Former Sterlington High School Football Coach Jack Goode, now a teacher at West Monroe High School.
Sound Off Louisiana subscribers should easily recall our coverage of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) appeal hearing of LSP Trooper Joseph Jones. Thereafter, we reported on apparent fallout of that appeal concerning the vote cast by LSP active trooper Jeffrey Foss. As subscribers recall, the LSPC committed to issuing a letter to the Ouachita Parish School Board lambasting its decision to retain former Sterlington High School football coach Jack David Goode. As part of a plea agreement, Goode is no longer football coach nor teacher at Sterlington High School; however, he was awarded a teaching position at West Monroe High School subsequent to an incident which led to his arrest. Goode was arrested for having provided alcohol to his football players, demanding that Trooper Jones’ son, Chandler, consume vodka against his wishes, and later assaulting Chandler twice upon him throwing up after his system was unable to tolerate the volume of vodka that Goode insisted he consume.
The LSPC issued the letter, which was received by OPSB officials on Monday, September 10, 2018. A three-minute video of the LSPC’s lambasting of the OPSB and an embedded copy of the letter with some selective highlighting on our part are provided below:
LSPC lambasting OPSB Members at its meeting of August 9, 2018.
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Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards touting his West Point Honor Code in the 2015 election for Governor of Louisiana.
Today, Sound Off Louisiana, acting through its founder, Robert Burns, issued a formal challenge to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards to “walk the walk” on his West Point Honor Code. Specifically Burns has requested, via a certified letter to Edwards mailed today, that he issue an order for the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB) to remit a check to the State of Louisiana for $175,342.67. That is the amount that one of Governor Edwards’ LALB appointees, Jacob Brown, son of convicted felon auctioneer Cecil Brown, has allegedly stolen from Louisiana taxpayers, with the likelihood being very high that our taxpayer funds were diverted so Brown could support a drug habit for which, fortunately, according to reports we’ve been provided, he has sought treatment.
The letter mailed to Gov. Edwards, along with a VERY brief (i.e. 88-second) video entailing the letter’s content follows:
Video of Gov. Edwards espousing his West Point Honor Code, followed by his LALB appointees on January 27, 2017 (at the very time Brown was allegedly perpetrating many of these thefts, with Brown himself seated closest to the camera) explaining why they are NOT going to increase the $10,000 bond coverage that would have helped protect taxpayers against actions such as Brown’s. The video also depicts past instances of members raising concerns that the Governor (Jindal at the time) would “raid our funds” or “confiscate” our money (to thus demonstrate that Edwards has that same power). Finally, for purposes of the third-to-last and second-to-last bullet points in the letter to Edwards (see below), brief footage is provided entailing Edwards’ “prostitutes over patriots” ad campaign. CLICK HERE for the certified letter sent to Gov. Edwards, which is also provided below:
Now the above video and the letter speak for themselves, so we’ll only add two points.
First, when former LALB Chairman Gay mentions in the preceding video that he sent “four or five members to the NAA convention because the Governor was going to confiscate our funds,” it should be pointed out that Gay did so in direct defiance of a directive by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor which said he could not do so. Of course, Gay let that directive go right out the window and invited the entire seven-member board, including the consumer members, to attend (one consumer — i.e. non-auctioneer — of whom did attend).
Gay’s dismissal of the Legislative Auditor’s directive essentially mirrored the LALB’s dismissal of Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera directing the LALB that it had to recover the overpayments to Executive Director Sandy Edmonds for her payroll irregularities. However, it should be noted that the LALB Members did insist Edmonds reimburse the LALB for a small amount upon the Inspector General placing her under another inspection entailing cell-phone surveillance after the Legislative Auditor requested that they do so. The Inspector General noted considerably more payroll fraud during the brief period during which they monitored her cell phone locations, and she subsequently admitted to claiming working hours during several out-of-state vacations, including a full week spent in Disneyworld in Orlando, even though she failed to mention one New York sightseeing trip to them and fessed up only after they placed her cell phone records in front of her, after which she immediately stated, “I’m not saying anything further.”
It’s also worth nothing that Gay was “demoted” from LALB Chairman to just a regular LALB Member after the Inspector General’s Office launched an investigation entailing alleged travel voucher fraud on the parts of both him and Consumer Member Ray Camp, who was simultaneously removed from the LALB for his role in the alleged travel voucher fraud.
Secondly, LALB Member Darlene Jacobs-Levy, in the preceding video, essentially voices the same sentiments that we are voicing in that she essentially advocates that Edwards issue a directive for the LALB to reimburse the state. She states, as justification for her opposition to increasing the bond coverage amount from $10,000 to an amount which would have provided far more additional protection to us taxpayers: “We do have a surplus in our accounts right now and, unless good cause could be shown….I would vote against an increase (from the $10,000 presently required).”
We’d like to make a final observation. Simultaneously to this feature being released, the LALB is convening a meeting with a major item of concern to them being on their agenda. That agenda item follows:
As is obvious, the LALB is concerned about a 588% increase in its liability insurance premium which they are being assessed by the Office of Risk Management (ORM). The agency’s premium is going up from $437 to $3,007 per year! Well:
===> NEWS FLASH # 1, LALB: Insurance companies are not stupid! They tend to be pretty good at factoring in risk when they quote their premiums to you, so take that 588% increase as a little hint!
===> NEWS FLASH # 2, LALB: When you engage in activities such as the following:
#1) hiring a convicted felon attorney (former State Sen. Larry S. Bankston) for the purpose of prosecuting whistleblowers who report your Executive Director for the payroll fraud referenced above and for which the Inspector General validates as routinely transpiring,
#2) openly testifying in Louisiana Legislative Committee hearings as being supportive of the illegal practice of shill bidding,
#3) taking adamant stands that you will not increase bond coverage to protect the consumers you assert you want to protect,
4) covering up (and flat-out sweeping her silence and culpability under the rug) for a previous LALB Chairman, Tessa Steinkamp, who, in her position as Treasurer of New Orleans Auction Galleries (NOAG), concealed all that firm’s massive auction violations to include: a) 52 consignors’ claims which were unpaid to the tune of $562,000+, defrauding Los Angeles auction bidder Massoud Pouratian of $114,000 that he bid on painting forgeries, and defrauding Danny Pun out of $127,950 that he bid on a fake chicken blood stone and fake Jade Chinese table screen,
and of course, let us not forget,
#5) enabling a member to falsely portray to the public, “You can trust me. The Governor has appointed me to the LALB.” Then thereafter those to whom such assurances were made end up fleeced for tens of thousands of dollars (with attorneys reading this post being more than welcome to see their contact information and complaints on full display here),
why, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to assess that your likelihood of being sued left and right is now exponential. Apparently, Rep. Johnny Guinn’s soothing words of, “We have good members on the Auctioneer Licensing Board, and they do their jobs,” simply were inadequate to override insurers’ concerns regarding the preceding episodes (and we could cite TONS more)! Hence, the skyrocketing of your insurance premium!
We’re going to make a final request of our subscribers which we’ve never done before (and likely won’t ever do again). If you agree with us that Gov. Edwards should issue an order for our taxpayer funds to be recovered from the LALB, we respectfully ask you to Facebook share this featureand get it spread far and wide to maximize the pressure on him to do so. If you may be so inclined, we invite you to also call Gov. Edwards’ office at 225-342-7015 and help in the effort to recover the $175,342.67 of which we’ve been swindled!
So, Gov. Edwards, how about it? Are you going to “walk the walk,” exercise your power, and uphold your West Point Honor Code and insist that the LALB reimburse us taxpayers for our $175,342.67 that your LALB appointee has fleeced us out of after your administration entrusted him and his company with contracts for the auctioning of our state surplus property?
Alternatively, are you going to permit the proceeds from such auctions of our surplus holdings to be, in all likelihood, diverted to support one of your appointee’s drug habit? If it’s the latter, surely 2019 campaign commercials running with intimidating background tones with the narrator stating: “John Bel Edwards chose drug addicts over taxpayers,” wouldn’t be unfair given your invocation of “David Vitter chose prostitutes over patriots,” now would it?
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A few features ago, we demonstrated to our subscribers in pretty authoritative fashion that, in addition to being inducted into Americans for Prosperity’s “Taker’s Dozen,” State Rep. Johnny Guinn, R-Jennings, who is term-limited but who is considered likely to try for a Louisiana State Senate seat, has also openly and fiercely advocated for “taking” from auction bidders (Guinn is an auctioneer) through the illegal practice of shill bidding.
NO LICENSEE would be forced to have his administrative hearing adjudicated by an administrative law judge,
The bill (now law) merely provides the OPTION for a licensee who has reason to believe he is being subjected to harassment or a cram down of corruption to OPT (at his own expense) to have his hearing adjudicated by an administrative law judge,
The ONLY, and we emphasize ONLY, rationale by which an occupational licensing board should oppose the bill (now law) is if they are banning together to engage in corruption! It is LITERALLY THAT SIMPLE!!!
We make a special request for each reader to again read the above bullet points because we simply cannot overemphasize just how imperative it is to realize their content when considering Milkovich’s bill.
Two of the most problematic boards in Louisiana are the Louisiana Board of Dentistry (LBD) and the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB). Both have extensively engaged in acts of pure, rank corruption, and there simply are no other words to describe their acts. On the link above entailing Burns advocating for auctioneers being under the purview of SB-260, one readily sees Burns’ own administrative hearing in which the LALB steadfastly refused to take any action entailing its Executive Director, Sandy Edmonds, committing “blatant payroll fraud.” Instead, the LALB opted to convene a hearing on Burns in an attempt to force him to shut up and acquiesce to Edmonds’ criminal acts and have that corruption crammed straight down his throat through the intimidation of revoking his auction license! THAT, folks, is why Milkovich’s bill is so necessary! It’s not a matter of whether a majorityof the practitioners of a profession want to have the option, it is a matter of EVEN ONE SINGLE MEMBER of a profession having the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to report criminal wrongdoing without fear that a corrupt occupational licensing board is going to decide to pursue HIM for insisting that the board members and its employees engage in legal and ethical manners.
Not even the LBD dared oppose the bill by seeking any amendment to be removed because at least the members of that board were intelligent enough to realize just how bad requesting such an amendment would look (i.e. “we want to FORCE you to let US and ONLY US be the judge if you dare challenge our illegal practices.”) The auctioneers (LALB)? Well, nobody has ever accused them of being the sharpest knives in the drawer for darn sure!
Soon before SB-260 was to be debated on the House Floor, LALB Chairman Jacob Warren telephoned newly-elected State Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, R-Hammond, and specifically asked him to sponsor an amendment to remove auctioneers from the bill! We’ve prepared a little eight-minute video of highlights of discussion of that amendment, its vote results, and a few brief highlights of debate on the final bill. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Now, as is obvious from early on in the preceding video, the amendment went down in flames by a vote of 33-52. Beginning at the 1:36 mark, we have the illustrious Rep. Johnny Guinn beginning to offer his invaluable contributions to the proceedings! Trust us, anytime one gets to see the illustrious Johnny Guinn in action (he rarely goes to the House Floor to espouse his infinite wisdom to his colleagues), it’s well worth the price of admission!
Guinn laments the fact that the House and Governmental Affairs Committee, “got no input from anyone on the Auctioneer Board.” Rep. Sam Jenkins, Jr., D-Shreveport, who agreed to carry Milkovich’s bill for him on the House Floor, responded that, “the Board had every opportunity to weigh in,” and he emphasized they opted not to, and he emphasized there was no way for the Committee, on which Jenkins serves and heard Burns’ testimony and assessed both it and the testimony of the dentists as “compelling,” to “force” the Auctioneer Board to show up and testify! Guinn’s only comeback, “This is a sad maneuver.” Like we said, folks, it isn’t often one is afforded the opportunity to be blessed with Guinn’s brilliant mind on full display and firing on all cylinders as it was on that day.
Guinn’s utterly brilliant commentary was then followed by (exit Tongue-in-Cheek mode) a very, very astute assessment by Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Central, who, at Burns’ request, agreed to specifically INCLUDE auctioneers in the bill, emphasized the bullet points we have highlighted above. In Ivey’s words, “This bill does not hurt a board. It simply allows an individual…….to seek an alternative remedy with the administrative law judge at your own expense.”
Now, on the video immediately after Ivey’s astute (again, no Tongue-in-Cheek) assessment, beginning at the 3:14 mark of the video, we have been openly asked if Guinn may have been at least slightly inebriated, to which we have responded that we have no idea, but his performance is essentially unchanged from any other performance we’ve seen him make!
Guinn repeatedly referenced that the testimony Jenkins heard in Committee was from a “disgruntled auctioneer,” without mentioning Burns by name. Guinn likely made a strategic decision not to mention Burns’ name, nor provide the specifics of, “this same individual (the disgruntled auctioneer, Robert Burns) trying to stir up a big mess inside the industry,” (see from 5:03 – 5:10 mark of video) because he wanted to keep his colleagues in the dark that Guinn (as part of that “big mess”): #1) openly used repeated profanity toward Burns in demonstrating his resolute endorsement of the illegal practice of shill bidding in order to “put clothes on my kids’ backs,” #2) drafted a two-sentence letter to then-Governor Bobby Jindal wherein Guinn couldn’t even get the order of Burns’ name correct, much less an accurate spelling of Burns’ simple last name, for the record, Johnny, it’s “Robert Edwin Burns” and NOT “Edwin Robert Burn.”) He further couldn’t even sufficiently proofread a simple two-sentence letter to ensure his second sentence was concluded with a period.
Now, let’s analyze a couple of other observations made by Guinn, shall we? First, he indicated that the LALB has been comprised of “good members.” Well, at the very moment Guinn made his characterization, and at the same time Muscarello was offering up his amendment (at the request of the LALB as communicated to Muscarello by its Chairman, Jocob Warren) for auctioneers to be excluded, as we’ve reported before, LALB member Jacob Brown’s arrest by LSP was in the works for issuing $175,000+ in worthless checks. Did Warren even bother with extending the simple courtesy to Muscarello of enlightening him of that imminent arrest? Warren, just like we at Sound Off Louisiana, certainly knew the arrest was being actively pursued by LSP, so it would seem at least a tad unkind, and even unfair, for Warren to fail to mention that little small detail to Muscarello as he sought the amendment sponsorship, no?
Speaking of that arrest, as we indicated that we would, we made a public records request of LSP for the arrest warrant for Brown. They responded that only a partial release of the investigation is considered public as one of those “good LALB members” (Brown) is facing pending criminal charges for his faulty math entailing his checkbook. What they were willing to provide us with, however, follows:
As is obvious, Brown has allegedly stiffed the Louisiana Property Assistance Agency, a section of the Division of Administration responsible for disposition of the state’s movables, surplus equipment, furniture, etc. out of $175,342.67. It’s not as if Gov. Edwards could not have predicted this could easily happen. After all, Brown and his father, convicted felon Cecil Brown, who served time in Federal prison along with former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Washington Edwards entailing granting of riverboat gaming licenses, have long relied upon the auctioning of state surplus equipment furniture, and vehicles for the vast majority of their auction income.
Guinn also seemed to lament the “lack of documentation” provided to the House and Governmental Affairs Committee concerning auctioneers entailing Milkovich’s bill. Well let’s provide him (and our subscribers) with some resounding “documentation” and, in so doing, provide just another two instances of why any auctioneer should have the right to have an administrative hearing heard by an administrative law judge, shall we?
Jacob Warren, the LALB’s current Chairman, was preceded by Tessa Steinkamp, who also served as the Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary of New Orleans Auction Galleries (NOAG) through mid 2011. During all of Steinkamp’s tenure on the LALB, which began in the early part of this century, she never one time mentioned that NOAG, despite her being its Treasurer, was in financial distress, had stiffed consignors out of over $500,000, or had sold fake painting for six figures. That all changed on April 1, 2011, when NOAG filed bankruptcy, leaving in its wake 52 consignors claims which were unpaid to the tune of $562,000+. It was further revealed that Los Angeles auction bidder Massoud Pouratian bid (and paid) $114,000 for two paintings which were total forgeries and which were known to be forgeries at the time NOAG auctioned them a mere three months before filing bankruptcy. How did they (and Steinkamp) know? Because they had Christie’s rejection stickers on them as “fake,” yet NOAG auctioned them on off anyway! Then there was Danny Pun, who was swindled out of $127,950 when he, like Pouratian, bid on a fake chicken blood stone and fake Jade Chinese table screen. What action was taken by the LALB as a result of all these infractions? In the words of Sen. John Kennedy, “nothing, zero, zilch, nada.” That’s correct! No admistrative hearing was ever convened on anybody affiliated with NOAG (they were apparently too busy attempting to revoke licenses of whistleblowers for payroll fraud we assume).
Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips, Louisiana’s first and only African American auctioneer [whom Gov. John Bel Edwards took only 15 days to oust from the LALB after he was bombarded with Facebook posts, emails, etc. essentially demanding Phillips’ removal (it’s worth noting that phone records show Guinn to be one of the first to call the LALB’s office on the day of Edwards’ announcement of Phillips to the LALB)], served on the LALB under Gov. Bobby Jindal at the time of the NOAG bankruptcy. Believing that it may not look all that great to the public for Steinkamp to continue serving as Vice Chairman (Phillips was unaware she’d just been promoted to Chairman upon the resignation of then-Chairman James “Kenneth” Comer) given that she had remained silent on all NOAG’s problems, proposed to the LALB at its July 18, 2011 meeting that Board Members may wish to reconsider Steinkamp’s role as an officer on the LALB. The result? Tessa Steinkamp threatened Rev. Phillips with “disciplinary action against your license!”We would not fault any subscriber for not believing what we just typed, and that’s why we love videos! Here’s a video clip of Phillips expressing his concerns, and the ensuing threat Steinkamp, as a sitting LALB Chairman, made directly to Phillips:
Then-LALB Chairman Steinkamp threatens the auction license of Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips for suggesting the LALB reconsider her position on the Board in light of the NOAG implosion and her silence entailing all of its problems.
As if that’s not bad enough, as we’ve demonstrated, an actual hearing was convened entailing Burns and his challenging of Executive Director Edmonds’ payroll practices. Well, here’s a mere two-minute video wherein both Phillips and Burns are threatened, at the SAME July 18, 2011 LALB meeting, with disciplinary action against their auction licenses if they do not back off public records requests being made to document that payroll fraud:
July 18, 2011 LALB meeting at which time LALB members discuss disciplinary action against the auction licenses of Burns and Phillips for their pursuit of public records (time sheets) of Executive Director Sandy Edmonds in order to substantiate payroll fraud. The LALB ultimately DID convene a hearing against Burns; however, since Phillips sought public records of the Interior Design Board (for the same purpose), there was little action that Board could take against Phillips since he has never held an interior designer license.
Given the foregoing, can there be any doubt whatsoever that ANY auctioneer should have the RIGHT to have the kind of corrupt, Mafia-like practices of the LALB adjudicated by an administrative law judge (in which case the LALB would never pursue it because it would be laughed out of the proceeding and potential charges brought against the LALB members themselves for aiding and abetting illegal acts like payroll fraud) rather than corrupt board members?
Now, make no mistake, both Rev. Phillips and Burns were disappointed in the votes of a few members of the Legislature. Phillips spent a significant amount of time in the 2018 Legislative session testifying in favor of rescinding occupational licensing for trades such as hair braiding. He felt like, at this point in time, the Legislative Black Caucus essentially “knows the score” on the LALB and its historical disdain for him. Make no mistake: the vast majority of the Caucus obviously did know, and that knowledge was reflected in their votes on Muscarello’s amendment. Nevertheless, apparently three Caucus members have yet to get the memo, so we provide highlights of their votes at this time:
Meanwhile, Burns was highly disappointed in the votes of four House members whom he rates as Franchise Players on an all-star team of Republican conservative legislators. That’s especially true of two of those members: Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport; and Rep. Blake Miguez, R-Erath. Burns has tremendous respect for both men and has frequently interacted with both men at Americans for Prosperity functions and Hayride socials. In all his discussions with both men, however, Burns has never mentioned his prior vocation as an auctioneer nor the corruption of the LALB. Hence, they may have just made uninformed votes since we kind of doubt Rep. Guinn is going to properly educate them. At any rate, Sound Off Louisiana is placing hard copies of this feature in the mail to all four (as well as to the three members of the Legislative Black Caucus highlighted above) in order that any lack of knowledge on their parts may be remedied for future benefit on votes entailing auctioneers or the LALB. Here’s the outline of the four disappointing four Republican “yes” votes Burns made note of:
Fortunately, when the final vote was cast on the bill, all four representatives highlighted above voted in favor of the bill even though they did not prevail on Muscarello’s ill-advised amendment.
As for Rep. Muscarello himself, we have two words of advice: “Wake up!”
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