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Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in BESE, Education, Ethics, Notable Quotables, Public Records, Transparency on July 4, 2012| 3 Comments »

“I think that John White is still lying. He is in full CYA mode and assumes that he will simply be able to BS his way out of the contradiction the Monroe News-Star has caught him in. After all, it’s a method that has worked perfectly well for him ever since he arrived in Louisiana.”

–Comment by a Times-Picayune reader in response to State Education Superintendent John White’s contention that there was “nothing inappropriate” about his email to members of Gov. Piyush Jindal’s staff in which he outlined his plan for “muddying up the narrative” of reporters who exposed a Ruston school with no accommodations but which was approved for 315 voucher/scholarships.

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White shifts into Emailgate damage control mode; ‘Nothing inappropriate,’ and Loch Ness monster proves Creationism

Posted in BESE, Charters, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Legislature, Legislators, Public Records on July 4, 2012| 6 Comments »

As State Education Superintendent John White shifts into a damage control mode, his explanations of Emailgate have taken on a bizarre tone reminiscent of the man, who when his wife catches him cheating with another woman, asks, “Are you going to believe your eyes or what I tell you?”

Or perhaps the attorney who is sued because his dog, allowed to run loose, bites a neighbor: “He must have been provoked because my dog doesn’t bite. Besides, he is never allowed out of my fenced yard. Anyway, I don’t own a dog.”

White’s explanations are about that plausible.

White, in emails to the obviously complicit strategists for Gov. Piyush Jindal on the eve of his confirmation hearing in the final days of the recently completed legislative session, laid out his plan to diffuse criticism of his department’s lack of oversight in awarding voucher/scholarships. No one in Jindal’s office attempted to rein him in.

At the center of the controversy was the approval of 315 vouchers for New Living Word in Ruston, a facility lacking in classrooms, textbooks and teaching staff.

School principal, the Rev. Jerry Baldwin, said the school teaches primarily by DVDs and even though he lacked accommodations for the 315 students, he was moving ahead “on faith.”

White’s misdirection ploy began with the emails to Jindal Communications Director Kyle Plotkin and the governor’s policy adviser Stafford Palmieri and continued several weeks later with a Department of Education (DOE) response to a public records request from LouisianaVoice. That response was sent by DOE public information officer Sarah Mulhearn:

“In your email dated June 25, 2012, you asked, ‘Do you have a date when the Department of Education originally approved New Living Word in Ruston for 315 vouchers?’ The specific information you requested is not available, because final seat numbers have not yet been decided. No school, including New Living Word, has been approved for any definite number of vouchers/scholarships. The 315 is only the number requested by the school.”

A form letter sent out by the department to schools dated May 18 (well before White’s confirmation hearing and his email to Plotkin and Palmieri), however, would seem to suggest otherwise:

“Congratulations on being accepted into the Louisiana State Scholarship Program!” the letter began. “We hope that you are excited to be part of this program, and we look forward to working closely with you in service to the students of Louisiana. Now that you are officially (emphasis added) part of the Scholarship program, we’d like to take a few moments to introduce the next steps in this process.

“Before May 22, you may immediately begin to market yourself to potential students! Feel free to get creative and help spread the word about the available scholarship seats at your school. Also, please note that the Department will contact you soon to detail which fees administered by your school will be covered by the scholarship allocation. As a participating school, you will be the primary ‘on the ground’ point of contact for interested students and their families.

“In addition, we would like to post information about your school on our website for interested students and families.

“Starting on May 22, student applications will be made available to you and posted on the Louisiana Department of Education website. Students will have until June 29 to submit an application. We ask that you make physical copies available at your school or in your community for students and families interested in submitting an application to your school.

“On May 21 and 22, the Department of Education will host webinars that will walk you through the process of accepting an application, verifying student eligibility and entering the application into the Department of Education online data system.

“…The Department of Education will run the lottery process for all students in mid-July. We will provide your school with a list of all of the students who will receive an offer to your school, along with their contact information. At that point, we’re requesting that you reach out to these students, confirm their eligibility once again, and enroll them as soon as possible.”

None of this lends evidence to White’s contention during his confirmation hearing that the department was approving only “preliminary” acceptances in its letters to the schools.

Yet, White said in his email to the governor’s office that he planned to “take some air out of the room on the floor tomorrow…” and that he would “like to create (emphasis added) a news story about ‘the next phase’ of determining seats in schools…” He also said his planned strategy “would allow us to talk through the process with the media, muddying up a narrative they’re trying to keep black and white.”

The emails revealed White’s plans for deliberate duplicity, a concerted effort to mislead a legislative committee poised to determine whether or not he would be confirmed for his position, as well as the media and the public. Yet, after news of the email message broke in the Monroe News-Star, he attempted to defend them by saying there was “nothing inappropriate” about the emails.

He insisted that DOE has planned all along to take a closer look at private schools accepting large numbers of voucher students. He said his note to Plotkin and Palmieri referred only to the timing of making public the next step in the process.

The letter, however, which makes no mention of any additional steps in the approval process, went out to 115 schools, most of them church affiliated, that have been approved for nearly 5,000 vouchers.

Besides the New Living Word School in Ruston, there also is the BeauVer Christian School in Beauregard Parish whose owner was sentenced to four years probation and ordered not to conduct any financial transactions on behalf of the school. That school was approved for 119 vouchers.

Then there is Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake in Calcasieu Parish, approved for 135 vouchers. That school, to support its teaching that the earth is only 6,000 years old, uses textbooks that portray the fictional Loch Ness monster as a real, modern-day dinosaur as some sort of convoluted means of debunking evolution.

Such is the nature of Piyush Jindal’s education reform in the only state in the U.S. where florists must be licensed but there are no accountability standards for charter schools and no certification requirements for charter school teachers.

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Did Nungesser use Plaquemines Parish 911 email list to hawk Piyush host at his January fundraiser? Did he get anything?

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Politicians, Public Records on July 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Did Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser access parish computer emails to solicit attendance (read: contributions) at a January fundraiser following his unsuccessful challenge to Jay Dardenne for the state’s second-highest office last October?

A better question might well be did he receive any contributions at the Jan. 17 fundraiser at the Grand Oaks Mansion in New Orleans’ Mardi Gras World, co-hosted by Gov. Piyush Jindal?

LouisianaVoice has received a complaint that Nungesser may have solicited attendance (and contributions) via email addresses accessible only through the parish 9-1-1 call line for a fundraiser to pay off debts from his 2011 lieutenant governor’s race.

“The only way that I believe that Billy Nungesser could have accessed my email address would be through the 9-1-1 parish call line,” one Plaquemines Parish resident wrote. “Citizens can register to receive alerts if there’s a hurricane, an evacuation, a hazardous spill, ferry’s out, etc., but it should be off-limits to political fundraisers,” the writer said, adding, “but this IS Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana.”

That was in apparent reference to Jindal’s endorsement of Nungesser in last October’s race against Dardenne, won by Darden with 53.1 percent of the vote.

The emailed invitation said, “You’re invited to join Governor Bobby Jindal at a fundraiser for bill Nungesser Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (at) Grand Oaks Mansion in Mardi Gras World, 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans.”

The invitation also said a “private patron party” would be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The bottom of the invitation offered potential donors the options of being a “Patron,” with four tickets as a member of the $5,000 “Host Committee” and attendance at the “private patron party,” a “Sponsor,” with two tickets for a $2,500 contribution, and an “Attendee” with one ticket in exchange for a $1,000 contribution.

Potential attendees were given the option of making their contributions (in advance) via American Express, Discover or Visa, with spaces provided for cardholders’ names, card numbers, expiration dates, security codes and cardholders’ signatures.

Even though the deadline on the invitation was given as Jan. 10, Nungesser’s email was sent three days later, on the 13th, an indication that advance reservations might not have been coming in as hoped, despite the attraction of the governor.

Before Nungesser’s email, the Plaquemines Parish resident who complained to LouisianaVoice said, “I got similar things promoting David Vitter (YUK), Bill Bubrig (who lost the race for Plaquemines Parish sheriff by 12.5 percentage points last November) and Jindal stuff, too. I am a registered Democrat. My email was not on any church list (that would be illegal, too, but we know that is going on) or any other community or political list likely to be accessed by Nungesser.”

The reference to church lists brings to mind Jindal’s visits to protestant churches in north Louisiana last year. An observer at one of those churches recalled seeing a clipboard being circulated during church services at a time when Jindal was giving his testimonial for church members to provide their names, telephone numbers and mailing and email addresses.

Not only was there an indication of slow RSVPs for the bash last January, there is also an even stronger indication that the event was a complete flop.

A check of Nungesser’s campaign finance reports shows that he received no contributions in all of 2012 and in fact, also received none in December of 2011, the month before the event.

In fact, the campaign finance report shows that he received only seven contributions of $500 or more in November, from Nov. 2 to Nov. 17, totaling only $16,500.

If he did receive any contributions as a result of his Jindal party in January, he neglected to file the legally-required campaign finance reports.

It wouldn’t be his first brush with authority—and ethics, however. In June of 2010, it was reported by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera that Nungesser may have violated the parish charter and local law when he independently entered into two hurricane recovery contracts in 2007 without obtaining the parish council’s approval.

Nungesser was also cited in 2010 as owning an interest in a marina being expanded by BP to support its cleanup efforts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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Jindal campaign fund update: 1 bank board member says none were aware of contributions made in their names

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Politics on June 5, 2012| 4 Comments »

At least one of the 11 board members of the failed Central Progressive Bank of Lacombe was unaware that a $5,000 campaign contribution had been made in his name to Gov. Bobby Jindal during his successful run for governor in 2007, LouisianaVoice has learned. He added that he was sure none of the other board members knew of the contributions made in their names as well.

Richard Blossman, Jr., of Lacombe is accused in a federal bill of information of funneling $55,000 through the Lacombe bank into Jindal’s campaign.

Central Progressive, after being designated as a “troubled bank” last year, was taken over in November by First NBC Bank of New Orleans.

The federal Bill of Information says that Blossman, while CEO of Central Progressive Bank, gave each of his 11 board members a $5,000 bonus. In reality none of the $5,000 bonus payments ever went to the board members, according to Raphael Goyeneche, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission.

“The defendant well knew the ‘bonus’ was to funnel illegal political contributions and was not a bonus, as he caused it to be inscribed in the board minutes,” prosecutors said.

“That is a felony,” Goyeneche said.

Immediately after the bonuses were announced by Blossman, federal prosecutors say 11 checks of $5,000 each were sent to Jindal’s campaign in the names of each of the individual board members.

The limit for political contributions is $5,000. But with all of the board members “donating” their $5,000 of Central Progressive Bank funds, the donation came to $55,000.

Additionally, the Louisiana Board of Ethics last month said Jindal received $40,000 in campaign contributions from River Birch, Inc. when the company formed six “straw man entities” to launder illegal donations to Jindal.

River Birch Landfill had its offices in Gretna raided by federal agents in September of 2010 after landing a controversial $160 million garbage disposal contract with Jefferson Parish in 2009.

Curiously, Timmy Teepell, who ran Jindal’s 2007 campaign, said the governor would not return any of the tainted $95,000.

“We accept every contribution in good faith and in accordance with the law,” he sniffed.

So, while there are laws against receiving stolen goods, and even as Louisiana legislators fret over the selling of art by Angola death row inmates, there apparently are no restrictions on politicians keeping laundered campaign money.

When asked if Blossman received anything in return for the donations, Teepell said, “No, absolutely not. Everybody who donates to our campaign gets the same thing and that is good government.”

When LouisianaVoice attempted to question the board members, no one answered phone calls at seven of the numbers called, two numbers had been disconnected and the first board member contacted, Raymond Fontaine of Slidell, said he had no comment.

At another, LouisianaVoice at first reached Douglas Ferrer, Sr., father of board member Douglas Ferrer, Jr. The elder Ferrer referred to Central Progressive as “that no-good bank” and added that his son was unaware of the contribution made in his name.

When contacted, Douglas Ferrer, Jr. of Lacombe at first explained that he had been involved in litigation against the bank and that the settlement agreement contained a non-disclosure clause that prohibited him from commenting. When told that his father had said he knew nothing of the campaign contribution, he then said, “My dad doesn’t lie. You can take that for what it’s worth.” Given the fact his father had already commented, the younger Ferrer finally said, “I think none of the others were aware of the contributions.”

Besides Fontaine, Ferrer and Blossman, the other eight board members who ostensibly made $5,000 campaign contributions to Jindal, all on April 6, 2007, according to Jindal’s campaign finance report, included Welton Brumfield, Jr., address unknown, Charles Law Ponder of Kentwood, Edward Amar, Jr., of Tickfaw, Brandon Faciane of Slidell, Ralph Menetre of Covington, Jim Venezia, Sr., of Pearl River, Henry Powell, Jr. of Lacombe and Mark Perrilloux of Ponchatoula.

The Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions, which provided the names of the board members pursuant to a public records request by CNS, noted that Menetre was elected to the board on January 29, 2007 and that Perrilloux left the board on December 10, 2007.

Jindal paid a $2,500 ethics fine less than a month after taking office in 2008 for campaign violations when his campaign failed to timely disclose more than $100,000 spent on his behalf by the state Republican Party.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Notable Quotables, Transparency on June 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“We accept every contribution in good faith and in accordance with the law.”

“Everybody who donates to our campaign gets the same thing and that is good government.”

–Timmy Teepell, advisor and confidant to Gov. Piyush Jindal, responding to questions about $95,000 that federal investigators say may have been laundered illegally into the Jindal 2007 campaign for governor.

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