More proof that when leaders are unhappy with the message, they shoot the messenger as the obvious solution:
“I hear the State Fire Marshal’s office may be going to terminate several employees (this) week based on their (the employees) not being loyal to the agency and (State Fire Marshal Butch) Browning. There is actually a DPS (Department of Public Safety and Corrections) rule that says you have to be loyal.”
That’s the message LouisianaVoice received from one of its sources over the weekend.
If true, it gives credence to the expression that no good deed goes unpunished.
The overall administrative mood at the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal (LOSFM) has been more than a little surly since our initial STORY last week about unqualified personnel being forced to investigate possible arson cases.
With already interviews with a half-dozen sources under our belt, other sources began coming forward with claims of shortcomings in the INVESTIGATION of a fatal fire scene in St. Tammany Parish.
Also called into question was the investigation of several nursing fires in Simmesport and the arrest of an employee, who was not even at work during all but one of the fires, on some 75 counts, including cruelty to the infirm and attempted murder. An Avoyelles Parish grand jury is scheduled to investigate that case beginning on Thursday.
LouisianaVoice has since been asked to look into the circumstances of yet another Avoyelles Parish CASE in which a local firefighter was arrested in connection with the death of his wife of 10 months in a house fire. His trial is next month.
LOSFM administrators took immediate action to confront the problems with the St. Tammany and Simmesport cases by calling in employees from the field and grilling them about whether they had talked to LouisianaVoice. Among the tactics employed in improving investigative methods were threats of polygraph tests and further interrogation.
And now there are those pesky loyalty issues which appear to have placed employees’ jobs in jeopardy.
Apparently, it’s the DPS Trump card, if you’ll forgive a bad pun.
But when the so-called “loyalty rule” is invoked, it’s important to ask: to whom is this “loyalty” due?
We have not seen the rule requiring loyalty but it would be assumed that it was intended to require loyalty to the agency, DPS, and to the principles to which it espouses—namely justice administered on a fair, equitable, and impartial basis.
If that’s the case, it would seem a pretty steep hill to climb to prove disloyalty on any employee.
But if it’s loyalty to the guys in the corner offices, namely Browning, Fire Chief Brant Thompson and other top brass (whether laden with unwarranted military medals or simply blessed with protectors in high places), that’s another story.
We’ve heard the stories of LOSFM employees being reassigned to remote districts or being forced into resignations after revealing problems to management, it’s difficult to see how leadership at LOSFM warrants loyalty from anyone other than those who literally owe their jobs to Browning—those cronies brought in at higher pay grades than veteran employees.
Loyalty in exchange for political benefaction should not be a requirement of any job in government. That’s the very reason the Department of Civil Service was enacted during the second administration of Jimmie Davis.
Whistleblowers most often come forward reluctantly and after all other avenues of rectification have been exhausted.
But another reason the honchos at LOSFM might want to reconsider any rash decisions to clean house of so-called “disloyal” employees is that terminated employees, now disgruntled (as opposed to gruntled?), might feel free to open up even more to LouisianaVoice and other media outlets.
And that, guys, is the elephant in the room that you seem to be ignoring.
Glad you brought our President into the discussion. He is setting an example those already so inclined will be happy to follow.
On your point about fired people being more willing to blow the whistle – though that seems logical, I find it rarely the case. Many people fear they will not be able to get another job after talking bad about where they worked or, even if they do, that they will have very limited potential for advancement. Some hope to supplement their retirement incomes by continuing to work part-time. It also probably has to do with being branded “whiners” regardless of the legitimacy of their complaints. In the case of law enforcement agencies, it could also be fear of retribution by those agencies.
The real shame is that there is not far greater accountability within our government operations. Just because they have not been given as much attention by the mainstream media, the things you report are not secrets – and whistle-blowing should not be required to fix them.
The fact is “innocent until proven guilty” The problem we have in Louisiana is the individual responsible for proving that guilt. First it would be the top cop with original jurisdiction the District Attorney in that jurisdiction, which in most cases represents the Political Subdivision which should be investigated.
And in most cases like with the Cory Delahoussaye case the top cops turned it around and went after the whistleblower (A witchhunt using taxpayer dollars). So after the big dance everyone forgets how it all began, with the true criminals running the clock (saved by the bell) in regards to Statue Of Limitation.
For a guy having to get moved back in his home, Tom has been cranking out intriguing article after intriguing article in the month of July. We all owe him a big “thank you” for his dedication on exposing corruption in various state agencies.
It has taken me a while to get caught up because I am deeply entrenched in activities of concern to many Louisiana citizens in other state agencies, and I’ll have features on them out in due time, but I did want to state something briefly here.
There was some cheap pop-shot about Tom being “worse than the MSM” about investigative reporting. Nothing could be further from the truth. Regarding Fire Marshall records, Tom spent days (and I do mean days) at headquarters scanning records. He had so many that he asked if I could help, and my mom and I used two more scanners so that three scanners could be going at once. We spent two and one-half days there with him helping him gather all these records.
Tom does not merely throw material together on a napkin, and I certainly don’t either. In fact, I’ve been accused of the opposite. That is to say I treat features I put out just like trying to prove a fraud investigation from when I did that for the FDIC. When I make a statement, you can BOOK IT that I have the documented facts to back it up, and it has been my experience that Tom Aswell is the same.
The comment on a prior article by some reader unwilling to reveal his or her identity was hardly worth dignifying, but I wanted to make this post to ensure anyone who may wonder if Tom is thorough in his investigative work, trust me, he is!!
I just want to remind Louisiana Voice readers that Brant Thompson is the SAME individual who managed to get a CLOSED investigation of the Auctioneer Licensing Board (in which the investigator said, “We have no evidence Mr. Thompson even consigned anything to this auction,” and the legal counsel for the LALB sent him a letter saying “no evidence of auctioneer wrongdoing exists, and we are closing this matter”) REOPENED (after a terse letter to Holly Robinson, then-Gov. Jindal’s head of Boards and Commissions). It’s all right here in the article Tom asked me to write on the incident:
https://louisianavoice.com/2014/11/10/did-brant-thompson-receive-preferential-treatment-from-auctioneer-licensing-board-because-he-is-senators-son/
At some point, somebody has GOT to rein in this absurd abuse of powers that is costing the state a fortune.
I certainly hope they investigate further into the quiet church mouse named LANCE CARRUTH.
A racist bigot who has carried on more affairs and sexual harassment claims than Butch/Brant combined. It’s as if they started their own fraternity of brothers/bullies who think they cant be touched.
Lance has repeatedly used deragatory terms and racist comments in the presence of his subordinates. How disgusting of an individual.
There’s a reason why he hasn’t hired an African American under his command. And it’s not because they don’t apply!
Carruth is just as terrifying to be around as Thompson and Browning. A snake who will harass you to your face and threaten your job when you speak up. Truly a disgrace. Disgusting!!
Unfortunately this joke of a Governor won’t do anything to assist the state of Louisiana because Thompson’s daddy is a big supporter. Well JBE–I hope we remember this during re-election time!!
You’ve surrounded yourself with crooked, incompetent, racist, despicable liars and cheats!
Browning, Thompson, Carruth have a special place in hell for what they’ve done to the good men and women of this agency and the state of Louisiana.
It’s Louisiana politics at its best.