Dantzler states he entered Governor’s race due to “Edwards family corruption;” calls Democratic Party “a big joke;” cites examples of media “racism” behind efforts to quash his candidacy; states intent to attend LSU debate forum Thursday night and demand inclusion.

Dr. Oscar “Omar” Dantzler, who didn’t hold back any punches in an interview with Sound Off Louisiana on Monday, September 16, 2019.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  We normally provide embedded YouTube videos; however, that function on YouTube appears to be unavailable for the foreseeable future, so we are opting to use hyperlinks to YouTube videos until the issue is resolved.

On August 5, 2019, Sound Off Louisiana published this feature indicating that Dr. Oscar “Omar” Dantzler, D-Hammond, intended to file paperwork to run against Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.  We also stated that, aside from a Hayride feature, there had been zilch in the way of media coverage of Dantzler’s candidacy.

At the conclusion of the article, we invited Dr. Dantzler to contact us if he would like to conduct an interview.  On Sunday, September 15, 2019, Dr. Dantzler contacted us and indicated a desire for just such an interview.  Let’s cover what all he had to say.

First, we provided a opportunity for Dr. Dantzler to give a two-minute introduction of himself to our viewers.  After that introduction, we asked him what was his primary motivation for entering the race, and he did not mince his words in staring the primary motivating factor is the rampant “corruption” of Gov. Edwards’ family.

In backing up Dantzler’s assertion of Edwards-family corruption, he spoke candidly about his run against Edwards’ brother, Daniel, for Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff in 2015 and his assertion that Edwards offered him $10,000 to drop out of the race.

Dantzler further illustrated Edwards-family corruption by providing his thoughts on the recent Federal felony conviction of former DEA agent (and Tangipahoa Deputy Sheriff) Chad Scott.  Dantzler also volunteered that he felt things essentially didn’t smell right entailing former DARE instructor and Tangipahoa Deputy Bud Cason (note:  click here for background on that matter).

Dantzler also sharply criticized the Democratic Party in referring to the party itself and its selection process for making endorsements as “a big joke out there.”

Dantzler emphatically cited “racism” in stating his case that there is a concerted effort to quash his candidacy.  He provided a very specific example entailing a recent Morgan City Parade in which he states he paid the same $700 fee to participate, but that, when his crew passed by, the news media, “took the cameras and shoved the cameras toward the ground.  They refused to take my photo…and showed very racial against me.”  He then expressed his extreme frustration that Advocate reporter Tyler Bridges declined to even mention in this article about the parade that his campaign was among those participating.

Dantzler stressed the need to visit his social media pages because the media is attempting to quash his candidacy.  He subsequently had much harsher words for candidates, to include “the incumbent” who are bound and determined, in his assessment, to quash his campaign as if it doesn’t exist.  He also indicated that, given that he has not even been provided as an option on recent polls for respondents to choose, he fully intends to attend LSU’s debate of Thursday (9/19/19) and demand that he be permitted to participate.  It’s our intent, as we expressed on the preceding video, to be there and videotape Dr. Dantzler’s attempts to be included in the debate and any response he receives.

The interview then proceeded to some on Dr. Dantzler’s platform initiatives.  He began by bluntly stating that Gov. Edwards’ $1,000/year teacher pay raise is a, “slap in the face!”  Dantzler also criticized Gov. Edwards for going too far on the “heartbeat bill” and stated his belief that exceptions ought to be in place in instances of rape or where the life of the mother is at stake.

Next, Dantzler provided his platform for criminal justice reform, and he followed that with his proposal to provide first responders with a pay raise.  Regarding taxes, he was emphatic that a sales tax exemption be in place for all grocery purchases.  He then gave his sentiments on Louisiana’s minimum wage, and that was soon followed by his economic development proposals where he focused heavily on promoting opportunities for Louisiana citizens to open small businesses.

Finally, Dantzler expressed his strong belief that term limits should apply to ALL elected officials in Louisiana.  In stressing the fact term limits, in Dr. Dantzler’s view, would help prevent Sheriff dynasties from developing in Louisiana where corruption goes unprosecuted for decades, he actually expressed the same sentiments as former FBI New Orleans Bureau Chief Jeffrey Sallet when, in describing Louisiana as an absolute hotbed of political corruption, stated his belief that it is the long tenures of these Louisiana sheriffs and DAs that has fostered Louisiana’s corrupt environment.

In the video, we referenced a recent publication by a fellow blogger, Tom Aswell, entailing the corruption of Louisiana sheriffs.  Our subscribers can feel free to click here if they may have interest in purchasing the book as we have.

We concluded the interview with final wrap-up and appeal by Dr. Dantzler for voters to support his candidacy.

 

As our subscribers can tell, Dr. Dantzler doesn’t mince his words when it comes to his take on “Edwards family corruption,” his assertions that the mainstream media is attempting to quash the fact that he’s even in the race, and that Gov. Edwards and other unnamed candidates are actively trying to block him from debate participation.  We welcome our subscribers to view Dantzler’s interview in its entirety with Sound Off Louisiana by clicking here, and we look forward to a follow-up regarding how organizers of Thursday’s debate plan to handle his attendance and demands that he be permitted to participate!

We conclude this feature with Dr. Dantzler’s flyer which he graciously provided to us for the interview:

 

 

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Retired LSP Trooper Millet: “I can only assume that the Governor’s Honor Code does not apply in an election year.”

Retired LSP Trooper Leon “Bucky” Millet

On January 10, 2019, retired LSP Trooper Leon “Bucky” Millet  called for the heads of three members of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC).  Millet, in filing a formal, written complaint dated the previous day, January 9, 2019, alleged improper campaign contributions on the parts of three (3) LSPC members with supporting documentation as follows:   Harold Pierite (see pages 4, 5, and 6); Jarrod Caruso-Riecke (see page 2); and Eulis Siemen, Jr. (see pages 2 and 4).

At the next LSPC meeting of February 14, 2019, member Riecke returned fire by staunchly defending his innocence and lodging an allegation of “grandstanding” against Millet in the process.  Prior to Riecke’s February 14, 2019 public statements, Sound Off Louisiana, on January 22, 2019, provided all of the material Riecke asserts supports his innocence.

At the LSPC meeting of Thursday, September 12, 2019, Millet, clearly flustered by the fact that Gov. John Bel Edwards has sat on his written complaint far longer than the Louisiana Constitution dictates he should have taken action on it, vented his frustration both at the LSPC and Gov. Edwards in lodging the claim that neither has followed Louisiana’s Constitution.  Millet took a further jab at Gov. Edwards in stating that, “I can only assume that the Governor’s Honor Code does not apply in an election year.”  Millet’s presentation and the LSPC’s commentary back are depicted in the following video:


Millet vents his frustration in asserting that neither the LSPC members nor Gov. Edwards is adhering to Louisiana’s Constitution entailing his written complaint.

We’ll keep our subscribers apprised of any future developments entailing Millet’s allegations and any future official action that may be forthcoming as a result of those allegations.

CLICK HERE to see the brief meeting in its entirety.

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.

DOA’s Dardenne stonewalls our attempts to verify $1.12 million and $246,000 respective defense costs for Painter, delaHoussaye civil suits, but we’ll just piggyback on Zach Parker’s Ouachita Citizen mandamus for similar public records request.

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, who was sued on September 3, 2019 for blocking the release of attorney invoices to Ouachita Citizen reporter Zach Parker.

UPDATE:  Judge Trudy White ruled in favor of the Division of Administration indicating that only the highlighted individuals listed below in the statue (i.e. Chair and Vice Chair of Joint Committee on the Budget) are entitled to obtain the records prior to the litigation being closed.

 

During a Republican forum for Louisiana Governor held on Thursday, September 5, 2019, businessman Eddie Rispone (R-Baton Rouge) responded to a question entailing how he would go about reining in Louisiana’s runaway spending pattern established during the administration of current Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D-Amite).  We’d like to present his response, and we wish to draw particular attention to what he says from the 0:40 – 1:20 mark of this brief video:


Rispone, from the 0:40 – 1:20 mark of the video above, stresses exactly the extent to which Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Commissioner of Administration, Jay Dardenne, has stonewalled the “Louisiana Checkbook” initiative.

We at Sound Off Louisiana can testify first-hand to the accuracy of Rispone’s commentary regarding Dardenne’s stonewalling!

As long-time subscribers are well-aware, we have followed both the criminal cases and the ensuing civil litigation of former Alcohol and Tobacco Commissioner Murphy Painter and former FBI informant Corey delaHoussaye.  We won’t rehash details of those cases on this post, but we welcome our newer subscribers to get up to speed by reading (and watching Inspector General Stephen Street’s utterly embarrassing performance) after first clicking on this link.

Suffice to say for purposes of this feature that Street’s criminal prosecution of both men collapsed in absolutely spectacular fashion, and he cost Louisiana taxpayers (and in the case of Painter, U. S. taxpayers as well) a staggering amount of money in the process.

In fact, for Painter, Louisiana taxpayers had to fork over $400,000 to Painter for his defense costs as he was acquitted on all 29 counts of misuse of a criminal database.  Two of those counts were for obtaining the mailing addresses of two lobbyists for the alcohol industry in order to mail them sympathy cards upon the passing of their mother (no, that’s not a joke)!  Those counts resulted in the late Federal Judge James Brady inquiring outside the presence of the jury, and this is a verbatim question posed to  the U. S. Attorneys:  “That rises to the level of a Federal offense?”  The U. S. Attorney’s prosecution costs most certainly exceeded $1 million as computer experts were flown in from San Diego to testify, numerous witnesses from out-of-state, expert witness fees, etc.

While delaHoussaye’s criminal prosecution likely cost a small fraction of Painter’s, that case too was a total joke and collapsed in an even bigger fashion than Painter’s as delaHoussaye (who was a confirmed FBI informant) was never even indicted!

As just about every Sound Off Louisiana subscriber knows by now, founder Robert Burns is an extremely harsh critic of Inspector General Stephen Street.  In Burns’ opinion, Street’s lack of any backbone to stand firm and indicate to his superiors (essentially whomever is Governor) that he is not going to prosecute hopeless cases simply to accommodate political vendettas (Painter for refusing to grant a liquor license which entailed an illegal $300,000 exclusivity payment to the venue to serve only Budweiser beer and delaHoussaye for reporting $58 million in FEMA fraud) is costing taxpayers through the nose.

Both Painter and delaHoussaye sued Street and the Office of Inspector General.  Both suits have dragged on for an extensive period of time.  In fact, Painter’s suit has entailed about 18 hearings for peremptory exceptions, etc., and, despite the suit being eight years old, at this stage there still has not even been an answer filed.  In short, the law firm of Taylor Porter, which is a political campaign donating machine, has been like a pig in slop scooping up absolutely massive amounts of Louisiana taxpayer dollars defending Street.

To that end and upon us obtaining what we believe to be credible verbal representations that Street’s civil defense costs pertaininig to Painter now total $1.12 million and delaHoussaye’s civil defense costs now total $246,000, we sought to confirm the figures by making public records requests of Jay Dardenne and the Division of Administration (the same one that Rispone is none too complimentary of in the video above).  Specifically, we have sought to examine the legal invoices so we could add up the dollar amounts ourselves.  Let’s present our public records request below and DOA’s initial response:

Soon thereafter, DOA followed up its initial response with the following flat rejection of our request:

We replied back indicating that DOA could redact out everything except the hours, hourly rate, and extension (i.e. we just want the costs figures). Here’s that request:

DOA responded by digging in its heels as demonstrated by this follow-up to our modified request:

Fortunately for us, Ouachita Citizen reporter Zach Parker seeks substantially similar records for legal services pertaining to an update to features he has published.  Like us, his quest began with his initial request.  Just like us, he got the same identical generic response back.  Again, just like us, he got the same identical follow-up response.

Unlike us, however, Parker then utilized the legal services of Scott Sternberg to send Dardenne and DOA a demand letter indicating a drop-dead date of August 30, 2019 for an indication that the records would be forthcoming.  Just like us, Sternberg indicated a willingness for Parker to accept redacted invoices so that merely the dollar amounts would be available for tabulation.  We want to highlight Sternberg’s final commentary in his demand letter:

When DOA failed to indicate a willingness to provide the records by the August 30, 2019 date, Parker filed a Writ of Mandamus on September 3, 2019 seeking to force DOA to provide him with the requested records.  The next day, September 4, 2019, Judge Trudy White, to whom the case was assigned, set the matter for hearing as demonstrated in the following order:

 

We were informed late Tuesday (September 10, 2019) that the hearing has been rescheduled for Monday, September 16, 2019.  We will be there, and we are obviously pulling strongly for Parker and the Ouachita Citizen to prevail in order that we can tabulate the defense cost figures for Painter and delaHoussaye after we get our invoices upon Parker getting his.

We go out of our way to try and substantiate anything we’re told verbally, and we really don’t like even reporting numbers which have not been substantiated.  In this instance, however, we’re making an exception and publishing what we’ve been told are the approximate figures for Painter and delaHoussaye.  We welcome our subscribers to take them at face value given DOA’s staunch stonewalling in permitting us to verify the figures.

As for Rispone’s commentary in the video above from the 0:40 – 1:20 mark, he could not possibly be more spot-on if he tried, and the bottom line, as Rispone likely knows, is that they don’t want taxpayers knowing how much money loose cannons like Street are costing us.  After all, all we do is pay the freaking bills via our tax dollars!  The very nerve of us thinking we may have a right to scrutinize all the attorneys at the legal pig-slop trough, especially the extent to which some may be at that trough benefitting from past political campaign contributions.

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.