Louisiana Voice

Today is the last day of our October fundraiser and we still need your help. There will be no more appeals after today until our April event.

We make sincere efforts to keep abreast of developing stories in Louisiana and, when the occasion warrants it, elsewhere, such as Washington when a story directly affects us in Louisiana – like when there are efforts to infringe on our rights or on congressional votes that impact our state or our residents.

We don’t always get there first but we try to tell you the story within the story and we will let you know when our US senators or representatives are not acting in our best interests.

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Thank you for your past support of LouisianaVoice. It’s truly appreciated.

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Freedom.

It’s an abstract concept to some, absolute to others.

To the absolutist, it means we are free to go where we want, when we want, associate with whomever we want, say what we want, and to be free to live life the way we choose. We enjoy the liberty to choose our religion – or to choose no religion at all.

The only constraints the absolutist places on freedom is when our freedom infringes on the rights of others.

And then there are those who define freedom in the narrowest of terms.

Take, for example, the Louisiana legislator who gave her unqualified support a few years ago to the allocation of state taxpayer dollars to church-affiliated schools. Public funding of religious schools was just dandy until an Islamic school in New Orleans applied for funding. It was at that point that she went into orbit, proclaiming the bill was intended for “Christian” schools, certainly not those based in the Islamic faith.

The same legislator made immigration a major issue, too, fretting publicly about the “invasion” of our southern border, as a former president put it. But when that legislator’s husband purchased two rent houses, who do you suppose he hired to perform the renovation work on the structures?

That same legislator, Valerie Hodges of Livingston Parish, recently raffled off an AR-15 as part of her ongoing fundraising efforts, prompting one of her constituents to tweet, “This the same person raging against the library. Tell me again…how many books have killed children?”

That constituent, you see, is school librarian Amanda Jones, who has been under relentless attack by those who view freedom in somewhat conflicting terms: they want “absolute” freedom of the Second Amendment but are determined to restrict freedoms for anyone with whom they have a philosophical or moral disagreement.

This, then, is the mindset of the American equivalent of the Islamic morality police who killed Mahsa Amini after her arrest over Iran’s hijab law: confirm to our puritanic standards or face the consequences.

There are those, I am certain, who feel I am being unfair to compare the so-called Christians to Islamic radicals, but is it really an unfair comparison? After all, no one has been killed over a library book.

But let us look at the larger picture. Women’s right to choose has already been placed on the chopping block over the so-called right to life argument. But is it right to life or right to birth? After all, the pro-lifers have stripped away or are in the process of doing so to social programs to help the vulnerable and have voiced their intentions to going further in abolishing programs for hungry children born into poverty and abuse. They want the children to be born but quickly turn their backs on them after that.

On another front in the ongoing culture war, we are seeing voting rights being taken away from minorities on a scale not witnessed since the dark days of the KKK and the Citizens Council 70 years ago.

We’re in a period of runaway inflation, but precious little is being said about raising the minimum wage so that a person can make a decent living. And the income disparity continues to grow as the middle class disappears.

There is ample finger-pointing between Democrats and Republicans over high energy prices. Republicans scream (correctly) about President Biden’s restriction on domestic production while Democrats point out (correctly) that before leaving office, Trump prevailed upon OPEC to cut production in order to jack up oil prices.

Meanwhile, flying below everyone’s radar were reports that EXXON had record profits of $20 billion (with a B) for the third quarter, SHELL nearly doubled its profits during the same quarter, and UTILITY COMPANIES are lavishing bonuses and salary increases on their top executives even as consumer suffer.

But no one talks much about a windfall profits tax even as big oil SELLS OFF its wells in an effort to pass along environmental cleanup to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the culture war continues to expand. There is a concerted campaign to curtail or even eliminate the teaching of certain elements of history that Some would rather be forgotten – subjects like slavery, the Civil War, civil rights, women’s suffrage, and of course, the “don’t say gay” agenda. We’re written extensively about efforts to suppress and censor libraries (and make no mistake, it’s all about censorship, no matter what the morality police try to tell us) in Livingston, Lafayette, and Bossier parishes. Now the fight has been taken into St. Tammany and the battle is becoming more and more contentious.

People are so damned afraid of what the kiddies might see on the library shelves that they are predicting infantile debauchery perpetrated by evil, pedophilic librarians even as they overlook the ease with which Porn-R-Us is available to young prying eyes on the Internet.

I can’t help but wonder how many of these “concerned parents” have enjoyed extra-marital trysts in the past or continue to do so.

I also have to wonder just how many children (or adults, for that matter), have turned gay by reading about it. Probably the same number who became werewolves or zombies or witches by going trick-or-treating or the same number who grew up to be cowboys and war heroes by watching a John Wayne movie (it’s got to be both or it doesn’t count).

But having said that, I will concede that there is a certain book that is chock-full of murder, corruption, homophobia, bestiality, incest, and cruelty – which is often read to little children, particularly on Sundays.

This book:

• Advocates limiting women’s rights;
• Advocates control of people’s sexuality;
• Wants to force prayers in schools;
• Wants to control government policy;
• Wants to influence the judiciary system;
• Promotes hatred;
• Is judgmental;
• Promotes violence and perpetuates conflict;
• Populates the world through incest (twice);
• Promotes killing at least two dozen times and then orders the killing of anyone who kills.

This book advocates the killing of every opponent in battle, including infants (even ripping them from mothers’ wombs) but gives the victors permission to take young virgins for themselves.

It is graphic in describing how one man, a king at that, was guilty of voyeurism and lust to the point of ordering the object of his desire’s husband to the front lines in battle so the poor sap would be killed and the king could have the widow, whom he’d impregnated, to himself.

It tells of the killing of the first-born of an entire country and it even describes how a father first offers his daughters to his neighbors for their pleasure and later impregnates them himself.

Yet, no one has advocated that this book be relocated out of the reach of little impressionable children.

We must ask ourselves — and answer honestly: are our morality police really any different than their Islamic counterparts?

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What does one do to get a promotion in an embattled organization like Louisiana State Police (LSP)?

Well, if you’re Shawn Boyd, you fudge your timesheet and get yourself suspended without pay for four weeks.

Then you’re set.

Boyd was suspended without pay for four weeks in 2015 for claiming that he worked LACE details when he did not.

LACE stands for Local Agency Compensated Enforcement. The program calls for the local district attorney’s office to pay the overtime salaries and mileage of troopers who write tickets with fines from the tickets going to the local agencies. It has proven to be a lucrative gig for state troopers, especially when they claim to be on the clock when they’re not.

New Orleans TV investigative reporter Lee Zurik first broke the story in 2017 when his investigative team surveilled four troopers in the New Orleans area, including Boyd who, on Aug. 8 that year was working LACE until 6 p.m. but wrote his last ticket at 3:10 p.m. and arrived at his home nearly an hour before his shift ended.

Other troopers investigated by Zurik had even more flagrant problems keeping track of the hours they worked. You may see them by going HERE..

Boyd began his career when he entered the State Police Academy in September 2001. He was promoted to the rank of Master Trooper in September 2010 and as of one week ago today, he was making $94,744.

Last Thursday, he was promoted to sergeant at a salary of $104,646 per year.

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Livingston Parish librarian Amanda Jones may have lost a battle, but not the war.

Not just yet, despite the smug victory lap taken by Michael Lundsford, head of an outfit called Citizens for a New Louisiana, which we suspect, is linked to – and perhaps even partially funded by – Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Lundsford appears to be obsessed with what he calls erotica and he has taken his crusade to libraries all over the state, including Lafayette where he has bullied the parish council into installing its hand-picked Library Board members who in turn are attempting to fire any librarian who attempts to adhere to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The Tulane Law Clinic has weighed in on the Lafayette controversy, sending a letter to Library Board President Robert Judge emphasizing what it called a “chilling effect” that the board’s actions could have on “public debate and protected speech.”

The Livingston Parish Library Board told Lundsford to buzz off and he has now singled out the four board members who he claims are “standing in the way” of his efforts to impose his morality standards on the populace.

Not only did he name the four on his post, he even called out the individual parish council members who appointed each board member.

Amanda Jones, who has come under personal attacks by both Lundsford and at least one Livingston Parish resident, Ryan Thames, sued both and Lundsford’s organization. Twenty-First Judicial District Judge Erika Sledge, however, dismissed her lawsuit by declaring Jones a public figure under the definition of the landmark 1964 US Supreme Court NEW YORK TIMES V. SULLIVAN decision.

That decision made it difficult for public figures to sue for defamation unless a publication knew what it was writing was false and published it anyway with “actual malice” and “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

The Facebook accusation that Jones, School Librarian of the Year, was a pedophile would seem to be the very definition of “actual malice” and “reckless disregard,” but not in the judgment of Sledge.

On Monday, Jones announced that she has “chosen to continue my fight against the men who are spreading malicious and dangerous online attacks against me.

“I have a brand-new legal team and we have FILED A MOTION that asks the judge to reconsider her ruling and additionally proposes an amended petition that restates my claims against my harassers.

“I stand for myself and I stand for all the educators and librarians who are tired of being defamed online and used as political pawns,” she said.

Jones’s fight to defend the First Amendment and to defend herself against harassment has gotten national attention on CNN, USA Today, NBC News, Huff Post in addition to local publications and online blogs such as LouisianaVoice and she has created her own WEB PAGE called, appropriately enough, Speaking Out, in which she tells of her battles with Lundsford and his organization since she exercised her First Amendment rights by speaking out on July 19 in opposition to Lundsford’s attempt to dictate policy to the Livingston Parish library system.

Citizens for a New Louisiana is an ultra-right-wing organization affiliated with the Republican Party and uses the same Virginia law firm to handle its finances as does the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The NRCC in 2008 replaced its treasurer with Keith A. Davis of the Alexandria, Virginia law firm Huckaby Davis Lisker.

Huckaby Davis Lisker has the same 228 South Washington Street address and phone number as the party responsible for the financial records Citizens for a New Louisiana listed on its federal form 990 filed with the IRS.

Keith Davis, a partner in the firm, was the TREASURER of former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm’s campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in 1996 and worked on President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004. He also was assistant treasurer of both of the elder Bush’s president bids and his firm worked for several House Republicans and performed bookkeeping for the late Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has used campaign funds to pay her rent, lists Huckaby Davis Lisker as her campaign’s treasurer in her latest FINANCIAL REPORT.

The firm also handled the finances of Sen. Marco Rubio whose campaign was found to be in NON-COMPLIANCE with fundraising laws.

If Jones is unsuccessful in getting a rehearing, she could then appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeal.

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An ongoing legal battle in St. Tammany Parish, while having no direct connection to or effect on Attorney General Jeff Landry, nevertheless seems appropriate for comparison to a situation in the AG’s office.

A former captain in the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office has had his firing upheld by a three-judge panel of the US 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Calvin Lewis was fired in 2017 because he has lived for a decade with his girlfriend who is a convicted felon and the sheriff’s office has a policy that forbids personal relationships or associations with known felons.

Lewis has not decided what his next move will be. He may either seek a rehearing before a full panel or appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Admittedly, it is an apples-to-oranges comparison when considering a situation in Landry’s office but at the same time, it’s interesting to know the policy that cost Lewis his job is not consistent across public agencies, especially in the agency of the chief legal officer of the state.

While the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has a specific policy prohibiting associations with known felons by sheriff’s office employees, the AG’s office apparently does not.

In 2015, when Landry first ran for the office, it was a three-person race: Landry, incumbent AG Buddy Caldwell, and Geraldine Broussare Baloney of Garyville in St. John the Baptist Parish.

In that first primary, Caldwell polled 35 percent to Landry’s 33 percent. Baloney finished third with 18 percent, throwing the race into a runoff between Caldwell and Landry.

On Nov. 2, three weeks before the Nov. 21 runoff, Baloney announced that after meeting with Landry, “followed by prayerful consideration with my family, I have decided to endorse Jeff Landry because of his willingness to embrace forward thinking policies, his desire to actually transform and change the way the attorney general’s office does business.”

Long story short, Landry defeated Caldwell with 56 percent of the general election vote.

As for “the way the attorney general’s office does business,” well, Landry knew the drill. He obviously had cut a deal with Baloney because as soon as he’d settled into the job, he hired Baloney’s daughter, Quendi Baloney, to head up the AG’s Fraud Section.

So, what’s so unusual about that? Those kinds of deals are cut all the time in elections. Jay Dardenne was a candidate for governor in 2015 and when he didn’t make the runoff, he endorsed John Bel Edwards. When Edwards was elected, who did he appoint as his commissioner of administration? None other than Jay Dardenne.

But then Dardenne wasn’t a convicted felon. QUENDI BALONEY was and is. She had been charged in 1999 with 11 felony counts of credit card fraud and theft. She eventually pleaded guilty to three counts and received a suspended prison sentence.

And now we learn that Quendi Baloney’s sister, Abril Baloney Sutherland, is an applicant for the position of executive counsel for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East in New Orleans. Word on the street is that Thomas L. Colletta, Jr. is the early odds-on favorite for that post but don’t be surprised if Landry has something to say about the final selection.

And it’s not as if the authority couldn’t use some wise legal counsel, given the results of its latest AUDIT by the legislative auditor’s office.

I don’t want to call Landry a hypocrite but in 2016, he demanded to know why Gov. Edwards would allow a convicted felon to serve as legal counsel for the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors.

He questioned the board’s retaining former State Sen. Larry Bankston as its legal counsel, pointing out that Bankston served 44 months in prison for his 1997 conviction on a video poker-related bribery scheme.

“Mr. Bankston is a convicted felon who has been previously disbarred,” Landry sniffed. “An attorney who represents the board in a fiduciary capacity to the board and is a legal representative of the state of Louisiana.”

Wow. That took some real chutzpah on Landry’s part to raise that, of all issues.

But Landry is absolutely correct. And an individual who pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud being put in charge of the AG’s Fraud Section in exchange for a political endorsement just has to raise a few eyebrows – even in Louisiana.

Landry’s proclamation on his WEBPAGE two months after taking office that there was “a new sheriff in town” and that he was ending the “Buddy system” didn’t take long to become a cruel joke when that $17 MILLION SCAM to hire Mexican welders and pipefitters under H-2B visa rules through three companies owned by Landry and his brother, Ben Landry, was made public. He even managed somehow to funnel nearly HALF-A-MILLION DOLLARS of campaign contributions to those companies.

Of course, he had his own “buddy system” that bubbled to the surface when one of his prosecutors resigned in protest over the way in which he said Landry smoothed over a kiddie porn case on behalf of a “politically connected individual.”

Then the “new sheriff in town” put political contributor Shand Guidry on the AG’s payroll as some sort of “special agent/investigator” despite the fact he possessed zero qualifications for the job. But it all evened out when Guidry put Landry on the board of his oil services firm, Harvey Gulf, at a kickback salary of between $50,000 and $100,000.

Finally, in a snit, Landry demanded that LSU communications professor Bob Mann BE PUNISHED for a tweet last December in which he had the audacity to be critical of Landry for dispatching “some flunkie to the LSU Faculty Senate meeting…to read a letter attacking covid vaccines.” Mann noted that it was “quite the move from a guy who considers himself ‘pro-life.’”

We have to wonder if Mr. Landry is familiar with the First Amendment.

From his DIRTY CAMPAIGN against Charles Boustany when their two congressional districts were consolidated in 2012 through his absurd legal battle to OVERTURN the 2020 presidential election, Landry has shown himself to be vindictive, petty, churlish, manipulative, and downright reprehensible. He is a politically-conniving, hypocritical opportunist, far removed from the personification of the type leader this state needs and craves – as a congressman, attorney general, governor, or even a deputy sheriff.

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