Former State Rep. Erich Ponti was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) on Monday, April 1, 2019, to promote an entire series of gas tax increases, increased registration fees for hybrid cars (to $200), increased registration fees for electric vehicles (to $300), all in an effort to increase revenues for funding highway and bridge construction and repair in Louisiana.
Though Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns posed several questions of Ponti (outlined below), he also chose to take an action he’s never yet taken in covering a BRPC speaker.
Burns found himself both livid and insulted at much of Ponti’s commentary on “legislator accountability.” For that reason, he chose to lay the foundation for challenging Ponti away from the BRPC because of his own reservations about being able to “maintain civility” in light of Ponti’s commentary. On Sunday, April 7, 2019, Burns let loose on Ponti’s commentary in the following video produced that same day:
In the preceding video, Burns makes the analogy of a customer leaving Academy Sports with a new fishing rod and, at the check out counter right after he forks over the money, the cashier states, “That’s nice that you thought you could use this money to buy this nice fishing rod, but I’ve got another customer I really like over here and he needs a gun so, sir, I’m keeping the money you just handed to me, taking it over to him so he can buy a nice shotgun, and you can go ahead and take your rear end right on out the front door!”
That scenario is a prime example of both Ponti and Carter being perfectly willing to take the money that we taxpayers paid under the premise we were to get roads and bridges constructed and repaired, and they gave it to Alario, his family, and consulting contracts through the roof (see last entry on link above). They then simply nodded their heads up and down while former Gov. Bobby Jindal was in England “educating” the folk over there about Sharia Law while disgraced former LSP Col. Mike Edmonson was simultaneously back home throwing together on a napkin a near 35% raise to LSP Troopers which they readily agreed to. It is therefore beyond infuriating that these two gentlemen would have the unmitigated gall to stand up and lecture to taxpaying citizens to, “call your legislator and demand accountability.”
What really set Burns off (to the point that, as he said, he had to leave the room while Ponti made his presentation) was an excellent question posed by relatively-new (four months or so) BRPC Member Coleman Brown regarding the historical Louisiana Legislature’s spending priorities as well as Ponti’s take on Baton Rouge’s recent “gift” to other taxpayers in approving a 1/2 cent sales tax to make repairs and improvements to roads, “over 50% of which are STATE-OWNED or Federally-owned” in Baton Rouge. Let’s take a look at Ponti’s response to Brown:
Ponti responds to Brown’s excellent question.
We’re looking very forward to Brown being active in the BRPC and posing similar such questions of other guests. As for Ponti’s answer of, “that’s the past,” we express extreme animosity toward him regarding that answer. He served in the Legislature and let $600 million of our taxpayer funds designated to road and bridge construction and repair be diverted to LSP! We really don’t give a flying flip that there’s any so-called assurance that the money will be “in lockbox” to prevent such garbage in the future! Mr. Ponti and Rep. Carter, you gave our money away, now YOU find a way to get it back! Otherwise, don’t ask us for a freaking dime! Would that fishing rod Academy customer continue to patronize the store merely by management explaining it away as, “that’s the past?”
When we see massive traffic backups across the Mississippi River Bridge, we don’t think to ourselves, “Well, that’s what happens when people won’t vote for a tax to fix the problem.” Instead, what we say is, “Well, everyone is sitting in this traffic in order than Senate President John Alario’s family can live high on the hog off our Transportation Trust Fund and, as if that’s not bad enough, while we’re told there’s simply no money to fund highway and bridge construction and repair, just look at the $40 million + in pork barrel projects Kevin Boyd identified in this Hayride article!” In fact let’s just take a moment to itemize it from Boyd’s article, shall we?:
$1,100,000 for the C.C. Antoine Park in Shreveport
$60,900 for a junior golf course in Shreveport
$66,600 for a farmer’s market in Westwego
$1,450,000 for parks in Westwego
$1,004,400 for an arts and community center in Westwego
$203,800 for a farmer’s market in Winnsboro
$971,200 for a sports complex in Youngsville
$1,500,000 for Tulane University, which last time I checked was private
$700,000 for the Baton Rouge metro airport, which no one uses
$13,928,100 for the National World War II Museum, a NGO
$4,117,900 for Kingsley House, another NGO
$15,000 for Efforts of Grace, a NGO
$100,000 for the McKinley High School Alumni Association
$2,850,000 for Lighthouse For The Blind
$100,000 for the Baton Rouge YMCA
$300,000 for the Archdiocese of New Orleans
$55,000 for Reconcile New Orleans, Inc.
$200,000 for the Louisiana Association For The Blind
$405,000 for the Opportunities Industrialization Center
$35,000 for the Boys and Girls Club
Notice how much of the preceding pork is within Sen. President John Alario’s District; furthermore, every single fiscally-conservative Louisiana citizen has got to be disheartened beyond belief that Alario, who has been in the Louisiana Legislature since 1972 (that’s 47 years for anyone counting) has announced that he is once again going to switch back to the other Chamber of the Legislature (the House of Representatives this time) to seek yet another term. Further, we hear he plans to either put the full-court press on to be Speaker or else designate a puppet for that role and him push for the Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee (whose Chairman is term-limited Cameron Henry, who plans to serve in the Louisiana Senate). That secnario would permit even more wasteful pork barrel appropriations such as Boyd outlined above! One member of the House of Representatives confided in us to being queasy about the House of Representatives, in 2020, “becoming the equivalent of the present-day Senate.” What an absolute nightmare scenario!
As mentioned three paragraphs up, Ponti wants us all to get a “warm and fuzzy” feeling that the diversion he and Cater permitted to happen won’t happen again. Here’s his assurance if anyone wants to give it any credibility:
Ponti attempts to provide a “warm and fuzzy” feeling to taxpayers that the LSP fleecing he and Cater permitted to transpire won’t repeat itself.
As mentioned above, despite Burns’ self-admiited anger at Ponti and Carter for their condescending appeals for taxpayers to call legislators and essentially demand a gas tax increase (as part of their assessment of legislators being “accountable” to taxpayers notwithstanding the total lack thereof entailing Ponti and Carter and Transportation Trust money diverted to LSP on their watches), he did manage to pose two civil questions to Ponti. The first question was an assessment of Ponti’s confidence and belief that he can actually pass the measures he’d talked Carter into sponsoring for him. Here’s Ponti’s response:
Ponti responds to specific questions by Burns regarding the proposal’s viability and the public’s ability to get a list of members to his organization.
Notice that Ponti admits to not having a tick-sheet tally on whether he can get the measure out of the House Ways and Means Committee and that, despite this massive collection of coalitions pushing the initiative, we’ll have to wait until “a later date” to see a list of members of his organization’s membership. He also totally avoided the question entailing having 70 votes in the House to pass the measure! Translation: He knows he’s not even remotely close to having the 70 votes needed to pass the House, and he won’t ever come close to getting them this session either!
Burns’ second question entailed Ponti reconciling his optimism that his measure will pass notwithstanding the fact it’s an election year with Gov. Edwards’ statement made on January 7, 2019 before the BRPC that, “We’re not going to have to raise taxes this year.” Edwards’ statement is incorporated into the following video seeking Ponti’s reconciling of the inherent conflict between his optimism and Gov. Edwards’ emphatic statement:
Ponti attempts to reconcile his optimism of passage of his tax measure with Gov. Edwards’ statement about not raising taxes in 2019.
Next, in what was an almost-certain plant question, Ponti is asked where he expects opposition. His response really, really T’d Burns off, a fact which is readily evident beginning at the 9:00 mark of the first video on this page, and we want to STRONGLY, STRONGLY recommend our members watch from the 9:00 on in the first video above to see just how angry Ponti’s response made Burns! Here is Ponti’s response that generated Burns’ wrath:
Ponti is vague on the “outside influence” he believes will constitute his opposition. As Burns states on the first video (beginning at the 9:00 mark), “anyone with two functioning brain cells knows he’s referencing American’s for Prosperity (AFP).”
As mentioned in the first video above (start at 9:00 mark), Rep. Steve Carter has already let it be known his disdain for AFP. Let’s take a 30-second review of his hostility at this time since he wants to be the next State Senator for Senate District 16:
Rep. Steve Carter, a candidate for Senate District 16, vents his EXTREME anger directed at AFP.
Rep. Ted James makes utterly bone-headed statements about AFP!
Here’s Ponti’s statements that we taxpayers, “want a gas tax and don’t care that it’s an election year,” and also that we need to “reach out to our legislators to hold them accountable,” if anybody cares to watch:
Ponti insists Louisiana citizens want their gas taxes raised.
CLICK HERE if you’d like to view Ponti’s presentation in its entirety, but we can’t blame anyone who either #1) gets furious at what he says, or #2) suddenly feels nauseous!
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Workers for GDD8 whom informant Carl Patterson alleges are performing work inside a pole barn owned by a public works employee.
Contractor Billy Broussard has continued his crusade to expose what he contends is massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by officials of the Gravity Drainage District 8 of Ward 1 of Calcasieu Parish (GDD8) by making a request to be on the District’s April 1, 2019 agenda, which convened this very evening. On Thursday, March 27, 2019, District Superintendent, Eddie Hebert, telephoned Broussard and, as the following 97-second audio demonstrates, tersely informed him that his agenda request was denied. Hebert, who was clearly being guided by an attorney as evidenced by the long delays for him to respond to Broussard’s simple questions, also tersely informed Broussard that he was “not to contact” the District again. Let’s listen in on their brief phone call in its entirety, shall we?:
Hebert tersely informs Broussard that his agenda request is “denied.”
We telephoned the District hours before its meeting convened to inquire which attorney denied Broussard’s request. We spoke with Ms. Leslie Impastato, who serves as office manager. We asked if she could identify the attorney who denied Broussard’s request. We asked because, if that attorney may be Russell Stutes, Jr. (which she indicated that it may have been), that would seem to be an inappropriate action on his part because Stutes (should he possess any level of ethical proclivity), ought to realize a need to recuse himself given that Broussard already has a pending ethics complaint against Stutes. Impastato could only identify two attorneys whom the District has employed: general counsel Robert Kleinschmidt (an Assistant DA in Calcasieu DA John DeRosier’s office) and Stutes.
As Impastato continued to dance around answering which attorney denied the request, we inquired, “So is it safe to say that either Stutes or Kleinschmidt denied the request?” Impastato responded with the utterly brilliant statement, “Well, now you’re putting words in my mouth.” We responded, “Well, you just said you’ve only employed two attorneys, so how can it be an attorney who is not Stutes or Kleinschmidt?” Impastato, apparently becoming desperate, stated, “Well, it certainly could be Sam Gabb,” to which we responded, “Sam Gabb is the attorney for the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, and Mr. Broussard has made no request to have an agenda item added to that agency’s agenda!”
Impastato then volunteered that we, Sound Off Louisiana, “clearly do not know the facts of the case.” When we responded that we believe we know them quite well and asked if she had looked at our features, she responded, “I’ve read them all, which is why I can state that you don’t know the facts of the case.” We then responded that both Stutes and Gabb turned down our invitations to appear on camera and clarify any factual errors they deem to be published.
Impastato then continued to display her sheer brilliance in stating that GDD8, “would be in violation of the restraining order if we permitted Mr. Broussard to be on the agenda and address the restraining order.” After we informed her that GDD8 has enjoyed four years after the restraining order was signed during which it could have filed a motion to dissolve that restraining order and that Broussard would certainly not oppose any such motion, Impastato stated that, “I’m not going to play your games,” after which she promptly hung up the phone on us. For the record, when Broussard’s former attorney, Robin “the judges are crooked in 14th JDC” Sylvester, filed a motion to dissolve the restraining order, Stutes, representing GDD8 (though he appears to have gotten no vote of the body to even initiate the restraining order in the first place) actually responded with a motion seeking more sanctions against Broussard.
While Stutes certainly ought to recuse himself regarding legal counsel where matters entailing Broussard are concerned, William Most, Broussard’s current attorney regarding matters entailing GDD8 and the CPPJ, also strongly believes that Calcasieu Parish DA John DeRosier should also recuse the entire office to include Kleinschmidt. In fact, Most sent DeRosier a letter seeking the Calcasieu Parish DA’s recusal dated November 18, 2018. Here’s that letter:
Now, regarding Impastato, let’s take a look at an interesting document which she signed providing her assurance that GDD8 documents would be maintained until any project’s closeout:
Why is the preceding document important? Well, we’ve also obtained a ton of damning material from a gentleman named Carl Patterson, who worked for GDD8 and was a known whistleblower for acts of malfeasance, payroll fraud, felony theft, and filing of false public records. Those charges entailed Brian Benoit, who was prosecuted by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office. He pled guilty to malfeasance, and the state agreed to dismiss thirteen others, along with charges of payroll fraud, filing false public records and felony theft. Let’s take a look at another paragraph from the preceding article which every reader may find intriguing:
As well, the state has settled the case against Benoit’s son, originally charged with intimidating witnesses after he allegedly threatened two whistle blowers. Justin Benoit was allowed to plead to disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor. He’ll be on probation and must get help for anger management.
Benoit was arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center and charged with sexual battery, unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, possession of stolen things from $25,000 or more, and resisting an officer.
Benoit was also arrested on warrants out of Jeff Davis Parish including accessory after the fact to first degree murder. The Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office tells KATC that Benoit’s warrant is in connection to a murder in Topsy that occurred in August 2018. Two people were previously arrested in that investigation. Read more here.
Benoit was also arrested on other charges including possession of or dealing in firearms with obliterated numbers and direct contempt of court.
Now, Patterson has provided us with a ton of additional material related to GDD8 alleged corruption and criminal acts. Let’s take a look at just a few photos he provided and add in his commentary on same, shall we?
First, recall above that there may be reason for concern regarding Leslie “Sound Off Louisiana doesn’t know any of the facts of the case” Impastato assuring FEMA that all documents pertaining to debris cleanup are maintained until closeout. Well, Patterson reinforced such concerns when he took the following two photographs of just such documents on April 8, 2008, a critical time during which Broussard was removing Rita debris:
GDD8 public documents that Patterson has stated that he observed being destroyed that he photographed on April 9, 2008.
Another set of GDD8 public documents Patterson asserts he observed being shredded that he photographed on April 9, 2008.
So, given that Impastato signed the document above on January 9, 2006, if Patterson’s statements are correct, it sure looks like Impastato was unable to live up to her commitment. Of course, when you’ve been threatened with your life if you don’t keep your mouth shut only a short time before, perhaps it’s understandable to “look the other way” when documents are shredded!
A photo from the rear entailing work transpiring at a pole barn Patterson states is “owned by a public works employee,” with “flow-fill cement poured at a later date — all at taxpayer expense — as a job for a benefit of one,” which Patterson asserts cannot legally transpire. Photo was taken on December 19, 2012.
A standing pile of dirt showing where Patterson took the first photo above with that flow-fill cement being “poured at a later date” for the benefit of one public works employee. Photo was taken on December 19, 2012.
Photo Patterson took on February 7, 2011 entailing underbrush on property owned by a Calcasieu Parish Police Jury employee.
Photo Patterson took on February 9, 2011, two days after the photo above, after all debris was cut down and burned on property Patterson states is owned by a Calcasieu Parish Police Jury employee. Patterson indicates that “no benefit to off-road drainage resulted. This was another job for the benefit of one.”
Patterson has informed us about other problematic acts by GDD8 public officials to include the direct theft of approximately $200,000 in limestone as well as a drainage ditch dug across one official’s property that benefitted that one property owner and that owner alone, another act which Patterson has said is illegal.
No wonder Stutes doesn’t want Broussard, a known associate of Patterson who accompanied him to the Legislative Auditor’s Office on February 5, 2019 to provide factual information (though perhaps Impastato would claim it’s more inaccuracies on Sound Off Louisiana’s part) on the level and locations of obvious debris removals which should not have been portrayed to FEMA as eligible, to appear before his client, GDD8. There is the potential for exposure of a massive cesspool of corruption that everyday Calcasieu Parish citizens may well become justifiably outraged over. [Newsflash to Stutes, GDD8 members, and CPPJ jurors: They’re already mad as hell!]
Patterson had just a few words to say near the end of that meeting with the Legislative Auditor’s Office, but those few words seem awfully powerful and insightful, so we think they deserve a quick view:
Appearing at the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office on February 5, 2019, Patterson vents about the lack of concern regarding theft of local taxpayer dollars, and he emphatically states the concern level is far less for alleged acts defrauding FEMA.
Now, here’s the $1 million question. Why would Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, given all of the pure, rank corruption that has clearly been demonstrated to exist at GDD8 and CPPJ for an extended period of time (most especially during the timeframe Broussard was removing Hurricane Rita debris) simply accept a “sign off” by FEMA monitor Dan Kennedy, whom Broussard contends had a vested interest in having the bayou cleaned since he owned (or owns) property near the bayou that has historically flooded, as accurate? That question is particularly germane given that Broussard contends that, despite being on the job site virtually every day, he has yet to meet Dan Kennedy! We’ll have much more to say on that in a feature we’re compiling and expect to release in about 10-15 days.
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Louisiana State Police Retirement Board Executive Director Irwin Felps, Jr.
On September 4, 2014, a little-known, obscure public body had the responsibility of finding a solution to a law passed that year in total and complete secrecy during the waning moments of the 2014 Louisiana Legislative Session that bestowed an approximate $55,000/year pension boost to former Louisiana State Police (LSP) Col. Mike Edmonson. That obscure body, which had been thrust into the public spotlight to which previously it was unaccustomed, is the LSP Retirement Board (LSPRB).
Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns had no blog experience whatsoever in 2014, but he did (and does) have the ability to create free-standing websites, and he created a permanent, fixed webpage that chronicled the whole “Edmonson Amendment,” as the stealth theft attempt on Edmonson’s part became known. Burns made that webpage in the form of a “corruption play” with 18 acts and a 15-second intermission performed by the late C. B. Forgotston, who was corralling LSP Troopers throughout the state who were voicing their strong discontent to him over the attempted theft on Edmonson’s part which Forgotston would publish through his blog by his same name (which became inactive after Forgotston’s passing).
There was a fierce effort by the LSPRB to avoid transparency regarding the matter. Then-Treasurer (Now U. S. Senator) John Kennedy, who befriended Burns during the timeframe, provided both Burns and Forgotston with a plethora of evidence of the LSPRB’s attempts to avoid transparency. Subsequently Burns, through public records requests of LSPRB attorney invoices, uncovered the fact that the LSPRB was actively seeking legal counsel’s guidance on how to “rein in” Kennedy as they clearly viewed him as a renegade.
Most of that evidence Kennedy provided is available as document links on the preceding linked webpage. In fact, all one has to do is begin with Act 7 of the “corruption play” to begin seeing Sen. Kennedy’s demonstration of the obstructionists acts to include attempting to keep him from even seeing a copy of a Florida special counsel’s report on the matter, thus forcing Kennedy, as a sitting member of the Board, to have to make a freaking public records request for him to see the report! For the record, the Board quickly caved and provided Kennedy with a copy of the report, which Kennedy immediately made public, which was precisely what the Board and its Executive Director, Irwin Felps, Jr., sought to avoid.
Kennedy took matters a step further and, on September 4, 2014, he dressed down both LSPRB Chairman Frank Besson (who remains in that capacity to this day) and Executive Director Irwin Felps, Jr., who likewise remains in that same capacity to this day despite Felps’ repeated overtures over the last 2-3 years that his retirement is “imminent.” In fact, Felps’ position has been posted as the LSPRB, at least in theory, actively sought his replacement. We will not speculate on why a replacement was never selected or why sought-after replacements didn’t end up obtaining the position, and Felps continues to serve long after his “imminent” retirement.
Kennedy felt a need to dress down Felps and Besson after he uncovered the fact that they recommended (or, more accurately, posted a notice attempting to cram it down the public-at-large’s throat) a “public comment policy” calling for names to be randomly drawn from a hat. Only the fortunate ones whose names were drawn from the hat would be permitted to address the LSPRB regarding their sentiments on the “Edmonson Amendment” at that September 4, 2014 meeting. Furthermore, even those fortunate enough to win the “right to address the LSPRB lottery” would be permitted a grand total of two minutes each to express their sentiments. What we just relayed is not a joke and, for anyone who thinks it is, let’s take a gander at then-Treasurer Kennedy in action entailing said dressing down of Besson and Felps, shall we?:
September 4, 2014 LSPRB meeting during which then-Treasurer (now U. S. Senator) John Kennedy dresses down Chairman Frank Besson and Executive Director Irwin Felps, Jr.
The Edmonson Amendment was quickly declared unconstitutional by State District Court Judge Janice Clark once State Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge) filed a lawsuit as a taxpaying citizen in expressing his own outrage at Edmonson’s deceit and scam perpetrated upon both Chambers of the Louisiana Legislature.
Thereafter, meetings of the LSPRB sort of went back to the usual boring affairs, and they faded from the public’s spotlight. We were contacted in the recent past, however, and we were notified that all is most certainly not well within LSPRB’s office. Specifically, we were informed that, notwithstanding consistently satisfactory performance evaluations up to August of 2018, 3 1/2 months later and immediately after Christmas (December 28, 2018 to be precise), Executive Director Irwin Felps, Jr. informed office assistant Shelley Sebastian, a classified civil service employee, in a letter that she would be terminated effective January 7, 2019. Who says there’s no Grinch at Christmas, huh?
Sebastian appealed her termination to Louisiana Civil Service (LCS) on January 22, 2019, noting many alleged inaccuracies in the documents submitted in support of LSPRB’s termination notice which Felps tendered to her. When confronted with the alleged inaccuracies, LSPRB filed a rescission to the termination with LCS on February 26, 2019, which was accepted by the Referee.
Sebastian was then scheduled to return to work on March 11, 2019. Sebastian has stated to us that, upon her return, within five minutes of her first work day on the job, Felps informed her that, “We are going to terminate you again. In the meantime, you are to sit in the Board Office, and you will be provided no access to any office phone, nor will you be permitted to use any computer nor other technology device in this office.”
Sebastian further indicated that an as-yet unidentified Department of Public Safety (DPS) uniformed officer was instructed to sit beside her in that conference room and monitor her for the entire work day! Sebastian indicated to us that, if she needed to use the restroom, she was escorted there and back by the unidentified DPS employee. When we asked how long that situation lasted, she responded, “two days.” Thereafter, Sebastian stated that Felps said, “Until we get this sorted out, it’s best that you not return to this office.” Sebastian also indicated that, upon her return, she was supplied with a 700-page Notice of Termination, which included the entirety of her 300-page personnel file.
Sebastian, via an attorney she’d retained, Tammeral Hills, began commencing with public records requests to include: “The calendar showing tardiness for all employees for each month of the calendar year beginning 2014-2018; any and all performance evaluations showing satisfactory in an attempt to assist employees in receiving a raise; any and all emails mentioning Shelley Sebastian; contract with Department of Public Safety giving special instructions to follow employee Shelley Sebastian when she reported for work on March 11, 2018 (sic); Invoice from Prison Enterprises from September 2018 is not required to be produced.”
When Felps contended that Sebastian is not entitled to receive the documents, Sebastian responded with a Writ of Mandamus seeking for a Judge (Tim Kelley, who drew the case) to order LSPRB to surrender the requested documents. The suit also seeks damages for the alleged failure to surrender the documents against both the LSPRB and Felps personally as the Custodian of Records.
The suit was filed at 5:27 p.m. on Friday, March 22, 2019, so clearly service has not yet been accomplished, but we certainly welcome LSPRB Members (and particularly Felps) to get an advanced sneak peek at what is in transit to Felps by clicking on the preceding link. Ah, heck! We’re feeling generous today, so let’s also provide Felps and crew with the accompanying memorandum in support to Judge Kelley regarding why Sebastain feels he should issue the Mandamus.
Writs of Mandamus are typically extremely difficult to prevail upon simply because the Plaintiff (Sebastian in this instance) must demonstrate clearly to the court that the Defendant (the LSPRB in this instance) has no discretion whatsoever on the matter and must, by law, comply with the action requested. Felps, presumably through an attorney, has, according to the Writ of Mandamus, asserted that the LSPRB does in fact have such discretion and is not required to surrender the documents until an appeal to LCS commences, an act which the LSPRB indicates would trigger Sebastian being “entitled to receive supporting documentation.”
Let’s take a look at a few select highlights from the suit and/or accompanying Memorandum, and provide some brief commentary, shall we (enter sarcasm mode as we find it to be one of the very few avenues for relief from the sheer frustration of the barrage of such instances in Louisiana State government and the absolutely massive legal fees associated therewith)?
Gee, where did it go, Mr. Felps?
Really? Irwin Felps, Jr. is “afraid” of Sebastian! The big-bad, “I’ll tell you about public comment and you having nerve enough to think that, just because you’re an LSPRB Member and the State Treasurer, you somehow believe that you should be able to read a report that cost us around $32,000 to obtain, Treasurer Kennedy,” Irwin Felps? The $160,000/year Irwin Felps, a male, is willing to state he’s “afraid” of little $31,616/year female Sebastian (Sidebar: The LSPRB removed Sebastian from the prior link within minutes of this feature being published, but we screen-saved it in anticipation of same. Here’s the link for the LIVE listing of employees)! Well, okay whatever. All we can say is that, on the numerous occasions that we encountered Sebastian during our routine videotaping of meetings, a partial list of which can be viewed at this link, we found her to be unbelievably friendly, warm, courteous, and she could not have been nicer in timely notifying us via email of upcoming meetings! Well, perhaps we only encountered her on her “good days.”
Oh! So, if this statement is true, we now have Felps admitting that he’s willing to hand out “satisfactory” ratings to employees he secretly deems to be unsatisfactory for the sole purpose of fleecing taxpayers, huh? Wow! We wonder if that practice is pandemic throughout Louisiana State government? If so, it must be nice to work for the State of Louisiana! A decent lawyer would ask Felps on the stand, “Were you lying then when you said she was a satisfactory employee and you recommended a raise, or are you lying now in your steadfast resolve that she is an unsatisfactory employee, and you are bound and determined to fire her a mere 3 1/2 months after you assessed her as ‘satisfactory’?”
Sounds reasonable to us. If you’re going to terminate someone mere days after Christmas, why bother with adhering to Federal law regarding FMLA (and who cares about the technicality that said Federally-mandated leave has been “approved,”)? After all, when one gets on Felps’ bad side, she (since he’s the only male employee in the office) has got to go, dad gum it!
Also, when it comes to state government, isn’t a person who actually performs the work assigned to him or her literally just asking to be fired? You’d think some of these dedicated state employees who do their jobs would sooner or later get it through their thick skulls that it’s all about who you know and that there are plenty of deadhead state jobs as long as you have the right connections. This whole business of doing a job as assigned certainly was a novel concept decades ago, but everybody knows it was just a passing fad for which the whole trend has simply long-since lived out its useful life. Everybody knows that rampant payroll fraud is the “in thing” in state government today. Just ask the old boy at the LSU Vet School!
Regarding apparent confusion on Felps’ part in terms of who actually took sick leave due to illness, are technicalities like that really important? Surely “confusion” is acceptable, huh? We openly wonder if it was Felps, the Board, or just who was “confused” over initiating a huge timber investment made by the retirement system for which they were regularly discussing as we attended meetings a few years back as having literally lost their shirts (well, at least a sleeve or two as we understand some recovery did start to materialize) on said investment? After all, if the office can’t even accurately reflect who is sick and who is not and Sebastian is blamed for some other employee’s sick leave absence, we can certainly cut a little slack on other such minor issues such as slip-shod timber investments, huh? Heck, God only knows who previously owned the timber property? That prior owner obviously benefited handsomely from the investment disaster on the part of the Board, right? Surely the retired troopers don’t mind the sacrifice of foregoing COLAs for years on end to help the prior timber property owner out, huh?
Oh, we see now. Silly us! In other words, the office needs time to “doctor” public records, huh? That sure seems to be eerily similar to the altering of public records in St. Tammany Parish which we recently reported upon. Oh, that’s right, that alleged perpetrator now serves on the State Bar Association’s “Prestigious” Board of Governors! Well, no doubt they share notes just like the good old days in college! The absolute last thing we need is for the public to actually gain access to these public documents. Just ask contractor Billy Broussard! By God, if we turn those documents over to them, they may very well find out about fraud and collusion! No way can we have that!
Oh, so that explains where the original went such that it now “does not exist.” We see now! Gosh, do we feel stupid for even asking!
[Exit sarcasm mode.]
Sebastian telephoned us yesterday, March 26, 2019, and informed us that she has now been officially terminated for a second time, with the effective date being immediate (March 27, 2019). What her official status was from the dates of March 14, 2019 (the first date for which Sebastian informed us that Felps stated that she should not report to the office going forward) through March 27, 2019, we’re not sure. We were told one thing, but we’re going to need to substantiate that through public records request before we actually publish what we were told as being accurate! Nevertheless, if the above allegations are true about “correcting” public documents, there may be four or five different “versions” of Sebastian’s time sheet for that particular period, but we guess they can place them all in a hat and pull the one they want to settle in on as “official” version (guess we had just a tad of remaining sarcasm we just had to get out of our system).
As evidenced at the start of the feature, Felps attempted to bully then-Treasurer Kennedy in attempting to deny him access to the Florida attorneys’ report notwithstanding Kennedy’s standing as a sitting LSPRB member. Kennedy quickly put Felps in his place as evidenced by the video. Now, Felps certainly appears (at least based on the Mandamus’ contents) to be back to his bullying propensities again, but this time with an underling who certainly lacks the clout of Sen. Kennedy. We’ll see if Felps succeeds, but in terms of credibility, Kennedy has already demonstrated to the world that Sebastian may very likely be in possession of more credibility regarding whatever has caused such an unbelievable rift between Felps and Sebastian.
Now, if anyone is wondering, “yes” we have been given more details; however, we believe it would be imprudent to publish them at this time. Instead, we believe the more prudent action on our part is to wait for the next court filing on the litigation, then for us also to provide the LSPRB an opportunity to weigh in and, as always, we’ll attend any court hearings, and we are going to strongly encourage Sebastian to NOT allow this Board (or any other body who will be assessing her situation) to go into Executive Session to discuss her character as she has the FULL right to demand that it be out in the open. Will we be there, camera in tow? Bet your very last dollar on it! If it turns out through some incredible revelations not yet revealed in court documents that somehow Felps is justified in his actions (which would presently seem almost incomprehensible, but we’ve learned that, especially with LSP, to never say “never”), we’ll certainly report whatever that vindication for his actions turns out to be. Right now, we’re just reporting on what the suit and accompanying memorandum convey.
Meantime, we did drop by the office today, March 27, 2019 to sort of “take the temperatures” of the LSPRB members during its Investment Committee meeting, and we did record about 12 minutes of that meeting. Mostly, the focus seemed to be on what discount rate should be used for computing the Unfunded Accrued Liability (UAL). The higher the rate (and that rate is the assumed rate of return on assets), the smaller the liability. Felps did express a tad of frustration (albeit mild) that he feels Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, being the conservative CPA that he is, pushes for a rate that Felps deems a tad low. The effect of a lower rate is to increase the UAL because liabilities are also discounted back to today’s dollars. A lower rate therefore leads to a higher UAL, which makes the LSPRB’s financial position appear worse. For obvious reasons, Felps doesn’t want that to transpire, but we stress in fairness to Felps that there is no “right or wrong” answer on what rate should be used for asset return / liability discount purposes. We doubt many of our subscribers care to watch an extended video of such a discussion, so we’ve just provided the “wham bam, thank you ma’am” version in this paragraph.
Importantly, however, Felps stepped out of the meeting as we exited and provided us with a hand-written list of current members for which we were most appreciative. He also added, “If you need anything else, just call me.” We want anybody upon whom we publish features to have every opportunity to refute our material and, if they take us up on it (as did Louisiana State Police Commission member Jared Riecke both here and here), we promise to distribute the rebuttal. We extended such invitations recently to LSP Col. Reeves entailing potential nepotism for his son (Reeves declined our invitation) and to Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera regarding Mark DeBosier, the former Assistant GOHSEP Director having stated that Purpera’s Office will, “just close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears, and we make sure that there’s no fingerprints on it,” (Purpera also declined our invitation). We certainly extend the same invitation to Felps. If he would like unlimited camera time to refute Sebastian’s allegations against him, he knows precisely how he can reach us and, should he do so, we can be at his office in five minutes, and we will be more than happy to accomodate.
In wrapping this feature up, we referenced at the outset of it that then-Treasurer Kennedy befriended Burns during the Edmonson episode. We know for a fact that Kennedy is fond of the camera, and he quickly liked Burns’ unedited videos such as this one where his sentiments can be conveyed in full and not sliced and diced to bits. Burns was stunned that, upon subsequent encounters with Kennedy, he vividly recalled Burns’ name and called him by his first name at a time when, for the most part, people in any public forum had absolutely no clue whatsoever who Burns was (sure do miss that ability to blind side as we once enjoyed, but in some ways we guess that’s a good thing such ability is now all but gone). We certainly appreciate the very kind words that we know Mr. Forgotston made to Sen. Kennedy in that regard and, as most subscribers know by now, it was Forgotston who repeatedly kept nudging Burns toward forming his own blog, and perhaps that makes it only fitting that the debut Sound Off Louisiana feature was then-Treasurer John Kennedy’s June 4, 2015 presentation to the Baton Rouge Press Club.
It’s also no secret that Burns strongly wanted Kennedy to run for Governor, and he deemed Kennedy to be an “easy slam dunk” win over Gov. Edwards (as did a whole host of other folk, likely secretly including Ole John Bel himself).
One of the most appealing features of Kennedy is that he has already been on record as detesting the status quo of rank corruption within DPS in Louisiana (see the highlighted bullet points Kennedy provided in his press release). Hence, he would have zero at risk in continuing to beat that drumbeat loud and clear and, in our opinion, offered a rare opportunity for a Governor to come in and clean house because, as the video above demonstrates, he is most certainly not a “go along to get along” type leader, and that’s a trait we very much admire.
Our fear after Kennedy’s announcement passing on the Governor’s race has been that neither of the other two Republican candidates would be so bold and daring. Why? Because the easier (and often higher probability of success) path is to do as Edwards did in 2015 and make the backroom deals that are clearly not in the best interests of Louisiana citizens. A perfect example: Edwards promising Edmonson’s reappointment even though he would never even admit he’d done so publicly despite Edmonson bragging that Edwards told him, “I never even considered anybody but you.” That’s the easier path to victory in a Governor’s race because it builds momentum to gain the “law-enforcement machine vote” of the Sheriff’s Association, the LSTA (legally or not, and they have actually sued to seek to make such support legal) etc.
The problem is that the winner of the Governor’s race who deploys that route to win ends up totally beholden to that machine vote and, given the mass corruption in law enforcement offices in Louisiana (particularly LSP), we feel that’s exactly why Louisiana is always listed first or second on the lists of states most corrupt in the U. S. (we typically trade places with New Jersey). We also believe it was those backroom deals Edwards cut that caused there to be so little change in many key posts from the Jindal days. Consequently, perhaps it should come as no surprise that we believe history books will reflect Edwards’ tenure in office as one riddled with corruption. We also can’t help but note the irony of that given his heavy focus on being “Holier than Thou” in his 2015 campaign ads entailing his so-called “Honor Code.” Anybody taking any bets on whether we see THOSE ads recycled from now through October 12, 2019? Didn’t think we could find any takers!
Fortunately, we’re hearing rumblings from within the Abraham camp that his quiet and calm demeanor shouldn’t be misconstrued for someone with a high tolerance for corruption, and that thrills us! We also have to believe that it’s Abraham’s positive attributes that have provided the impetus for what we deem to be a pretty respectable polling number given that, so far, Edwards hasn’t experienced the first shot fired regarding his abysmal track record of living up to his so-called “Honor Code.”
October 12, 2019 is a long way away, Governor, and in the political arena, it’s an absolute eternity. You just may want to refrain from counting all those chickens in the hen-house you had installed at the Mansion until they’ve hatched!
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