of this proceeding, including a stay in discovery,” read OIG’s motion to stay proceedings pending a First Circuit Court of Appeal decision on OIG’s writ application. (Emphasis added)
Okay, so Street wants to talk about “wasted taxpayer dollars?” How about the sheer volume and man-hours for lodging an almost-guaranteed-to-fail appeal? Here’s the link for the OIG’s APPEAL: It rambles on for 169 pages on something that is almost certain to fail based on an earlier ruling by the First Circuit wherein the court said that if a state agency lacks jurisdiction to investigate (as 21st JDC Judge Brenda Ricks made it clear in her rulings), then a cause of action can survive a motion for Preemptive Exception based on “invasion of privacy.”
So, bottom line, we have the Office of Inspector General:
- Serving subpoenas absent the required judge’s written reasons;
- Carrying out an early morning raid on the basis of a search warrant even though the law creating OIG never gives search warrant power to the agency, and
- Taking a leadership role in carrying out the raid even though that same law relegates OIG to a “back seat” role once it determines it has credible information of criminal activity.
Finally, that “credible information” is the belief that Delahoussaye was contracted by GOHSEP when in fact, his contract was with Livingston Parish.
But never let facts…..
And only after all that did it occurred to Street that he should suddenly now be concerned with conserving judicial resources and preventing the waste of valuable taxpayer dollars.
Lest we forget, this is the same agency that went after former State Alcohol and Tobacco Control Director Murphy Painter when Painter got crossways of Bobby Jindal and one of his biggest campaign contributors, Saints owner Tom Benson.
And we know how that turned out: The state had to end up paying Painter’s legal costs of $474,000 after Painter was exonerated in federal court.
Louisiana Voice 
I have not found any responsiveness to complaints (loaded with evidence) in any state or federal office I contacted (IG, AG, LA, Ethics, IDEA, USDOE, BESE and it goes without saying LDOE).
Absolutely outstanding post, Tom!! The stay merely delays for 4-5 months (or however long it takes the First Circuit to deny the OIG’s appeal) the discovery of evidence for eventual trial.
The OIG is DESPERATE to try and keep this matter out of a jury’s hands because it is going to be damn near impossible to find any juror (irrespective of age, sex, ethnicity, etc.) that is going to fail to place themselves in delaHoussaye’s shoes. Thereafter, NOBODY on that jury is going to fail to feel anger toward the OIG once the trial concludes and they’re informed of just what all transpired. I know I damn sure wouldn’t want to be the defense attorney representing the OIG!!
Again, great post, Tom.
Great posting Tom – Keep them looking over their shoulder…
Mr. Street has a law degree and seems fairly smart. Mr.Phares was the number two and a prior chief of police, again a smart man. How is it they don’t know just how far is too far…
There seems to be duplicity in state government with the OIG and it is costing way too much! (Bad publicity sometimes is worse than a civil suit payout.)
If the Attorney General, Legislative Auditor, and State Police would be doing their respective jobs there would be no need for an Office of Inspector General. Governor Roemer put Bill Lynch in that job but my take was it was not to be a permanent position. Can you clear that up? Maybe by way of these articles and exposing the OIG you will have informed those in the legislature it is time to repeal R.S. 49:220 as it concerns the OIG.
Thanks Tom
Greg Phares is no longer there.
You put “was”. I guess you knew that 😉
Street is also a CPA and, while he may be smart, he is also a gutless, spineless, political hack totally lacking any backbone whatsoever (which is PRECISELY why Jindal tapped him for the job!!). He had a meltdown when I confronted him head-on with the Painter and delaHoussaye debacles at a Baton Rouge Press Club Meeting recently which was, in reality, a beg-a-thon for reporters to write sympathetic articles for funding his office:
http://www.soundoffla.com/?p=402
When Press Club ended, I approached him to ask him a question one-on-one (I have never seen ANY Press Club invited speaker be hostile about taking such questions). Street looked at me angrily and said, “I guess you’re hugely disappointed our funding was restored, Mr. Burns, and I’m done with you here today. If you want to ask me another question, you can follow me to my next interview.” That was a totally false invitation, and he later was a guest on the Jim Engster Show. When Engster said, “I understand things got a little heated today at Press Club, Street responded, “Yes, there were two individuals there whom our office has investigated who naturally aren’t happy with that fact.” For the record, neither Painter nor delaHoussaye were present.
If a “mere blogger” can manage to get under Street’s skin so easily as is so evident in the video link above, while he may be “smart,” I would submit he needs to stay out of a courtroom because he can’t possibly be effective. That is most likely the reason he now has an “administrative figurehead” position and, as I said, he is, in reality, nothing more than a political hack for whomever occupies the Governor’s Mansion,
Dennis, I served in the Roemer administration and actually wanted the job of inspector general, but got the job of budget director instead. My take on the intent was that it was a test of whether Bill Lynch’s experience as an investigative reporter could translate into being a watchdog for the governor rooting out and deterring the kind of waste and corruption he formerly wrote about – and which we still read about on a pretty much daily basis, perhaps now more than ever.
As you know, its permanence was sealed via legislation in 2008 creating the statute you cite as a candidate for repeal – not a bad idea based on what little I know.
Bill Lynch, though a straight up guy, was out of his element in the job. He may have done the best he could, but his performance was underwhelming. I only know of Mr. Street what I read and see on TV and Robert Burns’ website. Though he ostensibly has better qualifications, particularly with is experience in the job, I do not see that he or his office is fulfilling the original intent of the position which is now ostensibly the state’s watchdog rather than the governor’s since his termination must be approved by the legislature..
I am convinced the only real watchdog we mullets have is Daryl Purpera and his bosses in the legislature do not follow through as they should on his audit findings – if they did, we would hear more about what is being done to correct the problems he reports. Instead, the same agencies are often cited for the same deficiencies year after year after year and when somebody calls them to task they are always “working on a solution to the problems.”
So, given the current state of affairs, I would eliminate the OIG and put more emphasis on correcting the problems Mr. Purpera’s office diligently reports – given the power to do so, of course.
It’s pretty amazing what they’ll prosecute with no facts. Meanwhile, they have hard facts about criminal action staring them in the face and decline to act. This office seems to be part of the political machine that’s broken. Until they prove otherwise, I believe it’s time to shut them down.
Why was Street so intent on “busting” Corey Delahoussaye for what in the grand scheme of things was apparently a piddling amount of money? Sounds like a personal vendetta.
Is the ERB Sheriff being sued also or was he “Just taking orders?”
GREAT question!! Here’s the simple answer: delaHoussaye identified $58 million in fraudulent claims submitted by Livingston Parish contractors. Consequently, FEMA denied payment on the claims. Those contractors voiced their displeasure to Jindal (who carried Livingston Parish heavily), and Jindal gave Street his marching orders to nail delaHoussaye! It’s that simple.
LaVoice Fan, you may want to click on the “related link” above entitled “fans of mystery…..”. It will provide you with far more interesting background. The second related link about OIG’s powers being clipped from what all transpired in the delaHoussaye criminal trial is also an intriguing read.
Since the Legislature refuses to defund the OIG, maybe they will be receptive to creating a new agency: IOIG (Inspector of the Office of the Inspector General)