Louisiana Voice

In case you are one of those who continues to cling to the belief that Republicans are for “good government,” “transparency,” and some “gold standard” of ethics, you might want to consider actions Jeff Landry has taken to hide the homeless from the prying eyes of football fans during next Sunday’s Super Bowl.

You’ll notice that I said “hide,” not “solve” the growing problem of homelessness in every major city in America. That’s because he’d rather throw $17.5 million at a politically-connected firm to serve as a band-aid for a cancer rather than make any serious effort to actually address the problem.

Of course, this is the governor, who after getting in trouble with the State Ethics Board, moved to solve that problem by simply taking over the board. More on that later, but first let’s look at his actions in eradicating homelessness in New Orleans.

Actually, I can make it easy for you by providing this link to THE GUARDIAN which just today published a lengthy story about that very issue, though some expanding is necessary.

The Guardian alluded to a political connection between Landry and the company that received a no-bid $17.5 million contract to herd homeless individuals into an unheated warehouse, but it did so without explaining what that specific connection was.

An outfit called Workforce Group initially estimated that it would take about $16 million to run the warehouse for 90 days but later revised that estimate upward to $17.5 million. No problem, even though that amount is about what a year’s rent on a one-bedroom apartment for 1,177 people (about 80 percent of New Orleans’ unhoused population).

Never mind that the warehouse has been described as unsafe for human habitation by a representative of a New Orleans city council member who noted that the building had no flooring, no insulated walls, was open with no heating. Of course, Landry might argue that they were living on the street anyway, so what’s the difference? The difference is the state wasn’t throwing $17.5 mil at political cronies to allow them live on the street.

Never mind that there were no bids on the contract; just declare an emergency and never mind that the $17.5 million price tag was about twice what one leading agency was already spending to alleviate homelessness.

Look, let’s be reasonable here. As long as visitors to the Super Bowl are unable to see homeless people wandering around, the problem really doesn’t exist, right? It’s kind of like when your car engine makes a funny noise, you turn the radio volume up so you can’t hear it. Of if the check engine light comes on, just cover it with a piece of tape – that’ll fix it.

Anyway, the contract to relocate the homeless people want to a company called Workforce Group, which is cleverly tucked away as a subsidiary of the Lemoine Co., a Lafayette corporation run by brothers Lenny and Tim Lemoine. The Lemoines are quite generous in making political contributions to Louisiana Republicans. The brothers’ nephew, Seth Lemoine, just happens to be the stepson of former gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone. Rispone was a major supporter of Landry in the 2023 governor’s race and each of the Lemoines contributed to Landry’s campaign and to other Republican candidates.

There’s an app adage for that: one hand washes the other – and boy, do those hands need washing.

Landry, throughout his political career, has left a long trail of questionable maneuvers and insider deals – hell, while attorney general he once sued someone for seeking a public record – so it should come as no surprise that he has continued that tradition now that he’s governor. I suppose in the game of Louisiana politics, it’s expected but just we shouldn’t expect him to be so obvious about it; at least make some effort toward honesty and integrity.

It apparently wasn’t enough that he slammed the door on public records by pushing legislation that removed the penalties for non-compliance, but he also made that brazen move to commandeer the ethics board by making his own APPOINTMENTS, including the chairman, even as he fought the board over his own ethics violations.

Then, in January, we learned that that same ethics board for seven months kept PERSONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FORMS of five of Landry’s top staff members from the ethics board’s web site even though under state law, the records are supposed to be public. The purpose of requiring the publication of the records is to hold public officials accountable and to guard against public servants enriching themselves through their government jobs – and gosh, we know that doesn’t happen.

Maybe it’s just me, but it somehow doesn’t seem right that any official with matters pending before any board would have authority to appoint any of its members. Seems to me that’d be like a defendant in a trial being able to appoint the judge and jury.

But then again, maybe that’s just Louisiana politics.