Month: December 2024

Former Dillard University President Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough.

Our December 22, 2024, feature on the filling of the expired term of Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Member Jared Riecke’s seat is surpassing even our wildest expectations of hits.

Obviously, because of extensive controversies surrounding Riecke, a ton of folk, particularly from St. Tammany Parish, have keen interest in just how the whole scenario plays out.

As we have previously pointed out, the first step is for Dillard University President, Dr. Monique Guillory, to submit up to three (3) names to fulfill Riecke’s term, which expired on December 5, 2024.  The deadline for her to do so is Saturday, January 4, 2025.

We decided it would be interesting to view the prior correspondence from Dillard entailing Riecke’s appointment to his first full term, which became effective on December 5, 2018.

That correspondence, which was  provided to us by the LSPC on Friday, December 27, 2024, is comprised of a January 2, 2019, letter to then-Gov. John Bel Edwards and extensive email correspondence between Kimbrough and LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman.

In the correspondence, then-Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough, who is now serving as Interim President of Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (and has served in that capacity since June 24, 2024),  expresses extreme frustration to both Edwards and Hannaman at the very notion that Dillard should even be responsible for submitting nominees.

From Kimbrough’s letter to Edwards and/or email correspondence to Hannaman:

2 January 2019

Dear Governor Edwards:

On behalf of Dillard University… I submit the following nominee to fill the expiring term on the State Police Commission representing the First Congressional District:

Mr. Jared J. “Jay” Caruso-Riecke
17940 Painters Row
Covington, LA 70435
(985) 892-1545

With Dillard being in the 2^nd District, the task was very difficult to get qualified nominees. In fact, it created an undue burden to try to locate and vet nominees for a position which is outside of our scope of expertise and normal operations. We enlisted the assistance of LAICU with no luck. In addition, Mr. Caruso-Riecke is currently completing an expiring term and based on the recommendations, he should be offered the opportunity to continue to serve.

From: Walter Kimbrough <wkimbrough@dillard.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2019 3:52 PM

To: Jason Hannaman <Jason.Hannaman@LA.GOV>

Subject: RE: State Police Commission – upcoming vacancy/appointment – request for nominees

Here is our nominee. We really would like to find a way to get out of this business. We spent a number of hours over the past month trying to find qualified nominees. It was an exercise in futility, with no way to find quality candidates. In addition, I don’t have the manpower to spend trying to find nominees for these kinds of entities. It creates a hardship for us. I know my colleagues have the same concerns as we have discussed. So what can we do to change this process?

Call us cynical, but we find it more than a stretch to concur with Kimbrough’s sentiments!

Furthermore, folk whom we contacted and read the contents of the letter and email correspondence prior to publishing this feature were nothing short of outraged that Dillard’s then-President, “took the attitude he took on such an important task.”

One individual even stated, “with this level of indifference, it begs the question of how so many in the black community can be stunned when a Ronald Greene type incident transpires.”  We would note that Ronald Greene’s LSP in-custody death transpired a mere 128 days after Kimbrough stated that Dillard needed to find a way to, “get out of this business!”  All we can say is, “Wow!”

At any rate, since Kimbrough stated that, even the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities yielded, “no luck,” we decided to see if any other university Presidents shared Kimbrough’s sentiments in  any correspondence they sent entailing their appointments.

Accordingly, mere minutes prior to publishing this feature, we sent Hannaman this public records request for correspondence received on all appointments or reappointments which have transpired since January 1, 2016 through today’s date of Sunday, December 30, 2024.

Sources tell us that many years ago, conformity of the LSPC with Louisiana’s Constitution regarding making appointments to the LSPC was essentially “completely lacking” and that no letters would even go out to university Presidents but, instead, the Governor would simply appoint whomever he wanted to fill vacancies.

That environment allegedly existed prior to former LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne complaining to Gov. Edwards’ Office that, “the composition of the Commission is not in conformity with the Constitution.”

In Derbonne’s litigation, she indicated that Gov. Edwards’ then-Head of Gaming, Ronnie Jones, stated point-blank that, “the Governor’s Office had told her to shut the f@&@ up!”

It was Derbonne who prompted former LSPC Member Franklin Kyle’s resignation due to impermissible campaign contributions.  Kyle is close friends with Riecke, with both of them serving on American Bank in Covington’s Board of Directors.  Interestingly enough, former Gov. Edwards’ brother and former Sheriff of Tangipahoa Parish, Daniel Edwards, also served on that same Board of Directors.  When Riecke took over Kyle’s LSPC position, then-Colleague Lloyd Grafton alleged (as evidenced by the video in our last feature), that Riecke came on the LSPC with an, “agenda to get rid of Cathy Derbonne.”

Perhaps here’s another irony.  After all of that “undue burden” and “exercise in futility” Kimbrough complained of in recommending Riecke merely be reappointed, a mere eight (8) days after Kimbrough’s letter and barely even getting his seat warm from his reappointment, on January 10, 2019, Riecke found himself having to fend off retired LSP Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet’s calls for his “immediate resignation.”

As we indicated in our prior feature, a key benefit of videos is that they are forever, so let’s take a quick view of Millet calling for Riecke’s “immediate resignation.”:

Millet lodges his complaint and Riecke provides his initial verbal response at the 1/10/19 LSPC meeting, which was a mere eight (8) days after Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough recommended his reappointment.

Upon what did Millet base his calls for that resignation?  Why, as he stated on the above video, alleged impermissible political contributions (just like the allegation against Kyle), of course!

For the record, at the next LSPC meeting of February 14, 2019, Riecke dressed Millet down for calling for his “immediate resignation.”

The next 12 days should be very interesting because there’s one thing we can assure everyone:  this whole process was sought to be a very quiet and  unceremonious (likely) reappointment of Riecke, as we believe he has the strong backing of the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association (LSTA) as a result of his extensive past history of seeking pay raises for Troopers.

A fly is now officially in the ointment, however, on any such quiet and unceremonious filling of Riecke’s position.  We’ll see how it all plays out, but we know one thing:  There are an awful lot of folk who do not want to see a repeat of 2019 wherein Dillard uses a “cop out” (another characterization we’ve heard about Kimbrough’s correspondence) that there simply are no other qualified nominees!  Really?  In an entire Congressional District!

So, if anyone knows of anyone who resides in the First Congressional District and whom they believe would make a high-integrity LSPC Commissioner, we’d highly recommend having that individual send an email to Dillard’s new permanent President, Dr. Monique Guillory, at [email protected] or [email protected] and copying Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected] and letting them both know that, by golly, there are some qualified prospective Commissioners residing in the First Congressional District after all!  Just be quick about it because the deadline for submissions by Guillory is Saturday, January 4, 2025!

Jared Riecke, Member of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), along with his wife, display their middle fingers at the Mystic Krewe of Olymia Parade in 2024 and subsequently post that act on their parts on Facebook.

When we published our most recent feature entailing the abrupt resignation of the long-time Chairman of the LSPC, Eulis Simien, Jr., we quickly shifted focus to be on the expired term of his colleague, Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Riecke’s term actually expired on December 5, 2024; nevertheless, he was present and serving in official capacity at the LSPC Meeting of Thursday, December 12, 2024, which is seven (7) days after his term expired.

LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman informed us at that meeting that it is permissible for a Member whose term has expired to remain on the Commission until the Governor has chosen his or her replacement or, if the Governor so chooses, to reappoint that Commissioner to another six-year term.

We stressed that the process is presently playing out in real time entailing Riecke’s potential reappointment, and we stated the fact that he is the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC.

At the conclusion of the feature, we openly made suggestions to those individuals who have vented to us how upset they are that Riecke even serves on the Commission.

Our suggestions entailed sending an email correspondence to Dillard University President, Dr. Monique Guillory, and we provided her email address of [email protected].  We also strongly encouraged the copying of any such email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected].  Roberts previously served on staff at the Pelican Institute.

It should be noted that, in prior instructions, Dr. Guillory was indicated to be the “Interim” President of Dillard University; however, as announced by Dillard University’s Board of Trustees yesterday, Saturday, December 21, 2024, Dr. Guillory has been named the permanent President of Dillard.

Also, Dr. Guillory provided this message to the Dillard University community expressing gratitude for her selection as the University’s ninth President.

We elaborated that the email correspondence should contain either #1) the individual’s sentiments about a Riecke reappointment, #2) a willingness by the individual to serve in the vacancy, or both.  Of course, whomever serves in Riecke’s position (be it him or otherwise) must be a resident of the First Congressional District in order to be qualified to fill the vacancy.

We do not know how many other individuals may have done so, but we are aware of two people who decided to contact Guillory, and they have made their sentiments known publicly.  We are also aware of one prominent individual who has expressed a desire to serve in that vacancy.  While we’ll refrain from divulging the identity of the individual who has expressed a desire to serve, we will direct focus to the two individuals who have made their sentiments about Riecke known in no uncertain terms.

Let’s begin with Lloyd Grafton, who formerly served as a colleague of Riecke’s on the LSPC, but who resigned, citing his contention that there existed, “no integrity whatsoever on the Louisiana State Police Commission,” and portrayed the Commission as little more than puppets whose only desires were to be, “invited to the Christmas Party and to serve at the feet of the master (then-LSP Col. Mike Edmonson).”

Grafton actually expressed his sentiments as a comment on our prior post, but let’s give them a bit more prominent display, shall we?:

From: W. Lloyd Grafton
Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Subject: Request regarding coming appointments to the La. State Police Commission
To: [email protected]

Dear Interim President Guillory,

I am emailing you to ask your sincere and careful consideration to making appointment suggestions to the Louisiana State Police Commission. It is a very important responsibility, given the recent years of unfortunate and unethical behavior displayed by various previous board members and staff. It is certainly time for honest and wise leadership to usher in a clean slate for our state and for those cadets now entering the training academy.

I served as a member of this commission for 3 years and resigned due to the unbridled dishonesty and actions of the upper management of the Louisiana State Police.  The board was often in turmoil because of the constant refusal of the whole board to force a cleaning up.

It is my sincerest hope that you, in your important position, will take the time to nominate men or women of character and wisdom for foresight into the needed good governance in our state.  Our young cadets need to know we have intelligent and honest standards.

I especially ask that you not return Jared Riecke to another term. His much publicized background has been a disgrace to our state. I wish no harm, but do earnestly support a turn to quality leadership.

Thank you for allowing me to bring this to your attention.

Sincerely,
Wiley Lloyd Grafton
U. S. Special Agent Retired
ULM Retired Criminal Justice Associate Professor

On February 9, 2017 (the day Grafton resigned in frustration from the LSPC), he and Riecke engaged in the most heated exchange we’ve ever videotaped in the nine-year history of this blog.  Grafton, already angered by his contention that Riecke came on the LSPC with an “agenda” to, “get rid of Cathy Derbonne (then LSPC Executive Director),” which, for the record, ended up costing taxpayers approximately $273,000 in the form of a payout to Derbonne, her legal fees, and the legal fees to defend her litigation against the LSPC, didn’t mince his words one iota in making his sentiments known about Riecke.

One of the beauties of a video blog, and videos in particular, is that the videos are forever, so let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit Grafton’s very heated exchange with Riecke on February 9, 2017:

2/9/17:  Grafton & Riecke engage in heated exchange entailing the “resignation” of then-LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne (which Derbonne would assert in a subsequent lawsuit was a “constructive discharge”).

Now on to the second individual who was willing to express her sentiments on Riecke, and that would be Belinda Parker-Brown, who is one of seven (7) Plaintiffs suing the LSPC Members individually, including Riecke, for an alleged Open Meetings Violation.  That alleged violation entails each of the then-Commissioners’ involvement in the St. Tammany Parish DA special election of March 23, 2024 wherein they mailed this letter dated January 20, 2024 to the Collin Sims campaign accusing Sims of presenting LSP Troopers on a billboard in a, “false light to depict those troopers as standing in support of your campaign.”  Let’s see just what all Parker-Brown conveyed to President Guillory, shall we?”

From: Louisiana United International <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 20, 2024 10:02 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Attention: Dillard Communication

Dear President Guillory:

I am Belinda Parker-Brown, president of Louisiana United International (LUI) and I have been involved in activism and the investigation of corruption for many years in this area of the state. I’m contacting you today to ensure that you’re aware of some very disturbing information concerning an individual who received an appointment to the Louisiana State Police Commission on behalf of Dillard University, Mr. Jared Caruso Reicke. Mr. Reicke’s first term ended this month and there has been no reported action on his reappointment, but he will remain until removed or until another person has been appointed. We are requesting that Dillard University appoint someone else that would share the same values as your esteemed university.

 

Recently, I had a conversation with Dr. Aesmail and he suggested that we reach out to you with the information that we discussed concerning the appointment. My Criminal Justice Task Force Committee provided me with some of this information that you may find relevant in making your decision. It includes:

• Robert Burns of Soundoff Louisiana wrote an article about the end of his term that may provide some additional insight:

 

https://www.soundoffla.com

 

• Tom Aswell, publisher of Louisiana Voice wrote an article about some of the more nefarious ties of the Reicke family in this article:

 

https://louisianavoice.com/2021/09/21/caruso-riecke-membership-creates-blurry-but-disturbing-line-between-state-police-commission-and-organized-crime-family/

 

• Mr. Reicke has been involved in numerous lawsuits and may have been involved in the murder of one of his business associates, Mr Bruce Cucciara. It is well documented that Mr Reicke was the beneficiary of the $5 million of life insurance at the exclusion of the family of the deceased. Some of that information is detailed in this article:

 

https://louisianavoice.com/2021/09/30/rash-of-court-filings-involving-state-police-commissioner-jared-caruso-riecke-enough-to-induce-migraine-headache/

 

• Further details of the alleged homicide are discussed in the podcast Counterclock:

CounterClock | Season Five – Counterclock Podcast

 

• Mr. Reicke was recorded in a video attacking an individual in his Mardi Gras krewe because of a misunderstanding. Even though law enforcement was present, no charges were filed. This event, which is in the attached video, was during his tenure on the LSP Commission.

• We even have a photograph of Mr. Reicke and his wife that they posted on Facebook as a message to the family of Mr. Cucciara. It is attached. Certainly, this type of behavior doesn’t align with the values of Dillard University.

We could provide many more examples, but this sampling shows that Mr Reicke’s conduct is beneath the level of expectation of your institution. I thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

Respectfully Submitted,

Belinda Parker Brown

Louisiana United International, Inc.

Office: (985)-503-0626

Email: [email protected]

Here is the video Parker-Brown references entailing the “attack” by Riecke, which she provided to us for this feature:

Undated video asserting Riecke tackling a speaker during that speaker’s presentation.

Regarding the photograph referenced in Parker-Brown’s last bullet point,  which was purportedly taken at the Mystic Krewe of Olympia’s 2024 Mardi Gras Parade in Covington, that is the photo which serves as the lead image of this feature, but we’ll present it again at this time:

As we wrap up this feature, we would be remiss if we did not express the sentiments of one retired LSP Lieutenant.  He had some strong sentiments about LSPC’s Executive Director, Jason Hannaman, regarding the section of Hannaman’s December 5, 2024 letter to Guillory which he characterized as, “nothing short of direct lobbying for Guillory to place Riecke’s name on the list and for Riecke to be reappointed.”

From the wording of Hannaman’s letter, which was placed on prominent display in our last feature, with the following segment deemed particularly objectionable by the retired Lieutenant:

he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.

Other individuals whom we contacted about the retired Lieutenant’s concerns expressed similar sentiments.  From our own vantage point, the following wording would seem more appropriate:  “he has indicated a desire to continue serving on the Commission,” and left it at that!

The retired Lieutenant took it a step further by indicating that Riecke’s name should not have been even mentioned in the letter but, instead, the responsibility should be upon Riecke to reach out to Guillory and make any desire he may have to be reappointed made known to her.  His logic is that, by having such wording on the letter to Guillory, it defeats the whole purpose of having the independence of the university Presidents make the selections, and we do find it hard to argue against the point he makes.

So, the deadline for Guillory to submit names (for which she may submit up to three) is Saturday, January 4, 2025, and we have made a standing public records request to receive any correspondence sent from President Guillory to the LSPC.

Should any such correspondence be forthcoming, we intend to publish that communication and its contents in a follow up feature to this one.

If no correspondence whatsoever is received from Guillory, then the sole authority to appoint the next Commissioner rests with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.  We intend to publish a follow up feature as soon as possible after obtaining word that Guillory passed on making recommendations should she opt to go that route.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and it looks like 2025 will get off to an interesting start, especially on the LSPC!

Louisiana State Police Commission (LPSC) Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., prepares to announce his resignation on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Only two (2) Members of the LSPC have served on that body since we began filming the meetings in January of 2017:  Eulis Simien, Jr., and Jared Caruso-Riecke.  Simien has served as Chairman since the  unceremonious departure of then-Chairman (and active Trooper) T. J. Doss occurred after first being videotaped (by Sound Off Louisiana‘s Burns) checking into the Watermark Hotel mere hours after an LSPC meeting.

Ordinarily, there wouldn’t be anything unusual about checking into a hotel; however, since Doss was filmed checking into the hotel with then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella (who also unceremoniously departed mere days after Doss’s departure), it was just one more act which has caused many to openly question just how much “integrity” Members of the LSPC have.

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Simien abruptly announced his resignation.  Here’s a brief video of him doing so along with the praise heaped upon him by Vice Chairman (and active Trooper Member) Monty Montelongo:

 12/12/24:  LSPC Chairman Simien resigns followed by showering of praise by Vice Chairman Monty Montelongo.

There’s plenty we could say about Montelongo’s praise entailing Simien; however, we are going to save that for a future feature because we want to immediately shift gears to the one (1) remaining LSPC Commissioner since the days we began filming:  Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Riecke is, by far, the unquestioned most controversial Member of the LSPC, and his term actually expired on December 5, 2024, but he is actively seeking reappointment to another six-year term which would not expire until December 5, 2030.

Accordingly, on Thursday, December 5, 2024, LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman sent this email to Dillard University Interim President Monique Guillory which contained (as attachments) this documentation explaining the process for submitting names for up to three (3) candidates to serve in Riecke’s position for the next six years.  From the email (sent to [email protected]) and letter:

Importance:High

Dear Interim President Guillory,

I am emailing you to call your attention to the expiring term for the State Police Commissioner representing the 1^st Congressional District. That vacancy, under the provisions of Article X §43 of the Louisiana Constitution is to be filled by a nominee from the President of Dillard University. Today is the end of the term; therefore, the new term commences tomorrow and you have 30 days (starting tomorrow) to submit three nominees to the governor. Please see the attached correspondence relative to this impending vacancy. Due to the time-sensitive nature of filling vacancies, I am contacting you initially through this email correspondence and will also follow up by regular U.S. mail.

 

I appreciate your time and consideration in selecting three (3) qualified nominees for consideration and submitting those nominees to the Office of the Governor between December 6, 2024, and before the deadline of Saturday, January 4, 2025. Due to the time-sensitive nature of the request, you may also forward a scanned copy of the nomination list to my attention and I will forward it to the Director of Boards and Commissions. Please contact me if you have questions regarding the process.

Mr. Jared Caruso-Riecke has served as a member of the State Police Commission representing the First Congressional District since his appointment to an unexpired term by Governor Edwards on June 6, 2016. He was subsequently reappointed to a full term on January 8, 2019. Mr. Riecke is an active member with regular attendance; he is interested in continuing his service and bringing his unique business insight to the Commission; and, he is hopeful to be nominated once again so that he may be considered for a new term on the Commission.

The governor is required to make his appointment within thirty (30) days of receiving your list. Should the governor fail to appoint one of the nominees within thirty days, the nominee whose name appears first on the list of three (3) nominees you submitted shall become a member of the State Police Commission, with consent of the Senate. If you fail to submit a list of three (3) names within the allotted thirty (30) days, the governor may select any qualified resident from the First Congressional District for appointment to this commission, with consent of the Senate. The individual selected will fill a new term set to expire on December 5, 2030.

Our website’s visitors may recall this February 1, 2024 feature entailing a letter sent out by the collective LSPC Members concerning the campaign of Collin Sims, who was seeking election to a full term as St. Tammany Parish District Attorney after having served in an interim capacity upon the passing of Warren Montgomery.

In that feature, we highlighted some of the past controversies of Commissioner Riecke, and we repeat them at this time:

3.  Sometime in May, 2023:  Counter-clock podcast entailing the murder of Caruso-Riecke’s former business partner, Bruce Cucchiara.  As Burns explained in the video above, Counter Clock’s reference to Sound Off Louisiana features on Riecke caused a skyrocket in hits to those features and, at the time, Burns had absolutely no idea why those hits were transpiring.

4.  October 30, 2019:  Our replica of the Brain Scratch’s  podcasts focusing on the Cucchiara murder.

 

The Counter Clock podcast referenced above is one of the absolute best and most thorough features of investigative journalism that Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns has ever encountered.  Obviously, the feature centered around the murder of Riecke’s business partner, Bruce Cucchiara, in 2012 (Riecke, after first suing New York Life for payment, received $5 million from a life insurance policy as a result of Cucchiara’s death).

Beyond the Cucchiara murder, however, the feature goes into great depth about the lives of both Cucchiara and Riecke.

In fact, the feature even goes so far as to provide the December, 2005 actual plea agreement (Episode 9) that one of Riecke’s companies agreed to entailing a guilty plea and accompanying alleged-record EPA fine of $2.1 million for violations of the Federal Clean Water Acts, together with $12.862 million in remedial costs for damages associated with those violations (see bottom of page on just-linked document).

The involvement of both Riecke and Simien in the Sims campaign angered a significant number of residents in St. Tammany Parish.  Riecke is alleged to have been a strong supporter of Sims’ opponent, Vincent Winn.  Sims absolutely clobbered Winn by a margin of 69-31 in the March 23, 2024 election.

That anger ran so high that a group of seven (7) St. Tammany Parish residents, incensed by the apparent involvement of Riecke in the DA race, sued all seven (7) Members of the LSPC alleging an Open Meetings Violation entailing the then-collective group’s corresponding with one another to mail that infamous letter to the Sims campaign.

They have been especially vocal about their displeasure of the appearance of Gov. Landry’s name on prominent display on the letterhead and the implicit signal it sent that Landry, like Riecke, supported Winn in that election.  We have inquired of the Landry administration entailing whether Gov. Landry did in fact support Winn over Sims; however, his office declined to respond to our written inquiry entailing the matter.

On September 19, 2024, Belinda Parker-Brown, a Plaintiff in the litigation, served the LSPC with discovery requests which also made inquiry of past alleged problematic acts by Riecke.  We’ll repeat a few of those discovery items at this time:

Please admit that Defendant Riecke had a feature role in a reality television show featuring teams of race cars speeding across the nation’s highways at speeds exceeding 100 MPH.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video making a $50,000 bet on one such racing team.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, a race car team is on video opening the trunk of a car to expose approximately 10 or more license plates for swap out, “in the event our license plate is called out over our inboard police radar scanner.”

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke is on video bragging about concealed radar-detection equipment in the right dashboard of his vehicle.

Please admit that, pertaining to Request for Admission Number Six, Defendant Riecke, after exposing his inboard radar detection and police scanner capabilities, then replaced the in-board façade dashboard utilized to conceal that equipment and also stating on video that, “police tend to frown on this sort of thing, so….”

So, for all those folk in St. Tammany Parish upset with the fact that Riecke even still remains on the LSPC, we’ll offer these suggestions of actions:

# 1.  Contacting Dillard University’s Interim President, Monique Guillory, via email at [email protected].

and EITHER:

# 2.  Indicating a desire to serve on the LSPC, OR

#3.  Letting any negative sentiments anyone may have toward Riecke being reappointed to another six-year term be known to her.

In addition to sending an email to President Guillory at [email protected], anyone is also welcome to copy that email to Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected].

The final decision rests with Gov. Landry on whether he wishes to have Riecke serve another six years or not, but we just figured we’d take the process out of the dark secrecy and provide a little sunshine on how the whole process transpires.

We also commit to inform everyone once Landry’s decision is made with regard to both Simien’s replacement (irrespective of how long it may take to find someone of his caliber as per Montelongo) and whomever Landry chooses for the next six years entailing Riecke’s expired term.