Louisiana Voice

The March fundraiser for LouisianaVoice continues and your help is both needed and appreciated.

We’re working on some pretty intriguing stories at LouisianaVoice, one of which is about campaign contributions by special interests for this year’s elections of statewide officials and legislators.

Like any reporting enterprise, sometimes we run into dead-ends (non-stories) and sometimes we break really significant stories, stories that other news organizations either ignored completely or literally took years to jump on board, like:

• The series of Louisiana State Police stories under the administration of former Superintendent Mike Edmonson;
• The story about Superintendent of Education John White’s plotting in an email to “take some air out of the room” during misleading testimony before a legislative committee, a story that a north Louisiana daily newspaper tried (incorrectly) to take credit for breaking;
• About White’s plans to provide personal student data to a company controlled by RUPERT MURDOCH;
• Our series of stories about widespread abuses by the Louisiana Board of Dentistry and the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners;
• Several stories about campaign contributions from special interests and how those contributions take precedent over what’s best for the people of Louisiana;
• Stories about how campaign funds are misused for personal purposes like paying personal income taxes, purchasing season tickets to Saints, Pelicans and LSU games;
• Abuses of power by certain sheriffs in Louisiana, notably Terrebonne Parish’s Jerry Larpenter and Iberia Parish’s Louis Ackal;
• Critical investigative audits of state and local agencies that negatively impact the manner in which our hard-earned taxpayer dollars are misused, misappropriated, and at times, embezzled
• The Jindal administration’s attempt at steamrolling a state agency head because he wouldn’t compromise state regulations for a major Jindal campaign contributor;
• How major Jindal contributors appeared to have “bought” positions on powerful state boards and commissions.

I’m told that some legislators make faces and utter profanities at the mere mention of my name.

Thank you.

There are also countless stories that you will never know about because, well, they turned out to be dead-ends. But we nevertheless were forced to spend considerable time chasing down those blind leads and those efforts took time—and money.

That’s why LouisianaVoice needs your help. If you appreciate these stories, please do what you can to support our efforts.

I even invite those of you who disagreed with or were offended by certain stories. That’s certain to happen because no two people think alike on every single issue. There were be differences of opinion but I would hope my readers are open-minded enough to understand that what I do with LouisianaVoice, I do in the interest of transparency and accountability. If those two factors are removed from reporting, then democracy and freedom die. So, even if you take umbrage at what I write, I have at least laid the issue on the table for consideration and discussion.

So please. Do what you can by clicking on the yellow DONATE button in the upper part of the column to the right of this post or mail your check to:

LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727