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Archive for the ‘State Police’ Category

Bar served alcohol at LSP facility during Edmonson’s second year as Supt.; continued without legal permit in 2013, 2015

Posted in ATC, Ethics, State Police on November 3, 2016| 5 Comments »

In the year following Mike Edmonson’s initial appointment as State Police Superintendent, the Louisiana State Troopers’ Association (LSTA) was allowed to sell more than $9,000 in alcoholic beverages at the Joint Emergency Services Training Center (JESTC) in Zachary, LouisianaVoice has learned.

There is an entire Louisiana State Police (LSP) Web page dedicated to an extensive campaign against drinking and driving.

Moreover, sources say that as late as September 2015, alcohol was served during events at the facility which the JESTC Web page says is “maintained and operated by the Louisiana State Police,” though LSP sources have denied any alcohol was “sold” at the facility since 2010.

LSTA ran a bar at the LSP training facility through an entity called LSTA Enterprises, LLC, and while LSTA Enterprises did have a permit to sell alcohol during the last half of 2009 and all of 2010, its permit was “closed” on Jan. 31, 2011.

Name and Address

Name Mail Address Public Address
LSTA ENTERPRISES LLC 8120 JEFFERSON HWY BATON ROUGE, LA 70809 1400 W IRENE RD ZACHARY, LA 70791

Permit Information

Information provided is current.

Credential License Type Issue Date Expiration Date Status Reason Owner Information
AG.17.0000012833-BL CLASS A GENERAL BEER AND LIQUOR CLOSED CLOSED DUE TO REISSUE LSTA ENTERPRISES LLC
E.17.0000012833-BL CLASS E BEER AND LIQUOR 02/01/2010 01/31/2011 CLOSED OUT OF BUSINESS LSTA ENTERPRISES LLC
TMP.17.0000012833 TEMPORARY PERMIT 05/22/2009 06/25/2009 CLOSED LSTA ENTERPRISES LLC

LSP spokesman Doug Cain told LouisianaVoice on Thursday, “No alcohol has been sold at the facility since 2010,” though he stopped short of saying no alcohol had been served there since that date.

At events in 2013 and 2015, LouisianaVoice has learned, alcohol was served at a “free bar,” meaning alcoholic beverages were served at a bar at no charge. Regardless of whether alcohol is sold or provided on a complimentary basis, Louisiana state law requires that any entity or person who serves alcohol to obtain a liquor permit.

http://www.atc.rev.state.la.us/AlcoholFAQs.php

And regardless of whether alcohol is sold or provided free of charge, there are strict prohibitions against the presence of alcohol in corrections facilities. http://doc.louisiana.gov/frequently-asked-questions/

State prison trustys are housed at the same training complex as JETSC, which would appear to violate that prohibition.

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s corporate records page lists the corporate address for LSTA Enterprises, LLC as 8120 Jefferson Highway, which is the same address of the LSTA. Also, the Secretary of State also lists David Young as agent and manager of LSTA Enterprises. Young also is Executive Director of LSTA
Business: LSTA ENTERPRISES, L.L.C.
Charter Number: 37011447K
Registration Date: 4/2/2009

 

Domicile Address
8120 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY
BATON ROUGE, LA 708091626

 

Mailing Address
C/O DAVID YOUNG
8120 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY
BATON ROUGE, LA 708091626

 

Status
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: In Good Standing
File Date: 4/2/2009
Last Report Filed: 6/11/2016
Type: Limited Liability Company

 

Registered Agent(s)

 

Agent: DAVID YOUNG
Address 1: 8120 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY
City, State, Zip: BATON ROUGE, LA 70809-1626
Appointment Date: 4/2/2009

 

Officer(s) Additional Officers: No 

 

Officer: DAVID YOUNG
Title: Manager
Address 1: 8120 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY
City, State, Zip: BATON ROUGE, LA 70809-1626

 

Cain said that the bar originally was set up to serve trainees during a time that an outfit called Triple Canopies leased the JESTC facility. Triple Canopy, founded in May 2003 by veteran U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, is a private security company that provides risk management, security, and mission support services for corporate, government and non-profit clients. “It wasn’t set up for folks to come in, have a drink, and then drive home,” Cain said. “It was for temporary residents undergoing training to have a drink before going to bed in the dormitory.”

The last event at which alcohol was sold at the facility, he said, “was in 2010.”

But sources told LouisianaVoice that at least two events were held after that date at which alcohol was served at a free bar. Both were memorials held in June of 2013 and September 2015, with the invitation to the latter specifically promoting “prayer, fellowship, food and beverages.”

LSTA describes itself on its Web page as a benevolent organization committed to improved pay and benefits, a better working environment, to providing support when needed, and to increasing the quality of life for members. “We also strive to improve the public services provided by our members to our community,” it says.

LouisianaVoice obtained a copy of LSTA’s 2009 federal tax return in which it itemized more than $875,000 in expenses, of which only $86,156 was for “miscellaneous member benefits” and “contributions and gifts.” Employee salaries and benefits accounted for $179,000 and another $142,000 was spent on “conferences, conventions and meetings,” lending credence to claims by some that LSTA is more of a source of parties than benevolent works.

Among the itemized LSTA salaries, were those of then-President Frank Besson ($16,000) and Treasurer Stephen Lafargue ($4,800). The report said Besson devoted eight hours per week to his LSTA duties and Lafargue two hours per week.

The tax return also showed that LSTA received $9,816 for “operation of a bar for members of the association.” http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/720/720841049/720841049_200912_990O.pdf

LouisianaVoice attempted to contact Young for a comment but we were told he was out of the office. We then emailed Cain, explaining that ATC records showed that LSTA held a liquor license under the name of LSTA Enterprises, LLC in 2009 and 2010.

Secretary of state records for LSTA Enterprises, LLC, we said in an email to Cain, listed David Young as the agent, officer and manager and records further show the entity to still be viable as a filing of June 2016. Corporate records show the address as 8120 Jefferson Highway, which is the address of LSTA.

LSTA Enterprises LLC, however, gave 1400 West Irene Road, Zachary, as the address for its liquor permit. That, of course, is the address of JESTC, we wrote.

We then asked: Does LSP take the position, given its public stance against drinking and driving, that allowing a private entity to sell alcoholic beverages on property “maintained and operated” by LSP is appropriate?

Rather than address the propriety of operating a bar on LSP property, however, Cain went to great lengths to deny that such an operation still exists and that its only purpose in 2010 was to serve on-site patrons who were being temporarily housed at the JESTC facility.

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State Civil Service employees: no money for raises (again) but State Police set to get third increase in just 18 months

Posted in Budget, Campaign Contributions, Ethics, Finances, Governor's Office, Politicians, Retirement, Revenue, State Police, Transparency on October 12, 2016| 9 Comments »

Attention State Civil Service employees:

·       There’s no money available for your pay raises for what now, the fifth straight year? The sixth? I’ve lost count.

·       The Office of Group Benefits, by the way, will be increasing your monthly health premiums again.

Attention State Troopers:

·       Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed the necessary documents clearing the way for pay increases as much as 8 percent for you—this in addition to last year’s two pay increasing totaling some 30 percent.

·       And by the way, Gov. Edwards’ signature also clears the way for annual guaranteed pay increases of 4 percent per year for State Police.

The State Police Commission (LSPC) will meet on Thursday (Oct. 13) to make it official.

Attention Department of Public Safety police officers:

·       You are not included.

·       Meanwhile, State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson’s hunt continues to identify the DPS malcontents who have the audacity to complain about being repeatedly left out in pay raises. Keep your heads down, guys.

The commission also will consider stripping away some of the duties of the commission executive director, according to the commission agenda published on its Web page. This is an obvious effort for Edmonson to seize more power through his puppet, Commission President/State Trooper T.J. Doss. http://laspc.dps.louisiana.gov/laspc.nsf/b713f7b7dd3871ee86257b9b004f9321/0449c2895409d86986258027004fff12/$FILE/10.12.16%20Revised%20Agenda%20(October%2013,%202016).pdf

LouisianaVoice also has learned that the Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA) is actively considering amending its by-laws to give it authority to purge its rolls of certain of its members, namely a couple of state police retirees who have questioned certain association activities.

And why not? Obviously pumped by the sham “investigation” of the association leadership’s decision (in open violation of state law) to contribute to political campaigns, including those of former Gov. Bobby Jindal and current Gov. Edwards, the LSTA is feeling pretty confident that it can do whatever the hell it wants with complete impunity.

The commission, you will recall, hired Natchitoches attorney Taylor Townsend, a former legislator, to conduct an in-depth investigation into the decision of certain LSTA leaders to become actively involved in political campaigns by having the LSTA executive director make the contributions in his name and then reimbursing him for his “expenses.” The action, nothing other than money laundering, was cleared by Townsend after he apparently got his marching orders from Edwards who didn’t want any embarrassment after reappointing Edmonson after becoming governor.

Townsend, a major supporter of Edwards and who helped head his transition team after he was elected, subsequent to his quiet recommendation of “no action” regarding the LSTA campaign contributions, was rewarded with appointment to the legal team pursuing legal action against the oil industry to force it to restore the state’s wetlands damaged by drilling. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_354f2c5c-8cc9-11e6-8564-5bb2846bb2e6.html

Townsend, instead of submitting a written report as most investigations require, simply told the commission he recommended “no action,” and the commission complied with no comment. Townsend even admitted he did not admit a recording of an LSTA chapter meeting in which is was admitted that the LSTA violated the law into evidence.

So now that the LSTA has survived that mini-scandal, it wants to rid its membership of retirees who dared question the association’s activities.

One of those retirees, Bucky Millet of Lake Arthur, has become a real burr under the commission’s and the LSTA’s saddles and the LSTA officers desperately want him out. He has attended every commission meeting for nearly a year now and is scheduled to attend Thursday’s meeting. Even worse than attending the meetings, he asks questions and that’s something the State Police hierarchy doesn’t particularly like. 

If the LSPC follows form, it will retreat into yet another executive session where it can discuss a course of action out of earshot of the public.

LouisianaVoice will be there.

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Comparison of pay grids illustrates stark contrast between DPS and LSP salaries: both are under Edmonson’s command

Posted in Ethics, Governor's Office, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, State Police on October 2, 2016| 1 Comment »

The simmering resentment between the Blue Shirts and the Gray Shirts isn’t going away anytime soon—at least as State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson continues to push for higher and higher pay for Louisiana State Police (LSP) while ignoring Department of Public Safety (DPS) police http://www.lsp.org/dps_police.html. https://louisianavoice.com/2016/09/16/two-year-old-edmonson-email-to-dps-seemed-to-promise-salary-increases-and-he-delivered-for-all-but-dps-officers/

DPS police may have a lower profile, a less public face than LSP officers. After all, DPS doesn’t detail officers to serve as bodyguards for the state’s college football coaches. That, by the way, is precisely the total qualifications of Edmonson to be Superintendent of State Police; he served as Nick Saban’s personal escort when he was LSU’s head coach.

Carrying that thought a bit further, it has always escaped me why a coach with upwards of 100 beefy, muscular jocks in protective pads and helmets surrounding him would need a bodyguard. Does anyone out there agree with me that this seems like a colossal waste of manpower, money and resources invested in training these men as law enforcement officers?

Before nabbing that plum assignment, Edmonson was the LSP Public Information Officer with precious little experience as a road trooper and zero experience in a supervisory capacity.

His appointment, for those who don’t remember, was made by Bobby Jindal soon after he became governor in 2008.

Besides the title of Superintendent of State Police, he also carries the title as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Safety. http://www.dps.louisiana.gov/deputy.html

With the latter title, Edmonson is also responsible for the well-being of the DPS officers and that would include working for better pay for them as well as for State Troopers.

Instead, we learn that instead of going to bat for DPS, he is going after DPS with a bat. We have been told there was an intensive effort to ferret out the identities of those in DPS who spoke to us about pay issues for DPS officers. The only reason to seek those identities, of course, would be for reprisals.

In an earlier post about the recent pay increase for Edmonson and his inner circle, we said the raises were approved in House Bill 1 in the 2016 legislative session.

Not so. It turns out the salary for Edmonson is set by the governor at his discretion and Edmonson took it upon himself to the increase certain subordinates’ salaries to levels that exceed the State Police pay grid.

We recently obtained a copy of the DPS pay grid and we offer both for your comparison.

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Native of Puerto Rico, resident of New Orleans, former hedge fund manager now taking on Scalise, political establishment

Posted in ATC, Campaign Contributions, Elections, Finances, House, Senate, PACs, Politicians, Senate, State Police on September 29, 2016| 9 Comments »

He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth, partly fiction
Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home

(The Pilgrim—Kris Kristofferson)

It was the noon hour in Walk On’s on Poydras Street in New Orleans and a noisy lunch crowd was packed in as one of the flat screen televisions was demanding my attention with a re-play of the Boston Red Sox players celebrating their American League East Championship after two straight years of finishing dead last in the division.

I watched because the Red Sox have been my favorite team since Ted Williams won an American League batting championship with a .388 average in 1957 at age 38. I was 14 at the time. He retired in 1960, hitting a home run in his last at-bat. (My second favorite team is the Chicago Cubs: Dare I hope for a dream World Series between the two? Hey, it could happen.)

He walked into the Restaurant a few minutes late (after I had called to say I would be two hours late). Seeing him looking around for someone he’d never met, I signaled to him to let him know I was his lunch appointment. “Sorry I’m late. I made some money today,” he said as he slid into the booth.

Danil Ezekiel Faust is a candidate for Congress from Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District and he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell because he has no money and he’s running against an incumbent (Steve Scalise) who has millions.

And that is precisely why he’s running.

The money he made was as an online trader

A Puerto Rican Irish Jew, Faust, a Democrat, is what Kris Kristofferson calls a walking contradiction: He is a former manager of an Arizona hedge fund who continues to play the market but who at the same time despises Wall Street and everything it stands for.

His hero also happens to be is favorite American President: Andrew Jackson. “They can take down those statues of Confederate soldiers, but not Andrew Jackson. The man took a bullet in the chest defending his wife’s honor. He was opposed to a National Bank…and he was right. He is a real American hero,” overlooking the fact that Jackson also signed into law the Indian Removal Act that stained America’s history with the Trail of Tears.

And like so many others, he insists there is entirely too much money in politics.

He also is a strong proponent of wind energy, a sure way to gin up substantial opposition (read: campaign contributions for his opponent) from the fossil fuel industry. He is pro-choice and an unabashed supporter of gay rights and equal pay for women.

And he keeps right on a-changin’ for the better or the worse
Searchin’ for a shrine he’s never found
Never knowin’ if believin’ is a blessin’ or a curse
Or if the goin’ up was worth the comin’ down

 “If I had the money to play on a level playing field, there’s no doubt I could win,” he said between bites of his heart-attack inducing bacon cheeseburger.

But he has no official organization. His campaign headquarters are in his former residence upstairs over the Three-Legged Dog at 400 Burgundy in the French Quarter. His business cards are from a computer program.

Most of all, though, he has no financial backing. Scalise, on the other hand, earlier tied by blogger Lamar White to a Ku Klux Klan event at which David Duke was the main speaker, has the Koch brothers and their Americans for Prosperity (AFP) pouring money into his re-election campaign through various Super PACs which, unfortunately drowns out the message of any underfunded opponent.

“AFP, I believe, held a big social event on the same night at Acme Oyster House right next door to Scalise’s headquarters,” he said.

No one can be heard over the roar of cash being poured into the campaign of an entrenched—and bought—incumbent. And there is no greater concentration of bought politicians than in the U.S. Congress.

Never mind that Scalise voted against federal funding to assist Super Storm Sandy victims in New Jersey but now is demanding federal funds for Louisiana’s flood victims. http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-louisiana-floods-20160822-snap-story.html

Faust, a native of Puerto Rico (take note, birthers: he can never be President), stopped temporarily in New Orleans en route to his intended destination—New York, where he planned to take a job with another hedge fund. But while in New Orleans, he fell in love. With New Orleans and its diverse culture “and its laid-back way of life.”

He took a job as a doorman at a French Quarter strip club. It was while working at that job that he began watching and listening. He learned some unforgettable lessons about the realities of life and the local power structure. In short, he knows where a lot of political skeletons are buried. “It was nothing for politicians and powerful businessmen to come into the club and drop $10,000,” he said.

He said the much-ballyhooed Operation Trick or Treat conducted a year ago by the Louisiana State Police (LSP) and the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) was a sham. The clubs that played ball and made the right political contributions were never investigated, he said.

He also said the LSP and ATC sweep in Operation Trick or Treat and a campaign to limit the number of strip clubs in the French Quarter was the idea of established strip clubs friendly with ATC’s then-director Troy Hebert “to keep down competition.”

So what made Danil Faust run?

“I kept hearing that David Duke was going to run,” he said. “But in the end, he got in the U.S. Senate race instead. I even heard Troy Hebert was running.”

Hebert, who also opted to join the crowded (24 candidates) Senate race, does not reside in the First Congressional District but in Louisiana, residency is not a requirement. (The First Congressional District, by the way, was used by Bobby Jindal as a springboard to the governor’s office.)

“Other than Scalise, no one is running for the office,” he said. Actually, there are seven candidates on the ballot, but like Faust, none of the other five challengers is given a chance in this election.

But that’s what happens when big money like the Kochs, George Soros, Donald Sussman, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Stephens, Hank Greenburg, and the Devos family, to name but a few, overpowers and corrupts the electoral process. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/superpac-donors-2016/

And no matter if his passion is Andrew Jackson, or if he works as a hedge fund manager, an advocate of wind power, a strip club doorman or a political candidate, Danil Ezekiel Faust remains his own man.

But if this world keeps right on turnin’ for the better or the worse
And all he ever gets is older and around
From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of the hearse
The goin’ up was worth the comin’ down

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FBI agent says Hebert cleared of corruption; N.O. publication way off in identifying our story source

Posted in ATC, Corruption, Ethics, Lobbyist, Media, Politicians, State Police on September 20, 2016| 4 Comments »

This is a story that Troy Hebert asked us to write.

It is also a story with much ado about formers.

Former Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Director and current candidate for U.S. Senator Troy Hebert emailed LouisianaVoice earlier this week with a copy of a news story from the New Orleans CityBusiness Report, which quoted from a Baton Rouge Advocate story that Hebert had been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with alleged preferential treatment of certain applicants for liquor licenses from ATC. http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2016/09/19/fbi-clears-former-atc-commissioner-troy-hebert/90714008/

With all the third-person reporting swirling around FBI agent Maurice Hattier Jr., former liquor lobbyist Chris Young, his brother, former Jefferson Parish President and former candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Young, and former State Sen. Julie Quinn, it’s rather difficult to stay focused on the actual legal proceedings in which Chris Young was asking Middle District Federal Court in Baton Rouge to formally dismiss child pornography charges against him.

Okay, that’s formal, not former, but you get the drift.

Chris Young, you will remember, was indicted on child porn charges after he forwarded a text containing a video of an underage boy having sex with a donkey (this sounds more and more like a Farrelly Brothers comedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrelly_brothers).

Hattier allegedly tried (rather crudely, if true) to lean on Chris Young to give up Hebert in order to grease the skids on his investigation of Hebert.

(Putting Hebert’s guilt or innocence aside, it is disconcerting to note that the FBI more and more relies on strong-arm tactics and witness intimidation to produce the desired results in its efforts to obtain indictments and convictions instead of traditional, less tainted methods.)

The sister of John and Chris Young was hired by Hebert for the New Orleans ATC office and sources told LouisianaVoice that anyone desiring a liquor permit from the state was referred to Chris Young for legal representation. Those same sources said that Chris Young rarely, if ever, actually appeared before an ATC hearing. Instead, sources said, all the details were worked out by Chris Young and Hebert behind closed doors.

The CityBusiness story said Hattier testified that the FBI had closed its investigation of claims of public corruption on Hebert’s part.

But things got really weird.

While correctly citing a joint effort by LouisianaVoice and Lee Zurick of WVUE-TV in New Orleans as the original source of the FBI investigation, CityBusiness then veered far off course when it reported, “Speculation centered on New Orleans attorney Julie Quinn as the source” of our story.

While CityBusiness is correct in saying we relied upon anonymous sources (because the sources feared retaliation if their identities were revealed) we can say with absolute certainty that Julie Quinn was not—repeat, was not—one of our sources.

Moreover, Quinn, a former state senator and former fiancé of John Young, was also described by CityBusiness as having competed with Chris Young for alcohol clients and having had “a rocky relationship with Chris Young while dating John Young.

“Quinn’s legal clients have run into ATC trouble with various permit issues and a strip club sting (Operation Trick or Treat was a statewide sting joint operation of ATC and Louisiana State Police last October) that involved drugs and prostitution.

Quinn on Monday told LouisianaVoice she had never represented a client before ATC. “I don’t do liquor licenses and I have never in my career represented a single client in a liquor permit matter,” she said.

Here is a copy of the email we received on Monday from Troy Hebert:

From: Troy Hebert [mailto:troyhebert@yahoo.com]

Sent: Monday, September 19, 2016 10:03 AM

To: Subject: Fw: Press Release: FBI clears former ATC Commissioner Troy Hebert

All,

Please see the following article from the New Orleans Business Report. I respectfully ask that your media outlet give this story the same coverage/space/time to clear my good name as when/if your media outlet first reported the story. 

Sincerely,

Troy Hebert

U.S. Senate Candidate

No problem, Troy. Perhaps this will jump start your campaign and get your poll numbers up to 1 percent.

Top of Form

 

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