Louisiana Voice

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but there are only six days left in LouisianaVoice’s October fundraiser.

If you have yet to contribute, you are respectfully requested to help support independent journalism with your generous contribution.

Every bit, large or small, helps us to continue to dig for stories such as the we one we did yesterday on the update of former Angola warden BURL CAIN.

Your donations allow us to pursue questionable practices in STATE POLICE, the GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, the ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE, child TRAFFICKING, WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS, malfeasance of public officials from SHERIFFS to federal officials and everything in between.

If you can see your way clear, I humbly ask for your continued support. You may contribute by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post and following directions to make a one-time contribution by credit card.

The person making the largest contribution will receive an original copy of Huey Long’s autobiography, Every Man A King, published in 1933 by the now defunct National Book Co. of New Orleans. It’s considered a collector’s item that any serious collector would love to add to his or her library. Also, everyone contributing $100 or more will be eligible for a drawing for an autographed (by Edwin Edwards) copy of Leo Honeycutt’s biography of the late governor. Finally, everyone contributing $50 or more will receive a signed copy of my newest book, The Mission.

Whether you feel you can help or not, please do NOT forget to vote!

There are rarities and there are rarities and it’s rare indeed that I agree with any of the positions espoused by one Michael Lunsford, the top dog at an outfit called Citizens for a New Louisiana.

I believe, for instance, that his multi-front campaign to impose his version of morality on public libraries across the state is at best a misguided attempt to protect children and at worst, an evil introduction to across-the-board censorship that only begins with book-banning with an end-game aimed at sending society reeling back to the days of Jim Crow and an erosion of human rights in general.

But as averse as I am to just about everything Citizens for a New Louisiana stands for (or against), I have to lend my unqualified endorsement of Lunsford’s most recent exposé: the waste of public funds lavished on certain non-government organizations (NGOs), particularly the $11.2 million doled out earlier this year by the Louisiana Legislature to an NGO named New Orleans. and Company, previously known as the New Orleans Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

In the spirit of infrequent partisanship, I find myself agreeing with The Hayride’s post by Lunsford that was originally PUBLISHED by Citizens for a New Louisiana.

Forget for the moment Hayride writer M. Fulton Robicheaux’s story on State Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan’s candidacy for Public Service Commission in which he erroneously said that Coussan was seeking promotion from “one of thirty-five state senators to one of five public service commissioners” (there are 39 state senators).

Lunsford noted that with this year’s $11.2 million allocation, the legislature has shelled out $87.3 million for New Orleans and Company since 202 even though the organization currently has more than $100 million in assets.

Even more astonishing, Lunsford says, are the salaries of the principals of New Orleans and Company. As of 2022, the most recently available figures, its president and CEO, J. Stephen Perry, received an eye-popping $711,753 in salary, bonuses and retirement benefits. By comparison, the U.S. President receives $450,000 in salary and expenses. The Louisiana governor is paid a base salary of $130,000.

Former Speaker pro tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives Walt Legier, III, succeeded Perry as CEO. In 2022, he was executive vice president and general counsel and his salary that year was $371,237, including benefits and bonuses.

Lunsford wrote that odd rules in reporting compensation, “an organization can shuffle money around in such a way as to make it appear that no public dollars were used for executive compensation,” allowing Stephens to list his compensation as zero in documents filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office.

He also wrote that staff salaries increased at an annual rate of 24 percent, from $8.9 million in 2021 to almost $11 million in 2022, which coincidentally just happens to match the state’s contribution.

There’s no doubt that New Orleans and Company does a commendable job for tourism in New Orleans as evidenced by the successful luring of next year’s Super Bowl and the upcoming Taylor Swift concert.

But with 1,100 MEMBER COMPANIES, one would think the organization would be a bit more self-sustaining and less dependent upon state funding.

On that point, I have to wholeheartedly agree with Lunsford – especially with the state ANTICIPATING a $65 million short during the current fiscal year with projected deficits of $559 million, $614 million and $733 million the following three subsequent fiscal years.

I’ve been relatively quiet as of late insofar as soliciting contributions to support the efforts of LouisianaVoice to keep bringing you stories like the one below on the exploits of former Angola warden Burl Cain, but that doesn’t mean your support is not needed – or deeply appreciated.

There’s only one week left in our October fundraiser and your help is still needed.

I know there are so many worthy causes out there that need your support, too. There is hurricane relief. Those victims really need help just as we needed help during the devastating flood of 2016. The Baton Rouge Food Bank is constantly in need of support to help feed the impoverished citizens of the area. Animal shelters are always in need of and appreciative of your support for our friends who are unable to speak for themselves. Plus, Christmas is just around the corner as we gear up for another holiday season.

All things considered, I hate to come asking for your help but journalistic freedom is critical at this juncture of our country’s history. There are so many efforts to erect roadblocks to our path to finding the truth about what our government is up to that it really makes us question the motives of politicians who would hide the facts from us – and you.

So, if you can see your way clear, I humbly ask for your continued support. You may contribute by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post and following directions to make a one-time contribution by credit card.

Remember, the person making the largest contribution will receive an original copy of Huey Long’s autobiography, Every Man A King, published in 1933 by the now defunct National Book Co. of New Orleans. It’s considered a collector’s item that any serious collector would love to add to his or her library. Also, everyone contributing $100 or more will be eligible for a drawing for an autographed (by Edwin Edwards) copy of Leo Honeycutt’s biography of the late governor. Finally, everyone contributing $50 or more will receive a signed copy of my newest book, The Mission.

As always, your continued support over the past 13 years of LouisianaVoice’s existence is sincerely appreciated.

You may remember BURL CAIN, the long-time warden at Dixon Correctional Institute (14 years) and the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola (21 years),

You may also recall that Cain resigned in 2016 after allegations that he sold land he owned in West Feliciana Parish to developers linked to two Angola inmates who were serving sentences for murder, that correctional employees performed private work for him, that appliances, material, food and lodging were provided by Cain for a number of his relatives through Angola and that he negotiated a side deal with a vendor called Controlled Recycling Equipment, Inc. that had built a recycling plant at Dixon. The deal would have paid him a 5 percent commission for every new plant he lined up for the company, an apparent violation of state ethics rules which bar state employees from doing personal business with companies that they hire.

Well, in 2020, Cain came out of retirement to accept the position of commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).

Now it seems that Cain is back in full swing as the wheeler dealer that earned him the reputation as a power broker in Louisiana’s Department of Corrections organizational structure.

His predecessor, Eric Epps, was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison and fined $100,000 after pleading guilty to taking at least $1.4 million in bribes and kickbacks to steer more than $800 million in state prison contracts to favored vendors and for awarding some $4 billion in no-bid contracts.

JACKSON JAMBALAYA, a blog that covers Mississippi politics, recently ran an interesting story of Cain’s issuance of no-bid contracts totaling nearly $300 million.

Centurion, which had a contract to provide healthcare for MDOC prisoners but the company notified MDOC that it was terminating its contract on July 30, 2020, just a month after Cain was named to head the agency. Cain promptly declared an emergency and entered into a no-bid $56 million contract with VitalCore, a Topeka, Kan. firm, on Aug. 12 for a one-year contract to run from Oct. 6, 2020, to Oct. 5, 2021.

Nothing unusual about that. The previous provider pulled out suddenly and Mississippi’s 18,000 prisoners had to have health care.

But with a full year in which to come up with a request for proposals (RFP) and to put the contract out for bid, what did Cain do? He declared another emergency and Viola Riggins, who signed the first contract, obliged by signing another, this one for $66 million.

Come 2022, with two emergency contracts under his belt, one might think that Cain by now had enough time to put the contract out for bid. But no, it was time for the declaration of yet another “emergency,” and Riggins signed yet another no-bid contract, this one for $94 million. Such is inflation, it seems.

Finally, MDOC issued the long-awaited RFP in December 2023 and three companies submitted bids. They were Centurion, Wexford Health Services and VitalCore.

Centurion had the low bid, followed by Wexford with VitalCore submitting the high bid. But a committee empaneled to evaluate the bids on a point basis managed to score VitalCore at 4800, followed by Wexford (apparently destined to be a bridesmaid) at 4044 and Centurion a distant third place with a score of 3190.

So, now VitalCore has signed its fourth consecutive contract, this one for $100 million, giving it a total of $316 million in contracts (though “only” $82 had been paid on the current contract through September 1) – $216 million of those in no-bid contracts.

VitalCore had a contract with the state of Vermont for the medical care of prisoners in that state but a rash of deaths led to a LAWSUIT against the company by its former chief medical officer of operations who alleges that his signature was forged on VitalCore’s 500-page policy and procedures manual that was submitted to state officials.

Dr. George Zazzali alleged in his lawsuit that VitalCore’s medical equipment was in a “state of disrepair that indicated years of neglect” and that nurses who performed examinations were unqualified to do so.

Two days after lodging his complaint, his suit says, he was fired.

VitalCore is also a DEFENDANT in several other lawsuits, including three involving inmate deaths in MISSISSIPPI and VERMONT.

LouisianaVoice is at the halfway point in its October fundraiser and we still need your help if you have not yet contributed. If you have, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for your support of journalism.

Newspapers are suffering across the board and reporters have been laid off as a result of the loss of advertising revenue. Metropolitan dailies in Shreveport, Monroe, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria and Baton Rouge have shrunken or been sold to corporations that have instituted drastic cost-cutting measures, primarily in the newsrooms. Sadly, the New Orleans Times-Picayune ceased publication completely. At one time, I thought small town weeklies and dailies would be the survivors but they, too, have felt the economic pinch and some have been shuttered altogether and that’s everyone’s loss.

All that left a void that television cannot possibly fill. Most Internet blogs are little more than expressions of opinions by wannabes. LouisianaVoice has its share (perhaps more than its share) of opinion pieces but we strive to cover news in a straightforward manner as well. I’ve cited many of those stories in earlier solicitations this month so I’ll try not to be redundant.

As with any investigative reporter, many leads or tips that we get turn out to be little more than someone’s sour grapes or an attempt to undermine a political opponent. We try to avoid those stories but they still take time and expenses as do the legitimate stories that we end up writing. That’s why we have fundraisers each October and April.

If you prefer to give money to the Food Bank or to hurricane and flood victims, that’s your prerogative and I certainly have no quarrel with that. It’s a noble thing to do. But if you can see your way clear to help the cause of hard-hitting journalism, it would be appreciated more than you could ever know.

To make your contribution by credit card, simply click on the yellow DONATE button to the right of this post and follow the directions. Unlike Donald Trump’s solicitations which, unbeknownst to donors, is a commitment to a monthly payment, ours is a one-time only contribution.

For this month’s drive, the most generous donor will receive an original copy of Huey Long’s autobiography Every Man A King, published in 1933 by the now defunct National Book Co. of New Orleans. It’s a collector’s item valued at $100. Leo Honeycutt’s biography of Edwin Edwards will be awarded on a lottery basis with everyone who contributes $100 or more eligible for the drawing. The book is signed by both Honeycutt and Edwards.

Finally, a signed copy of my latest book, The Mission, will go to everyone who gives $50 or more.

As always, thanks so much for your continued support for the past 13-plus years!