Louisiana Voice

Inflation for the month of September was 3.7 percent. Social Security recipients, many of whom rely on those payments as their sole means of support, will receive an increase of 3.6 percent.

Even Maghats, many of whom, coincidentally, rely on Social Security, can do that simple math and know it just ain’t working.

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Whether Jim Henderson was pressured or not into his decision to retire in December is irrelevant at this point. What’s important is that the pending vacancy at the top at the Ruston university presents some interesting possibilities for both Gov. Jeff Landry and Rep. Julia Letlow, provided she defeats Jamie Davis on Nov. 3.

We’re not saying this will happen, but the possibility for the scenario is certainly open for speculation.

In 2020, Letlow was passed over in her bid to be named president of the University of Louisiana Monroe, just 30 miles from Ruston, where she had worked since 2018 as director of external affairs and strategic communications.

Win or lose in November, she could conceivably become the next president of Tech, but winning would be better for Landry.

Should she be victorious in her campaign to succeed Sen. Bill Cassidy, but suddenly resign, it would leave the Senate seat vacant to be filled by gubernatorial appointment until a special election could be held.

Landry could lean on the University of Louisiana Board to appoint Letlow before he then appoints himself to the Senate seat. After all, the smart money is already saying he’s a one-term governor, so why not promote himself and then run in the special election as an incumbent? A win-win for all concerned.

Of course, should Davis pull an upset similar to what John Bel Edwards did in 2015 when he came out of nowhere to defeat Sen. David Vitter in the governor’s race, Letlow could still have an outside shot at the Tech job but as damaged goods, she would not be a lock for the job.

And Landry? He’d still be governor—a disappointed one, but still governor, nonetheless.

Yeah, I know, the whole thing sounds far-fetched but stranger things have happened in Louisiana politics, which is second only to football as a spectator sport.

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By Paul Spillman

College football is about halfway through its regular season schedule and this seems to be a good time to check-in on what’s happening with the state of college athletics.

The most impactful event still pending in college athletics is congressional legislation. The Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) passed the Senate unchanged from its original version before the campaign season recess, with 77 votes in support. But the House has yet to take it up and whether it will in the lame duck session following the midterms is sheer speculation at this point. If it is taken up the bill has a long row to hoe to win enough support and almost certainly will be altered from the Senate version if it does pass.

One of the biggest challenges in the House is the Congressional Black Caucus opposes the PCSA as a matter of conscience in response to recent rulings on voting rights and actions taken by “Republicans” in redistricting. Opposition may also come from other surprising places. The legislation places an onerous burden on any team wishing to leave one conference for another but Miami and Florida State, along with Clemson and North Carolina, have been threatening to leave the ACC for some time over a bad media rights deal the conference is locked in to until the mid 2030s and questionable direction and leadership. Those universities have been lobbying their Representatives in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina to oppose the PCSA, or at least eliminate the penalties inhibiting realignment.

Various others in the House have at times expressed opposition to virtually every aspect of the PCSA, from its capping of NIL dollars to its restrictions on the hiring of coaches, from its “voluntary” pooling of media rights to its mandatory fund to shore up non-revenue sports.

But more importantly the House is likely to be consumed with other priorities immediately following the midterms. Any reader wondering what those priorities may be is a sweet summer child, may you remain that innocent forever.

Locally LSU men’s basketball is finalizing its roster and R.J. Luis will not be on it. LSU coach Will Wade announced he will not add Luis to the roster in compliance with SEC rules against adding players to the roster who have previously signed with professional teams.

Louisiana AG Liz Murrill recently petitioned a federal court in Alabama to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit against LSU on the grounds it was now a moot issue but the SEC fired back LSU could still add non-eligible players to its roster. R. J. Luis is the “non-eligible players” the SEC meant. Wade waiting this late to not add Luis to the roster is acknowledgment LSU was once again poking the bear even though Wade insisted his decisions concerning the LSU roster have been out of an abundance of caution against poking the bear.

The interesting thing about that SEC rule is it specifically names the NFL, the NBA, the G League, the WNBA and affiliated organizations as “professional leagues” but is utterly silent on the professionalism of international basketball leagues. Good thing, too. Wade has four international players on his roster, one of whom has already been ruled eligible and Wade has said he “feels good” about the prospects for the other three. Getting everyone LSU has on the roster eligible would likely make LSU basketball a top 25 team, though the carry-over effect of the all the bad press would also sway voters against ranking them.

The eligibility of class of 2022 players granted a fifth year by a federal court in Denver over the summer was reversed by a federal court in Kentucky recently bringing into question whether Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent, former UCLA teammates, would suit up for LSU this season. Dent played in the Tiger’s exhibition game against McNeese. But a pending case in yet another federal court – this one in Ohio – has Wade believing those players will eventually be granted eligibility. That case got a boost from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, proving Jeff Landry isn’t the only governor too invested in good ol’ State U. DeWine released a three-page executive order granting eligibility to class of 2022 players in question and approving Ohio universities enrolling and adding them to rosters, though it did not require schools to do so. It probably has nothing to do with Ohio State wanting to finalize its 15-man roster with a fifth-year returnee, though.

And LSU football? Head coach Lane Kiffin is still an easy target and some lazy media still take the cheap shot at the easy target but for the most part LSU football has slipped out of the news cycle. A loss to Kentucky has left LSU on the outside looking in on the college football playoff. For now. The Tigers have a loaded November schedule hosting Alabama and Texas followed by a road trip to Tennessee. LSU could redeem its season and be back in the mix by Thanksgiving with that three-game stretch as long as they avoid losing to any more teams they’re supposed to beat.

Meanwhile, SEC presidents approved a uniform name, image, and likeness contract framework for member institutions, but tabled a proposed rule to require athletes transferring to another SEC school to sit out one year. University presidents had time to become informed by more rational minds such a rule would have hurt the conference tremendously, especially in football, where the SEC has routinely fielded teams with more NFL-bound talent than any other conference. That rule would have just gifted talented athletes to every other conference in college football.

But the attempt to adopt such a rule is worrisome. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey always seemed to be a step ahead of the game, well-informed on all the angles, providing reasoned arguments for the conference’s positions. But of late Sankey seems to be tilting at windmills while all the choices are being taken from him. Congressional legislation granting an antitrust exemption to the NCAA, regardless of what else does or doesn’t come with it, only ensures the very people who are most responsible for allowing the current circus of college athletics will now rule without challenge. It might appear to be “order.” But it is order as defined by relics of a bygone era. It is the order of restricting player earnings and movement, an “order” for a different time.

Not that long ago Greg Sankey was leading college football forward into a new era, willing to establish a new form of “order” for college sports. Now it seems he’d rather take what Congress gives him and fight with LSU. But that’s the opinion of a writer who would rather see almost any other outcome than Congress creating law to govern college athletics. Congress will be busy enough with other issues after November, and into 2027.

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Let’s see, the Pedophile President had his real estate school, Trump University, that was a sham that ultimately turned toes-up but not before he had to pay a $25 MILLION SETTLEMENT to attendees he bilked.

Mike Johnson was DEAN OF A LAW SCHOOL that never was. For more than a year, he told donors that the law school, to train Christian attorneys in northwest Louisiana (specifically, Shreveport) was not only achievable, but inevitable. Turned out it wasn’t.

Donald Trump once had a CHARITABLE FOUNDATION that shut down because of irregularities that prompted a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General and which resulted in Trump’s having to pay $2 million in damages.

On average, charitable foundations spend about 75-85 percent of their total revenue ON ACTUAL CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES, with the remainder used for fundraising and management costs. The Better Business Bureau recommends at least 65 percent of funds be used for programs.

Kelly L. Johnson’s foundation, ONWARD CHRISTIAN EDUCATION SERVICES, is a notable deviation from that standard. She is the wife of Louisiana 4^th Congressional District Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican, who just happens to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

A modest foundation in terms of assets, the latest financial statement is for fiscal year 2024, when it spent a whopping 3 percent on actual programs—significantly below the 65 percent recommended by the BBB.

Where, you ask, did the rest of the money go? Well, no one’s sure but the 501(C) (3) foundation’s report shows total expenditures of $55,000, of which $50,000 was paid to its CEO, one Kelly L. Johnson. The remaining four board members received no compensation.

With total expenditures of $55,000, a 3 percent outlay for purposes for which the foundation is established would be $1,650.

The Repugnantcan Party could probably write a user’s manual on the art of grifting.

Headquartered in Bossier City, what is it that Onward Christian Education Services does and where does it get its financial support? For the answer to the first question, it’s domiciled in Bossier City though, oddly enough, the organization is not in good standing with the Louisiana SECRETARY OF STATE for failure to file an annual report.

The answer to the second question is something of a conundrum because while donors are required to be reported to the IRS, public disclosure is not a requirement. Nor is she willing to disclose whether or not her financial supporters also happen to be supporters of her husband’s political campaigns.

Why would that even be an issue if her foundation is in Bossier City? Well, it is and it isn’t. It seems that she has “reoriented” her nonprofit into a ministry focused on female congressional staffers with a “new purpose” of helping “the hundreds of unreached young women” working around Capitol Hill “find purpose, belonging and Christian community,” according to a STORY TUESDAY in The Washington Post. The actual number of those “hundreds of unreached young women” is actually “10 or 11” real clients whom she counsels, she said.

The Post discovered the change in mission and location when a reporter requested recent IRS filings for the group, and found it had not filed legally required disclosures for tax-exempt organizations for two years.

Philip Hackney, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specializes in nonprofit law said he questions whether the foundation serves a political purpose or is an actual charity.

Without proper safeguards, added Davina Hurt, director of the government ethics program at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, staffers could feel pressured to participate in her counseling and Bible study. She said it would be helpful to know if the speaker’s name gets invoked when invitations are issued and whether attendance reports are ever shared with staffers’ bosses.

“The institutional concern one should have is the power that’s present in those situations,” The Post quoted Hurt as saying. “If you want to advance through the ranks, you will feel pressure to some degree.”

While Kelly Johnson granted an initial interview, she has refused further contact with any reporters.

Both Mike and Kelly Johnson were ordained as Southern Baptist missionaries more than two decades ago, and in 2017, their church in Benton formally ordained Kelly Johnson as a minister. The same year, she was licensed as a pastoral counselor through the National Christian Counselors Association of Sarasota, Florida (not to be confused with the National Association of Christian Counselors of Cypress, Texas), opening a practice at the church. The fee for obtaining a license from the NCCA is $50, plus a $20 renewal fee to keep the license active.

“The NCCA certification/licensing program is not to be identified nor confused with state licensing in any way,” the organization’s website says. “It is intended for a person who wants to practice as a ‘servant of the Church (Body of Christ)’ rather than as an ‘agent of the state.'” In other words, it takes full advantage of the doctrine of separation of church and state on the one hand while advocating for the dissolution of that principle, erasure of the lines separating religion from government, on the other. Kind of like having your cake and eating it.

Onward Christian Education Services was created as a tax-exempt organization in April 2019 to counter what the Johnsons described at the time as cultural attacks against people of faith and the traditional family but the organization initially did not submit any filings to the IRS. In 2022, when Kelly Johnson finally did submit forms for the first three years of operation, she blamed “a communication gap and misunderstanding of the filing requirements” for a nonprofit so closely affiliated with a religious denomination. The organization paid $6,475 in penalties to the Treasury Department.

She said her organization keeps a low profile because of fears for her safety. Likewise, Julianna Parks, an attorney and secretary for the organization’s board, said she thought a story about Onward Christian Education Services was a “bad idea” during a “dangerous time in the country.”

Innocent American citizens being detained by ICE and the victims shot by ICE thugs, as well as news organizations and people being investigated by the Department of Justice would probably agree about those “dangerous times.”

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