Contractor Billy Broussard who, on May 18, 2020, expressed an alternate take on Sen. President Page Cortez’s focus on “innocent until proven guilty” entailing testimony of Shreveport Dentist Ryan Haygood and former Sen. John Milkovich.
As we made clear in a follow-up feature entailing Shreveport dentist C. Ryan Haygood, our feature would not have been possible without the guidance of contractor Billy Broussard, on whom we’ve provided extensive coverage. As subscribers will recall, Haygood’s Federal civil litigation has been declared frivolous. Nevertheless, his State civil action is likely to cost Louisiana taxpayers upwards of $1 million to defend in State District Court.
We wrapped up the follow-up feature on Haygood by using it to emphasize the dire need for tort reform in Louisiana. Sen. Kirk Talbot’s bill that we referenced in that feature passed the Louisiana Senate moments ago by a vote of 29-8.
Our thoughts are, given that 29-8 tally is two votes more than is required to override a much-anticipated veto by Gov. Edwards, he (Edwards) cannot be feeling overly comfortable right now. A similar tally in the House should ensure tort reform becomes reality in the State of Louisiana, and it’s our belief that passage of the bill will provide a very much needed shot in the arm to existing businesses in this state as well as prospective businesses considering locating in Louisiana.
As Broussard viewed our features on Haygood, he informed us that he would like to appear on a Sound Off Louisiana feature to provide a different perspective to Sen. President Page Cortez’s focus on “innocence until proven guilty” regarding testimony of both Haygood and former Sen. John Milkovich.
In the feature, Broussard provides some interesting commentary about his own assertions of how “innocent until proven guilty” has impacted him regarding his dealings with the Gravity District 8 of Ward One of Calcasieu Parish.
Broussard provides commentary on the upcoming race to replace retiring Calcasieu Parish DA John DeRosier, and he also provides some interesting commentary on his original attorney in his own civil case, Attorney General Jeff Landry.
While residents of Calcasieu Parish may likely have the keenest interest in many of the matters Broussard discusses, we believe his commentary is also useful for other residents of Louisiana, so let’s present our interview with him of today (May 18, 2020):
Broussard provides alternate take on Sen. President Page Cortez’s focus on “innocent until proven guilty” regarding testimony of Shreveport Dentist C. Ryan Haygood and former Sen. John Milkovich. For the Legislative auditor meeting referenced in the feature, click here.
Regarding the above feature, here’s the feature on the DeRosier gift card program, and the commentary regarding DeRosier demanding $5,000 in gift cards be produced immediately follows:
The final straw for Odom came in October 2015. “I was at my desk and Mr. DeRosier came in and he says, ‘I need $5,000 in cards — in gift cards.’ He wanted them in $1,000 denominations. One of the other secretaries said, ‘Oh, okay, I’ll check and see if we have that much.’ But then he repeated it in this tone that was like, ‘I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.’ And then he walked out of the office. When he left, two secretaries were discussing whether they even had that much on hand — and what they should tell them if they didn’t.”
The whole scene made her uncomfortable. “If he got the $5,000, there would have been no accounting for any of it. Again you have to understand, there was no way of knowing how much money was coming in and going out on these cards. They weren’t logged. No one tallied them up at the end of the day. Did we take in $20,000 and spend $2,000? What happened to the money left over? No one knew.”
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