Louisiana Voice

In Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, Willie Stark’s gubernatorial campaign against state government corruption gets an unexpected – and unwanted – assist by the tragic collapse of an elementary school fire escape that resulted in several children’s deaths.

In the case of former New Orleans attorney Ashton O’Dwyer, his 16-year crusade against corruption in the ranks of Louisiana State Police got an unexpected – and unwanted – assist with the beating death of Ronald Greene in May 2019, and the two-year coverup that followed.

In each case, it took an unnecessary tragedy to bring about some semblance of justice.

To refresh, O’Dwyer was safely ensconced in his home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina back in August 2005. In fact, he even hosted visiting news reporters in his upscale home on St. Charles Avenue, which was not threatened with the massive flooding that hit much of New Orleans.

But that didn’t matter to STATE POLICE  who yanked him up only minutes after midnight on Aug. 30 and threw him into a holding pen where he was brutalized by goons from State Police Troop F in Monroe. He might have had a good case against his captors, but he managed to make the wrong people uncomfortable and the end result was his firing by the prestigious law firm Lemie and Kelleher where he had worked for 35 years, specializing in admiralty and maritime law, and his ultimate disbarment.

All of which just shows what can happen when you cross the wrong people and a lot of people who stood to gain from the tragedy of Katrina found O’Dwyer both an uncomfortable liability and expendable with his Katrina victims’ class-action lawsuit.

But in May 2019, Ronald Greene was killed by overzealous thugs from Troop F and the coverup began in earnest – a coverup that would ultimately vindicate Ashton O’Dwyer who had been telling us about Troop F and State Police high command all along.

Let’s begin with the governor. Gov. John Bel Edwards’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Christina Stephens, released a statement that was reported by WDSU on Feb. 1, 2022, saying: “The Governor first learned of the serious allegations against the Louisiana State Police surrounding the arrest and death of Mr. Ronald Greene in September 2020.”

Yet, we now know that Edwards spoke with then-State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves only nine hours following Greene’s death – on MAY 10. In that conversation, Reeves told Edwards that Greene died as the result of “a violent struggle” at the end of a police chase through two parishes and that they were “investigating” the event.

Reeves abruptly retired when allegations against State Police finally came to light some 16 months later. And body cam video which State Police insisted for more than a year did not exist suddenly surfaced that showed in graphic detail just how aggressive State Police can be with a black motorist. Yes, Greene fled police, taking them on a high-speed chase but once he surrendered, he was subjected to inhumane – and fatal – beatings and tasing.

Following Reeves’s departure, Col. Mike Noel was up for the directorship of the State Gaming Control Board. But realizing he would be subjected to some tough grilling on the Greene matter during his conformation hearing, he chose to follow Reeves into retirement.

Finally, we learn that all the cell phones of the fired and retiring troopers even peripherally connected to the Greene Case had been “sanitized,” or in more familiar vernacular, erased.

This was according to state policy, it was explained, but overlooked was the fact that these phones may have – quite likely, in fact – contained evidence relative to the case. Thus, their “sanitization” was tantamount to obstruction of justice – by State Police, no less.

O’Dwyer made a public records request to State Police for any policy governing the erasure of cell phones and received the following response from State Police:

Prior to July 2021, LSP did not have a policy specific to sanitizing phones when they were returned to the Department from employees. At that time, pursuant to Section II, I, (2) of the DPS Property Control Procedure Manual, LSP followed the State Office of Technology Services policy, which requires the sanitization of all state employee assigned phones upon their return to each respective state department under the Office of Technology Services. Both policies are attached for your review and provide for the sanitization of data from electronic devices. 

All DPS/LSP phones turned in prior to July 2021 were sanitized pursuant to this policy. To the extent that the OTS policy provided for the sanitization, these sanitizations were not at the direction of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections- Public Safety Services. However, that being said, LSP concedes that although sanitizations did take place during that time period pursuant to the OTS policy, LSP did not maintain the requisite logs required by the policy. As such, LSP maintains no documents related to sanitizations conducted on employee phones prior to July 2021. (Emphasis mine)

O’Dwyer, in an email, said, “Sometime between [May 10, 2019] and July 2021, when the “new” Superintendent of the LSP, Colonel Davis, established a specific LSP policy for dealing with phones used by LSP personnel, including the BRASS, the phones of the BRASS were “erased,” “sanitized,” or “wiped” CLEAN of evidence pertaining to the Greene investigation. I call THAT “obstruction of justice.”

Obstruction in much the same manner in which the powers that be conspired to make a skilled attorney look like a raving lunatic as a means of shutting him up and taking away his livelihood.

And while they were successful in taking away his livelihood, they have found the task of shutting him up a bit more formidable.

And he’s certainly no lunatic. Ashton O’Dwyer is probably smarter than most of his adversaries. He just doesn’t have friends in the right places and now he doesn’t have the financial resources to fight back.

All this just because he didn’t want to leave his home.

The news out of Baton Rouge last week was certainly uplifting insofar as local health care and medical research is concerned, but also fodder for critics of an LSU athletic program already considered bloated with money.

Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center (OLOL) and the Louisiana Children’s Medical Center (LCMC) combined to commit $245 MILLION over the next 10 years to LSU for medical research and treatment.

The biggest single commitment is $85 million to the LSU Athletic Department to be used “to deploy integrated clinical technology, facility improvements, and educational programming to advance student-athlete health and wellness – essential to sustain the vitality of LSU’s thriving athletic programs.”

Facility improvement and education programming? That $28 MILLION FACILITY, complete with sleeping pods, wasn’t enough? Especially when the LSU LIBRARY roof leaks like a sieve, forcing staff to cover books with plastic tarps. LSU already has more than $40 million in DEFERRED MAINTENANCE across its 15 million-square-foot campus.

LSU paid former head football coach Ed Orgeron and his fired staff nearly $27 MILLION to walk away – $17 million of that to Orgeron himself. And that doesn’t count the $100 million, 10-year contract for current head coach Brian Kelly and the $8.2 million for his ASSISTANT COACHES. One of those is quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan ($550,000), formerly the offensive coordinator for a Louisiana Tech team that went 3-9 last year.

The next-largest single allocation in the combined $245 million package is $40 million to “develop an end-to-end healthcare experience within the LSU Student Health Center and provide in-kind care to uninsured and underinsured LSU students.

Now, with some 35,000 students overall and just a couple hundred at most in the athletic program, how is it that $85 million goes to athletics and “only” $40 million to the rest of the student body? Just askin’.

And with all that money floating around for coaches’ salaries (the figures provided earlier included only the football program), it seems only reasonable that the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF) could pony up some of the money for deploying “integrated clinical technology, facility improvements, and educational programming to advance student-athlete health and wellness – essential to sustain the vitality of LSU’s thriving athletic programs,” especially those critical “facility improvements and education programming.”

I mean, what possible facility improvements could they be talking about – over and above what the jocks already have. And education programming? Aren’t there others among the 35,000-member student body who might benefit from some education programming?

And didn’t the OLOL Foundation experience a little PROBLEM with some fraud and money-laundering charges with its former PRESIDENT/CEO not too long ago that revealed some off-the-books support for LSU athletics?

Not that this allocation is in any way related to that fiasco, but I can’t help remembering that old adage from my wasted youth: once bitten, twice shy.

And we wonder why medical bills are so high.

House Resolution 4445 has now passed both the House and Senate and now heads to President Biden’s desk where he is expected to sign it into law.

But the resolution, which eliminates forced arbitration agreements for sexual assault and harassment in the workplace didn’t get the unanimous support of Louisiana’s House delegation.

Despite the resolution’s bipartisan support, Reps. Clay Higgins and Mike Johnson voted against passage.

It passed in the Senate by a voice vote, so it’s a little more difficult to hold senators accountable.

The House approved the measure earlier this week by a 335-97 vote with all votes against it being cast by Repugnantcans. The breakdown of the vote shows that all 222 Democrats and 113 Repugnantcans voted in favor and two Repugnantcans, West Virginia’s Alexander Mooney and Texas’ Jodey Arrington, did not vote.

Both of Louisiana’s nay votes should come as no surprise. Higgins is a known bigot and misogynist and Johnson is steeped in the fundamentalist belief that women are second-class citizens with no right to pursue legal action against men who harass them.

Both would apparently rather keep the current method in place whereby men accused of harassment in the workplace are able to settle cases and silence victims by using the secretive process of arbitration and then move on to the next job.

But with Biden’s signature, women will have the option of suing their abusers in state, tribal, or federal court

“It is an outrage that women and men who are abused cannot seek justice are forced to be quiet, are forced to keep the agony inside themselves, it is outrageous,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “For decades, this forced arbitration has deprived millions of people form the basic right to justice.”

Repugnantcans who have opposed the bill say it’s an overreach by the federal government in workplace matters.

Well, they would.

Marjorie Taylor-Greene appeared on One America News on Tuesday and accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of using Capitol police as “political pawns” and “sending them into our offices” — referring to a complaint from her colleague Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.). The Capitol Police has rejected Nehls’s claim that a security check of his open office was an illegal investigation, calling it protocol when an unattended office has a door left open.

Greene referenced “Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do, spying on our staff and spying on American citizens that want to come talk to their representatives.”

Pelosi has yet to comment publicly on the incident, but the apparent mix-up of “gazpacho” and “Gestapo” quickly went viral online — sparking memes and reactions shared by politicians and other prominent figures.

The Washington Post had an interesting op-ed column on Wednesday. Because The Post has a pay wall, some of you will not be able to access it, so I will summarize.

Basically, it says that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was correct to criticize the Repugnantcan National Committee’s (RNC) censure Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) for participating on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Contradicting the RNC’s description of the investigation as a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” McConnell called the attack on the Capitol what it was: a “violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.”

Other Repugnantcans have voiced their displeasure with the resolution and RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. One of those who voiced his disgust was McDaniel’s uncle, Sen. Mitt Romney, who called the censure “stupid,” helping to underscore, The Post said, the “intellectual dishonesty, moral blindness, and dangerous anti-democratic sentiments that now define the GOP.”

But The Post went a bit further by posing eight soul-searching questions the Repugnantcan Party should address in the face of its “continued defense of violence to overthrow and election.”

The questions are as follows:

• How can a party go on record as condoning a violent uprising and still pretend to defend the U.S. Constitution?
• How can the party take direction from former president Donald Trump, the instigator of the violent insurrection? How can it continue to support his ambitions to run for president in 2024?
• If the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was a violent insurrection, as McConnell acknowledged, was the acquittal of Trump in his second impeachment trial unwise?
• If Trump did instigate a violent insurrection, how is he fit to hold office pursuant to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” from serving in public office?
• Should Trump be criminally prosecuted for instigating a violent insurrection?
• How can Republicans criticize the Jan. 6 select committee if it is investigating a violent insurrection? Isn’t this a necessary task?
• Do members of Congress who agree with Trump and the RNC that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a display of “legitimate political discourse” forfeit the right to hold public office?
• Should any official who lent aid to the insurrectionists be disqualified under Section 3?

For Louisiana voters, there is an even bigger question looming as we head into the 2022 midterm elections:

Should five of Louisiana’s seven members of Congress be reelected after they voted on Jan. 6 to overturn the 2020 presidential election?

That’s an important question that should not be taken lightly. These five men – four representatives and a senator – turned their backs on the democratic process on which this country was founded. They spurned the very basis on which our country was founded: free and honest elections.

And make no mistake, the 2020 election has been examined and investigated from every conceivable angle and (count ‘em) 64 separate courts have tossed challenges to the election offered up by Trump and Rudy Giuliani. Many of the judges involved in the dismissals were appointed by Trump or other Repugnantcan presidents.

Not only does the Repugnantcan party need to address those eight questions put forward by The Post, but Louisiana voters need to do some deep soul-searching of their own to determine if they really want to send those five back to Washington next fall.

In case you’re wondering who those five are, they are Reps. Garret Graves, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise and Sen. John “Foghorn Leghorn” Kennedy.

It’s not certain at this point if the Democrats will even offer a challenger to the representatives or if they will have Repugnantcan opponents but Kennedy that consummate embarrassment to this state, has two Democratic opponents.

We at least have a choice in the Senate race and Louisianans should choose carefully. Do we really want someone who would vote to overturn a legitimate election and turn the keys of the nation back over to an egotistical, self-destructive lunatic?

I’d rather drink weedkiller.