Louisiana Voice

We see it every day. Someone posts something on social media that gets their derriere in a bind.

Someone says something about an individual that blows up in their face. It can be an email or some major indiscretion on Facebook or X.  A petty criminal posts a display of the booty he’s stolen; stupid people strut on camera, waving guns and boasting of their prowess as little more than thugs. More often than not, all those bad decisions have unhappy endings.

But there apparently is another oversight that lands one in a peck of trouble: failure to make sure your mute button on a conference call.

That appears to be what happened to Blake LeBlanc during a July 10 Zoom call being hosted by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH).

LeBlanc, Director of Mental Health for the Department of Corrections, unaware that his mic was not muted, uttered a racial slur, including use of the N-word, that was audible to everyone on the call, including one individual who is African American.

LeBlanc, whose salary was given as $118,435 per year, was immediately placed on suspension pending the results of an investigation.

Dr. Pete Croughan, Deputy Secretary of LDH, sent an email to that agency’s employees Thursday night, stating that a racial slur was heard on the call.

“Following this afternoon’s joint call, we received multiple reports of inappropriate language, including a racial slur, used by a participant on the call,” Croughan said in an email to LDH employees.

LouisianaVoice made a public records request for information about LeBlanc, including his title and salary but as is becoming the norm, DOC appears to be stalling. We received an email from Kelly Stone Liebert, administrative coordinator (whatever that is) for DOC that said, “Please see the attached acknowledging the receipt of your request. Our Communications Director, Tiffany Dickerson, should be reaching out to you soon.”

That was on Monday. Tiffany has yet to “reach out” to us.

The “attached” informed me of “thirty-nine (30) exemptions to the Public Records Law, leaving us somewhat confused as to whether it’s 39 or 30 exemptions.

But the real clincher was in the next-to-last sentence: “The Department anticipates that it will take at least 3-4 weeks for us to gather the requested information and respond to your request.”

Huh? Three to four weeks? Obviously, the information would be useless by then – and they know that. So much for transparency and accountability. The Public Records Law clearly states that records must be made available immediately unless they are in use in which case, the custodian must notify the requester (us) as to when the records will be available within three working days.

Once upon a time, there was a provision for fines of up to $100 per day for non-compliance but our conscientious legislators and governor expunged that little item, which gives state agencies license, even encouragement to stall, as DOC is now doing.

Here is that letter:

                                                              July 14, 2025

Tom Aswell

Re:       Your Request for Public Records Directed to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections

Dear Mr. Aswell,

Your public records request, dated July 11, 2025, was received by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Please be aware that the Department recognizes and will not produce documentation falling within the thirty-nine (30) exceptions given in Title 44 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The Department anticipates that it will take at least 3-4 weeks for us to gather the requested information and respond to your request.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Thank you,

Kelly Stone Liebert

Administrative Coordinator 4

Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections

P. O. Box 94304, Baton Rouge, La 70804

Ph.: 225-342-6743