Louisiana Voice

The transparency with which the Repugnantcans are responding to the Jan. 6 hears would be comical if they weren’t being paid huge salaries, frequent vacations (recesses), and generous benefits to “represent” us in Washington.

But it’s far from being amusing on any level when they can so blatantly follow the Fox News script in their efforts to deflect from the hearings on the events of 6 Jan., 2021, which came perilously close to toppling the world’s oldest democratic republic.

As EXHIBIT A, I give you MIKE JOHNSON, US Rep. from Louisiana’s 4^th Congressional District.

In his humble opinion, people have “moved on” from the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that damn near toppled our government.

Moved on? How dare you, you contemptuous, imperious ass!

So now you are the infallible arbiter of what is morally acceptable in the Mike Johnson Mores of Human Responsibility? I don’t bloody well think so.

Sorry, but I don’t have much truck with someone who so obviously takes his talking points from a political party as opposed to listening to his conscience and doing and saying the right thing.

The Shreveport native, a former member of the Louisiana Legislature prior to his election to Congress in 2016, is paid $174,000 a year to represent the good people of northwest Louisiana. Let’s take a look at his voting record for the year 2021:

• American Rescue Plan Act of 2021: Nay.
• For the People Act of 2021: Nay
• American Dream and Promise Act: Nay
• Equality Act: Nay.
• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Nay.
• SAFE Banking Act of 2021: Nay.
• Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021: Nay.
• COVID 19 Hate Crimes Act: Nay.
• Impeaching Donald Trump: Nay.
• Congressional Budget for FY 2022: Nay.
• National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022: Yea.

Each of the foregoing bills were passed by the House, no thanks, except for the final one, to Mike Johnson.

Let’s look at what each of the bills said or did:

American Rescue Act: Signed into law on March 11, 2021, the bill provided funding for a national vaccination program, response funding to safely reopen schools, extended unemployment benefits, and provided payments of $1400 per person to relieve economic stress on American families. (How many of Johnson’s constituents declined those unemployment benefits or the $1400 stipends?)

For the People Act: Expanded voting rights, expanded the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, required additional disclosure of campaign-related campaign fundraising and spending, and required additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising. (Well, we certainly don’t want folks voting – this is a democratic republic, after all. And who needs more transparency in guvmint?)

American Drean and Promise Act: More controversial, to be sure, this bill proposed a path to permanent residence status for unauthorized immigrants eligible for temporary protected status or deferred enforced departure. (Pretty sure the Choctaw, Cherokee, and the Caddo tribes would’ve liked to have had some kind of illegal immigration laws in place a few centuries ago.)

Equality Act: Prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in public accommodations, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit and the jury system. (It was the gender identity part that many found objectionable but to be truthful, there are many others who would deny rights to anyone who is different in appearance, acts, or even personal or political preference. Mike Johnson appears to be one of those.)

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Signed into law on Nov. 15, 2021, this act provided, among other things, funding for new infrastructure projects, Amtrak maintenance and development, bridge repair, replacement and rehabilitation, clean drinking water, high-speed internet, and clean energy transmission and power infrastructure upgrades. (Have you seen the roads in Louisiana? Have you lost power during a storm? Noticed your tap water taking on an ugly, brownish color, slow internet? Nuff said.)

SAFE Banking Act of 2021: Prohibits federal regulators from penalizing banks for providing services to legitimate cannabis-related businesses or from declaring proceeds from such transactions as proceeds from unlawful activity. (The key word in this is “legitimate” and regulated cannabis is legal i.e., legitimate, in some states. But some people just can’t handle it.)

Build Back Better Act: Provided a budget framework for spending on climate change and renewable energy, childcare and universal pre-K, healthcare and Medicare hearing expansion, public house and affordability issues, and home care. (Now protecting a child before it is born is one thing but childcare and pre-K after it is born is just a bridge too far. And as far as expanding Medicare, haven’t we heard from Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham that the long-term goal is the eradication of Social Security and Medicare? And who needs climate change – Gawd, it’s hot.)

Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021: Prohibits governmental restrictions on the provisions of and access to abortion services. (Well, it passed, but Johnson won’t have to worry once that already leaked Supreme Court decision comes down. Who cares about women’s rights, anyway?)

COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act: Signed into law on May 20, 2021, it raised awareness about hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic and established state grants to create hate crime reporting hotlines. (Okay, since a crime is a crime, I’ve always wondered what’s the difference between ordinary, garden-variety sicko crime and hate crime. Sometimes Congress can get carried away in its kneejerk reactions, so I’ll give Johnson a pass on this one.)

Congressional Budget for Fiscal Year 2022: Normally a fairly routine vote to approve the budget for the US government for the coming year. (Question is, how would Johnson suggest financing the operations of the government – particularly his $174,000-a-year salary, plus all manner of perks?)

National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022: Johnson’s only yes vote in this listing, this bill authorized Department of Defense activities and programs for FY 2022. (I get it, Barksdale AFB and Fort Polk are both in his district, so he’s got to take care of them. Plus, Repugs traditionally breast feed the military. Anything the war machine wants, it gets. But what about all those Social Security and Medicare recipients he voted against in the Congressional Budget Bill?)

In the years 2019-2020, Johnson also voted against:

• Reimposing federal net neutrality rules (passed, 245-182);
• Expanding restrictions on online campaign ads and regulating foreign involvement in elections (passed, 227-181);
• Mandating federal approval before some states can change voting practices (passed, 228-187)

But Johnson somehow feels uniquely qualified to suggest that we ignore an attempt to literally overthrow the government of the United States because we have “moved on” and that there are other problems which demand our attention?

Well, maybe he’s too wet behind the hears to remember, but I most certainly am not and my memory is quite clear. Back in the early 70s we had runaway inflation, an unjust war raging in Vietnam, protests in the streets, killings of students on university campuses by our own police and national guard, and, exactly 50 years ago this week, another little constitutional crisis called Watergate raised its ugly head which, thankfully, we didn’t ignore because of “other” pressing problems. Instead, we managed to multitask our way through. Even the so-called “Conscience of Conservatism,” Barry Goldwater saw the handwriting on the wall in those dark days.

So, Mr. Johnson, if I may be so bold, I would respectfully suggest that you shut your mouth about what we should or should not do about the overrunning of our nation’s Capitol by a lynch mob hellbent on hanging the vice president and the speaker of the House.

If The Repugnantcans can justify spending $70 million investigating Bill Clinton (including $30 on oral sex in the Oval Office – compared to $15 million authorized for the 9/11 Commission – then I see a pretty obvious double standard in any objections to a full investigation of an armed invasion of our Capitol.

I, for one, have not – and shall not – move on.

The hearings by House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the US Capitol have revealed that the former guy, the Grifter-in-Chief, has bilked some $250 million from his devoted followers via his incessant email solicitations.

The former guy has a propensity to refer to those he disfavors as “losers.” I prefer to think the poor saps he’s conned into contributing money to his “defense fund” are the true losers because:

(1) not a dime of that $250 million has gone toward any of the former guy’s legal costs;

(2) he has carefully avoided announcing his formal candidacy which means he can use that money for any purpose he wishes, including fat salaries for Ivanka, Donnie Jr., and Eric. Once he declares he is a candidate (which I’m betting in the end, he won’t), the Federal Elections Commission imposes strict limitations on how the money can be spent and he must divulge the names and amounts of the donors, and

(3) donors aren’t told that once they contribute by credit card, they’re making a long-term, repetitive commitment. Let’s say you intended to give a one-time gift of say, $500. But then in subsequent credit card billings, you see the $500 is deducted to former guy every month – it’s a recurring gift and you were never told that.

But here’s the real kicker – information that never came out in the committee: You can bet the farm that former guy is selling his list of donors to others.

In just the past two weeks, I’ve received more than 300 email solicitations from former guy, Donnie, Jr., Eric, Junior’s girlfriend and…several other Repugnantcan candidates and Repugnantcan operatives, some I’ve never even heard of who are running for office.

And while I am, in fact, a recovering Repugnantcan, I have not been affiliated with the party for more than a decade – as in the early years of the first Jindal term. Still, I find myself on the list of “valuable,” “dedicated,” or “loyal” conservative (it varies according to who is sending the email). I get them from Newt Gingrich, Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, Lindsey Graham – people for whom I would never vote.

I even got this one today from Steve “KKK” Scalise:

Fellow Conservative: just days after the very first trial from John Durham concluded, Radical Democrats are already racing to SHUT DOWN his entire investigation!

We just learned Hillary Clinton — herself — personally approved the Russia Hoax leak to destroy President Trump…

But now, Liberals don’t want to face the truth. They are working from dusk until dawn to shut down Durham’s investigation.

Fellow Conservative, do you support John Durham’s investigation into the corrupt Clinton campaign? We’re looking for one more response from your area before Liberals WIN and Clinton campaign operatives WALK FREE!

I SUPPORT JOHN DURHAM’S INVESTIGATION →

We’re so close to connecting the dots between Hillary Clinton’s campaign and their plot to spy on President Trump.

But we’re still missing CRITICAL information that could lead to more arrests.

If you support John Durham’s investigation into the Clinton campaign, sign on with your support TODAY before Democrats walk free!

Thanks,

Durham Investigation Update
Sent via Team Scalise

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If you think former guy isn’t selling his list the same way David Duke sold his list to Family Research Council President TONY PERKINS for $82,000, then you just ain’t paying attention.

And if you examine the records of people like Graham, Rick Scott, and DeSantis with even a modicum of attention, you’ll see where they intend to abolish Social Security and Medicare. That alone should turn Florida into the bluest of states but somehow the retirees keep electing DeSantis, Gaetz, Rubio, and Scott.

Other institutions on their hit list include public education, early childhood care (they’re pro-life before birth but once born, those babies are on their own), environmental protections, and voting rights. After those, who knows? Perhaps other socialistic programs like garbage pickup, fire protection, sewer and water service, street repair, and police protection.

The latter is not to be confused with police enforcement. That will never go away. They’ll require enforcement to keep us in line once we realize what they’ve done to us. This isn’t some futuristic fantasy, it’s the reality if the Repugnantcans succeed in getting complete control of the presidency, both houses of Congress, the Supreme and all the federal courts and state legislatures.

Only then will we understand who really wants to confiscate our weapons.

By then, it’ll be too late.

I know there are those who will hold me up to ridicule for making such a far-fetched prediction, but I don’t really care what they think. All the indicators are there. A weak Democratic response to the economic and social turmoil we are now experiencing will only exacerbate unrest which will lead to anarchy. I’m old and I most likely won’t live long enough to see my apocalyptic prophecy fulfilled – but my children and grandchildren will, and that does trouble me.

I have written extensively about Louisiana’s sheriffs – on this website and in my book Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption. In fact, I have finished the manuscript for a sequel, tentatively entitled America’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption. In that book, I have taken each state alphabetically and related instances of corruption, malfeasance, theft, drug use, drug dealing, and sexual misconduct.

Along the way, LouisianaVoice has singled out several Louisiana sheriffs’ offices, namely Iberia, Terrebonne, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Winn, and Livingston for various sordid accounts involving deaths of inmates, drug dealing, illegal raids and arrests, and sexual assault against minors and animals.

Today, we add another parish sheriff’s office – Calcasieu – to our list and in the coming days, we will be taking a hard look at another, Ascension Parish.

LouisianaVoice has learned of the exodus of several deputies in Calcasieu, once the state’s second-largest sheriff’s department in terms of the number of deputies employed. At its peak, Calcasieu had 930 full-time deputies to patrol 1,063 square miles. Jefferson, with 1,409 deputies to patrol only 665 square miles, is the largest in the state.

With more than 441,000 residents, however, it has twice Calcasieu’s 220,000 residents. But the Calcasieu Sheriff’s Office (CPSO) patrols all the incorporated municipalities in the parish: Lake Charles, Vinton, Iowa, and Sulphur, whereas most sheriff’s departments patrol only unincorporated areas of a parish or county.

The parish nearest Calcasieu in terms of population and land area is St. Tammany, which has 1,124 square miles and 280,000 residents. That parish has 732 full-time deputies, nearly 200 fewer than Calcasieu had at its peak.

The problem is, deputies have been leaving CPSO in pretty large numbers – 23 in 2021 and 25 already this year. More are expected to resign this year as several have applied for positions at the petrochemical plants in the Lake Charles area and are waiting for calls from the plants

The reason: poor pay and low morale, according to one deputy who recently left the department. “Last year, I worked (private) security every day I was off and was barely able to clear $45,000,” he said. “My buddy, who doesn’t work security, and who has been at the CPSO for 10 years, made only $28,000 last year while some commanders in the department were pulling down $130,000.

“During Mardi Gras, every single deputy is required to work at least one parade but no one is compensated for it,” he said. No one is given extra time off and if you have a vacation or family event scheduled during this time, you have to cancel it or you will be disciplined. Lake Charles police, State Police and marshal’s office all pay overtime for working parades.”

He said captains and lieutenants in the department received pay raises of $15,000 a year before the Covid pandemic and before the hurricanes that devastated the Lake Charles area in 2020.

“The department as a whole went without a pay raise from 2006 until this month when everyone at the rank of sergeant and below got a $5,000 pay raise which in reality, amounted to a net of about and extra $150 per pay check,” he said.

He said deputies were assured by the CPSO administration that the sheriff’s office would see to the tarping of deputies’ roofs following the 2020 hurricanes since the deputies were having to work around the clock. “But that never happened,” he said. “Not long after the hurricanes, we found that they did have a tarping crew but that only the homes of administrative personnel were tarped.”

He said following those hurricanes, patrol personnel were assigned to schools in the parish and were left there, forced to eat food prepared by prisoners while administrative staff sheltered in the Laubege/Golden Nugget Casino-Hotel and dining on catered food.

He said Mancuso said some six years earlier that “we had a hurricane fund in the amount of more than $34 million for just purpose but when the hurricanes hit in 2020, we were told we’d have to wait for FEMA to reimburse the parish before we could get paid for our overtime work. “But Lake Charles found the funds to pay its officers for their overtime work following the storms,” he said.

He said now that Sheriff Tony Mancuso has announced that this is his last term, “his (Mancuso’s) cronies – and those they brought with them – are being promoted to ensure that they will get the full three years’ service at highest pay for retirement purposes.”

Deputies, like Louisiana civil service employees, receive defined retirement benefits based on a percentage of the three highest years average pay received on the job, so it benefits an employee to get promoted at least three years before retirement.

But it isn’t just the salaries for top brass that sticks in the former deputy’s throat. “The sheriff and several members of the administrative staff drive sheriff’s office trucks to Toledo Bend and to west Texas to their hunting camps on a routine basis,” he said. “They are able to do that because they had oversized fuel tanks installed on the vehicles and they fill up before they leave and the fuel lasts until they return to Calcasieu. And guess who pays for that diesel? The taxpayers of Calcasieu Parish.”

Patrol Commander Gene Pittman, he said, accepted $3000 from the FBI National Academy Graduates Fund following Laura when the funds were awarded to academy graduates impacted by the storms. “But he (Pittman) neglected to inform other academy graduates in the CPSO about the fund so no one else was able to receive that money, which could have really helped several hurricane victims,” he said.

“The road patrol at one time had 30 deputies per shift on patrol but now they’re operating with eight to nine deputies – if they’re lucky – for each of the four shifts per day,” he said. “Pittman has run that department into the ground. All he’s concerned about is the $75,000 swimming pool being built at his house and getting his wife a job at the sheriff’s office after she retired from the FBI.

“I love law enforcement,” he said, “but I’m fed up. I was a cop through-and-through but now I’m pursuing a career outside law enforcement. This is not a deputy problem. The deputies show up every day and do their jobs for next to nothing in pay. The administration has lost sight of what made this department so great.

“I never wanted to speak like this about a place I loved so much, but I care about the people I left behind and I pray something will eventually change. They’re not losing deputies because of the pay, but because of the leadership void. Deputies are deciding it’s not worth the stress and time away from family.”

At the risk of being accused of a terminal case of sour grapes, I have to say I’m more than a little taken aback at the self-serving HEADLINE of last Thursday (June 8) on the website of Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ.

Meaning no disrespect to Chris Nakamoto, who I would be the first to say, has done a herculean job of covering the sordid mess that is Louisiana State Police (LSP) and its affiliates, the State Police Commission (SPC), and the Louisiana State Police Association (LSPA).

Plus, I am keenly aware as a former newspaper reporter that reporters do not write the headlines to their stories. That is done by editors (although now operating as a one-person show, I am fully responsible for the headlines on LouisianaVoice stories, including this one).

But someone – I suppose we will never know whom – chose to word that headline to imply that the US Justice Department opened its civil rights investigation into LSP “amid years-long Nakamoto investigation.”

As a courtesy, news organizations generally give credit to competing services but not this time.

No mention was made of the early-on efforts of Maya Lau to cover LSP and its parent organization, the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Maya, a Vassar alumnus who has worked for The Shreveport Times and the Baton Rouge Advocate, had gone on to a much larger beat: the corruption-laden Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office (amont other major stories), as an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Nor were the probing reports of Jim Mustian, formerly of The Advocate and now with Associated Press cited. Mustian went even deeper into the LSP and was the first to report on the infamous tour-by-state police car taken by four troopers on their way to a San Diego confab where then-LSP Superintendent Mike Edmonson was being honored. The four took side trips to the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon en route to San Diego in that state vehicle – and charged overtime for the trip. The trip was the tipping point that led to Edmonson’s early departure as head of state police.

Mustian has continued his investigation of LSP in his current position at AP but of course, no mention was made of that in the headline.

And then there’s Robert Burns. No trained reporter he, but he seems to know which questions to ask – and when. And most times, they’ve been pretty embarrassing to the LSP brass. And Burns has demonstrated his superior knowledge of the court system and can usually predict in advance how a knotty case will be decided. But did Burns get any credit in that headline? Nope.

And Lea Skene of The Advocate and Melinda Deslatte, another stellar reporter for AP, along with reporters for Daily Kos, the New York Post, USA Today, WAFB TV of Baton Rouge, and writers for a host of several other news organizations have also contributed to the ongoing story of LSP, particularly as it pertains to troopers’ treatment of black motorists.

And lastly, there’s yours truly. Beginning in July 2014 (almost 8 long years ago), when LouisianaVoice broke the initial story of the attempt to sneak a bill through the legislature that would’ve increased Edmonson’s retirement (illegally) by some $100,000, I reported non-stop on corruption, sexual behavior (while on duty), drug use (while on duty) and a wide assortment of other misbehavior by state police from command staff all the way down to road troopers. I wrote dozens of stories over a period of at least two years before it became cool for others to do so. Gradually, other news organizations began to pay attention with WBRZ, quite truthfully, coming in in the late stages – long after Lau, Mustian, Burns, and LouisianaVoice – just in time to garner the plaudits for sound investigative reporting.

Okay, that’s a little unfair. Nakamoto did a helluva job when other TV stations in the Baton Rouge market paid scant attention. Hats off to him. He’s a tireless reporter and he deserves credit for a great job who also has to simultaneously cover corrupt behavior in other agencies.

But to ignore the efforts of the others seems a bit of an oversight, too.

Send your contributions to John N. Kennedy today (and to Ted “Cancun” Cruz, even though he’s not up for reelection this year) – and any other deserving candidate who might be an appreciative recipient!