Louisiana Voice

A second development in what I thought was an issue laid to rest with the resignation of Mike Edmonson cropped up today just hours after the Louisiana Board of “Ethics” (that word should always be in quotes when talking about Louisiana political “ethics”) whitewashed its investigation of Edmonson and the infamous San Diego road trip and his overall management of Louisiana State Police (see post of earlier today).

Right on the heels of that story was the unconfirmed report from a usually solid source that State Sen. Neil Riser is being considered to succeed David Young as executive director of the LOUISIANA STATE TROOPERS ASSOCIATION.

Young, who retired, effective last month, is the one who laundered campaign contributions from the LSTA through his personal checking account in order that the LTSA might circumvent state civil service laws prohibiting classified employees from active involvement in political campaigns, including, of course, campaign contributions.

Young would ultimately enter into a CONSENT AGREEMENT with the Louisiana Board of “Ethics” in which he admitted to making $17,500 in contributions to various political candidates for which the LTSA later reimbursed him.

Riser, a Republican senator from Columbia who failed in a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in a 2013 special election, is the one who tacked on an amendment onto Senate Bill 294, an otherwise innocuous bill dealing with procedures for formal, written complaints made against police officers. That amendment, slipped in on the closing hours of the 2014 legislative session, would have given Edmonson a generous increase in his pension that otherwise he would not have been entitled to. Riser at first denied but later ADMITTED that he was behind the amendment and days after he did so, posed for a photograph with Edmonson.

Edmonson and Riser

Riser, who owns two funeral homes in Columbia, again failed in his bid to succeed former U.S. Sen. John Kennedy in another special election in 2017 to fill Kennedy’s vacated State Treasurer’s position. He is term-limited in his current state senate position and is a man potentially without a job in politics, so it stands to reason that he would be looking to maintain an influential presence in Baton Rouge.

Such is the intoxicating nature of politics that some egos simply cannot walk away from it.

LouisianaVoice was first to break that STORY about the amendment boosting Edmonson’s pension on July 11, 2014, after receiving an anonymous tip and that story generated immediate and near-unanimous opposition. State Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) was successful in filing a lawsuit in Baton Rouge district court to block the pension increase.

Young, contacted Thursday by LouisianaVoice, said he had had no contact with the association since his retirement and that he knew nothing of Riser’s pending appointment to head the LSTA.

Attempts were made to reach Association President Jay O’quinn for confirmation but he didn’t answer his cell phone.