Louisiana Voice

Developments and events surrounding Allegiance Healthcare are creeping up faster than Donald Trump on a 12-year-old girl.

Allegiance Healthcare and CEO Rock Bordelon are busily weaving an intricate network of business dealings, some of which involve his network of medical centers and some which are totally separate and unconnected to each other.

Take for instance, one of those Ruston properties of Allegiance. It was recently sold at a sheriff’s sale for unpaid taxes of nearly $19,000 to a resident of Alabama with no obvious ties to either Bordelon or Allegiance.

That building, purchased by Becky Walding of Hoover, Alabama whose professional background consists of working for an Atlanta-based gas and a multi-regional electric utility out of Chicago what builds, buys and manages transmission assets.

Yet, less than a month following that sale, the building, located at 1402 Celebrity Drive in Ruston has reopened as…(wait for it) Allegiance Medical Clinic Northside Family Practice.

Meanwhile, barely two months after Monica Adams was appointed CEO of North Louisiana Medical Center (NLMC), she resigned “for personal reasons.” She had been brought into the Ruston facility from the Bordelon-owned Winn Parish Medical Center in June.

The announcement by NLMC credited Adams as helping lead “significant operational and cultural improvements across NLMC and (Bordelon-owned) Green Clinic, though it’s somewhat puzzling as to what could have been accomplished in just over two months—especially considering inspectors with the Louisiana Department of Health’s Standards Section continue to find DEFICIENCIES at the Ruston facility.

More recently, the Ruston hospital is on diversion because of a lack of supplies, according to a staff member who said Bordelon is “running NLMC—and any doctor who’s trying to stay here for the city of Ruston—into the damn ground.”

That individual went further to say, “Rock is having to sell NLMC and actual bidding is going on between two out-of-town facilities.” The identities of the alleged bidders were not revealed but the whistleblower went on to say patients at NLMC “will be discharged and then will it be closed down?”

Bordelon, who also has a hunting- and fishing-themed TV show has posted video of his exploits in Colorado and Florida—even as his medical empire of some dozen hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana are struggling financially. At the same time, the IRS has a $14 million tax lien against Bordelon

But a little further south, in the Avoyelles Parish city of Marksville where Bordelon owns still another hospital, a series of property transactions also present a curious mix of personalities that includes Bordelon, a newspaper publisher/legislator, an Alexandria realtor and a couple of other legislators and the quiet purchase of an entire lake and more than 140 acres of property adjacent to the lake, Lak Pearl.

A search of Louisiana Secretary of State corporate records reveals Bordelon as the sole officer of LAC PEARL, LLC. A clerk in the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse who claimed to be a relative of Bordelon’s said the lake was purchased by Bordelon for the purpose of converting it into a crawfish farm.

That purpose is questionable because of the online description of what makes the PERFECT CRAWFISH POND.

That post emphasizes shallow (as in only inches in depth), grassy (ideally, South Louisiana rice paddies) wetland that can be easily drained. Lac Pearl is neither shallow nor grassy or a rice paddy and the lake doesn’t appear conducive to easy drainage.

LAC PEARL (outlined in blue)

Proposed public park (outlined in red)

To give a perspective of the size of Lac Pearl purchased by Bordelon, the area outlined in red in the map above, represents a public park area adjacent to the lake which the Alexanderia investment group that purchased the 140 acres is proposing.

All that aside, there still have been no answers as to who Becky Walding is or what her connection to Bordelon, if any, might be. Likewise, there has been no indication from Bordelon as to the future of North Louisiana Medical Center, the status of which has been questionable since a state inspection team visited the hospital in July and found numerous shortcomings that threatened its accrrditation and its very survival.

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By Paul Spillman

LSU blinked. So did SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and SEC presidents. Depending on which side of the aisle you stand either the SEC asserted its authority over rogue LSU or LSU called the bluff of butt-hurt egos all in their feelings. Either way the silly threat of expelling founding member LSU from the Southeastern Conference has come to an end.

The SEC asked for a continuance in its federal lawsuit against LSU Wednesday after LSU submitted its final 105 man football roster Tuesday evening and did not include Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, the two players granted a fifth year of eligibility who had worked out for NFL teams, and has no scheduled court date to resume. Then later Wednesday the SEC canceled the meeting it had scheduled to vote on expelling LSU.

The entire fiasco only served to illustrate the previously unknown pettiness of Greg Sankey, the clueless self-righteousness of academicians, and to call out the Banana Republic of Louisiana and its ham-handed politicians.

The brief timeline of events is as follows: In early August a federal court grants a temporary restraining order against the NCAA allowing certain athletes from the class of 2022 another year of college eligibility. In the days that followed LSU announces its pursuit of and intent to sign two of those athletes who, believing they had no eligibility remaining, had signed as free agents with NFL teams attempting to make a roster. The SEC then calls a hasty meeting and passes an ill-thought-out rule banning “professional” athletes from returning to any SEC school. Lane Kiffin, with the silent support of LSU puppet president Wade Rousse and puppet Athletic Director Verge Ausberry, claims to only be following court orders and submits a football roster of 103 names for the Clemson game leaving two spots open to be filled at a later date. Then at halftime of LSU’s blowout win over Clemson Kiffin can’t help himself and blurts out, “Imagine if we had used pro players” tweaking Greg Sankey and the SEC. Now all in their feels the SEC files an amended lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent LSU from blocking a scheduled meeting to vote on expelling LSU and accusing the university of “a lack of institutional control.” Tuesday evening LSU submits its final 105 man roster without the players in question and on Wednesday Rousse sends a letter to the SEC clarifying that he notified Sankey prior to the Clemson game the players would not be on the roster and noting LSU never tried to block their meeting and had no intention of blocking their meeting. On Wednesday morning the SEC asks for a continuance of its lawsuit (which will eventually be dropped altogether) and then Wednesday evening cancels its meeting to vote on expulsion.

Both sides stepped back from the brink.

So what did we learn from this? We learned university presidents are academicians with little grasp of the complexities involved in modern college athletics. The presidents hastily voted to ban any athlete who had signed a professional contract from returning to college. But the modern athletic scene is shades of gray, not black and white. Such a ban dismisses the circumstance of a player like Harris. Harris thought his eligibility had been used up and he still wanted to play football. He was recovering from a foot injury but signed a free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints. In the NFL teams gain the “rights” to players by signing them to contracts and depending on what kind of contract is signed a team may retain or lose rights to a player according to the terms of the contract. A free agent contract is basically an agreement to work out the player to evaluate whether the team wants to add the player to its roster and prevents other teams from signing the same player during that evaluation period. In Harris’ case his foot injury prevented him from working out or practicing with the Saints. He never suited up for a preseason game and was cut from the team. But according to SEC presidents that makes Harris a “pro” football player and banned from returning to a SEC school. Which only proves SEC presidents should worry about their endowments and leave athletics to athletic directors. And that’s without even mentioning the hypocrisy of their silence on international club “pros” playing basketball in the SEC for more than a decade.

We also learned Sankey has a streak of pettiness previously hidden from the world. Sankey always presented himself as the smartest man in the room. During the conference’s heyday of a few years ago Sankey was considered by many to be the de facto leader of college athletics. But Sankey has been on a mile long losing streak and it’s starting to show. The threat to expel LSU is a measure of how much Greg Sankey despises Lane Kiffin for being Lane Kiffin, and LSU for letting Kiffin rub his nose in it. Sankey had previously managed to keep this aspect of his personality under wraps but the “Imagine if we used pro players” tweak was just too much for him to swallow.

Finally we learned that politicians running athletic departments is a disaster from every angle. If anyone thought the embarrassment of Governor Jeff Landry shooting his mouth off last fall with bogus accusations against Scott Woodward in order to force Woodward out as LSU Athletic Director was a distant memory, they were wrong. The other universities in the SEC think of Louisiana as a banana republic and LSU as a rogue actor with coaches who report to the governor, not the university president or athletic director. And for all intents and purposes it’s true. Verge Ausberry has been as silent as a mouse during this entire storm and Wade Rousse has been careful not to step on anyone’s toes or give Kiffin reason to call the governor. The governor has his Pam Bondi wannabe in AG Liz Murrill to run interference for LSU. Murrill opened her remarks in state court last week with a “Geaux Tigers.” There is nothing quite like having your own personal attorney general to trot out and represent your brand. But it’s frowned on by those who still respect ethics, propriety, and the rule of law, none of which means anything to Landry, Murrill, Lee Mallett, et al. The only thing that ilk believes is that they are entitled to wallow in their ignorant prejudices.

None of this resolves anything. There is still no rule-enforcing authority for college athletics and until there is situations like this one will continue to come up, continue to be litigated, continue to be a drag for everyone concerned. But if this doesn’t push Congress to pass legislation then likely nothing will. The SEC and other conferences continue to explore “self-rule,” which is part of the reasoning behind the SEC suing LSU, but have yet to affirm they have that authority in a federal court. If nothing happens college athletics will spiral into utter chaos within the year. Basketball hasn’t even started yet. At this point almost any resolution would be acceptable to the great majority of fans if they could just enjoy the games without all the needless drama.

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By Paul Spillman

Wow. Did Lane Kiffin ever deliver. LSU dismantled Clemson Saturday night in a beat-down of truly epic proportion. And the entire college football world was watching, even after a two-hour lightning delay complete with monsoon-like rain. LSU is the talk of college football. Paul Finebaum, ESPN pundit who began his professional career writing for The Shreveport Journal, said LSU has become the team “nobody can look away from.”

The SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey aren’t looking away. The SEC has filed an amended lawsuit against LSU in federal court alleging a “lack of institutional control,” laying out the process for expelling a member institution, and seeking a ruling to do so by virtue of their First Amendment right of “free association.” A vote is scheduled among conference presidents Thursday to proceed. Sankey needs eleven university presidents to vote yes.

The lawsuit specifically notes Kiffin’s comments at halftime of the Clemson game and the post game comments as well. The lawsuit also states neither the university president nor the Athletic Director – both hand-picked puppets of the governor and Lee Mallett – have issued any statements to the contrary or taken any action to rein in Kiffin. Nor, it alleges, has the Board of Supervisors stepped in.

At halftime Kiffin said as he was leaving the field following a brief interview, “Imagine if we had pro players.” In post-game comments Kiffin declined to address the issue when asked except to say whether people agreed or not, he was doing what he thought was right for those players.

But what has Sankey riled and the other SEC teams upset with is LSU has seemingly given Lane Kiffin a blank check to do as he pleases and that scares the hell out of them. None of them like Kiffin as a person or like how he has mastered the modern era of college football quicker and better than anyone else. Kiffin demonstrated at Ole Miss his understanding of the modern game and his ability to coach could transform a program. He took Ole Miss to places the Rebels haven’t been in sixty years or more, relevant on a national level. And by taking Clemson apart with a roster of fifty new players, and with no restraints at a school such as LSU, Kiffin demonstrated he could set the agenda in college football.

But according to the amended lawsuit Sankey is offended. He and the other schools don’t wish to associate with LSU. LSU doesn’t represent their “values.” It probably has nothing to do with Greg Sankey losing power by the minute. Sankey lost influence with the politicians that were writing legislation. He lost conference prestige to the Big Ten, and he lost leadership to Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. He lost almost every court case to a judge, including the one in Baton Rouge. Sankey likely has little appetite for losing to Lane Kiffin and LSU. And apparently, he intends to make LSU pay for all that losing.

The accusation should come as no surprise as Sankey’s strategy in his power play. LSU is set up perfectly for it, by their own hands. Actually, by Governor Jeff Landry’s hands, which are all over the cesspool this has become. It goes without saying a strong athletic director would have nipped all this in the bud long ago – which is why Landry’s first move was to fire Scott Woodward on Trumped up accusations of signing a coach for too much money and agreeing to an expensive buyout and whatever else he chose to make up and then double-down on.

With Woodward out of the way and at the urging of now chairman of the Board of Supervisors Lee Mallett, Landry had the board name Verge Ausberry AD because Verge would either help them accomplish their aims or get out of their way. Landry then chose Wade Rousse to act as figurehead president and approve their coaching hires. And Landry and Mallett got who they wanted – Lane Kiffin as football coach and Will Wade as basketball coach.

The role Wade plays in all this cannot be dismissed. He hasn’t been mentioned but his roster has several international club “pros” as well as one player, R.J. Luis, who left college early, signed with Boston, played in the NBA “G” league, but was granted another year of eligibility in the lawsuit ruled on in Baton Rouge last week. Wade is another “I did it my way” coach and college basketball is an even more sordid mess than college football has ever been. Sankey is certainly aware of this as well. Never mind that this past basketball season Alabama played a former NBA “pro” for several games without Sankey threatening to kick them out of the league.

So, our governor and his boy took over the university and hired the coaches they wanted for their teams. Kiffin has certainly delivered. Say what you want about him but the LSU team that took the field Saturday night was better coached, better prepared, more disciplined, and executed better than anything Brian Kelly ever put on the field, or Ed Orgeron with the exception of 2019. If given the opportunity Will Wade could very much do the same. He has before, here at LSU and elsewhere. Two coaches with little respect for the “rules” and no adults in the room. That’s the image Greg Sankey will try to paint for both the conference presidents and the courts. Landry and Mallet set it up perfectly for him.

LSU, Lane Kiffin, Greg Sankey, and the SEC have become the actors playing out the final conclusion to more than 40 years of inaction by the NCAA. More than any other issue facing college athletics this issue at LSU will be the turning point. Maybe the SEC will vote to expel LSU. Maybe they will kick the Tigers out or maybe they’ll just use the threat to coerce. Maybe university presidents won’t give Sankey the authority. Anything could happen. But because it has come to this either Congress will pass legislation – for good or ill – or there will be a complete restructuring of college athletics very soon, with all possibilities open.

Should we thank Landry, Mallet, and their puppets Rousse and Ausberry for forcing the issue that could start to bring some order to the chaos? Surely that wasn’t what any of them intended when they hired Kiffin and Wade. Whatever order comes out of this won’t be the most desirable but order we will get. Someone is going to walk away from this with rule-enforcing authority. If it’s conferences and commissioners like Sankey and Petitti it will be a bit slower but much more suited to the modern world. If it’s Congress and the NCAA via legislation then the problems will just continue only no one will be able to challenge the relics and dinosaurs inhabiting the NCAA, so some order will result.

But all most fans want is more of what they got Saturday night, and as long as they get it “F*** the world!” That was the halftime message in a viral leaked audio from the LSU locker room. Kiffin was firing up his team not to let up in the second half. He told them to make sure the other team knew who was on their schedule. He said the world already wanted them to lose, already hated them, so …

It’s a message that plays well in the locker room. On local sports radio former Tigers and pros Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn played the clip. Jake said, admiringly, “I didn’t know he had that in him.” It’s a message that plays well to fans, especially after dishing out an ass whipping like that. It’s a message that even plays well to the national audience. LSU is a team you either love or hate. Or love to hate. But it’s not a message playing well at the SEC offices or with commissioner Sankey. He seems to be in a “shoot the messenger” frame of mind.

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