Dr. Ken Starling, a dentist from Slidell, Louisiana.
We want to begin today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature with the introduction of a brand new website we rolled out today: LABoards-Commissions. The website is an accumulation of videos and Sound Off Louisiana features of various boards and commissions in Louisiana (hence, the URL name) which have been identified to us as problematic and therefore worthy of our close scrutiny.
We chose today to roll out the website to coincide with our commitment to providing sunlight to one such problematic board which has been extensively referenced to us a problematic, and that is the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry (LSBD).
On April 7, 2018 and May 16, 2018, we provided a feature of numerous dentists providing testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee regarding Mafia-like tactics which they assert the Board has historically deployed. Only 23 days later, the LSDB fired back at the dentists by placing the following material on its home page:
UPDATE JUNE 8, 2018
Please see our News page for information related to
recent false allegations against the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry.
We can only openly ponder why the LSDB would merely place such a defense on its website when they knew full-well this testimony would be transpiring. Why didn’t they show up and pose a live defense? We’ll provide what we believe to be the answer to that (aside from the fact they feared being grilled by the Senate Committee about the actions) in just a moment.
At any rate, we weren’t real thrilled with the LSDB’s action, so we decided to ratchet up the exposure of its historical corruption. We did so by educating the public of Dr. Don Donaldson’s dominating influence over that body and exposing both his sway with legislators as well as his guilty plea in Federal Court in Mississippi for violating the Lacey Act by illegally transporting trophy deer into Louisiana from a herd of deer in Pennsylvania which had tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
Not content with merely placing the above defense to the dentists’ testimony on its website, the LSBD essentially lost any element of common sense that it may have possessed when it sent one of the critical dentists, Dr. Ryan Haygood, notice that it intended to convene an administrative hearing on him for his commentary at the hearing.
Basically, the LSBD accused Haygood of violating an agreement reached between him and the LSBD that, as a condition of them not revoking his license a few years back, he would not disparage the LSBD. At one point, Haygood even had a website called Dental Board Corruption up which we used to visit with regularity; however, they also forced him to take that website down (though we believe they had ZERO authority to do so, but corrupt entities fear transparency with a passion).
As corrupt as the Auctioneer Licensing Board has been, they’ve never taken total leave of their senses as the LSBD has obviously done. It’s difficult to believe Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns could make a statement like this, but he feels it’s true: “The Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board members could qualify for nomination for Sainthood when placed beside the members of the LSBD!” That is an incredible statement to make!
At any rate, two of the Louisiana Senators, Fred Mills and Danny Martiny, who serve on the Senate Commerce Committee, were not at all pleased with the LSBD’s action, and so they fired off the following letter to its Executive Director, Arthur Hickman, Jr. dated December 17, 2018:
The letter speaks for itself (and we believe states very clearly what OUGHT to be common sense for the LSBD members), so we’re not going to even comment on it other than to encourage everyone to read it.
In a lightening-fast three-day turnaround, outgoing LSBD President Dr. Marija LaSalle who, in consultation with LSBD attorney Celia Cangelosi, made the decision to pursue Haygood, turned the matter over to incoming President Jerome Smith. He, in turn, wasted no time flat in responding in writing to Sens. Martiny and Mills that he, “had a bad feeling about going forward,” but that the Disciplinary Oversight Committee, “felt that the administrative law judge could review this matter and make the call on this convoluted and complex issue.” Smith then indicated that, with LaSalle turning the matter over to him, it was being immediately dropped.
Martiny repeatedly stated during the Senate Committee hearing that he was so frustrated with the LSBD that he was insisting that they move their offices from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, so that he could “keep tabs on them easier.” Obviously, the LSBD complied. Since Martiny advanced the baton that far, we’ll take it from there and begin initiating video coverage of LSBD meetings going forward to where everyone in the world can see what they’re up to.
In doing so, we hope to stop dead in its tracks what our viewers are about to witness as a first-hand account of what one dentist, Dr. Kenneth Starling, alleges was point-blank extortion regarding forcing him to sign a consent decree under threat of his license being revoked. Dr. Starling gave his presentation to the LSBD at its meeting of Friday, March 15, 2019, and we now provide video coverage of that presentation:
Starling gives his presentation to LSBD members on Friday, March 15, 2019.
Now, prior to Starling being able to even make this presentation to the LSBD, he first had to clear the hurdle of the “Disciplinary Oversight Committee,” (i.e. the same one that didn’t possess sufficient common sense to adamantly refuse to acceed to LaSalle and Cangelosi’s patently absurd attempt to restrict Haygood’s right to free speech). Here’s video of that proceeding, and we find it amazing how one member of the committee, Patricia Hanson (a hygienist), seems fixated on how and why Starling has chosen to seek to clear his name now (with particular emphasis on the fact Haygood and/or Sens. Martiny and Mills may have provided him with the motivation). Here’s that feature:
Starling gives presentation to DOC in hopes to get to advance to full LSBD on Friday, March 15, 2019.
As is obvious by the first video above, the LSBD opted to punt this matter into Inspector General Stephen Street’s lap. That ought to get very, very interesting given that, as Executive Director Hickman points out in the video, Street has (unwisely in our opinion) issued a letter dated May 2, 2018 granting the LSBD a clean bill of health. That letter follows:
The preceding letter is merely another example in a VERY, VERY, VERY long list of instances of Stephen Street conducting himself in a pure puppet manner and doing whatever he is told to do by a sitting Governor or other state agency head. We have provided examples ad nauseam of him doing so, and all anyone has to do is search for the phrase “Stephen Street” on this blog to see precisely what our opinion of him is. We’ve gone to great lengths to substantiate our statements about him, and we’ve been blunt in stating that a CPA and lawyer who couldn’t even manage his own finances to prevent Federal tax liens and occupational licensing tax liens from being filed against him had ZERO business being appointed to the position he presently holds.
Nevertheless, Street, just like former LSP Col. Mike Edmonson, with his absolutely abysmal disciplinary record with LSP as clearly demonstrated by the following items, served as Jindal’s (and Edwards’) perfect appointee because he could be TOTALLY and COMPLETELY controlled, and it’s appointments like Street and Edmonson that has this state in the horrendous condition it now finds itself in:
1. Reprimand for crashing LSP vehicle and being at fault.
2. 10-Day Suspension for violating payroll protocol.
3. Letter of reprimand for careless operation of vehicle.
4. 40-Hour Suspension for “not being aware of
your condition” behind the wheel and crashing yet another
vehicle (with it being a total loss).
5. 16-Hour suspension for careless operation of vehicle.
That’s also why we were absolutely incredulous to learn that Sen. Bill Cassidy was actively promoting Street as the next U. S. attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, and we directly confronted Cassidy head-on regarding his efforts (which he flatly denied, for what that’s worth). At least someone up in Washington, DC must have utilized some common sense in awarding Brandon Fremin that position over Street!
So, what’s our prediction on the LSBD’s request of Street? As Hickman states in the video above, he is first going to call Street, and we predict that, during that phone call, they’ll mutually agree that what’s being requested is not a function of the Inspector General’s Office (i.e. “Our office does not exist for the purpose of clearing a licensee’s name,”) and the matter will get punted right back to the LSBD.
Whatever the eventual outcome is, we’ll certainly let our subscribers know, but our message to the LSBD follows: The days of back-room Mafia-like extortion tactics are over unless you’re willing to engage in such tactics with a video camera going and the knowledge that the world can see your despicable acts which so many dentists have testified to under oath within mere hours.
We’ll conclude by providing this link for the LSBD meeting of March 15, 2019 in its entirety. We will draw particular attention to commentary beginning at the 5:00 mark by Dr. Michael Haight, who is not pleased that agendas merely provide the date, time, and place of the meeting (can anyone imagine the Legislature operating in such a slipshod fashion?) and the extended lags before anyone can find out what transpired. Well, Dr. Haight, that’s going to be a thing of the past now that Sound Off Louisiana is involved. You’ll be able to watch everything going forward in a matter of mere days (two in this instance). We believe every citizen of this state is benefitted by transparency of a board with such an unbelievable reputation of pure, rank corruption!
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.
The investigators for the OIG said the complete opposite of what Street writes to the board. Street has a mandatory obligation to turn over findings of criminal acts to proper authorities. He did not do his job in this instance. I’ll reiterate that he is either incompetent or corrupt. Either way, Street needs to go. Louisiana deserves better.
Why isn’t the LSBME included in the Board list? It definitely needs to be included as it is just as corrupt as the rest of them.