Louisiana Voice

Well, just call me jaded, skeptical, suspicious and downright distrustful but there should be a ton of questions about the passage of an 11^th-hour amendment of House Bill 268.

The BILL, authored by Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Johnson (R-Pineville), was originally written to keep the home phone numbers and addresses of public employees confidential and was a good thing on its surface.

But Johnson, at Landry’s request, tacked on a last-second amendment, adopted in a closed-door session that even the Hayride professes to DISDAIN, that excluded travel plans for the governor and his family out of concern for the “safety of the governor, his spouse or his child.”

Okay, sure, we all want our public servants – and their families – to be safe. But it’s an 85-day legislative session so why wait until the 80^th day slip in this amendment? It’s almost enough to make a political pragmatist like me thing some other ulterior motive might have been at play here – something so furtive as to necessitate parliamentary chicanery to sneak it through.

Ultimately, the bill, as amended, was approved in the HOUSE by an 86-12 vote, with seven representatives taking a walk. The SENATE was even more obliging, passing the amended bill by a unanimous 37-0 vote with only two abstentions.

The intent of the amendment may well have been completely benign but my suspicious nature, fed by early efforts by Landry to seize complete control of state government, leaves me less than convinced of the purity of intent here.

Take HB-767 by Rep. Julie Emerson (R-Carencro), for example. The bill, like HB 268 discussed above, was amended to prohibit any non-resident of the state from requesting public records from the governor’s office.

That little gem probably stems from a 2019 ARGUMENT by then-Attorney General Landry that an Indiana resident was not entitled to records about Landry’s dealing with the oil industry. Scarlett Martin SUED Landry over his refusal to comply with her request. That lawsuit never went to trial because ultimately, Landry’s hollow bluff CRATERED and he eventually turned over more than 6,200 pages of documents to Martin. He likewise lost in efforts to protect public records from two other in-state publications, the Baton Rouge Advocate and The Lens, a New Orleans online publication.

Those little setbacks must’ve really stuck in his craw for him to come clawing back in efforts to shut down the release of public records through the legislative process.

Not that Landry himself is not above using public records to his own advantage, like when he obtained hundreds of pages of public records from the EPA which it used to TARGET  environmental activists who claimed that permitting practices allowed petro-chemical plants to disproportionately adversely affect black citizens in Cancer Alley.

Emerson’s bill, RESTRICTING the release of public records to Louisiana residents only, passed the HOUSE by a vote of 79-18, again with seven members not voting. The SENATE was again super-compliant, approving the bill by a unanimous vote of 35-0 with four not voting.

But what would a problem be without a solution? I mean, if Landry can obtain public records to thwart efforts by citizens concerned over adverse environmental impacts to their communities, there should be a way that two could play his game.

Well, there is.

Anyone who resides outside Louisiana who wishes to obtain public records from Landry’s office need only contact me at LouisianaVoice and I will be more than happy to make the necessary requests – and to file suit to get them should that become a necessity.

I am a lifelong resident of Louisiana and I’m certainly old enough to meet any age requirements.

Call me jaded, but when four prisoners escaped from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, the remedial steps taken by the Tangi Sheriff’s Office to patch up a gap under the wall might have raised a few eyebrows.

All four escapees were recaptured but it had to be something of an embarrassment to the sheriff’s office to admit that the four weren’t even missed because of an improper head count.

So, what were the remedial steps taken?

Well, the fence was repaired….by inmates.

Isn’t there an expression about letting a fox guard the henhouse?

I’ve always felt that one’s political views are one’s own and while I may disagree with someone, I try to respect another’s viewpoint. For that reason, while I may vehemently disagree with another writer, I am loath to openly criticize another pundit’s opinions. So far, that policy has been reciprocated by fellow writers.

But when someone publishes claims that are so outlandishly misleading, even downright false as has the Hayride writers, I have to call them out.

Last Thursday, Scott McKay, who, for whatever reason, chooses to use the name MacAoidh for his byline (I suppose he thinks he’s a member of a once-powerful Scottish clan), went a little rabid over criticism of the Louisiana Department of Education’s decision to offer those silly PragerU five-minute video clips for public school civics and American history classes.

McKay, or MacAoidh, insisted on calling it Prager U (separating the letter “U” from the rest of the outfit’s name) in some king of subliminal attempt to legitimize it as a full-blown university. It’s not. It’s not even a school. It’s a content carrier. In other words, a not-so-subtle propaganda generator much the same as Fox News or the late, not-so-great Rush Limburger. Watch any PragerU video clip and you’re going to be treated to some oatmeal-for-brains-generated mishmash of “everything’s rosy in America except Democrats” claptrap.

Watching these clips, I could almost hear David Duke proclaiming that he has lots of black friends, or Florida’s Rhonda Santis extolling the virtues of Key West’s gay community in an effort to sound .

I’ll let you decide if it’s a real civics or history lesson when PragerU’s own CEO Marissa Strett said that the U.S. education system is “a left-wing propaganda machine” and that PragerU is “medicine for the mind so that we can cure and help people think clearly.”

But wait. There’s more. In one video clip that National Public Radio cited as being offered by PragerU, an animated CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS says, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.”

Really? PragerU’s clip must have overlooked a third alternative: freedom, as opposed to slavery or death.

Apparently, PragerU and by extension, McKay/MacAoidh, are just fine with one human being owning another human.

I’d have to say the PragerU teachings pretty much dovetail Florida’s new standards that require that students be taught that the experience of slavery was beneficial to African Americans because it helped them acquire skills.

But that must be okay with McKay/MacAoidh.

Here’s what McKay/MacAoidh said in praising the works of PragerU: “Prager U (sic) is a great educational asset. Prager U’s video content items are among the most digestible Cliff’s Notes versions of explainers for historical events, civics concepts and other things that would fall under the ambit of ‘social studies.’”

Then there’s Hayride writer CHUCK OWEN who felt the need to be the official apologist for Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. Without commenting on Brumley’s qualifications, we do challenge the veracity of Owen’s claim that complaints over the PragerU controversy is “repressive tolerance,” a “tool of Cultural Marxists that seeks to silence anything that they don’t approve or understand.”

Owen wouldn’t know “cultural Marxism” if it hit him in the face. And as far as accusing anyone of seeking to silence anything they don’t approve or understand, has he taken a look at the Republicans’ “don’t say gay” nonsense or their efforts to squelch any teachings about the Civil War and slavery or women’s suffrage? Or maybe the right’s hysterical apoplexy over the content of public and school libraries? I think the proper term for that is grooming.

And finally, Hayride columnist Jeffrey Sadow, an associate professor of political science at LSU-Shreveport, offered up his own defense of PragerU with his rambling DIATRIBE.

As we did last week, we invite you to make your own decisions by clicking HERE to view some of the clips being offered by PragerU. Don’t watch just the featured video that pops up, though it’s sufficient inane to induce eye rolls. Go to the menu at the right of the page and check out a few of the others.

The late Sen. Daniel Parick Moynihan has often been cited for one of his more famous utterances: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.”

The folks at the Hayride would do well to remember that.

Only one day left in our May fundraiser. LouisianaVoice strives to give you the freshest perspective on developments coming out of Baton Rouge that affect all of our lives. Whether its education, taxes, employment, health care, crime or just plain old malfeasance, we try to give you the back story and its ramifications. This is what we do and it takes tremendous resources in time, effort and money. Your support is essential to keep us going. Please click on the yellow DONATE button (below right of this post) and contribute by credit card what you feel you can afford. No matter the size, it helps and it is appreciated more than you could ever know. Thank you for your past support.

(Editor’s note: Rip Picard is not the writer’s real name, for obvious reasons. His column below gives a rare peek into the way Louisiana’s prison system operates.)

Allen’s Finest…

By Rip Picard

January 2003 I was transported to Allen Correctional Center in Kinder, Louisiana. I’d been sentenced not two years before on a robbery charge which stemmed primarily from youthful rebelliousness and a naivete which soon was made clear after being arrested. At that age, I was under the impression that the badder I was, the cooler I was. I was ultimately sentenced – as a first offender – to fifteen years with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Of those fifteen years, I would end up serving just over 12 years in accordance with Louisiana sentencing and good time laws.

Anytime – as most often is the case – you start a lengthy sentence in any of the various “satellite” camps (local facilities which house DOC offenders) in Louisiana, you find yourself satiating your boredom by digesting the grapevine of what’s available at State operated facilities. Educational opportunities range from Literacy classes to vocational school and even college. Various State facilities even boast other trades such as sign language certification and seminary. Beyond education, there are offender nonprofit organizations such as the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Toastmasters of America, VETS, and several facility-bred nonprofits which offenders can pursue the opportunity to learn how to plan and carry out community service activities to further sharpen their citizenship skills for their return to society. Should you find yourself with a little extra time here and there, State facilities have recreation yards, weight piles, gymnasium, sports leagues, arts and crafts, and countless self-help classes – many of which can afford you more good time off your release date for completion of same. All in all, there is a glaring opportunity for any offender to truly refine and redefine themselves into a productive individual with a true sense of self-worth. Couple that with the handful of organizations and government initiatives aimed at achieving employment for recently released offenders, and there is the real opportunity for the criminal justice initiatives of rehabilitation, education, and reentry to become a reality.

All in all, I was housed at Allen Correctional Center from January 2003 until January 2010, at which time I transferred to Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie, Louisiana. While at Allen, I completed a vocational trade, was a peer trainer/tutor in several classes/self-help programs, as well as an elected board member of a nonprofit organization. Such endeavors, however, come with the added cost of having to figuratively fight for the ability to participate. Starting with the mandate – at least at the time – that you serve a minimum of 90 days in the field line prior to obtaining a job change. This could be seen as a reasonable election to see what type of workers individuals are, but what’s left in the grey area is that many offenders are given disciplinary reports by security guards who simply make up a reason to issue an infraction – and sometimes this is done with the specific intent to keep the offender from obtaining a job change. My field job when arriving at Allen consisted of digging to the tap root of pine trees and chopping them down and cutting them into sections with an axe which was welded to a quarter inch thick hollow steel pipe which weighed anywhere from 20-25 pounds each. Likewise, for those working the shovels, pitchforks, hoes, etc., all were welded to the same type of piping for the appropriate length for the tool. They didn’t want to pay for replacement wooden handles.

For those who received infractions for no reason at all, they were brought before a kangaroo court disciplinary board where the offender disciplinary counsel already knew what the disciplinary board planned to do and told the offender either plead guilty and receive sentence “A” or fight it and maybe they’ll send you to the cell block. Considering the disciplinary procedures are a manifestation of the Louisiana legislature to provide a semblance of Due Process within the prison system, the actual procedures adhered to would make any actually just barrister roll eternally in their grave. There were only two members of the disciplinary board, a chairman and member. During my time there, Assistant Warden Mark Estes, Major Lasonya Thomas, and Captain Selton Manuel were the dominant presence on the disciplinary board. In short, Estes was gifted an Assistant Warden position at about the age of 25 from the “Good Old Boy Club” in Allen Parish, Thomas was a time bomb who would break security radios on the side of offenders’ heads because she felt like it (and was even kicked out of a GEO prison in Texas because of these antics) without any legal repercussions whatsoever, and Manuel was always seeking an angle to send someone to the cell block whether they deserved it. None of the three ever had anything to do with anything which could be perceived as rehabilitation. In fact, I was once told that they expected offenders to remember their place by acting up and being offenders, they didn’t care about all “that other stuff”.

Allen Correction Center, for the entire time I was there, was a compost pile of staff which was poorly – if at all – trained and an administration that was the poster child for the way Louisiana government really works. Once, there was an offender who was brutally beaten by a captain and several members of the field line staff. While he was handcuffed. Little did they know the individual’s family member worked for the FBI. Next thing you know the captain and those field line staff were escorted off the compound by the FBI. Needless to say, many (if not all) of those staff members went on to work in other prisons. Another time an offender was stabbed to death and kicked by another offender who acquired the steak knife from the lunch box of a female staff member with whom he was in a relationship. The offender only received an eight-year sentence for murdering that man. So, was his life less valuable than someone who isn’t in prison? If “Karen” or “Kevin” were stabbed to death and kicked while dying, that would come with at least a life sentence. Manslaughter at the low end.

These are just a few examples of what really goes on in prisons in Louisiana. There are a great many staff members, particularly those involved in programs, counseling, and reentry services who truly care and do their best to make a difference. It’s a bittersweet victory for them, however, because they often find themselves targeted by administration and staff as well because they can’t fathom the idea of offenders becoming better. As assistant warden was quoted as saying during a staff training session, “If an inmate is talking, he’s lying.” Although I can’t speak to the circumstances which pushed the bad apples to the deranged mentality they acquired, I can say that the Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo hit the nail on the head. I can remember – while at Allen – reading “The Lucifer Effect”, written by Zimbardo, and feeling like they must be talking about Allen Correctional.

At some point, Louisiana’s constituents need to be able to bridge the gap between what they believe about Louisiana’s government and what reality is. There are times I feel there are a great many people who know better and just don’t care because they don’t want to concern themselves with the mess which is government. And I get it, life is hard enough by itself without trying to champion a cause which may or may not be affecting an individual. But then I think about the old Greek offender I was housed with for a time, who was in Greece when it was occupied by the Nazis. He was actually going to be shipped to a concentration camp and, but to his good fortune, the UN took back Greece. I asked him one day if there were any particular prison in Louisiana wherein the guards reminded him of the Nazis, to which he replied, “Yeah, St. Tammany Parish Jail.” I’ll close with one of my favorite poems I look to when seeking a little inspiration:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

– Pastor Martin Niemöller