Louisiana Voice

When Karen Carter Peterson’s father died in 2018, he left an estate valued at more than $6.2 million, half of which went to his wife and the remaining $3.1 million to be divided equally between Sen. Peterson and her two sisters.

That meant she was an instant millionaire.

Still, she found it necessary to rip off state taxpayers for nearly $15,000 in per diem payments at $161 per day for 20 of the 24-day session in 2020 that she did not attend ($13, 685 in per diem, plus another $1,225.90 in mileage). That was in addition to her $22,800 base salary as a member of the Louisiana Legislature.

Back in 2012, when she was elected State Democratic Party Chairperson, she proceeded to stack the State Democratic Executive Committee with her own appointees and then prevailed on her friendly committee to approve an ANNUAL STIPEND of $36,000, plus expenses (It might be interesting to know if she charged mileage to both the state Democratic Party and to the state of Louisiana when she traveled to Baton Rouge on legislative/party business).

Even then she wasn’t finished. Her sister Eileen Carter of Houma was paid $13,000 during October and November 2015 for “organizational/grassroots consultation” ($1500 per week, or a per-annum rate of $78,000).

Given all that, it seems fair to compare Carter Peterson to the owner of a five-star restaurant like say, Antoine’s of New Orleans, going from table to table grabbing the tips intended for the wait staff (of course, it goes without saying that the owner of Antoine’s would never pull a stunt so crass – but the same might not apply, apparently, to Carter Peterson). Considering Louisiana’s abysmal poverty rate, it somehow conjures up images of a rich merchant sweeping crumbs from the outstretched hands of a starving peasant.

She also appointed Stephen Handwerk as Executive Director of the State Democratic Party at a salary of almost $100,000.

But, to be fair, let’s take a closer look at Carter Peterson’s leadership, her sister’s work at “organizational/grassroots consultation” and Handwerk’s performance at identifying and engaging Democratic voters in the state.

Taking the latter first, Handwerk was somewhat reluctant to make use of an available database to perform his job, claiming that he had insufficient staff to perform the task. Yet, he somehow found the time to take a second salaried job with the Democratic National Committee.

Eileen Carter? Well, we just don’t know what the hell she did to earn $13,000 in two months.

But as for Carter Peterson herself, well, in 2017, she managed to get herself elected to the DNC as Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation even as the Louisiana Democratic Party was bleeding membership.

Mark Ballard, writing for the BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE last July, said, “…on Peterson’s watch the number of registered Democrats, who once dominated electoral politics in Louisiana, declined about 10%, losing 148,834 voters to total 1.25 million Democrats as of July.”

The number of Republicans, Ballard said, grew by 20% to 948,850 during her eight years as state Democratic Party chair.

Of course, much of that shift in both directions can be attributed to the trend, especially in the South, of Republican growth and Democratic losses. Still, for someone hired specifically for civic engagement and voter participation, her performance has to be considered disappointing at best and inept at worst. You simply cannot grow interest in any endeavor if you don’t get your message out – and the message from the Louisiana Democratic Party has been one of utter silence. You’d think the state Democratic offices would be a hive of activity, pandemic or no pandemic, during the recent presidential campaign. Instead, a visit to the Baton Rouge headquarters in the midst of the campaign found the place locked and vacant.

At least part of the reason for that must certainly be attributed to her lack of leadership.

“But the biggest concern to several Democratic Parish Executive Committee (DPEC) members,” LouisianaVoice SAID in November 2017, “is the lack of membership on no fewer than 29 parish executive committees, a condition critics attribute to Peterson’s lack of timely appointments.

“There are 29 parishes which have five or fewer members on their committee,” one DPEC member said. “There should be at least 15 members of each parish executive committee. That’s nearly half the state that has non-existent or non-functioning DPECs. Livingston Parish has only seven of 15 seats filled. One member of the Livingston DPEC has been working since February to get the seats filled but that still hasn’t been done even though names have been submitted.”

And nearly two years into Peterson’s second term as state chairperson, there were still 33 Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) vacancies. “If she fills positions at all, it’s usually with her minions,” one DSCC member said.

So, now Peterson is presenting herself as the best-qualified candidate to succeed the departed Cedric Richmond as U.S. Representative from Louisiana’s 2^nd District.

Given her performances as state Democratic chair and DNC vice chair of civic engagement and voter participation, her torpedoing of gubernatorial appointments, her only occasional appearances at her legislative job while still being paid for non-attendance, the nepotism and favoritism in her hiring and the shrinking of the state Democratic Party under her leadership, it would be a pretty good stretch for her to be considered as the best the 2^nd District has to offer.

In fact, it’s difficult to see her as the best at anything other than looking out for Karen Carter Peterson.

Even as the St. Tammany Parish School Board refuses to divulge when – or even if – it has requested background checks on personnel and even as the board exerts every effort at its disposal – legal and otherwise – to silence critics, an internal audit has revealed that of the 55 public schools in the parish, at least 44 (80 percent) are considered medium- to high-risks when it comes to sufficient oversight of $12.5 million in student activity funds.

The $12.5 million controlled by the 55 schools comes to an average of $227,272 per school, though five schools considered at high risk are sitting on student activity funds totaling more than $3.5 million – an average of $700,000 per school.

Those schools are Mandeville High School ($1.3 million), Covington High ($610,381), Pearl River High ($387,625), Salmen High ($396,545) and Slidell High ($817,111).

In all, 11 schools are classified as high risk by the board’s own internal auditor while another 33 are considered medium risks, according to the board’s Risk Assessment for the current school year obtained by LouisianaVoice.

The funds are generated through school fundraisers such as fees, field trip payments, food services, T-shirts, P.E. uniforms, parking finds, passes and other activities and are used to finance various student activities such as band, pep squads, athletic teams, etc.

An audit of Honey Island Elementary School, a high-risk school, noted that purchase request forms were either incomplete or did not contain the required prior approval needed for purchases. Moreover, it revealed that the principal’s travel expense form was paid without a supervisor’s approval or without supporting documentation.

Another high-risk school, Bayou Woods Elementary School showed areas of concern as well. A review of purchase request forms, for example, showed in one situation, the school principal initiated a disbursement request and had the assistant principal sign the “Principal Approval” to authorize the expense, meaning that the final expense approval was obtained from an employee who reports to the principal.

In another instance, school funds were used to purchase a $650 “unique item” without the completion of required purchase request forms to document the business purpose of the expense.

The risk assessment report and the 2007 RAPE of an elementary school student by a school custodian have combined to raise alarm with several St. Tammany Parish citizens over whether or not the board carries out its responsibility to conduct criminal background checks on employees in a timely manner.

And whenever the issue is raised with the board, critics are silenced as with the abrupt KILLING OF THE MICROPHONE of that rape victim at a January board meeting.

But the real kicker is the board’s ruling that one can only speak to a particular agenda item but requests to speak must be submitted in writing by noon the Friday before the next meeting – even though the agenda for the meeting has not yet been posted.

“How can someone possibly know what’s on the agenda before noon if it’s not posted?” asked Rebecca Bleker, the mother of the 2007 rape victim, Justin Bleker.

Cindy Rester, a frequent critic of the board, was a bit harsher in her assessment of the board and School Superintendent Frank Jabbia:

“I am appalled after reading your response! You may want to read [the] St. Tammany Parish School Board Policy, and I suggest that you read the LAW particularly La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 42:14, 42:15, 42:16, 42:2.

“Public Comments for Agenda Items is totally different and is a requirement set out in law.

“If you are going to be in charge and responding to things like this, I suggest you may want to take a class from Louisiana Legislative Auditor to LEARN about such things. I am attaching for your review the LLA FAQ on Open Meeting Laws you should find it very interesting.

“In fact, they have a whole section just for School Boards Louisiana Legislative Auditor.”

Below are the board Risk Assessment Report for the 2020-2021 school year and the internal audit reports on Bayou Woods Elementary and Honey Island Elementary schools.

“First, with regards to the reappointment of Ronnie Jones, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board needed an injection of new leadership after seven years of Jones serving as chairman and even more years as a regulator.

“I applaud Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointment of Lt. Col. Mike Noel, who, as the governor says, brings a “wealth of experience and knowledge” to the Board.”

—State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, on her reasons for objecting to the reappointment of Ronnie Jones as Chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.

No reflection on the abilities of Noel, but while Carter Peterson felt that new blood was needed after Jones’s seven years, she seems to have ignored the fact that Noel spent 17 years regulating gaming as head of the Gaming Division of State Police.

Her apparent disregard for logic and reason as evidenced in her statement above may well be part of the explanation of how she has run the Louisiana Democratic Party into the ground since her election as Chairperson in 2012.

Now Carter Peterson is seeking election to Congress from Louisiana’s Second District. She hopes to fill the seat vacated by the capable Cedric Richmond now serving as a Senior Advisor to President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

So, with a lot riding on who represents citizens of the state’s 2^nd Congressional District, perhaps a closer look at Carter Peterson’s performance in the Louisiana Legislature might be appropriate.

From 2017 through 2020, she missed 45 percent of all votes in the legislature despite drawing a salary of $22,500 per year, plus per diem and mileage. That’s more than 1,770 votes she missed.

And if one thinks 45 percent is a tad on the high side, consider this: in 2020, she missed a whopping 85 PER CENT Of VOTES.

But here’s the real kicker: In the pandemic-shortened legislative session of 2020, State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson missed an eye-popping 20 of 24 days – but collected her per diem (at $161 per day) for all 24 days ($13,685) and $1,225.90 in mileage payments (mileage for about a dozen round trips to and from New Orleans).

Legislators, it should be pointed out, generally stay overnight in Baton Rouge during the session, returning home on weekends and Carter Peterson is one of those fortunate lawmakers who gets to rent an apartment at the Pentagon Barracks across the street from the Capitol at bargain basement rates.

To get an idea of what a generous perk those apartments are, go HERE for a story I did more than 10 years ago.

Last year’s payout comes to almost $15,000 ($14,910.90) for non-attendance – in addition to her $22,800 legislative salary. That’s a total of $37,710.90 for a part-time job when many Louisianans don’t make that much at their full-time jobs.

And as the really campy TV commercials say, but wait. There’s more.

Carter Peterson also holds down, presumably, a full-time job (since 2014) with DENTONS LAW FIRM in its energy division. The June 5, 2014, news release announcing her appointment said, in part, “Her significant experience in Louisiana business and government, and work nationwide, gives her a unique perspective that will be of tremendous value to our clients.”

Among Dentons’ clients are Entergy and the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board.

So esteemed is Carter Peterson that she is not even listed among Dentons’s “professionals” on the firm’s web page. Still, she pulls down more than $100,000 per year, according to FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FORMS filed with the State Ethics Board.

And then there is her husband, Dana Peterson, who serves as an assistant superintendent for the Louisiana Department of Education at $136,536 per year, according to Carter Peterson’s 2019 financial disclosure.

With those kinds of salaries, she still feels the need to rip off Louisiana taxpayers for sessions she didn’t attend. That’s real class.

With the legislature charged with approving budgets for all state departments, it would be interesting to know whether or not she abstains when matters concerning the Department of Education or the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, come up for legislative action.

…If she shows up to vote at all, that is.

Sometimes a writer gets a story dropped into his/her lap that is like manna from heaven. Oftentimes, they tend to write themselves.

Such is the 2021 CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE (CPAC) that is off and running in Orlando, that oh-so-appropriate selection, being, as it is, the home of Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

There are so many stories tied to this collection of cretins, this assemblage of airheads, this meeting of muttonheads that literally drip with irony, contradiction and delusion that it’s difficult to know which angle to pursue first.

After some consideration, I’ve decided to violate the first principle of journalism by saving the best for last – that being the not-so-subtle flaunting of the Golden Idol by the party that seeks, yea thrives, off the unqualified adoration of the evangelical Christians.

Spoiler alert: for reasons yet to fully explained, there are several notable speakers not on the program this year. No Sidney Powell (go figure). No John N. Kennedy (how could they overlook a cartoon character for an event staged at the cartoon capital of the universe?). No Rudy Giuliani (ditto). No Marjorie Taylor Greene (thank God). No Bobby Jindal (likewise). No Clay Higgins (what can I say?). No Nikki Haley (rumor is she and Trump broke up). No Rush Limbaugh (like Elvis, he’s left the building). No Jeff Landry (Aww).

But there are plenty of other interesting speakers. Let’s examine a few:

South Dakota Gov. KRISTI NOEM gained her 15 minutes of fame by refusing to mandate safety precautions in the name of personal freedom. The result of her experiment in herd immunity was that 40 percent of the state’s population became infected with the coronavirus. The rate of infection was even higher on the Native American reservations. She explained that her inaction allowed families to “keep putting food on the table.” Not said was that it also allowed the state’s residents to keep burying family members. She won’t be passing out face masks at the CPAC event.

Former Florida Attorney General PAM BONDI who in 2008 initiated an investigation of Trump University only to have Trump make a most generous, albeit illegal $25,000 CONTRIBUTION to her reelection campaign. Her aggressive “investigation” was abruptly dropped and Bondi was rumored to be in line for a job in the Trump White House. Trump subsequently went on to reach a $25 million settlement with students he had defrauded at his “university.” Don’t expect Bondi to recap her exhaustive investigation of Trump in her CPAC address.

Alabama U.S. Rep. MO BROOKS, who once said of Trump he could never endorse a “serial adulterer,” but who ended up addressing the mob on Jan. 6, URGING THEM to “start taking down names and kicking ass” just before they stormed the U.S. Capitol building and killed a Capitol police officer while looking to take out a few members of Congress.

Florida U.S. Rep. MATT GAETZ who brushed his hair and scrubbed his face before claiming that Donald Trump’s call to Georgia election officials was “clear and visceral,” and who asserted that the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol was led by Antifa (a claim later shown to be false) and who later that same day OPPOSED the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president. He later became the ultimate shameless Trump toady by magnanimously offering to RESIGN from Congress so he could defend Trump at his impeachment trial.

Missouri U.S. Sen. JOSH (B’GOSH) HAWLEY, who along with Ted Cruz promoted the absurd theory that the election was stolen from Trump via massive voter fraud (but only in the states Trump lost), saying “millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard,” neglecting for the moment that at least 7 million more, along with 60 separate court cases, felt there were no questions left to be asked. Hawley’s actions on Jan. 6 prompted his mentor, former U.S. Sen. JOHN DANFORTH, to say that supporting Hawley and working for his election “was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.”

Texas U.S. Sen. TED CRUZ (see previous paragraph) who, when snow blanketed Texas, temperatures plummeted, the pipes froze and the lights went out, did what a real Repugnantcan leader will always do: he split with his family for the beaches of Cancun. Think of the irony here: A Repugnantcan sneaking across the border into Mexico.

North Carolina Rep. MADISON CAWTHORN who has been guilty of embellishing quite a few of his non-accomplishments and taking full advantage of the pity vote as a paraplegic. Word is bets are being made on which lie he will dwell on: his Naval Academy career cut short by an auto accident that left him paralyzed (he had already been rejected by the academy prior to the accident), his gritty training for the Paralympic Games (totally false) or his history of alleged SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, flirtations with right ultra-nationalism, or his RACIAL INCITEMENT.

California U.S. Rep. DEVIN NUNES who loves to sue anyone who dares disagree with him but it appears he only sues to lose. He loses or drops all his cases. He has sued CNN, an INTERNET COW (Twitter) and a former employee, among others. He was also directly involved in the effort to pursue the BIDEN UKRAINE INVESTIGATIONS.

There is a host of other speakers as well, but these would be the lowlights.

Besides, there is the other story that’s much more bizarre.

Like the Israelites led out of Egypt by Moses, the attendees at CPAC have brought in their own golden calf. Well, golden Trump, but a pig by any other name….

That’s right, folks. They wheeled in this hideous STATUE of The Former Guy that more resembles something they’d dream up on The Simpsons or in a tortured nightmare after having too much pork for supper.

Were I The Former Guy, I would likely look upon this monstrosity as a cruel attempt at ridicule because flattering it ain’t.

What it did do, however, was to generate a slew of Twitter comments (more irony considering Trump is banned from Twitter for life), including a still shot from the movie The Ten Commandments of Edward G. Robinson standing beside the golden calf. Some of the choice comments:

“If only there were some sacred text, one most people of CPAC claimed allegiance to, that very explicitly warns against making golden idols.”

“Republicans wheel in the golden calf as they prepare to wander the electoral desert for 40 years.”

“Worshipping the golden calf was ‘really bad,’ prophets say (Exodus 32:8). Worshipping the golden jackass seems even worse.”

“Oh, this is so very on-brand for CPAC.”

“Instead of worshipping a golden calf, the GOP worship[s] a golden crook.”

“Despite having to fight up at least two weight classes, $20 says Bob’s Big Boy knocks out Golden Calf Donald Trump by the 3^rd round.”

As our late friend C.B. Forgotston was fond of saying, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

The St. Tammany Parish School Board, while refusing to reveal when – or even if – background checks had been carried out on key employees, nevertheless may have found itself in violation of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by allowing third parties to see teachers’ responses to questions about Covid vaccinations.

Meanwhile, LouisianaVoice has learned that following the board’s KILLING THE MICROPHONE of Justin Bleker last month as he attempted to speak about his 2007 rape by an elementary school custodian, more parents have come forward to claim that their children were molested while attending St. Tammany Parish public schools.

LouisianaVoice has obtained information that the entire St. Tammany school system is in a state of disarray with several schools sitting on half-million-dollar student activity accounts while issuing multiple credit cards to employees, giving them unchecked access to the funds.

After Abney Elementary School custodian DINO SCHWERTZ was convicted in 2009 of raping Bleker and after Bleker was awarded more than $450,000 by the 22^nd Judicial District Court, it was learned that Schwertz was never properly vetted for employment by the school board. Despite having been on probation for bank fraud and with a second criminal conviction for violation of a protective order on his record, he nevertheless checked “NO” on his job application when it asked “Have you ever plead [sic] guilty or no contest or been convicted of a criminal offense?

The school board is required to conduct criminal background checks on all employees but Schwertz’s background check wasn’t completed for three months. That same law allows temporary employment until the results of the background checks are received. Even after it did come back, however, the principal at Abney was never given his background check to review.

That law was expanded to include contractors and vendors in August 2017. It says:

“The St. Tammany Parish School Board shall require all contractors and vendors doing business with the School Board to maintain adequate insurance coverage. The contractor or vendor may not appear at the facility either to unload materials or to begin work until a valid insurance certificate requested by the Superintendent or his/her designee has been provided to the Superintendent or his/her designee. If the contractor or vendor cannot provide requested coverages, another contractor or vendor may be secured.

• No contract shall be countersigned by the Superintendent or authorized School Board representative unless a valid insurance certificate has been provided. 
• Once a valid insurance certificate has been received, the Superintendent or his/her designee shall assure that the certificate is valid and meets the limits prescribed in the specifications and/or contract agreement.”

Schwertz’s conviction was nearly 12 years ago but the school board may still be negligent in running background checks on its employees, LouisianaVoice has learned. School Superintendent Frank Jabbia has refused to comply with several public records requests seeking dates that background checks were requested and when the results were received by the board. All such requests specifically noted that nothing contained in the background reports themselves was being sought.

Jabbia cited applicants’ privacy rights in refusing the records requests.

At the same time, LouisianaVoice learned on Tuesday that Jabbia was circulating a questionnaire sheet asking teachers to check Yes or No by their names as to whether they intended to obtain Covid vaccinations.

Because the names of all teachers at a given school are on each of the forms, it would enable respondents to see how other teachers who received the form before them responded. That would be a violation of HIPAA, but Jabbia apparently wasn’t as concerned over privacy when it was information school board officials desired.

He did respond to one person who expressed concern over the apparent HIPAA violation that the problem was “already being dealt with.” He didn’t specify what steps were taken to “deal with” the problem.

But Rebecca Bleker, mother of rape victim Justin Bleker, was not placated. She sent an email to Jabbia that said “Retaliation has [been] what I see as a normal occurrence within [the] St. Tammany Parish school system.” But now, she said, the board has moved into an area that she said was “a specialty of mine. I am a nurse and for you to display a piece of paper and expect people to express their medical information for everyone to see is a violation of HIPAA Laws.”

She also said she was aware of retaliation by the school board against one of her son’s teachers who was seen talking to her. 

“You can allow personal information [to be] spread that clearly is a violation of HIPAA but a simple date of hire and date of a completed background check is an issue,” she said, adding that she felt the board would take any measure it could to deny her access to records.

“I know I requested documentation of rules and guidelines for Janitors now and even that has not been given to me. Just like the background check on Schwertz, STPSB makes their own rules [on] how to handle things.

“Mr. Jabbia you need to clean house and start doing your job or you very well might be out of a job. The board can clearly fire you for you not getting rid of those who have not done their jobs. I think at this point that may have to be the option.”

“We are learning there were many more [victims] than we knew,” said one former board employee. “Now, one mother of an autistic, nonverbal child is also coming forward after all these years saying she suspected [her child was molested] but could never confirm because her child was nonverbal.

“This Board and administration [have] failed to protect children, and continue to obstruct parents’ rights to information regarding the systemic failures of this Board and administration,” the former employee said.

Another unconfirmed report said that a second class-action lawsuit had been filed against the board for sexual abuse of children in parish schools. 

“You can call anyone any name you wish, but if it was your child that was protected by someone who had skin thick enough to handle your insults, you would be on your hands and knees thanking God that He gave them the courage to take a stand,” the former employee said, apparently referring to personal insults directed her way by school board officials.      

“Are you allowing these individuals to walk onto school grounds without a background check?” Mrs. Bleker asked of the entire school board. “You have got to be nuts. I know that many contractors and vendors hire child molesters and you are not even putting this within your policies?

“Someone needs to respond to me and not ignore this.”