Louisiana Voice

Uh, yes, Speaker DeVillier…that’s exactly what it means.

In our LouisianaVoice masthead at the words, “It is understandable when a child is afraid of the dark but unforgivable when a man fears the light.”

After Donald Trump was elected in 2016 (and, unfortunately, before the newspaper was purchased by Jeff Bezos), The Washington Post adopted the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” for its masthead.

The New York Times masthead slogan dates back a few years further. Adopted in 1896, it says simply, “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”

Even the weekly Shongaloo Tattler, if it existed, might have “World News Guardian” plastered at the top of Page One.

That’s all because newspapers, since the days of old Ben Franklin, have been the backbone of this country’s informed citizenry.

Gov. Jeff Landry, in his inaugural address in January 2024, called TRANSPARENCY the primary goal for his administration.

He lied.

We had warnings. As attorney general, he sued a Baton Rouge Advocate reporter for submitting a public records request to his office. He even tried to pass a law saying only Louisiana citizens had a right to public records. He tried to get Bob Mann fired at LSU because Mann had the temerity to criticize Landry for sending a flunky to a meeting at LSU to address Landry’s opposition to Covid mandates. Seeing the writing on the wall after Landry was elected governor, Mann resigned on that same inauguration day.

Now we learn that Landry required that at least 121 state employes sign NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS (NDAs) with his office. That number does not include your legislators (77 Percent of state Senators and at least a dozen House members) local police jury, school board and city council members who are almost certainly parties to this shroud of secrecy being pulled over public information about the machinations of government.

We’re still learning the extent of that requirement. For instance, there’s the big one between Landry and Meta on that $50 billion-dollar data center in Richland Parish. We don’t know what’s in that agreement, of course; all we have are Meta’s promises which are probably about as reliable as those of Trump.

The fact is, there is only one reason for an NDA: the concealment of information from the public. That’s it. No other explanation is possible.

Oh, the Landry administration did offer one very weak explanation. Executive Counsel ANGELIQUE FREELsaid the restrictions prevent workers from sharing sensitive government information with lobbyists and other private parties who Louisiana ethics rules may not cover.

Since when is Landry concerned about ethics? Other, that is, than passing HOUSE BILL 674   (which became Act 301) last year which made it more difficult to penalize public officers for ethics breaches and which increase Landry’s control over the ethics board. Does that sound like more transparency? Well, it did leave Landry so transparent Stevie Wonder could see through him.

The sudden—and apparently unanticipated—disclosure of the NDA practice has sent legislators diving for cover. SEN. BOB HENSGENS (R-Abbeville) claimed he had decided not to sign an NDA prohibiting him from discussing a potential aerospace project in Vermilion Parish, according to a story in the Louisiana Illuminator.

But he did just that. He received a call from Louisiana Economic Development on July 20 informing him that he was, indeed, under a “general NDA” with the state agency. He said he must have signed the document without reading it because he still did not remember doing so.

That’s quite a comfort, Senator. Do you always sign documents without first reading them?

Now, according to KATC-TV in Lafayette, some Senators are attempting to back out of their agreements. They are Hensgens, Valerie Hodges (R-Denham Springs) and Bill Wheat (R-Ponchatoula). Joining them is State Rep. Joy Walters (D-Shreveport).

Loath as I am to use this analogy, it isn’t until you switch on the light that the roaches run for cover. I am not calling legislators roaches, mind you, but you seldom see lawmakers scatter in unison until the spotlight is on them. Just sayin’.