Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips, Jr., sounds off after the meeting of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) of June 2, 2025, after which he sought the standing of his public records request of building repair cost estimates ($1,050,000) and technology upgrade estimates ($700,000), only to find out that the entire LSBC Membership told him to his face that they had, “no idea what you’re even talking about.”
After the late-Governor Edwin Washington Edwards completed his second term in office in 1979, he was required by law to sit out for a term.
Louisiana voters elected Republican Dave Treen, who narrowly defeated Democrat Louis Lambert.
During that four-year period, former Gov. Edwin Edwards ran a “shadow government” that often thwarted Treen’s initiatives. Edwards was clearly gearing up to challenge Treen in 1983, and Edwards annihilated Dave Treen in that election.
In today’s Sound Off Louisiana video, we demonstrate the fact that the current Members of the LSBC represent Dave Treen and the fact that the true power brokers in the industry, just as was the case with Edwards and his “shadow government,” remain Edwin Neill III, the Neill Corporation, Aveda and, most importantly, the entities’ lobbyist Ryan Haynie of Haynie and Associates.
So, the reality of today’s regulatory framework entailing the LSBC is that Edwin Neill III, who has a past history of severe financial problems entailing his companies, remains firmly in control of the LSBC, and he represents the equivalent of Edwin Washington Edwards.
It’s possible that one LSBC Member, Michael Anderson, may have come to this realization that he was nothing more than a placeholder with little or no real power. We say that because Anderson recently resigned from the LSBC.
So, with that in mind, it is obvious that the Executive Management at the LSBC has the Board Members on a “needs to know” basis, and clearly they have deemed the Members to need to know very little. The following video drives home that point authoritatively:
6/2/25: Phillips provides his take immediately after the LSBC meeting.
As stated near the end of the video, the big showdown at the Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee over hair braiding is presently scheduled for Wednesday, June 4, 2025. We’ll report on how that goes.
CLICK HERE for the June 2, 2025 LSBC meeting in its entirety.