It was a possibility almost too bizarre an idea to entertain.
It was just too weird to even consider.
The evidence was right there, however, for all to see and the conclusion was inescapable.
Mike Edmonson, erstwhile Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police (LSP) and once the most powerful law enforcement official in the state, had outed himself.
It’s not as if he had not been disgraced enough already. From the ill-fated but almost successful attempt to pad his own retirement in defiance of existing state regulations to that astonishingly ill-fated San Diego misadventure—with at least a dozen ugly stories of mismanagement, questionable promotions, and assorted rumors squeezed in between—would bring an ordinary man to disgrace.
But to leak a state audit that turned a glaring light on his propensity to use his position for personal financial gain and which may have left him exposed to major IRS penalties and even prosecution is the latest in a long line of of incredibly poor decisions that leaves observers a little incredulous.
Yet, that’s exactly what happened. Mike Edmonson—or someone acting on his behalf—leaked a copy of that devastating audit to the Baton Rouge Advocate and/or New Orleans television station WWL, which identifies itself as a news partner of the Advocate.
Do the math. There were only two copies of the audit. One went to LSP. The other was sent to Edmonson. The one provided Edmonson included a cover letter addressed to him. The one received by LSP did not contain that cover letter. That pretty much narrows the origin of the leak to a single source—Edmonson himself.
And when you watch the WWL report, 40 seconds into the VIDEO there is a shot of that cover letter dated Nov. 28 and addressed to “Dear Colonel Edmonson.”
Oops.
Pause the video at that spot and you can see for yourself that the first two paragraphs of that letter read:
“Enclosed please find a draft of our investigative audit report regarding the Department of Public Safety and Corrections – Public Safety Services – Office of State Police. Draft reports are not public documents and should be maintained in a confidential manner until the final report is officially released by the Legislative Auditor (Emphasis ours).
“At this time, we are asking you to provide any information you may have which may affect the findings contained in the draft report. Any information deemed material will be included in the final report. If you choose to respond, please respond no later than noon on December 12, 2017. Your written response will be included as part of the final report.”
Edmonson, as has been typical of him all along, again reacted as the aggrieved victim. He texted Advocate reporter Jim Mustian in advance of Friday’s publication of the audit’s findings to complain that if he (Mustian) published the audit’s contents prior to the release of the final report “you will be negating my legal right to review. The process is for me to respond back to them first, not the media. Whoever furnished you with the report did so without the approval of the auditor’s office,” he said.
It is important to parse his words here. When he said whoever furnished the report did so “without the approval of the auditor’s office,” notice he did not say it was without his approval. But the most important passage was “you will be negating my legal right to review.” (Emphasis ours)
That’s key. By first leaking the document and then, after Mustian contacted him for a comment before publication, following up with that email, Edmonson could have been setting the stage for his legal strategy. He will no doubt lawyer up if he has not done so already. And you can expect his legal counsel to claim that he was:
- ratted out by disgruntled former subordinates;
- treated unfairly by reporters and bloggers;
- tried in the court of public opinion before he ever had a chance to defend himself from the ravenous wolves.
He will likely claim the premature release of the audit has placed him at an unfair disadvantage from which it will all but impossible for him recover.
And you can bet he did not leak the audit directly, but through a third party. Or if he did leak it directly, it was via a fictitious email account that could not be traced back to him. One person who knows Edmonson said he suspects it was by an email account set up under an alias. “Or it may have been done by an attorney,” though, he said he would first start “with Mike.”
The same person said he did not think Edmonson was smart enough to attempt a preemptive strike to gain a legal edge by claiming his defense was tainted by the premature release.
He said he audit report, while likely reflecting most adversely on Edmonson, probably includes other findings against the entire department which may have led Edmonson to believe the focus would be on the broader agency issues. “If that’s the reason, it was a huge miscalculation,” he said. “In fact, whatever his motive, it was a huge error. The audit is damning in its detail.
“And when I was watching WWL, I saw the closeup with his name on the cover letter. There was the smoking gun.”
Louisiana Voice 
What an idiot if he thinks he can get away with this one. Attorney, you say, well, I really doubt that any attorney can help him as this point if everything that everyone has offered up is true.
Like I stated before, I think he is ready for stick a fork in him he is done!! If not, then we all need to leave Louisiana for good because we don’t have anyone in this State that can prosecute people who break the laws of this State. At that point then all government agencies need to close shop and go home for good, including the AG and the Governors office and possibly the Feds too.
I don’t Edmonson is all that to make that happen any day soon but this is just my opinion and I have been wrong before but I sure hope I am not wrong about this one.
Yep, sometimes you just can’t fix stupid!!
Make no mistake this won’t be prosecuted by state authorities.
The editorial pages of today’s ADVOCATE should give us all pause to consider why Louisiana continues to rank at the bottom in most measures of common sense values, While I am not a fan of Dan Fagan, the headline of his column (if not the column itself) says volumes:
“If Louisiana is hurting for businesses, it’s because businesses don’t trust us”
And, it’s not just businesses, its…well, everybody.
Plain common sense tells most of us the difference between right and wrong and that ability is used to establish guilt rather than insanity in courts of law.
Plain common sense also tells me our governor should be speaking out about what is wrong with our state and what he is doing about it. Right now, the crickets are chirping around the governor’s mansion and it would appear to us mullets (RIP, C.B. and Molly) that his subordinates have to take their own initiatives to try to fix things – and there is little concrete evidence they are.
If I am John Bel Edwards, and I look at the editorial pages of today’s ADVOCATE, can I honestly say I am proud of the way I am leading this state? If the old adage, “the buck stops here” holds true, what happens to it then? Chirp, chirp, chirp…
I remember a couple of Baton Rouge journalist cautioning JBE in late 2015 about reappointing Edmonson, LeBlanc, and Browning, Tom being one of those journalist, another specifically told JBE to keep Edmonson on a short leash, Guess the Governor rathers listening to the Sheriff’s Association and new political endorsement Association, the Louisiana State Troopers Association .
On another note, I see nothing coming out regarding Edmonson second in Command, Charlie Dupuy. he is known as the puppet master and intimidator of silence or face his wrath while Chief of Staff. Kevin Reeves would have done nothing if he allows Dupuy to linger in the shadows and influence the Department by FEAR!
One final thought this wonderful Sunday morning of Edmonson doom. The Legislative Auditor’s Office does excellent work, can we be assured the Edmonson’s sister n law, wife of LSP Major Paul Edmonson who works in a management position for Daryl Purport was not privy to certain elements of the audit that could be leaked to Edmonson or others? I have no proof, but you know that question will come up.
Daryl Purpera, the Legislative Auditor, made it a point to call me before he ever initiated the audit to assure me he was making certain Paul Edmonson’s wife was not involved in any way with the audit. He said he was informing me of that in anticipation of just such questions and to lay to rest any qualms that his office might not take all such safeguards.
Purpera is one of the few in state government in whom I have complete confidence.
Ditto Tom’s last sentence.
Also, upon reading the hard copy of The ADVOCATE after my comment above, I noted items about State Police were not as ubiquitous as they were online. There was a shift toward our very own chameleon in the U. S. Senate – his motto, apparently: “Whatever works [for me].”
As I may have mentioned before when I wrote him and Cassidy in opposition to both versions of “tax reform”, I heard nothing from Cassidy and got a totally non-responsive automated response from JNK – not that I expected more.
This is better than a Tom Clancy novel. Having represented individuals involving legislative audits, and knowing how the drill goes with the release of the draft report, The complete report is NEVER released until the subject has a chance to address the findings contained in the draft. The only copy of the draft that is released is to the subject himself for the purpose of response. I too was wondering about who “released” the preliminary report………that letter seems to be the smoking gun! Or maybe Edmondson’s sister in law released it…………………hmmmmmmmm.
One more point of Irony in all this. Edmonson’s now known as his fraudulent cross country trip to San Diego was to receive a award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police , LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, This was a award he stole from another Trooper that was nominated by hi Chain of Command.
Doug Cain was involved in that scandal!
Tarnished, shouldn’t he have to give this award back. Lifetime Achievement of what? Stealing, lying, breaking all the laws of taking perks when he shouldn’t have, tampering with evidence to try to save his yes sir re from be outed for what he done wrong.
This is shameful. I think this should be removed from him and given to the person he stole the award from. Now that would be some good ole Cajun justice!
I was thinking the same thing. The Chief’s of Police Association should require that he return this Award…………………Shameful !
Great reporting and good job of providing vents for the “inquiring minds”. We “red state” folks love to whine but we should be proud that Jindal/Republicans/perkins/ tweedle and O’Keefe (project verltas) elected Trump President, and trained our homeland security experts in hacking and com-sec. I hear Col is an expert in that. I am more interested in Ag Jeff Landry and his trip to Largo- love always ron thompson
When is the rank and file honest Troopers going to see some formal discipline on former State Police Commission Chairman TJ Doss regarding his scandal on the clock with another Commission Member. Caught at a movie theater, use of alcohol, misuse of state vehicle, checking in to a hotel all on the same day,” whew”, us tax payers paying for their play. By the way, Doss was a minion of Edmonson and Dupuy while on the Commission!
Colonel Reeves the Good Troopers and Retirees that built the once proud LSP are watching and hoping you will start fixing things soon. If you think this will go away with the next big news event, think again. We have been at it since the failed Edmonson Amendment since 2014.
I really doubt that they will do anything to any of them. I think we were all lucky that they were removed from the commission. I know I will never donate a dime to them again until I can see a big and I mean a big, big change in that commission. I doesn’t look like the Governor is too worried about what they did. I think the Governor is hoping this will all go away and be forgotten. I know if I was a trooper I would be in his face until he handled this the proper way and not just taking him out as the Colonel but all the way to jail where he belongs. Remember we are in Louisiana where anything goes. That is why
they do all the crooked stuff they do because they know whos pocket they are in before they begin. I really don’t see anything changing soon except maybe John Bel Edwards not winning again for Governor. He better take charge of this if not, he can forget getting back in that office. People are not stupid, they might not be able to correct this mess but they won’t put someone back in office again who didn’t get off his duff to clean up this mess all the way to the finish line.
God Bless our good State Troopers. It is sad that so many of them go to work everyday/night not expecting extras like the scum that led them for way to long. It is so rewarding to see that these men and women never lost faith and still answer the call every day and every night never skipping a beat. These men and women are the ones who deserve a reward not the “sorry, thieving,
rotten to the core scum” who lead the agency until he got caught sticking his hand in the candy jar one too many times.
Please Governor Edwards, take care of your mess, yes your mess because you are the one who chose him for this position. We the taxpayers are counting on you to see this through to the finish line and not the line where the thug gest more perks, the line at the jail where he is assigned a uniform and a cell where he belongs like every other thief in the State.
Colonel Reeves was hand picked by Edmonson as his replacement. Why ? Because their in the same LSP Frat Club, and have been for years. Edmonson knows that with Reeves as his successor he will not be charged for any of the felonies he’s committed in Louisiana. The only way Edmonson will face any charges, is if their brought by the Federal Government. I don’t look for any change at Louisiana State Police, until the Louisiana Statue is change to allow an outsider, to be appointed as Superintendent. Anything short of that, you’ve got a bunch of hand picked “Edmonson CLONES” in full control of the L.S.P. Bring in an outsider as Superintendent, and jail, fire, or retire all the upper Command. The only way to clean up the total corruption at LSP HQ, is to can all of them at the top, and start over.
Edmonson should be jailed for all the crimes he’s committed, or all those his agency jailed for the same crimes should be released. Simple as that. If JBE don’t see that this is handled, he can kiss goodbye to a second term in office. The voters aren’t stupid, and all of this will come out, come re-election time.