Uncategorized – Page 129 – Sound Off Louisiana

JMC Analytics’ Couvillon sees 2023 Louisiana GOP field for Governor expanding beyond Landry, Nungesser; touts State Sen. Gary Smith as potential Democratic “standard bearer.”

Political analyst and pollster John Couvillon of JMC Analytics appears to revel when provided the opportunity by Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns to espouse his thoughts on prospective candidates for Louisiana Governor in 2023.

Political analyst and pollster John Couvillon of JMC Analytics was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) on Monday, September 27, 2021. Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns asked Couvillon to speculate on whether he foresees any GOP contenders beyond the all-but-obvious contenders of Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry entering the 2023 race for Louisiana Governor. Here’s what Couvillon had to say:

Couvillon provides his take on any GOP contenders beyond Landry and Nungesser for Louisiana Gov. in 2023 and also his take on whom the “standard bearer” may be for the Democrats entailing the Louisiana Governor’s race in 2023.

We’ll point out that, when Gov. Edwards put his foot in his mouth on the 9/16/21 “ask the Governor Jim Engster show” regarding the cause of death for Ronald Greene or, more likely, when he felt compelled to dispel any notion of a Louisiana State Police (LSP) cover-up entailing Greene’s death because he’s had an active role in aiding and abetting that cover-up in order to win his 2019 quest for Louisiana Governor, we made the following observation from the just-linked feature:

During the Engster interview, one caller asked for Edwards to consider running for President of the United States. Not only did Edwards rule that out (in stating, “I love my wife and want to keep her,” in indicating she would not be on board for a Presidential run), but he also ruled out challenging John Kennedy for U. S. Senate next year. He indicated that he looks forward to returning to his family home and resuming working in private practice. Let’s give him credit for one thing: he knows his political career, just as was the case for his predecessor, Bobby Jindal, is over.
Having said that, if the best the GOP has to offer in 2023 is Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry, don’t be surprised if a dark horse in the person of Gary Smith (D-Norco) doesn’t become the next one to pull off a feat similar to Edwards’ own incredible feat in 2015. It is truly a sad state of affairs in Louisiana politics unless there are changes in the offing for the GOP major announced field of contenders for the Governor’s Mansion in 2023! We sure hope such changes ARE in the offing!

Given our commentary above, we’ll note Couvillon mentioned the same name we touted as a prospective Democratic contender, and we’ll add that Couvillon’s contention that more GOP candidates will enter the field beyond Landry and Nungesser comes as music to our ears! Being blunt, we have no intention whatsoever of supporting or lifting a finger to assist either one of those two gentlemen in occupying the Governor’s Mansion in early 2024! None!

Nungesser was never even a serious consideration for us. Over the course of the next two years, we’ll gradually roll out features that have caused us to go from being enthusiastic supporters of Attorney General Jeff Landry to being in the “no way in hell in 2023” camp.

Irrespective of whether Landry and/or his operatives (who are typically pretty bright and come in handy to offset the fact that Jeff Landry literally doesn’t possess walking-around intellect) realize it or not, Landry’s negatives are sky high among many Louisiana voters. That is to say they are unwilling to vote for him under any circumstances!

Many of those “no way in hell I’ll support Landry” folk, including Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns, not only supported him in 2015, but quite a few even raised funds for his 2015 race and now state to us privately that they too are absolutely and unequivocally in the “no way in hell” camp entailing Landry!

Landry’s operatives’ obvious strategy is to convince a black candidate to enter the Governor’s race in 2023 who has some decent name recognition and can run a decently-funded campaign with the obvious hope that balck candidate finishes second behind Landry. Thereafter, Landry’s folk believe it’s clear sailing for Landry into the Governor’s Mansion (dreams of Mike Foster v. Cleo Fields in 1995 dangle in their minds during their sleep)!

We believe it’s not 100 percent totally out of the question for Landry’s camp to get the absolute shock of their collective lives when the returns roll in on election night even if the above “dream scenario” they crave so much were to unfold! We view Landry as THAT bad! We don’t sugar coat anything at Sound Off Louisiana, and Landry’s stock has absolutely plummeted in our eyes over the last few years and, we can state with a high degree of certainty that many other Louisiana citizens share our sentiments regarding Landry!

For those who may care to listen in on Couvillon’s take on national races with an emphasis on the midterms next year, feel free to watch his presentation in its entirety by clicking here.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops). Supply your email address within the subscribe box. You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.

St. Martin Parish President Cedars caves on Broussard’s farming, begs for court hearing cancellation; was he attempting to shield Parish from liability for questionably-legal restraining order?

St. Martin Parish Government (SMPG) District 6 Councilman Brook Champagne, speaking at the August 3, 2021, SMPG Council meeting, makes the emphatic statement that farmer and constituent Billy Broussard is “violating the zoning ordinance, and there’s no doubt about it!”

We really can’t blame anyone not living in St. Martin Parish or with ties to it for failing to pay much attention to our initial feature of alleged bullying by Louisiana State Police Trooper Scott Lopez wherein he forbid one of farmer Billy Broussard’s drivers to ever drive down “my road” again.

Again, we also can’t blame those without St. Martin Parish ties for not investing much time in our follow-up feature in which we outlined what appears to be a very well-organized conspiracy to shut down the operations of farmer Billy Broussard.

Likewise, we can’t really fault anyone without St. Martin Parish ties for missing out on our third feature in the series exposing Broussard’s attorney’s response to what certainly appears to quite likely be an illegal restraining order issued by the St. Martin Parish Government (SMPG) and, more specifically, Parish President Chester Cedars, which shut down the farming operations of Billy Broussard.

By our own admission, the features were certainly lengthy. Nevertheless, they are in full conformity with our policy of only publishing material for which we have conducted extensive and in-depth research. For the benefit of those who chose to skip segments 1-3 linked above on this series, we’re going to make life real simple for you if you’d like to get caught up in no time flat.

How will we do that? Simple. What follows is an 8-minute video of highlights of SMPG President Chester Cedars forcefully advocating for an ordinance which he convinced the SMPG Council to pass that would give him (at least he likely mistakenly thought) the legal authority to shut Broussard’s operations down! Here is that 8-minute highlight video complete with on-screen captions which succinctly state Broussard’s attorney’s contentions as to why Cedars and the SMPG were likely on shaky legal ground in pursuing the actions Cedars pursued:

8-minute video highlights of Cedars, his seemingly very cozy relationship with another tree service company and Broussard competitor, and repeated instances of Cedars convincing the SMPG Council that the body was on solid legal ground when, in fact, that ground ultimately appears to have turned out to be more like quicksand for the reasons presented in the captions on the video.

Now, at the conclusion of the third installment, we stated how anxiously we awaited being able to attend the court hearing scheduled for Tuesday, September 14, 2021 and at which SMPG sought to convert what now appears to be a quite-likely illegal Temporary Restraining Order into a Preliminary Injunction. We stated that we’d be filming outside the courthouse to let our subscribers and site visitors know just how things turned out.

Well, we were denied that opportunity. Why? Because SMPG officials contacted Broussard’s attorney the day before the hearing, Monday, September 13, 2021, and indicated that they were prepared to make major concessions in exchange for the hearing being canceled. In our firm opinion, this was a straight-up effort to try and shield the SMPG from the obvious liability they face from engaging in Cedars’ renegade actions! It’s literally that simple!

From what we’re told, SMPG officials met with Broussard and his attorney the next day and indicated that, if he would merely complete an “application” (apparently for zoning variance notwithstanding that Broussard and his legal team dispute the need for any “variance” as they contend no zoning violation has transpired), they are essentially assuring him that the application for the zoning variance will be approved at a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing in November of 2021.

In our opinion, this whole exercise is nothing more than an effort for SMPG officials to be able to state, after approval of the questionably-necessary zoning variance, that, “It’s just like we told Mr. Broussard. If he’d just followed our ‘process,’ we never would have had to sue him in the first place!” Broussard has contended all along that going through the “process” is, “complicated since we are not running a business from that address but instead doing private farming and agriculture.”

Our own observations about the motivation for SMPG officials engaging in the action they did in totally caving and calling off their own court-requested hearing notwithstanding, it appears Broussard is willing to extend more courtesy to the SMPG and its “process” than we believe we would be able to muster were we faced with the circumstances to which he has been subjected.

From what we’ve been told, agreement has been reached by both parties, with the essential elements of that agreement itemized as follow:

1) proceeding with any “zoning variance application” is strictly an attempt at compromise;

2) any completion of the application is not an admission of guilt of a zoning violation by Broussard; furthermore, SMPG officials recognize that Broussard flatly denies that he has violated any zoning ordinance of the SMPG;

3) no material contained within the application nor any statements at public hearings entailing the application may be used as evidence for any litigation entailing Broussard (except any appeal by Broussard of any zoning ruling by SMPG);

4) Broussard disputes that the Duchamp Road property is zoned “R2” (mixed residential), and that, by filling in a blank on the zoning variance application regarding existing zoning as “R2,” Broussard does not infer concurrence with that zoning, and filling in that line with “R2” shall not be admissible in any litigation entailing Broussard;

5) Entering the requested zoning “change to” (from “R2”) does not infer that any zoning change is needed for Broussard to conduct his current activities on his property, and filling in the “change to” line on the application shall not be an admission that the property needs to be rezoned nor may the placing of a designation in that blank be admissible in court regarding any Broussard litigation.

We’ll also point out that SMPG officials told Broussard to, “go ahead and resume the activities you were engaging in prior to us issuing the C & D letter and subsequently filing the restraining order.”

We’ll ask our subscribers and site visitors: Is that pretty much a T-total cave by SMPG officials, or what?

After all, when one issues a questionably-legal C & D letter, subsequently files a quite-likely illegal Restraining Order, requests a cancellation of the Preliminary Injunction court hearing originally sought by that entity, then gives a wink and a nod to the pre-Restraining-Order activities in full, we’ll use some of Cedars’ own words: “Don’t know what you call that, but we call that a T-total cave!”

This apparently very kind gesture on Broussard’s part notwithstanding, we will continue monitoring this whole sordid scandal until its conclusion to include videotaping any hearing for the questionably-necessary “zoning change,” and the submission of that requested zoning change before the SMPG full Council (assuming it passes the Planning and Zoning Committee).

There is one side benefit for us entailing this delay. That benefit will be that, by the time of the zoning hearing, we will have either received the body-cam video of LSP Trooper Scott Lopez for the afternoon of Monday, June 14, 2021 when he allegedly stopped one of Broussard’s drivers and stated to him, “You better not drive down MY road again if you know what’s good for you,” or a statement from Louisiana State Police (LSP) that no such video is available.

If it turns out to be the latter (i.e. that no body-cam video exists for that 6/14/21 alleged encounter with Lopez), that will apparently be yet one more instance of an LSP Trooper (Lopez in this case) selectively violating LSP’s own body-worn camera policy on which we requested the latest version.

As indicated on the just-linked document, the latest LSP body-worn camera policy is dated March 1, 2021. The folk with extensive LSP knowledge whom we’ve asked for guidance on that policy summed their observations up with, “there sure are a ton of ‘shalls’ in that policy!”

Stay tuned for the next episode of farmer Billy Broussard’s encounters with the SMPG and its President, Chester Cedars!

Even as AP reports May 20 Davis/Belton meeting subject of Federal investigation, Louisiana Gov. Edwards says media reports of State Police cover-up are “overblown or just false.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards

Appearing on Wednesday’s (September 15, 2021) “Ask the Governor” Jim Engster show and as reported thereafter by The Louisiana Illuminator the next day (Thursday, September 16, 2021), Gov. Edwards strongly downplayed any cover-up by Louisiana State Police (LSP) regarding the May 10, 2019 in-custody death of Ronald Greene. Edwards even appeared to spar with Engster over Engster’s statement that the initial cause of death reported by LSP (that it was a vehicle accident) was “a falsehood.” Rarely will one ever find a host of a broadcast more Edwards-friendly than Engster, so let’s listen in on the segment where they discussed Greene’s death and any potential LSP cover-up with special focus near the end with Edwards saying he doesn’t want to “quibble” with Engster over the cause of Greene’s death:

Engster and Edwards discuss any LSP cover-up entailing Ronald Greene’s death on Wednesday’s (September 15, 2021) “Ask the Governor” Jim Engster show.

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at a few segments of that Louisiana Illuminator feature which augment the above Engster segment:

In an interview with the Illuminator, Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Louisiana police watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the governor is not privy to the details of those inquiries.
“The information that he is getting is probably coming from the State Police, which is the subject of the investigation,” Goyeneche said. “My advice to the public is to take what the governor is saying with a few grains of salt.”
State Rep. Ted James (D-Baton Rouge), who serves as chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus — a close ally of Edwards — said he was disappointed to hear the governor downplayed a cover-up in the case.
“It’s clear everywhere else across the state that the State Police did everything to try to conceal and hide the truth,” James said.
James said the cover-up allegations didn’t just arise when the agency withheld videos from the public. Troopers told Greene’s family that he died on impact in the wreck, concealed body-camera footage and lied to internal affairs investigators, he said.
In an attempt to regain public trust in the agency, State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis held a press conference last week to highlight some police reforms.
But James said he has zero confidence in the agency.
“I’m very disappointed that the governor doesn’t see this as a cover-up,” James said. “Ray Charles could have seen this is a cover-up. It’s glaring.”

Also breaking this week, our subscribers may recall us calling upon LSP Col. Lamar Davis at a September 10, 2021 hastily-arranged press conference to “clear the air” regarding a controversial meeting between him, Union Parish District Attorney John Belton, LSP Lt. Col. Doug Cain, LSP Lt. Col. Chavez Cammon, LSP’s then-chief Legal Counsel Faye Morrison, Belton’s chief assistant, and one other member of Belton’s staff. Let’s provide video again of Davis’ response to our question:

LSP Col. Davis responds to Burns’ question on the accuracy of the AP report stating that he tried to convince DA John Belton that LSP troopers’ actions in the arrest of Ronald Greene were “justified.”

Last week, the AP doubled-down on its prior report when it published this feature on Davis’ press conference on Friday, September 10, 2021 in stating that the meeting itself “has become the subject of a Federal investigation into possible obstruction of justice.” From the feature:

Davis also sought to play down a meeting on May 20 — the day after AP published graphic footage of Greene’s death — in which state police brass traveled to Ruston to review the long-concealed body camera video with John Belton, the Union Parish district attorney. Belton became so concerned with the circumstances of Greene’s death two years ago that he referred the case to federal authorities, who began a civil rights investigation.
The command staff made the case during the meeting that the troopers’ actions had been justified during Greene’s arrest, according to several people familiar with the meeting, which itself has become the subject of a federal investigation into possible obstruction of justice. But Davis on Friday insisted he had not asked Belton “or any other official to not pursue charges on any of my employees” in Greene’s death.
“I would never do that,” Davis said. “I have never done that.”

Things appear to be getting interesting for sure. We’ll wrap this feature up by fulfilling the desires of some of our most dedicated subscribers. They asked us to first make sure anyone following this blog would be aware why Gov. Edwards is going to back law enforcement no matter what the circumstances. Here would be the possible reason stated in a mere 11 seconds:

Gov. Edwards touts his family’s strong ties to law enforcement, particularly sheriffs, which have long controlled LSP’s operations through the Louisiana Sheriffs Association.

Finally, those same subscribers asked that we reintroduce a theme song we adopted entailing Edwards not long after he was elected Governor, so here is that theme song now resurrected almost four years later:

Sound Off Louisiana theme song adopted for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards not long after he was elected Governor of Louisiana in 2015.

During the Engster interview, one caller asked for Edwards to consider running for President of the United States. Not only did Edwards rule that out (in stating, “I love my wife and want to keep her,” in indicating she would not be on board for a Presidential run), but he also ruled out challenging John Kennedy for U. S. Senate next year. He indicated that he looks forward to returning to his family home and resuming working in private practice. Let’s give him credit for one thing: he knows his political career, just as was the case for his predecessor, Bobby Jindal, is over.

Having said that, if the best the GOP has to offer in 2023 is Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry, don’t be surprised if a dark horse in the person of Gary Smith (D-Norco) doesn’t become the next one to pull off a feat similar to Edwards’ own incredible feat in 2015. It is truly a sad state of affairs in Louisiana politics unless there are changes in the offing for the GOP major announced field of contenders for the Governor’s Mansion in 2023! We sure hope such changes ARE in the offing!