Louisiana Voice

I’m not too excited at the prospect of Joe Biden running for reelection. He is, after all, 80 years old (just a year older than I and I am acutely aware that, my lack of qualifications aside, I’m in no physical or mental shape to endure the rigors of a job so demanding).

Having said that, however, I find the criticism of Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Louis Gurvich to be one of the thinnest arguments I’ve seen yet by anyone purporting to be a leader. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear that his essay yesterday was written for The Onion but mistakenly ended up on The Hayride blog.

While I earnestly hope that someone else will step up to carry the Democratic banner (just as I hope the Republican candidate in 2024 won’t be named Trump or DeSantis), I fail to see how Gurvich could ever stretch credulity to the point of calling Biden the “most immoral and corrupt of all presidents” in light of Gurvich’s own party’s recent occupant of the Oval Office.

It’s not rhetoric or embellishment to declare that Trump was, hands down, the “most immoral and corrupt of all presidents.” To be unable or unwilling to see that should instantly disqualify Gurvich from serving as chairman of any political party.

But he didn’t stop there. He accused Biden of committing plagiarism in his repeated mantra “finish the job.” Gurvich claims that Biden lifted that phrase from “one of the most important speeches ever given by Winston Churchill, in the darkest days of 1942.”

Perhaps.

But let’s look at Trump’s oft-repeated catchphrase “America First.” Do you think that was original with Donnybrook of Orange?

Nope. Besides being the utterance of Charles Lindbergh, a Nazi sympathizer during the lead-up to WWII, it was more recently the slogan of one David Duke, leader of the Ku Klux Klan and, depending on the timeframe, mouthpiece for the American Nazi Party.

But even before that, in the 1920s, the words “America First” were splashed across banners carried in parades and rallies by the KKK.

Now ask yourself this question: Whom would you rather hear a politician lift a quote from–Winston Churchill or a sleazy outfit like the KKK?

There’s one thing you can always count on with Jeff Landry. He knows how to detect which way the parade is going and to jump out in front and shout, “Follow me!”

Landry is just your typical political opportunist who hasn’t had an original thought since he was potty-trained.

He wasn’t the one who initiated Trump’s Stop the Steal mantra, but he certainly jumped into the fray when it became obvious that was where the MAGA crowd was headed.

And now that he’s picked up on the hysteria over book content for the kiddies and the censorship that’s sure to follow, he’s once again leading the charge from behind.

It wasn’t enough to establish an attorney general’s “protecting minors” hotline to take complaints about librarians and teachers. Now he wants to establish controls on library cards for kids to prevent those under the age of 18 from having access to sexually explicit materials in libraries.

Wow, Jeffy boy, that’s going to rule out a lot of classic literature. The Grapes of Wrath comes to mind almost immediately. So does To Kill a Mockingbird, and, of course, The Holy Bible.

If you’re really actually read it, you have to admit that the Bible is probably one of the most sexually explicit pieces of literature in existence. Where else are you going to read about two sisters raping their father? Or two different fathers, on different occasions, offering their virgin daughters to gangs of men for sex so long as they leave the male guests, who the men originally wanted, alone? There’s also the story of a man having sex with his daughter-in-law who he mistook for a prostitute. Or how about a man raping his sister or another man marrying his sister, or (gasp!) the suggestion in the Bible that David and Jonathan were gay lovers? So, it would appear, were Ruth and Naomi. And let’s not forget about a couple of references in the Good Book about men having sex with animals. It’s all in there as are other lurid stories, but common decency prevents me from being any more descriptive than I already have been. After all, I wouldn’t want Mr. Landry to flag this site for inappropriate content.

How do you propose to handle that knotty little problem, Mr. AG/Governor wannabe? The good Christian right-wing evangelicals who are backing your little political grandstanding ploy aren’t going to be too happy if you ban the Bible or insist that no one under the age of 18 be given access to it.

I think Lynette Majia, co-founder of Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, nailed it when she described Landry’s call for restrictions on what minors can check out of public libraries as “just another political stunt.”

And taking this latest windmill tilting by Landry a bit further, I’ve yet to see or hear of him suggesting that access to cellphones or computers by minors be restricted in any way. Talk about inappropriate content! And if he thinks for one nano-second that Louisiana’s new law can block access to porn by teens and pre-teens, then I have a practically new 1974 AMC Gremlin to sell him.

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Wednesday (Feb. 8) and the expectation is that he will either announce he will not seek a sixth term – or announce his immediate resignation, according to two separate sources.

First elected in 2003, he was reelected to a fifth term with 88 percent of the votes cast in 2019.

If Mancuso does announce his resignation, the move could be considered a political ploy for him to name his successor.

If he resigns now, there would have to be a special election to fill the post until the next regular election next October. Speculation is that he might resign and simultaneously endorse Chief Deputy Stitch Guillory for the special election.

Guillory would be a strong favorite to win and thus go into the October election as an incumbent.

Tenure for teachers and professors at colleges and universities does not protect faculty from wrongdoing, but ensures them due process, according to University of Louisiana System President Dr. Jim Henderson, who also said that tenure does not constitute a guarantee of employment for life as some believe.

Henderson, a member of the legislative task force charged with investigating tenure in Louisiana’s institutions of higher learning, says in a Baton Rouge Advocate story that tenure’s primary purpose is to shield academic freedom for faculty members in their research and classroom teaching.

States like Texas and Florida are already placing tight restrictions about what can and cannot be taught in public schools. At the same time, several Southern states have begun chipping away at tenure in higher education.

The creation of the task force during the 2022 regular session could be construed as the initial step in Louisiana’s legislative meddling into academia, an area few members of the House and Senate are qualified to address.

State Sen. Stewart Cathey (R-Monroe) authored the bill to create the task force of which he was subsequently named as chairperson. If his performance in heading up the task force were to be evaluated as are faculty members, he probably would not get tenure. Charged with presenting a report of its findings by March, the task force got off to a slow start, with only half the required slots being filled less than a week before its first meeting was scheduled.

The task force, however, has apparently now been disbanded after less than half-a-year of existence.

Late last month, he abruptly ANNOUNCED that he would not call a meeting of the panel, choosing instead to say that he would introduce a bill or bills in the upcoming regular legislative session. He did not specify what his legislation would propose.

And now, he apparently is attempting to intimidate faculty members at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and Louisiana Tech University in Ruston for daring to suggest in a tweet that Cathey is attempting to “pull a DeSantis on colleges and universities,” in a reference to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s efforts to completely alter the teaching of history and even math in that state.

Cathey’s reply to Sherman and McKevitt wasn’t very subtle:

LouisianaVoice sent Cathey an email and followed that with a call to his Monroe office. The email asked if he was threatening the two faculty members and if he might be opposed to the First Amendment. We were told he was in Baton Rouge attending the special session to address the insurance crisis but that our email would be delivered to him.

That was last Thursday and he has yet to respond.

Louisiana postsecondary faculty are already among the lowest-paid in the South and the concern is if tenure is abolished, it would prompt a mass exodus of educators for other universities which could lead to certification problems for the universities.

Apparently, Cathey prefers to exhibit his lack of concern for that by marching in lockstep with the general philosophy of the Repugnantcan party.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Mike Cazes has reprised an old tactic in reaction to news not to his liking: blame the messenger.

Cazes has initiated a full-scale effort to ferret out the person or persons in his department who tipped off a Baton Rouge television station as to when one of his former employees would be surrendering following disclosure that she stole $158,000 from the sheriff’s office.

Cazes, who has been sheriff of the parish across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge for more than four full terms, plus a couple of years into his fifth term, conveniently ignored the fact that he kept Mandy Miller on the payroll for some three months following her admission of the theft.

Nor has Cazes ever explained how Miller qualified for a salary of $72,000 for her file clerk job processing traffic ticket payments for the department. That’s a pretty hefty salary for such a position when one considers that most deputies, with the possible exceptions of Chief of Staff Kevin Devall and Caze’s son-in-law Dale Simoneaux, earn considerably less than that.

Simply stated, something doesn’t pass the smell test here. It’s entirely possible that there are underlying facts that have yet to come out.

Nevertheless, Cazes, Duval and Simoneaux subjected several detectives to hours of intense questioning in an effort to learn the source of the LEAK TO THE TV STATION. Cazes, who becomes more defensive every day, now refuses to be interviewed by reporters for the TV station.

Cazes even sent a department-wide EMAIL that said he would take no questions on any matters concerning his office.  “There will be no direct contact with the Sheriff on any matters dealing with the West Baton Rouge Sheriff Department,” the email said. Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ, which has been following the story for some time, said the email “raises questions about what Cazes is doing.” The station might well have added that it also raises questions about why Cazes is refusing to take questions “on any matters,” especially why he continued paying her for some three months after her admission that she stole from the department.

An Internet blog called UNFILTERED WITH KIRAN (UWK), like WBRZ, has experienced a wall of silence when attempting to get information on the theft. UWK said the only people who were authorized to speak to the media are not doing so.

The two, Simoneaux and Zack Simmers, are each running for sheriff in next fall’s election now that Cazes has said he won’t seek a sixth term. Meanwhile, infighting in the sheriff’s office poses the problem of one getting more exposure than the other should either Simoneaux of Simmers talk to the media. That has resulted in Cazes’s decree of silence on the Miller case.

This isn’t the first time Cazes has attempted to thwart the media from reporting news adverse to his department. In July 2018, WBRZ reported that the sheriff RETAINED A LAW FIRM in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the station’s obtaining records pertaining to allegations that a deputy was being investigated for claims that he demanded oral sex from two women during separate traffic stops. The station began asking for public records in March 2018 but did not receive them until June of that year.

The deputy, Ben Arceneaux, was taken off road patrol for two weeks and was suspended without pay for two weeks, unusually light punishment for such serious transgressions.

Just as he would do in the Miller case four years later, Cazes cut off all communication with WBRZ

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission, was critical of the lax punishment handed down by Cazes. “He [Arceneaux] should have been fired, and the district attorney’s office should have been consulted about criminal charges on this,” Goyeneche said. “That is the essence of a battery and him doing this under the color of law, potentially makes it a malfeasant act, both criminal violations under Louisiana law.

“The second victim should have been identified,” Goyeneche said.” “A statement should have been taken from her. I think the sheriff should have considered if the allegations were verified of the first victim and the second victim. He [Arceneaux] shouldn’t be carrying a badge and be a deputy any longer.”

As for Cazes’s chief of staff, Kevin Devall was named to the position on January 30, three days after Miller surrendered and was escorted into the jail by Simoneaux and Devall, who had his own checkered past prior to his retirement as a Louisiana State Trooper. Kevin Devall and his brother, DEA agent Page Devall, the sons of then-Hammond Police Chief RODDY DEVALL (who was fired in 2015 after 34 years with the department and who later settled a lawsuit against the city of Hammond, with the city paying him $800,000 and changing his status to “retired”), got into a CONFRONTATION with a Metairie immigration attorney in 2012.

Two years later, Kevin Devall had another complaint filed against him by the estranged wife of St. Bernard Parish President and former police officer Dave Peralta. Sharon Peralta, who said her ex-husband had forced her to perform oral sex on him and that he had raped her six months earlier, said Devall, instead of arresting her former husband, laughed and joked with him and that Devall told her to leave and that he “would handle things from there.”

In each of those cases, Louisiana State Police Internal Affairs “investigated” the complaints and cleared Devall of any improper conduct in each case.