Despite Inspector General Stephen Street’s impassioned plea for a stay of proceedings in the Corey DelaHoussaye defamation lawsuit against the Street and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) “for the sake of conserving judicial resources and preventing the waste of valuable taxpayer dollars,” it has been brought to the attention of LouisianaVoice that one of the biggest and most expensive law firms in Baton Rouge has been retained to defend OIG.
And apparently it’s not enough that the firm Taylor Porter was retained but the firm has assigned not one, not two, but three of its attorneys to the DelaHoussaye matter.
As evidenced by OIG’s MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS filed on Nov. 15, Taylor Porter attorneys Preston Castille, Jr., Katia Bowman and Ne’Shira Millender signed off as “Special Assistant Attorney General Counsel to OIG Defendants.”
Talking about using a baseball bat to swat a gnat…
Not that DelaHoussaye is a gnat by any means. He appears to have a pretty solid case against Street and OIG, given that his home was raided by Street on the basis of a search warrant the OIG has no authority to issue and based on the fact that Street initiated the prosecution of DelaHoussaye even though DelaHoussaye did not work for any state agency.
It’s also telling that by the attorneys signing off as “Special Assistant Attorney General” counsels for OIG it is implicit that the Taylor Porter contract was issued by the Office of the Attorney General.
You may remember how Attorney Jeff Landry got his drawers in a wad over Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointment of attorneys to represent the state in litigation against oil companies for their contribution to the destruction of Louisiana’s coast. Landry just flat refused to sign off on the contracts and Edwards was forced to cancel their appointments.
That’s because State law gives the attorney general the final say-so in approving the appointment of all lawyers who represent the state.
So what’s wrong with that? Not much except that LIZ MURRILL is Chief of the Attorney General’s Civil Division and as such has direct supervision over Taylor Porter.
And her husband, JOHN MURRILL, just happens to be a PARTNER at Taylor Porter.
Now I’m not an attorney but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once and it appears to me that the Taylor Porter contract comes awfully close to a violation of the STATE ETHICS CODE which says, in part:
- GENERAL PROHIBITIONS (R.S. 42:1111 – 1121): For public servants, other than legislators or appointed members of boards and commission, bidding on or entering into any contract, subcontract or other transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction of the public servant’s agency. This restriction also applies to the immediate family members of the public servant and to legal entities in which the public servant and/or his family members own an interest in excess of 25 percent. (Emphasis added)
Granted, John Murrill doesn’t “own” 25 percent of Taylor Porter but he is a partner in the firm.
And the State Ethics Law covers that little contingency when it goes on to say:
- 1112 – Participation by a public servant in a transaction involving the governmental entity in which any of the following persons have a substantial economic interest: (1) the public servant; (2) any member of his immediate family; (3) any person in which he has an ownership interest that is greater than the interest of a general class; (4) any person of which he is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee; (5) any person with whom he is negotiating or has an arrangement concerning prospective employment; (6) any person who is indebted to him or is a party to an existing contract with him and by reason thereof is in a position to affect directly his economic interests. (Emphasis added)
Does Taylor Porter and thus John Murrill have an “economic interest” through contracts with the Attorney General’s Civil Division?
Well, consider this: Taylor Porter, from August 2015 through November 2016, was approved for 13 contracts totaling more than $2 million, about $160,000 per contract on average.
And that didn’t even include Taylor Porter’s contract to defend OIG. That contract has yet to be entered on the state’s online LaTrac program, which lists contracts with every state agency.
Perhaps there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. If so, we’d love to hear it.
Otherwise, we’ll just refer to the immortal words of the late C.B. Forgotston:
“You can’t make this stuff up.”
Louisiana Voice 
Taylor Porter appears to be the new “Faircloth” firm of choice of AG Landry. Nothing wrong with a little nepotism, right?
Sometimes you just have to refer to that famous line in Tom Cruise’s breakout movie Risky Business (I think in 1984): “Sometimes, you just have to say, ‘WTF.'”
Now I just have to hope I’m not going a tad senile and forgot the movie or the quote (no big deal if I got the wrong year).
A bit off-topic but concerning the A.G. It seems he’s wanting to stick his nose into the nola local crimefighting issue.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/01/attorney_general_jeff_landry_t_1.html#incart_river_home
Yes, his involvement in the New Orleans crime problem has been the basis for reports I’ve heard on WRKF in the last couple of days. Though they attempted to report it fairly, the motivation is obvious and best summed up in the following quote from the article you cited:
“NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble responded in a statement, saying public safety is not “some self-serving political agenda.”
Stephen, I wanted to add that but I hate making my blockquoted section bigger than my original comment. 😉
Here’s the most laughable graf from this morning’s ADVOCATE article on Landry:
“While he did not rule out a run for governor, Landry, 46, said he remains focused on his current job. He said he “despises people” who use one political office as a stepping-stone to the next.”
OMG! And he said that with a straight face? LOL!
I almost never read an Advocate article anymore, Stephen, but since you alerted me to it, I couldn’t resist. I’ll make several points:
1. I find the most revealing quote to be immediately above the one you reference wherein Landry stated as an accomplishment “restoring” relationships with the FBI, which he said had “chilled” under Caldwell. I think Landry was VERY kind to Caldwell not to be more blunt!!! Relations with the FBI under Caldwell were NONEXISTENT because the FBI knows FULL WELL that Caldwell ran a CORRUPT office!! The FBI only works with law enforcement agencies it feels it can TRUST and, in Caldwell’s case, either Buddy or David were much more likely to be targets of FBI investigations rather than cooperating agencies. If the FBI may be delving into the circumstances of the CNSI contract cancellation, don’t be shocked to see charges lodged against Buddy Caldwell himself.
2. Beyond being childish (and I’m being kind), David Caldwell’s comments in the article are not even worth dignifying, so I’m not going to.
3. These authors ought to at least mention that Landry has defeated Edwards in each of their courtroom battles and mention the FACT that Landry’s attorney in court, Chester Ceadars, said to Judge Hernandez, “Your honor, all Governor Edwards has to do is delete the words ‘gender identity’ from his executive order, and we can all go home.” In other words, Landry is fine with language in state contracts prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation (gay vs. straight), but he opposes men using ladies’ restrooms. If a poll were taken among Louisiana residents, I have no doubt that 90%+ of respondents would oppose that practice. If Edwards wants to “go to the wall” on transgendered folk’s “right” to use the restroom opposite their birth sexual identity, it’s his funeral, and I promise you it WILL air on campaign ads in 2019!!
4. To your point, there can be no denying that Landry is implicitly running for Governor, but he IS doing HIS job while doing so. Jindal, whom I’m certain he was referencing, on the other hand, well, let me stop because what I would write would HAVE to be censored!!
No comment on any Taylor Porter conflict, but as a defense lawyer who
Has represented various State entities, having 3 lawyers names on a pleading doesn’t mean they are all constantly working on a case. Lawyers are busy, and they need to have multiple people to be able to sign pleadings in case deadlines come while others are out of the office. The troubling thing here is why the AG is not representing all State entities. Does he not have anyone qualified to handle, or is he opposed to the defense? The State spends millions on outside counsel when the AG should handle all of it. Of course, Landry is building his rep to run against Edwards, so notnhelpful to the administration. Politics.
Ninety-nine percent of Louisiana’s voters know only 1% of the crap their government pulls. People like DelaHoussaye are abused while the taxpayers pay the bill. Ignorance is truly bliss till it happens to you.
Taylor Porter should immediately withdraw. Landry is testing them. He is going after everything decent. He is a rude egomaniac. He is totally political, he and Street are loyal only to Jindal/Teepell and Trump.They will continue to use taxpayer money to promote themselves and get richer. I agree with Mr. Burns, except I would make it clear that WHF is exclamatory not acquience(can’t spell this early)Greg is correct but the JIndadalite Republican legislature through its ethical reform crap insured the defense dollars would go to private firms, not state lawyers. I should write a book. love always ron thompson
I’m sorry but saying Landry is loyal to Jindal, Teepal, and Trump is absurd. You have absolutely nothing to back up that statement.
You are right. I say absurd things I learned from the Jindalite revolution. I can make up crap and they become fact in my mind. I should have added the GOP thread of loyalty hidden and embedded in Republican controlled “law” and rule of law, so us ignorant folks can’t question that loyalty.. love always ron thompson
I don’t even know what this means.