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Archive for the ‘Lawsuits’ Category

Cowardly Supreme Court sends message in LouisianaVoice matter: ‘don’t bother responding to public records requests’

Posted in Contracts, Corruption, Courts, DOA, Ethics, Governor's Office, Judges, Lawsuits, Legislature, Legislators, Media, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency on November 14, 2016| 6 Comments »

There are those who will label this post as sour grapes.

That’s okay. You can call it Tinker Bell, Rambo or anything you choose. I don’t care because it won’t change the fact that the Louisiana Supreme Court is dominated by gutless hypocrites.

There’s a guy in New Orleans who will agree with me even if no one else does.

His name is Ashton R. O’Dwyer, Jr. and he is an attorney. Or at least he was.

You see, like me, he sounded off to and about the wrong people—judges, to be precise—but unlike me, he was in a vulnerable position in that he was a partner at the prestigious New Orleans law firm Lemle & Kelleher. As such, anything he said about the judiciary could be—and was—met with instant retaliation.

O’Dwyer’s sin was that he had the idea to file a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its lack of adequate preparedness for Hurricane Katrina. For good measure, in case it should be determined that the Corps was immune from litigation, he also named the State of Louisiana as a defendant for its pitiful oversight of the various politically inept and corrupt levee boards.

But other attorneys who were politically connected to the presiding judge wanted to be the plaintiff attorney. The judge eventually disqualified O’Dwyer and the rival attorney filed his suit. The only problem is the other attorney also represented the state so he could not, because of the obvious conflict of interests, file against the state.

It was little consolation to O’Dwyer that the Corps of Engineers was, as feared, determined to be immune from being sued which left the other attorney with no case. O’Dwyer was furious and went slightly ballistic.

He was eventually terminated by Lemle & Kelleher and things escalated quickly. Jailed on a questionable charge of making threats, he was held for mental evaluation. It was his second stint in jail. The first came because he refused to leave his St. Charles Avenue home during Katrina—even though a network news crew was allowed to remain in a house next door during the storm.

The courts were far from finished teaching him a lesson. Subjected to monitoring of his emails for years, suspended from the practice of law after being fired, he was later disbarred altogether. http://www.tulanelink.com/stories/o’dwyer_11a.htm

Today, O’Dwyer is not only fired, suspended and disbarred, but also bankrupt—all because he refused to hold his tongue. And today, he still won’t shut up.

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/12/disbarred_attorney_not_as_craz.html

After all, what else can they do to him?

Fast forward to November 7, 2016.

Among the writ applications denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court was Case No. 2016-C -1263 (TOM ASWELL v. THE DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATION, OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA AND KRISTY NICHOLS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS THE COMMISSIONER OF ADMINISTRATION). http://www.lasc.org/news_releases/2016/2016-065.asp

I filed my writ after the First Circuit Court of Appeal in an equally cowardly act, struck down the penalties against Nichols while acknowledging that the state was negligent in complying to our public records request in a timely manner.

As a refresher, here’s what happened. With the Division of Administration under Nichols already dragging its feet with several pending requests we had submitted, we decided to conduct a test to see if we were being targeted via slow compliance.

In October 2014, we submitted a detailed request for information pertaining to a complicated third party administrator contract between the Office of Group Benefits and a California bill processing firm. On the same day, we had a friendly legislator (who asked not to be named) submit an identical request through the House Legislative Services Office.

The House member received the requested information the very next day. Again, that was in October 2014. In January 2015, I still had not received the documents so I filed suit. Kristy Nichols then had a CD containing the information delivered to my attorney, J. Arthur Smith, III, the day after the suit was filed.

By our calculations, with state law providing penalties of $100 per day for failure to comply to the state’s public records law (remember: Bobby Jindal was touting the state for its “gold standard of transparency), the Division of Administration owed us about $40,000, including that request as well as others that were still outstanding.

District Court Judge Mike Caldwell, in his infinite wisdom, awarded us something on the order of $1200 and Kristy appealed. The First Circuit gutted even that award and we applied for writs to the Supreme Court.

Among those on the Louisiana Supreme Court who would have granted my writ were Jeannette Knoll of the Third District, Jeff Hughes of the Fifth District and John Weimer of the Sixth District. For that, I thank them.

The brain-dead justices who declined to do the right thing, who distorted the state’s public records law to their own satisfaction and who showed they possess no moral compass insofar as the public’s right to know is concerned were Chief Justice Bernette Johnson of the Seventh District, Greg Guidry of the First District, Scott Crichton of the Second District, and Marcus Clark of the Fourth District. For that, I thumb my nose at them.

Let’s recap: I’m not an attorney, I’m retired, and for the moment, the First Amendment, which guarantees my freedom of speech, is still firmly intact. Moreover, since Supreme Court justices are elected, that makes them politicians first, and judges second, which means their title of justices takes on about as much significance as a justice of the peace as far as I’m concerned. They are no more or any less human than anyone else who toils at an occupation. They are mortals endowed with no greater wisdom than my grandfather who had a sixth-grade education. (In fact, truth be known, he was probably light years ahead of most lawyers in terms of moral wisdom.)

In short, the Supreme Court jusrtices can’t do a damned thing to me for calling them imbecilic morons.

Now, lest you think this diatribe is about me, be assured it most definitely is not. It also is not about LouisianaVoice. Nor is it about $1200 in penalties—or even $40,000. The $1200 awarded by Judge Caldwell will neither make me nor break me.

This boneheaded decision, from district court all the way up to the Supreme Court’s decision to deny writs, is about something much larger than me, LouisianaVoice or $1200.

This is about the public’s right to request—and obtain—information about what its government is doing, how it is spending the taxpayers’ dollars, and how its government is meeting—or failing to meet—its responsibility to the public it is supposed to be serving. This rant also raises the obvious question: what purpose do laws serve if they are not enforced? Indeed, what use are judges (other than to look wise when photographed in their robes for their official portraits—at taxpayer expense, of course) when they selectively ignore the law?

With the manner in which our litigation was mangled by the judiciary, governmental agencies and those who run them—from the governor down to the mayors of Shongaloo and Paincourtville—may now take their cue from Case No. 2016-C -1263 (TOM ASWELL v. THE DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATION, OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA AND KRISTY NICHOLS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS THE COMMISSIONER OF ADMINISTRATION) and provide as much—or as little—as they choose in the way of public records without fear of financial penalties.

The only recourse we have at this point is to find another friendly legislator to write—and a friendly governor to support—new legislation tightening and re-defining the public records laws and the public’s right to know what its elected and appointed officials are doing in the name of representation of constituents.

We have the friendly governor, we believe, as evidenced by John Bel Edwards’s office prompt response to the public records requests we have submitted to him and to the Division of Administration.

So now, like Diogenes, we are seeking an honest man in the form of a legislator who will take on a difficult, if not impossible task.

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John White’s misleading explanation of outcome of litigation against 2 private citizens over records is pure gooneybabble

Posted in BESE, Corruption, Courts, Education, Ethics, Judges, Lawsuits, Media, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency on October 9, 2016| 7 Comments »

“Just because a cat has kittens in the oven doesn’t make them biscuits.”

It’s a quote attributed to Malcolm X, reprised by Kelsey Grammer in an episode of the number one sitcom Frasier, but actually has its origins in New England. It means, “Just because you were born here, it doesn’t make you one of us.”

It could just as easily be updated to apply to State Superintendent of Education John White’s lame explanation of a settlement of a lawsuit by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) against citizens James Finney, a technical college math instructor and Mike Deshotels, a former educator and past executive director of the Louisiana Association of Educators.

White was quoted in the Baton Rouge Advocate as saying the ruling by 19th Judicial District Judge Janice Clark “merely resolved what had been a conflict between two laws” because federal law instructed the department not to release data that could be used to personally identify a child while state law mandated the disclosure of all public records.

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/courts/article_76e860ca-8bd9-11e6-9963-cf5829bedcf3.html?sr_source=lift_amplify

Bull feathers.

Department legal counsel Joan Hunt said in a Wednesday email to members of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) that a declaratory judgment was sought to resolve “tension” between free disclosure of public records and protection of student information according to federal law.

Balderdash.

Neither Deshotels nor Finney ever requested information that would identify a single student.

Period.

And John White knew that. Period.

Since becoming Superintendent of Education in January 2012, White has made a career of stalling on compliance with public records requests if not denying them outright.

LouisianaVoice was once forced to sue white over public records and won an award of $2800 ($100 per day for each day delayed per request), plus court costs. The only downside of that judgment was that White was not held personally liable, meaning the $2800 and court costs were picked up by Louisiana taxpayers.

But in suing two Louisiana activist citizens (who admittedly had been something of a nuisance to White with their monitoring of the department), White reached a new low in attempting to avoid being held accountable for the manner in which he runs the department.

His lawsuit, in terms of disgraceful acts, ranks right down there with those judges in Monroe who sued the Ouachita Citizen, a newspaper in West Monroe. The newspaper’s sin? It made public records requests of the court.

Do we detect a disturbing trend here? You bet we do. The Louisiana Department of Education, district courts, and other public bodies have virtually unlimited financial resources at their disposal and most, like the Department of Education, have in-house legal counsel like Joan Hunt. They can initiate lengthy—and costly—legal action against any citizen and people like John White and district judges don’t have to pay a penny of the costs of litigation, courtesy of Louisiana taxpayers.

Private citizens do not enjoy that same advantage. It’s not a level playing field. And even if the public body does not sue, it can drag its heels on compliance, forcing the citizen making the request to either give up or enter into expensive legal action with no guarantee the court will uphold the public’s right to know.

At last Monday’s hearing, Judge Clark let it be known that her patience was wearing thin with public officials who attempt to hide behind legal maneuvers in an attempt to avoid compliance with the law.

The LDOE attorney opened by saying the department had “informal guidance” from the federal government that “we do not have to comply with FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests.”

Perhaps sensing the mood of the court, the state withdrew its demands for attorney fees from Deshotels and Finney, adding that “only two people are interested in the data.”

Judge Clark said it was an “improper purpose” to deny information to the public as a retaliatory action.

“Counsel should meet and work this out,” she said. “The public (meaning the court) takes a dim view of public officials using public resources to delay compliance with public records laws.”

Deshotels attorneys J. Arthur Smith and Chris Shows met outside chambers for more than two hours with LDOE attorneys but were unable to arrive at an agreement on the release of the requested documents.

When informed of the continued impasse, Judge Clark, visibly angry, said, “I am issuing a subpoena for John White to be in court at 9:30 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning for cross examination.”

When White got word of that, it was something akin to Moses coming down from the mountain with the 10 Commandments. Suddenly minds came together and miraculously, there was accord and LDOE agreed to three stipulations which settled the suit filed in April by White and the department against Deshotels and Finney. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_536e2fac-b5e2-575c-87f6-1a991bf0f455.html?sr_source=lift_amplify

The first stipulation mandates that the suppression of data in the economically disadvantaged and English language learner or English proficiency sub-groups of the Education Department’s multi-stat reports is not in compliance with the Louisiana Public Records Act.

The department agreed not to suppress student enrollment data in responding to requests made under the act in the second stipulation.

The final stipulation says requested data will be made available to the public dating back to 2006.

Deshotels said the declaratory judgment filed against him and Finney was never about clarifying the legal issues relative to certain public records and student privacy as claimed by White.

Instead, he said White’s action was “purely an attempt to discourage citizens from seeking to independently research the claims and conclusions made by White and his staff.” “If citizens are forced to face legal challenges and high legal fees for seeking public records, the Department can continue to manipulate and spin what should be factual information about the operation of our schools.”

Sadly, Judge Clark’s ruling will do little to expedite timely compliance with future public records requests to other state agencies.

Even as this is being written, former commissioner of administration Kristy Nichols has already cost the state more than the original judgment against her in another lawsuit by LouisianaVoice.

LouisianaVoice received a pittance in a lawsuit in which the Division of Administration (DOA) under Nichols had dragged its heels for more than three months on several separate public records requests.

LouisianaVoice calculated DOA owed some $40,000 in penalties for non-compliance but was awarded less than $2,000, plus costs and legal fees, by the court. Even then Nichols appealed the decision. And although the court held Nichols personally liable, meaning she alone was responsible for the penalty, the state is picking up the tab for that appeal, which partially upheld the district court ruling.

Nichols, still not satisfied, and still not paying a cent of the legal costs (though LouisianaVoice is paying its legal costs, applied for writs to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

As of this date, the state has spent far, far more than the penalty imposed on it in trying to avoid paying the penalty and LouisianaVoice has spent more than it will ever be awarded, provided the Supreme Court even upholds the lower court.

And while the obvious question is: Is throwing good money after bad a wise way to spend state funds? An original penalty of less than $2000 has now cost the state several times that in defense costs and the tab is still running.

And John White’s obfuscating dribble notwithstanding, that’s what Louisiana citizens are faced with in trying to hold its state government accountable.

 

 

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Why did Judge Tim Kelley take case involving program his wife oversaw as Jindal’s Commissioner of Administration?

Posted in Contract, Contracts, Corruption, Courts, DOA, Ethics, Fraud, Governor's Office, Grant, Grants, Judges, Lawsuits, Public Records on October 7, 2016| 7 Comments »

When 19th Judicial District Court Judge Tim Kelley presided over a hearing earlier this week involving the state’s Small Rental Property Program, did he violate Louisiana’s so-called “gold standard of ethics” instituted by former Gov. Bobby Jindal or worse, the Code of Judicial Conduct?

Kelley, over the objections of defendant Tony Pelicano, Monday ruled in favor of the state’s motion to dismiss “without prejudice” its foreclosure proceedings on Pelicano’s Metairie rental property. https://www.road2la.org/SRPP/Default.aspx

Dismissing without prejudice means the state may renew its foreclosure efforts at any time. Pelicano attorney Jill Craft wanted the case dismissed “with prejudice,” which would mean the matter would have been over and done.

With Kelley’s ruling, the state continues to hold the potential forfeiture of his property over Pelicano’s head for years—all because Pelicano, himself a contractor, had no say in which contractor rebuilt his rent home after Hurricane Katrina. Pelicano refused to accept the work which was done with what he says were inferior materials that did not meet specifications and which is now rotting and molding.

https://louisianavoice.com/2016/10/03/victim-of-post-katrina-road-home-program-comes-to-baton-rouge-seeking-justice-departs-defeated-disillusioned-angry/

Even though cases in the 19th JDC are assigned to judges by lot, perhaps it would have been prudent for Kelley to have handed Pelicano’s case off to another of the seven judges who preside over civil cases.

Kelley’s wife is Angele Davis.

Angele Davis was Commissioner of Administration which oversaw the Small Rental Program through the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD).

https://app.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf/BD68D20624D06F8A862574A400526ACC/$FILE/00003E7C.pdf

Davis served as Commissioner of Administration under Bobby Jindal from January 2007 until August 2010. The Division of Administration (DOA) was responsible for the Road Home Program through OCD. Paul Rainwater was Jindal’s first OCD Executive Director until he succeeded Davis as Commissioner of Administration in 2010. http://www.doa.la.gov/comm/PressReleases/CommAnnounce.htm

Even though Davis no longer serves in state government, the fact that the Small Rent Program was administered by her office through OCD, the propriety of Kelley’s presiding over legal disputes involving the program could be brought into question.

http://www.doa.la.gov/OCDDRU/Action%20Plan%20Amendments/Katrina-Rita%20First/APA25_Approved.pdf

Craft argued passionately against the dismissal without prejudice, saying, “I don’t file lawsuits just to come back and say, ‘Just kidding.’ The state shouldn’t be given the opportunity to come back at some later date for another bite.”

Kelley did throw Pelicano a bone of sorts when he ruled against the state and allowed a trial by jury—before agreeing to the dismissal without prejudice. The jury trial ruling was basically meaningless in light of the subsequent dismissal without prejudice, however.

Following Kelley’s ruling and after he had left the courtroom, Pelicano had a brief emotional outburst, yelling to DOA attorney Lesia Batiste that the state could take the property. “I’ve had it!” he shouted. “Just take it!”

It’s not as if Kelley had no way of knowing of his wife’s involvement with the program; her name is all over official documents dealing with all the Road Home programs set up to help the state recover from Hurricanes, Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.

http://lra.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/meetings/2010/Board%20Meeting%201-28-10/APA4PublicComment.pdf

All this is not to say Kelley allowed his position to be used to favor the state because of his wife’s involvement with the programs. He did, after all, rule against the state in other cases that came before him, notably the infamous CNSI debacle. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/louisiana-court-give-contractor-records-about-cancellation/article/2546170/comments

But he also inexplicably ruled in favor of the Jindal administration against the public’s right to know in a major public records lawsuit in 2013 involving applications for the LSU presidency. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_f69f910d-0f80-5ddd-8d9d-06316e5ffa43.html

In a political atmosphere where perception is everything and in a state with as sordid a reputation for corruption as Louisiana, Kelley should have punted as soon as this case landed on his desk.

Canon 2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct says, in part:

A judge shall not allow family, social, political, or other relationships to influence judicial conduct or judgment. 

https://www.lasc.org/rules/supreme/cjc.asp

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Troy sues, un-sues, sues again, Quinn threatens to sue publication; this is Louisiana politics at its sordid best

Posted in ATC, Elections, Lawsuits, Senate on October 4, 2016| 2 Comments »

First, Troy Hebert sued. Then he un-sued. Then he sued again.

Meanwhile, Julie Quinn is threatening to sue.

And the saga of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC)—and by extension, the race for U.S. Senator, rolls on ad nauseam.

It’s the kind of macabre comedy only a Louisiana politics junkie could love.

Hebert, former ATC Director, is running for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. David Vitter. He is currently polling at somewhere around 0 percent, give or take a percentage point or two. (Well, in his case, you’d have to give.)

Quinn, now a New Orleans attorney, is a former State Senator. Right now she’s justifiably steamed.

Hebert first filed a lawsuit against Southern Media and Opinion Research poll and pollster Bernie Pinsonat because he was incorrectly listed as a Republican by the polling service. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/9/senate-candidate-troy-hebert-files-suit-against-po/

He was polling 2 percent at the time and his lawsuit said the poll was flawed and that “the system is definitely rigged against independent candidates.”

Considering how his numbers have since plummeted by two points, he may be right.

He subsequently dropped that suit in favor of filing yet more litigation to block a debate between candidates for Senate after he was excluded because of his (wait for it)….low poll numbers. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/elections/article_b80928b4-899a-11e6-ac34-5befc9373f3f.html

Meanwhile, he sent LouisianaVoice an email recently in which he attached a link to a story saying that the FBI had ended its investigation of official wrongdoing. In his email, he asked that LouisianaVoice publish a story to that effect…and we did.

The story alluded to a story in CityBusiness magazine of New Orleans which indicated that LouisianaVoice relied on anonymous sources in its story about the FBI launching its investigation of Hebert. At the same time, CityBusiness, apparently citing its own anonymous sources, said that Quinn was apparently the source for the LouisianaVoice story.

Not only was CityBusiness dead wrong about our source, but it went even further in saying that Quinn, while dating former Jefferson Parish President and unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Young, was in competition with John Young’s brother Chris Young in representing clients in liquor license matters before ATC.

Chris Young, previously a lobbyist for the Louisiana Beer League, also represented clients in licensure matters before ATC. Both Youngs are attorneys and their sister was head of the New Orleans ATC office.

Chris Young was recently indicted for distributing child porn on his cell phone. The porn consisted of a video of a boy having sex with a donkey and Chris Young used the poor judgment of sending the videos to others, which was apparently the basis of the indictment.

But it didn’t end there. The FBI, it seems, rather than employing old-fashioned police work in its investigation of Hebert, tried instead to get to Chris Young to roll over on Hebert. When he refused, the FBI probe abruptly ended.

Now Quinn has her dander up and her attorney has fired off a scorching letter to CityBusiness Publisher Lisa Blossman calling its story “flat-out false” and “highly defamatory” and demanding an immediate retraction or face possible litigation.

Rather than go through the three pages picking out highlights, we decided to publish the letter-from-julie-quinn here.

After wading through all the interlocking relationships of brothers and sister, former fiancés, employees, a state agency head, legal representation, federal investigations, kiddie porn, media stories and political hacks , just one conclusion may be reached: Only in Louisiana could all this come together in a single story and still have the ring of truth.

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Victim of post-Katrina Road Home program comes to Baton Rouge seeking justice; departs defeated, disillusioned, angry

Posted in Contract, Contracts, Corruption, Courts, DOA, Ethics, Fraud, Judges, Lawsuits on October 3, 2016| 4 Comments »

Tony Pelicano won a skirmish but may have lost the war in his years-long battle with the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD) over poor workmanship and claims of fraud in connection with the reconstruction of a rent house in Metairie destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Because inferior materials were used in the work, Pelicano, himself a contractor, refused to accept the work and he filed suit against the contractor and the state filed suit against him to foreclose on the property.

The trial for his suit against Woodrow Wilson Contractors of Baton Rouge is scheduled for trial in January. The state’s foreclosure suit was scheduled for jury trial on Monday but the state threw a curve ball at Pelicano who apparently had not suffered quite enough in the eyes of OCD and the Division of Administration (DOA).

To make matters worse, the state’s attorney, Lesia Batiste, laughed at an emotional Pelicano after court adjourned.

Pelicano, represented by Baton Rouge attorney Jill Craft, entered Monday’s proceedings in 19th Judicial District Court fighting the state’s motion to deny Pelicano a jury trial but less than two hours before jury selection was slated to begin, Batiste filed a motion to dismiss its case without prejudice, meaning the state would be free to renew its foreclosure efforts at any time in the future.

Craft argued vehemently in favor of dismissal with prejudice, meaning the case would be over and done.

In September 2009, Pelicano was personally solicited by the State of Louisiana through OCD to submit an application to become the first test applicant for the Small Rental Program through the agency. https://louisianavoice.com/2016/09/23/state-ocd-figure-partnered-with-firm-that-blocked-repairs-to-road-home-project-shelter-at-home-follows-same-formula/

Specifications called for pressure treated lumber for the house but upon inspecting the work, Pelicano discovered pressure treated lumber was not used, leading almost immediately to termite infestation. Moreover, leaks in the roof resulted in rust of the top of the hot water heater and kitchen stove and the hot water heater was located in the wrong place, resulting in workers having to cut a hole in the door in order to close it. Joints and window sills have separated since the work was done, all of which have left the house uninhabitable despite Batiste’s contention that “I would live in the house.”

An independent engineer was retained by Pelicano to inspect the house. His photos-and-report are included here in order that you, the reader, can determine if you would pay rent to live in the house.

“I don’t file a suit and then come in here on the day of jury selection and say, ‘Hey, just kidding. They don’t get a do-over,” she said.

“The home owner (Pelicano) must approve a contractor’s punch list. All corrections in construction must be made before the contractor can be paid. These people (Pelicano and his wife) have gone through enough,” Craft said. “Dismissing without prejudice means the state may want to sue them again.”

She said the Pelicanos and the state “reached a settlement in 2013 and the state backed out. That cost my clients an extra $10,000 and now the state wants to allow itself another bite.”

Batiste argued that she did not believe a dismissal without prejudice would create any hardship on the Pelicanos.

District Judge Tim Kelley ruled that the Pelicanos were entitled to a jury trial but then upheld the state’s motion for dismissal without prejudice.

After Kelley adjourned court and exited the courtroom, Pelicano shouted to Batiste, “Take the house! Just take it! I’ve had it! I’m Through!”

Batiste, watching Pelicano’s emotional outburst, laughed.

“It’s not funny,” Craft said to Batiste.

LouisianaVoice asked Batiste why the state would not dismiss with prejudice and her answer left no doubt that the state still has the Pelicanos in its crosshairs.

“They’re under foreclosure,” she said. Not were, but are. Left unsaid was the unmistakable intent that the state would be back for more retribution against the Pelicanos at some future date.

“Have you seen that house?” we asked.

“Yes, I’ve been in it. There’s nothing wrong with it. I would live in it.”

No, she would not. Not without raising holy hell over the condition of the structure.

And neither would you. The mold and mildew in the house, fostered by what Pelicano says was the use of substandard materials,  presents a clear health hazard.

And now the state is asking August flood victims to trust its Shelter at Home program, the illegitimate child of its precursor, the Road Home program.

Pelicano came to Baton Rouge Monday hoping for some measure of justice but the state lived down to its customary expectations of disillusionment and disappointment which in turn only nurtures a climate of manipulation and corruption.

He deserves better.

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