Former Dillard University President Walter M. Kimbrough.
In 1991, Louisiana voters approved, in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, permitting the Louisiana State Police (LSP) to have its own civil service department, and that department is the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC).
An important sales pitch made to voters for the formation of the LSPC was that its Members would be “independent” of the Governor and would instead be comprised of individuals who were recommended by private university Presidents across Louisiana.
Many folk have quietly contended that the entire process for obtaining nominees for these appointments is essentially a sham and that the Governor merely tells the University Presidents who should be nominated, and that’s who makes the list. Nevertheless, until this week, there has been no way to supply definitive proof that voters’ assurance that these selections are independent of the Governor is being violated and that Louisiana’s Constitution is being blatantly violated by Governors choosing to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of that Constitutional provision.
Sure, we saw it essentially play out when former LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne allegedly got told to, “shut the f— up” by former Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Office. She got that alleged directive from Gov. Edwards’ Office after she complained that the Constitution was not being adhered to.
Nevertheless, the alleged action by Edwards’ Office to Derbonne is just that: an allegation. Thus, even though the allegation got formalized in pleadings filed in court as Derbonne sued the LSPC asserting a “constructive discharge,” her allegation doesn’t constitute authoritative proof that this entire process is a complete and total sham.
All that changed this week, however, when former Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough responded to our most recent feature by indicating that University Presidents are, “simply being used as cover” for the appointments and that, by appointing anyone other than the one the Governor tells them to appoint, they would be committing “political suicide.”
In the video for today’s feature, Sound Off Louisiana‘s founder, Robert Burns, expresses his heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Kimbrough for exposing the raw naked truth of this entire sham process for precisely what it is: a sham! Here’s the video:
12/31/24: Burns expresses his heartfelt gratitude to former Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough for exposing the, “raw and naked truth of the sham nature of these LSPC appointments.” Regarding Kimbrough’s reference to Congressman Fields, beginning at the 6:45 mark, we replicate Fields’ ditching of his bill to abolish the LSPC and the fact that Fields actually had the bill, “withdrawn from the files of the Senate.”
Thank you for including me after you published your blog without getting my insight. Since you found my email address, clearly you had a motive for the approach you took.
I found it interesting that you made me the subject of your hit piece (picture included) when over the past decade there have been scores of issues with this commission. I can’t find you attacking the school that nominated Sabrina Richardson (who was it anyway?) and she has been in the news the most.
Your post is misleading. We submit names for consideration- the Governor decides. And while you were able to access written communication, you did not have access to all communications.
You then conveniently left out the fact that over 70% of citizens voted in 2022 to give the Senate veto authority on any nominee. In essence, Senator Cleo Fields raised the same issues I had, created a constitutional amendment, and it passed. This now provides a great check and balance so that any Senator can prevent a problematic nominee from being confirmed. This now removes universities from the politics of this appointment, which is good.
The fair thing would be to include this fact. But again, you had a motive. And your attempt to pit me against the Black community and the Ronald Greene tragedy was insulting.
In the end, university presidents are simply being used as cover for these appointments. I stand by my letter that we don’t have the time to thoroughly vet positions that ultimately we don’t select, and as even you figured out in Hannaman’s December 5th letter to President Guillory, lobbying is and has been done to ensure preferred candidates are one of the 3 nominees. Asking people to send her nominees is great, but understand that if any Governor wants a particular candidate as one of the 3, they will be included. There is no incentive for any president to defy a Governor over a matter that does not directly impact their operations. That’s political suicide.
So again, tell me why anyone should waste time and energy to find nominees, especially if a Governor has a preferred candidate and they ultimately choose?
Don’t attack the presidents. The process is broken. The 2022 amendment is a good step forward.
Walter M. Kimbrough
Interim President
Talladega College
It probably comes as no surprise that we’ll remain on top of this whole process of filling the vacancy of LSPC Member Jared Riecke, whose term expired on December 5, 2024, in real time.
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 2nd 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.
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.”
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.”
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!
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.
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?”
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:
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:
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.
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!
