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Archive for the ‘Public Records’ Category

State Troopers’ Association considering proposal to oust dissident members; time for Gov. Edwards to take action

Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Commissions, Corruption, Elections, Ethics, Finances, Governor's Office, Politicians, Public Records, Retirement, State Police, Teague on April 15, 2016| 14 Comments »

In North Korea, to the best of our knowledge about that closed society, political dissidents quietly disappear, rumored to receive a bullet to the back of the head.

In the old Soviet Union, dissidents were disposed of in similar fashion—with a bullet behind an ear. Today, Vladimir Putin apparently prefers the quieter—and cleaner—method of ricin-tipped umbrellas.

Thankfully, we are a bit more civilized.

But a purge is still a purge and things are about to get very nasty over at the Louisiana State Troopers’ Association, an organization that is growing increasingly more rogue with each new revelation.

Now the LSTA has under consideration a six-point proposal to change the organization’s by-laws to allow the expulsion of LSTA members without cause.

That’s right: The practice of Teaguing, perfected by Bobby Jindal, has wormed its way into the Louisiana State Troopers’ Association. The timing of the move couldn’t be more obvious.

The proposal apparently is aimed at a few retired troopers who dared question what may yet turn out to be illegal political activity and campaign contributions by LSTA and certain of its members.

The LSTA’s Web page says, “The Louisiana State Troopers Association is a fraternal organization representing the men and women of the Louisiana State Police. The LSTA represents approximately 97 percent of the commissioned officers as well as a substantial portion of the State Police Retirees.” https://latroopers.org/about

Suddenly, with the proposed changes on the table, it doesn’t seem so “fraternal” anymore.

First there was that endorsement of John Bel Edwards last November, the first ever by the association, which raised all manner of questions about the propriety of political endorsements by an organization, albeit a private one, on behalf of Louisiana state troopers who are forbidden by statute from political activity.

Then came the news of some $45,000 in political contributions (about $10,000 each to Edwards and Bobby Jindal) over the past several years. Even more questionable was the method by which those contributions were made: LSTA Executive Director wrote personal checks and made the contributions in his name but then was reimbursed by the association for “expenses,” prompting State Police Commission (the equivalent to the state Civil Service Commission) to observe the whole thing took on the shady characteristics of money laundering.

For what it’s worth, when LouisianaVoice broke the news about the unexplained circuitous route of the campaign funds from LSTA through Young, Edwards refunded the money he received. Jindal, ever the shining beacon of his highly touted gold standards of ethics, did not.

The LSTA board did balk when asked to write a letter to then Gov.-elect Edwards endorsing State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson for re-appointment. That request was not made directly by Edmonson, but there is little doubt that the idea originated with him.

When retired state troopers (members of LSTA, incidentally) tried to get answers about the decision-making process and the source of the campaign money they encountered instant resistance as the association dug in its heels. They’re a private organization, don’t you know, and it’s no one’s business—not even that of members. So naturally, you shoot the messenger.

So the retirees, led by Scott Perry and Bucky Millet, filed a formal complaint with the State Police Commission whose chairman, Franklin Kyle, took the position that the commission had no authority because LSTA was a private entity.

But its membership is not, Perry and Millet argued. The LSTA board is comprised of state troopers and if the board made those decisions, it was state troopers over whom the commission has oversight who may have violated terms of Article X, Sec. 47 of the Louisiana State Constitution: No member of the commission and no state police officer in the classified service shall participate or engage in political activity; be a candidate for nomination or election to public office except to seek election as the classified state police officer serving on the State Police Commission; or be a member of any national, state, or local committee of a political party or faction; make or solicit contributions for any political party, faction, or candidate; or take active part in the management of the affairs of a political party, faction, candidate, or any political campaign, except to exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately, to serve as a commissioner or official watcher at the polls, and to cast his vote as he desires. (Emphasis added)

LouisianaVoice then discovered that three members of the commission charged with enforcing those laws had themselves been active in the political arena during the time they were sitting on the commission. Commission Chairman Kyle was among the three. The others were William Goldring and Freddie Pitcher.

Pitcher was the first to go, announcing his resignation soon after we revealed that he had made political campaigns himself. Then on Thursday, after a nine-page report by Natchitoches and former State Sen. Taylor Townsend recommended the removal of all three, Kyle and Goldring submitted their letters of resignation.

Obviously, the LSTA and Edmonson were highly offended over the unwelcome questioning by retirees. They were raining on the association’s parade and it wasn’t appreciated one bit. The forced ouster of three commission members who had also made tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions did nothing to assuage those feelings.

So now we have that six-point proposal that would allow the LSTA to rid itself of those noisy old has-beens who the association apparently thinks should just ride quietly off into the sunset.

But this over-the-hill gang still has a few battles left to fight in its effort to preserve the integrity of a once-noble organization that has descended into the depths of political deals and dirty tricks. Those retirees are the ones who built the LSTA and they are pissed that a bunch of politically motivated board members who were in diapers or yet unborn when LSTA was founded have chosen to pervert its intended purpose.

Here is the six-point by-laws change currently being proposed:

  • The affiliate troop (Troop A, Troop B, etc.) to which the member is attached shall move to remove the member via a vote of the members present at a duly called meeting of said affiliate.
  • The cited member shall receive formal written notification of the action pending against him and shall have an opportunity to respond to such action. Response may be either via written reply or in person at the next scheduled affiliate meeting.
  • The affiliate membership shall then take a vote on the motion to remove the member.
  • If the motion carries, the affiliate president shall report the action to the Board of Directors of the Association, who will then notify the cited member of the action and offer him an opportunity to appeal his removal.
  • After hearing any appeal of the action, the Board of Directors will vote to ratify or decline the member’s removal.
  • At any time that the Board of Directors of the Association feel that removal of a member is warranted, they may initiate such action via a motion from a Board member by following the procedure beginning in Step 4 above.

Apparently the proposed changes apply only to male members: Point 2 refers to “action pending against him” while Point 4 said the LSTA will “offer him” an opportunity to appeal. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a tad sexist to me.

But it is that last point, Point number Six, that is crucial and eerily reminiscent of the manner in which Edmonson attempted to swing an illegal $55,000-a-year increase in his retirement benefits. In 2014, an amendment was tacked onto a benign Senate bill during the closing hours of the legislative session which ignored an irrevocable action taken years before by Edmonson that froze his retirement benefits.

Generous retirement benefit boost slipped into bill for State Police Col. Mike Edmonson on last day of legislative session

The provision in Point 6 appears to allow the LSTA board to circumvent the individual troops, or affiliates, by initiating expulsion action on its own, a provision which would, in effect, negate any input from affiliate troops.

It’s obvious to even the most casual observer now that the LSTA is no longer a “fraternal” organization, but one that is highly politicized—and vindictive to the core. By rolling out this proposal, it is clear that dissention will not be tolerated: what the board wants trumps anything the membership desires.

Perhaps that is why LouisianaVoice is picking up rumblings that the association has lost membership from among the ranks of active troopers. Apparently even the active troopers who are subject to extreme pressure from above, i.e. Edmonson, want no part of what LSTA has become.

That may also be the reason we’re also hearing that private donations to LSTA have slipped over the past several months. Benevolence is one thing; political activism by an organization that passes itself off as a “fraternal organization” is something else altogether.

LouisianaVoice sent the following email to David Young earlier today:

From: Tom Aswell
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 10:52 AM
To: David Young
Subject: QUESTIONS

Mr. Young, please respond to the following questions:

  • What is the purpose of this proposed by-laws change?
  • Who proposed it?
  • Was the board’s vote unanimous?
  • Is it aimed at any retired troopers in particular?
  • How many troops (affiliates?) have already recorded votes for and against this proposal?
  • Has the LSTA lost membership in recent months?
  • Has the LSTA experienced a drop in private donations in recent months?

I eagerly await your response.

I am still waiting.

Meanwhile, the time has long passed when Gov. Edwards should intervene and rein in the LSTA board members. Allowed to continue their off-the-reservation activity, they will only bring further embarrassment to the administration which has already come under considerable criticism for the re-appointment of both Edmonson and Department of Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc.

Certainly, Governor, your  plate is full with a massive budget deficit but when you were elected, you were elected as the CEO over all departments in the state.

You cannot afford to ignore festering problems in any department, especially one as high-profile and as saddled with morale issues as the Department of Public Safety and the Louisiana State Police.

 

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Two more members of LSPC quit over political contributions while pondering its investigation of LSTA for same offense

Posted in Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Governor's Office, Politicians, Public Records, State Police, Transparency on April 14, 2016| 5 Comments »

The second and third members of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) resigned Thursday in the wake of earlier reports by LouisianaVoice that they had contributed to political campaigns in violation of the Louisiana State Constitution.

Their resignations of William Goldring and commission Chairman Franklin Kyle came on the heels of a nine-page report prepared by Natchitoches attorney Taylor Townsend. Taylor was contracted by commission Executive Director Cathy Derbonne after LouisianaVoice and the Baton Rouge Advocate revealed that they and a third member, retired appellate court judge Freddie Pitcher, faced removal from the commission because of their political campaign contributions while sitting as commission members. http://theadvocate.com/news/15297801-173/three-members-of-louisiana-state-police-commission-may-be-ousted-over-campaign-contribution-issue

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

Pitcher resigned several weeks ago prior to Taylor’s being contracted to prepare the report.

The violations of the prohibition against political activity was an even more volatile issue because the commission was debating whether or not to initiate an investigation of the Louisiana State Troopers’ Association (LSTA) over its laundering association money through its own executive director David Young. https://louisianavoice.com/2016/03/10/state-police-commission-members-probing-lsta-appear-to-have-committed-similar-campaign-contribution-violations/

In his report to Derbonne, Townsend noted that statements contained in his report were supported by public records maintained by the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program, the Louisiana Secretary of State, State Police Commission oaths, and the Federal Elections Commission—the same sources cited by LouisianaVoice.

Quoting from the Louisiana State Constitution, Townsend said, “Members of the State Police Commission and state police officers are expressly prohibited from engaging in political activity. More specifically, Section 47 provides that ‘No member of the commission and no state police officer in the classified service shall participate or engage in political activity…make or solicit contributions for any political party, faction, or candidate…except to exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately…and to cast his vote as he desires.’”

Willful violation of the relative provisions, he said, “is a crime, a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both,” Townsend said.

“The integrity of the State Police Service requires your immediate action and attention,” he said in his conclusion. “The law, specifically the Louisiana Constitution…and State Police Commission Rule 14.2, are both clear: ‘Members of the State Police Commission are expressly prohibited from participating in political activity.’ The findings of fact outlined (in his report) clearly show evidence of multiple violations of the applicable law by Mr. Kyle and Mr. Goldring. As you know, the authority to remove members of the commission is invested in the Governor. Barring voluntary resignation by these members, I see no alternative but to ask the Governor to call a public hearing.”

At Thursday’s meeting it was learned that Kyle had submitted his resignation letter prior to the 9 a.m. meeting after reviewing an advance copy of the report. Goldring said through the brief meeting but submitted his resignation letter later on Thursday.

FRANKLIN KYLE RESIGNATION LETTER

In his letter, which was sent by email, Kyle said, “I was provided a copy of the report by Mr. Townsend last night regarding commissioners that (sic) have broken LSPC rules…

“Given this information, I think it proper to tender my resignation. Attached, please find a letter to the governor regarding such.”

Goldring wrote, “After reading Mr. Townsend’s legal interpretation of the rules and regulations for Louisiana State Police Commissioners, I respectfully have no issues with his interpretation. The work of the commission is extremely important and should not be distracted and, therefore, I believe it is in everyone’s best interest for me to resign immediately.”

GOLDRING RESIGNATION LETTER

Pitcher resigned by letter dated March 29. “Now that I am fully aware of the prohibition, I feel that I must step down as a commission member…” he wrote.

PITCHER CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

With the resignations, the commission is far from finished with its work regarding the LSTA’s funneling nearly more than $45,000, including $10,000 each to Bobby Jindal and Gov. John Bel Edwards through Young to political candidates last year. Even though the LSTA is a private organization as opposed to a public entity, its membership is comprised of state troopers who, like the LSPC members, are prohibited from political activity.

Even with the resignations, the commission still has a quorum but will probably delay initiation of an investigation. Young and the LSTA are beyond the commission’s purview but it does have authority to conduct a probe of which members of the association made the decisions to reimburse Young for his contributions as well as the decision to endorse Edwards in last November’s runoff election between Edwards and U.S. Sen. David Vitter. Those responsible for the decisions would apparently be in violation of the constitution.

KYLE CONTRIBUTIONS

GOLDRING CONTRIBUTIONS

PITCHER CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

 

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Louisiana has a new Clown Prince but it’s egg, not a pie all over Lt. Gov. Nungesser’s face after succession of blunders

Posted in Business, Cartoons, Contract, Contracts, Earl Long, Ethics, Finances, Fraud, Governor's Office, Huey Long, Incentives, Media, Politicians, Public Records on April 12, 2016| 23 Comments »

CONSEQUENCES OF VOTING

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:

Melvin L. “Kip” Holden (DEM)             Defeated         506640            45%

“Billy” Nungesser (REP)                     Elected            628876            55%

Turnout: 40.2% 

We’re not yet halfway through the 2016 legislative session in which lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards are struggling to close a $2 billion budget gap for the coming fiscal year but attention has been diverted from that knotty problem by one of the most bizarre political behavior since Earl Long’s mental crash of 1959, accompanied by a whirlwind tour of the Southwest and his fling with stripper Blaze Starr.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser fell for a phishing scam that’s been around at least three years and in doing so, proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that Louisiana’s electoral legacy of a revolving door for scalawags, con men, thieves and clowns is securely intact. And while we’re at it, let’s not leave out outright idiots and demagogues.

You’d think we had at least partially rid ourselves of that ilk with the exit of Bobby Jindal, but you’d be oh, so wrong. There apparently is no shortage of egos or stupidity to go around and sadly, we keep electing them. The legislature is riddled with those who have set themselves apart from reality.

Thanks to the diligence of Baton Rouge Advocate reporters Rebekah Allen and Richard Thompson, we are now assured that Billy Nungesser is heir-apparent to the title of Chief Clown in residence—a worthy successor to Jindal, we might add.

The two reporters on Sunday (April 10) broke an astonishing story that Nungesser, abetted by state Republican Chairman Roger Villere, not only fell for a huge scam involving a supposed agreement between a Delaware-based corporation, a Lake Charles refinery, and the Iraqi government, but he did it without the knowledge or consent of Gov. John Bel Edwards on whose behalf he claimed he was acting. http://theadvocate.com/news/politics/15398751-125/lt-gov-billy-nungesser-gop-chairman-roger-villere-work-to-recruit-unlikely-iraq-to-louisiana-busin

For sheer audacity, it even surpassed Huey Long’s classic “Round Robin” pledge by 15 senators to block his impeachment back in 1929. Huey, after all, was battling for his political life while Nungesser was only feeding his inflated ego like a ravenous wolf devouring a fresh deer carcass. And he fed it with a story that had no basis in fact. And he did it for all the world to see. And then he apologized. Sort of.

While Baton Rouge was metaphorically wiping its eyes and laughing at this buffoon, we did a quick Internet search and found that a former East Baton Rouge parish councilman and failed mayoral candidate fell for a variation of the same scheme involving the same Delaware corporation three years ago. More about that later.

First, here is what has transpired thus far:

  • Villere, the state GOP brain bust…er, trust, apparently approached Nungesser for a new billion-dollar deal that involved a plan by Alexandros, Inc. http://alexandrosinc.com/index.html to partner with Pelican Refinery of Lake Charles http://www.pelican-refinery.com/index.html in signing a 25-year agreement to become the exclusive shipping company for the Iraqi government’s oil marketing arm, interchangeably called the State Organization for Marketing Oil and the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). The plan called for the transporting of up to 150 million barrels of Iraqi oil each month. http://www.alexandrosinc.com/shipping.html
  • Alexandros, headed by CEO Markos Fuson of California, proposed reopening the former Avondale Shipyard on the Mississippi River near New Orleans. The facility shut down in 2014.
  • Alexandros also proposed building more than 40 new ships, “super-tankers,” capable of hauling 200 million barrels of oil per month.
  • Fuson supposedly committed to investing 100 percent of his profits from the venture in Louisiana’s motion picture industry and to then invest his share of film profits into an as-yet-to-be-created charitable foundation that would provide education, health care and housing assistance to Louisiana’s minorities.
  • Pelican Refining’s role in the scenario was unclear, given the fact the Lake Charles facility only produces asphalt and road oil. It has not processed sweet or heavier crude oil in more than a decade, The Advocate quoted the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources as saying.

If all that sounds implausible enough, consider this: Nungesser, salivating over the prospects of establishing himself as the state’s economic emancipator, then took matters into his own hands. In quick succession, he:

  • Issued a press release in March saying that Iraqi’s export agency had signed off on Alexandros’s request to partner with Pelican Refining to purchase light and heavy crude oil from SOMO.
  • Inexplicably sent the press release only to the Washington Post which, recognizing a con when it saw one, chose not to publish the release.
  • Represented himself in the news release as well as in letters to representatives of the Department of State and to Iraqi officials as Louisiana’s economic development recruiter (he’s not; that duty falls to the Secretary of Economic Development, in this case, Donald Pierson). “The honorable governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, has given me a directive to expedite economic stimulus for the state of Louisiana,” Nungesser lied in his letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, adding, “This request for Your Excellency’s advocacy is part of my office’s effort to fulfill that directive.”
  • Wrote similar letters to Stuart Jones, ambassador to Iraq, and to Secretary of State John Kerry in which he again passed himself off as the state’s key economic development leader. “It is with sincere gratitude that I, Billy Nungesser, as the lieutenant governor of the state of Louisiana, respectfully request the Department of State’s additional advocacy to the Republic of Iraq on behalf of the state of Louisiana,” he wrote to Kerry and Stuart.
  • Said in his letters that he copied Edwards with all correspondence. Not so, said a spokesman for the governor’s office, who said Edwards never received a copy.
  • With egg all over his face, denied reading, let alone writing the letters that he signed. Instead, he officially kicked off the blame game, saying first that Villere, an old friend and political ally, had told him he wanted a letter expressing the state’s interest.
  • In the lowest of lows, blamed his staff, saying the letters should never have made their way to his desk. “We’re changing the way some things flow in my office to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he was quoted as saying by The Advocate.
  • Apologized to Edwards. “I would have never used the governor’s name without his permission,” he added.

Falah Alamri, SOMO director general, said the entire deal was a scam, “a hundred percent not real,” The Advocate story says.

But wait. Jeff DeRosia, operations manager for Grand Isle Shipyard in Galliano, says otherwise. “I know they’re real. One hundred percent,” he said. DeRosia, it should be noted also is executive vice president of domestic sales for Alexandros, according to Alexandros documents.

So just where does Villere figure in this entire sordid mess? Who knows? He did, however write his own letter back in February to the Iraqi prime minister and the minister of Oil, Adil Abd al-Mahdi in which he laid out the “urgent next steps that the state of Louisiana and the United States insist upon.” Some of those steps included SOMO’s granting legal authority and the issuing of contracts to Pelican Refining.

It’s still unclear how Villere considered himself in a position to insist on anything on behalf of the United States or Louisiana governments.

The three—Nungesser, Villere and DeRosia—would have been wise to do even the slightest bit of investigation before going off the reservation the way they did.

Our own quick search found a Web site called Ripoff Report in which a Baton Rouge writer in February 2013 warned of a similar scheme by Alexandros. http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Alexandros-Inc/Highland-California-92346/Alexandros-Inc-Attempt-to-Defraud-with-Fake-Documents-Highland-California-1053139

In that report, Terry Easley produced a letter purportedly from the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization attesting to a professional relationship between Alexandros, Inc., Fuson, and the Iraqi government. The letter was signed, supposedly by Sarmad H. Abd, SOMO general manager of contracts, and John Percy de Jongh, Jr., governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Easley pointed out discrepancies in the letterhead of that sham letter, comparing it to one he received on April 29, 2013, from SOMO Director General Alamri. The Alamri letter, he said, was on the correct letterhead, complete with correct logos, addresses and contact information in both English and Arabic. Here are the contents of that letter:

TO: Mr. Terry L. Easley

Email: [REDACTED]

Subj./Fraud Document

Reference to you letter dated 26th April 2013.

Please note the following:

1-The Document attached to your above letter is fraud and has never been issued by SOMO.

2-SOMO has no business relationship whatsoever neither with a company named “Alexandros, Inc.” nor with a person called “Sarmad H. Abd”.

3-Our policy is to deal directly and exclusively with End Users (refining system owners) and not through traders or middlemen.

Best Regards,

Dr. Falah J. Alamri

Director General

/04/2013

Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) Fax: + 964 1 7726 574 / + 964 1 7742 979

PO Box 5118 Email: info@somooil. Gov. Iq

Baghdad – Iraq Web: www.somooil. Gov. Iq

The fake letter that precipitated the above response from Alamri, Easley said, was also copied to one Darrell Glasper of Baton Rouge. Glasper, for those outside the Baton Rouge area, was a member of the Baton Rouge Metro Council and ran for mayor-president against incumbent Kip Holden in 2008. He later admitted to paying for a campaign flier during that election which included doctored photos depicting Holden after being severely beaten by the husband because of an affair between the two.

Ironically, seven years later Nungesser would defeat Holden in an election for the lieutenant governor’s office.

The Baton Rouge media and a prominent blogger lost no time jumping all over the hapless and apparently clueless Nungesser.

Reporter Stephanie Grace, saying on Tuesday (April 12) that Nungesser had gone rogue, pointed out that in a 2011 forum between lieutenant governor candidates, Jay Dardenne pounded Nungesser on the duties of the office while Nungesser countered by saying he was one who followed his gut and “thinks outside the box.” http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/15457076-133/stephanie-grace-nungesser-goes-rogue-on-whacky-economic-deal

Grace said in his first big move after taking office in January, he “proved he’s thinking much further outside the box than anyone could have imagined.”

Saying that Nungesser “has no authority over economic development, no right to speak for the governor, and no place contacting the U.S. government, a national news organization, or a foreign head of state” on behalf of Edwards, she did give him a backhanded compliment in noting that he “basically fessed up to have had no idea what he was doing.”

She suggested that Nungesser make a call to Dardenne, who now serves as Commissioner of Administration. “I’m guessing he’d (Dardenne) would be perfectly happy to, once again, school Nungesser on what the day job entails—and what it doesn’t.”

Political blogger Lamar White wasn’t quite as kind.

In his post today (April 12), White suggested that far from being funny, Nungesser’s actions are impeachable. https://cenlamar.com/2016/04/12/lt-gov-nungessers-scam-deal-isnt-funny-its-impeachable/

I disagree. I think to save himself further humiliation, he should take it upon himself to resign.

Even more biting, however, was White’s quote from Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, another political blog: “I always used to wonder what kind of person fell for those Nigerian prince email scams. This says a lot.”

White called Nungesser’s actions “an enormous embarrassment to Louisiana, a blatant usurpation of the statutory power of the Lt. Governor’s office.” He said it also “demonstrates both an enormous disrespect to Gov. John Bel Edwards, for whom Nungesser deliberately misrepresented as working under his authority and blessing, and a fundamental and damaging misunderstanding of the duties of his office.”

He referred to Nungesser’s claim of never having read the letters he signed and his blaming of his staff as “pathetic.”

Not overlooking the role of the state GOP chairman in the fiasco, White said Villere’s “intimate involvement, at the very least, warrants an investigation into criminal conspiracy.”

But then he observed, perhaps correctly that Nungesser need not fear the consequences. “Louisiana is too busy laughing at him to worry about actually holding him accountable.”

There is a lot of stupid to go around in Baton Rouge but with this stunt, Nungesser may have laid claim to franchise rights.

And that is particularly pathetic.

CLOWN IN CHIEF

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As clamor increases for access to public records, some, like Lafayette city marshal, starting to learn expensive lessons

Posted in Corruption, Elections, Ethics, Lawsuits, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency on April 8, 2016| 6 Comments »

Last of four-part series:

There are those isolated cases scattered across the legal landscape in which a citizen or member of the media goes to court and wins a public records case against a reticent public official but even those occasional victories in the interest of transparency are bittersweet at best.

It goes without saying anyone would rather win than lose; that’s a no-brainer. So prevailing in a case against an elected official or appointee bent on blocking the free flow of information always evokes a certain smug euphoria.

On the other hand, each victory in a public records lawsuit should prompt members of the media and governmental watchdogs alike to ask five basic questions:

  • Why was litigation necessitated in the first place?
  • Why aren’t officials more forthcoming with information?
  • Were they trying to hide something embarrassing or incriminating?
  • Or were they just being obstinate as a matter of general principle?
  • Was fighting disclosure worth the legal costs and the potential of fines for noncompliance—and even the possibility of criminal charges?

The IND, a Lafayette news organization has most likely asked each of those questions repeatedly in the case of Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope and his determination to shield 588 pages of emails from Pope’s workstation at the Lafayette City Marshal’s office.

For his part, Pope must be dwelling on the final question: Was it worth it?

http://www.katc.com/story/30893257/independent-wins-public-records-suit-against-city-marshal

At issue is Pope’s alleged use of his office—and the city’s computer—to campaign for Lafayette Parish Sheriff candidate Chad Leger over his opponent in the October 2015 election, Mark Garber. Garber ultimately won that election.

But when The IND requested those emails, apparently withheld some records and deleted others that were nevertheless captured on the Lafayette City Government servers through which all emails to and from city departments are routed.

Fifteenth Judicial District Court Judge Jules Edwards on Dec. 14 issued an order enjoining Pope from withholding any requested records. The IND originally made its public records requests on Oct. 8 and again on Nov. 30 and on Jan. 4 of this year, Edwards ruled that Pope’s response was “woefully inadequate,” that his withholding of documents was “arbitrary,” and his failure to respond “unreasonable.” http://theind.com/article-22457-Judge-Marshal-Pope’s-response-still-‘woefully-inadequate’.html

By the time Judge Edwards was finished with Pope, the tally was nearly $100,000 in penalties (at $100 per day for each day Pope failed to respond to the requests, or $17,300), plus attorney and expert fees and court costs—and, get this: 173 hours (one hour for each day of non-compliance) of community service instructing government employees on public records law. Oh, the irony!

Just for good measure, Judge Edwards sentenced Pope to one month in jail for contempt of court, suspending all but seven days and reducing that to house arrest.

The judge’s ruling also held Pope personally responsible for all costs and penalties.

Former Lafayette City Attorney Mike Hebert testified during cross-examination that all email traffic “got routed through LCG (Lafayette City Government) servers, and thus is as much the property of LCG as it would be the marshal’s. As soon as we became custodians we became responsible for producing the records,” he added.

Pope, for his part, fell back on the tried and true “everybody does it” explanation for his using his office for political fundraising purposes. “I’m a political figure,” he said. “I can use my office for my campaign. My predecessor did it, too.” That argument apparently failed to impress Judge Edwards.

Edwards also came down hard on Pope when Pope showed up in court in uniform and armed with his handgun, both of which are contrary to Louisiana law regarding police appearing in court as defendants.

Edwards said that and his “everyone does it” defense provided “remarkable insight” into how Pope runs his office. http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/24/judge-sentences-lafayette-city-marshal-jail-contempt/82208738/

Appropriately enough, on April 1, Pope’s house arrest was postponed while he appeals his contempt conviction. http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/15361890-123/house-arrest-for-lafayette-city-marshal-brian-pope-postponed-during-appeal-in-public-records-case

The Lafayette case is one of the ugliest public records lawsuits in the state since the brouhaha over the LSU Board of Supervisors’ furtive selection of F. King Alexander as LSU President. But that doesn’t mean things can’t get nastier. With the explosion of Internet blogging generating more public records requests, any immovable objects (resistance or reluctance in complying) is certain to be met by the irresistible force (litigation).

Bloggers like Elliott Stonecipher, Jason France, and yours truly, along with citizens like James Finney, Barbara Ferguson, and Charles Hatfield, some members of the media, and legislators like State Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard are going to keep pushing for more sunshine so long as there continues to be contracts with 50 blank pages or superficial “investigations” like the charade recently carried out by State Police in the Burl Cain and Angola State Penitentiary episode.

We are going to keep digging as long as we have officials attempting to sneak illegal retirement benefit increases into legislative bills during the closing minutes of legislative sessions. We will keep making public records requests into questionable methods of investigation and punishment carried out by autonomous boards and commissions like the State Dentistry Board and State Board of Medical Examiners. We will continue to ask questions when we observe a double standard in how we are expected to comport ourselves as citizens and how public officials are allowed to conduct themselves in their official capacities—be they agency heads, elected officials, regulatory boards and commissions or law enforcement agencies.

And when we encounter that immovable object, that resistance to transparency, we will continue to haul your butts into court until we are on a first-name basis with every judge in Baton Rouge. Reluctance or denial on your part will only strengthen the resolve on our part.

After all is said and done, we deserve two things from our government:

  • An even playing field where all live under and abide by the same rules;
  • The right to see, hear, and know that even the most obscure agency carries out its business in an upright, honest and fair manner.

We will accept nothing less.

And we shouldn’t have to sue someone to earn that right

 

 

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Why are public records laws enacted? Why don’t judges enforce laws? Perhaps Deshotels case will bring change

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

Third of four-part series:

Given the reluctance to impose meaningful fines in cases of blatant public records compliance violations, one has to wonder:

  • What is the purpose of going through the time consuming procedure of passing laws if they are not going to be enforced?
  • What is the purpose of a judge donning a robe and sitting on the bench if he/she has no intention of upholding so even the minimum penalty for violations of the law?
  • Is there some sort of unwritten agreement among certain judges and public officials that says judges must merely wink at violations and hand down only token penalties?

Louisiana laws, we can only assume, were enacted for a reason and that reason was to ensure strict compliance and to lay out proper punishment for violators. To that end, Louisiana Revised Statute (L.R.S.) 44:35 (E) (1) clearly says:

  • If the court finds that the custodian arbitrarily or capriciously withheld the requested record, it may award the requester any actual damages proven by him to have resulted from the actions of the custodian. It may also award the requester civil penalties not to exceed $100 per day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays, for each such day of such failure….

That’s certainly clear enough but L.R.S.) 44:35 (E) (2) then goes on to say:

  • The custodian shall be personally liable for the payment of any such damages and shall be held liable in solido with the public body for the payment of the requester’s attorney’s fees and other costs of litigation, except where the custodian has withheld or denied production of the requested record or records on advice of legal counsel representing the public body in which the office of such custodian is located. In the event the custodian retains private legal counsel for his defense in connection with the request for records, the court may award attorney’s fees to the custodian. (Emphasis added.)

LOUISIANA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

We have already seen in earlier posts this week how judges, through some form of convoluted rationale, are able to substantially reduce that $100 per day fine to insignificant amounts and in at least one case, to nothing at all.

First there was the case of the Baton Rouge Advocate and the LSU Daily Reveille. The two publications sued the LSU Board of Supervisors over its refusal to provide a list of candidates for LSU President. They won and the district court judge awarded more than $50,000 in penalties calculated on the $100-a-day formula for non-compliance only to see the monetary award overturned and negated in full by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal.

Then came our own lawsuit against the Division of Administration and Commissioner Kristy Nichols. DOA delayed responses to numerous requests by LouisianaVoice for several months only to be hit with a penalty of only $800 plus court costs and attorney fees.

Louisiana’s Public records laws being routinely ignored by officials; lawsuits, fines increase – all at taxpayer expense

And in the case of Barbara Ferguson and Charles J. Hatfield and their lawsuit against the Department of Education on behalf of their non-profit research organization, Research on Reforms, the court’s ruling was even more egregious. Three full years of non-compliance came to 684 days by the plaintiffs’ estimation (we calculated the number to be closer to 745 days) and they requested the full application of the penalty of $100 per day, or $68,400 plus attorney fees ($29,779) and court costs ($3,121).

FERGUSON REQUESTED JUDGMENT

Baton Rouge District Judge William Morvant first denied the plaintiffs’ claim outright but was overturned by the First Circuit which remanded the case back to Morvant for the imposition of penalties. Morvant not only cut the attorney fees in half to $15,000, but he completely disregarded the penalties for DOE’s—and Morvant’s apparently—disregard of the law.

FIRST CIRCUIT RULING ON FERGUSON

Louisiana Department of Education does poorly combating public records requests; Rep. Richard bill seeks trasparency

So now comes Mike Deshotels and his public records lawsuit against veteran defendant John White and his Department of Education.

This one is pretty easy except for one minor snag:

Deshotels filed his lawsuit on April 10, 2015, after two months of back and forth communications between him and DOE failed to produce the requested Multi Stat report for all public schools in Louisiana which contained the actual total number of students enrolled in each grade.

MICHAEL DEHOTELS PETITION

Even though Deshotels never requested any personal information, DOE ultimately refused his request “because of their obligations to protect the personal information of the students pursuant to FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act),” according to Deshotel’s petition.

The case finally made its way to trial in Baton Rouge on Oct. 19, 2015, before 19th Judicial District Judge Todd Hernandez.

Hernandez broke with the pack when he held John White personally liable. More than that, he assessed White with attorney fees and court costs of $11,988.84. And then, applying the letter of the public records law he ordered the payment of $100 per day “from Feb. 16, 2015, until the requested records were produced.

DESHOTEL JUDGMENT

Despite his order, those records were not produced until more than five months later, when they were submitted along with a March 31, 2016, settlement offer. That additional delay brought the total cost, including attorney fees and court costs, to about $49,000, according to Deshotels’s Baton Rouge attorney J. Arthur Smith.

And Judge Hernandez, as if sending his own message, held John White personally liable, an indication that Hernandez had reason to believe White had withheld the records on his own volition and without the advice of legal counsel.

(Parenthetically, if more judges followed the example set by Hernandez, public officials might be more cognizant of the importance of complying with the law.)

Still White persisted in his state of denial. That March 31 settlement letter from DOE legal counsel G.M. Millet, Jr., was little more than an insult to Smith and Deshotels.

“After careful consideration, the Department of Education has decided to provide an unsuppressed copy of the October 2014 Multi-Stats Report to Michael Deshotels and to pay him $9,292.74 for attorney’s fees and litigation expenses pursuant to Judge Hernandez’s judgment,” the letter said.

SETTLEMENT OFFER

He then added the traditional legal verbiage that nevertheless appeared particularly absurd: “By complying with those portions of the judgment, in lieu of appeal, the Department is not admitting fault.” Not admitting fault? Really?

Millet also said that DOE planned to appeal the “portion of the judgement (sic) imposing fines against the Department for being arbitrary and capricious.”

Smith now says that the appeals have run, meaning the deadline has passed for White and DOE to appeal the judgment. Still, no payment has been made.

So Smith is now preparing to take matters to the next level.

He has prepared a Motion for Judgment Debtor Examination as the first step toward seizure of White’s assets, including his 2013 Infiniti and garnishment of his state wages.

In that motion, yet to be filed pending Hernandez’s ruling on a separate DOE motion, Smith asks “to examine John White, Defendant/Judgment Debtor and his income records, pay check stubs, W-2 forms, last year’s income tax returns, business papers, automobile titles and registration certificates (pink slips), records of accounts in banks and other financial institutions (checking and savings) on all matters pertaining to his income or property, in order that Plaintiff (Deshotels) may find means to execute the Judgment, and that the said Defendant (White) should be ordered to appear before this Honorable Court at such time as the Court assigns for said examination.”

MOTION FOR DEBTOR EXAMINATION

Now that should get someone’s attention, especially if Smith’s motion is granted.

If that’s what it takes to change the mindset of bureaucrats and elected officials, to hold them accountable to the laws of this state, to force them to cease furtive actions away from public observation, then so be it.

Tomorrow: Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope has learned an expensive lesson for his refusal to make available 588 pages of emails Lafayette-based newspaper The Independent. Besides monetary penalties totaling almost $100,000, a state district judge tacked on seven days’ house arrest for contempt of court. That sentence has been postponed pending the outcome of Pope’s appeal of the conviction.

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