Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Executive Director Jason Hannaman, who is alleged to have engaged in, “nothing short of direct lobbying” for the reappointment of one of his then-bosses, Jared Caruso-Riecke.  That allegation arises from a December 5, 2024 letter from Hannaman to Dillard University President Monique Guillory informing her of the vacancy created by Riecke’s term expiring the same day of the letter (12/5/24).

It has been quite some time since we’ve had the intense interest in a Sound Off Louisiana series to compare with that which has been generated by the vacancy on the LSPC as a result of long-time Commissioner Jared Caruso-Riecke’s term expiring on December 5, 2024.

We’ve learned plenty since we began the series on December 16, 2024.

Perhaps no discovery is more revealing than former Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough making it crystal clear that University Presidents are, “simply cover for these appointments,” together with his emphatic statement that, “defying a Governor’s choice is political suicide.”

In making his revelations, Dr. Kimbrough provided irrefutable evidence of what many individuals (including us at Sound Off Louisiana) have theorized for a long time:  that the whole nomination process by University Presidents is nothing short of a total and complete sham!

It was on Sunday, December 22, 2024 that we published this feature outlining the many controversies of Riecke.  The feature even contained a lead photo of he and his wife displaying obscene gestures on Facebook at a Mardi Gras Ball in 2024.

Perhaps it’s not coincidental then that, the very next day, Monday, December 23, 2024, which was also two days after being named Dillard’s permanent President, Monique Guillory drafted this letter to Gov. Jeff Landry indicating that her nominee for the position is Mr. Stephen L. Guidry, Jr.  Gov. Landry previously appointed Guidry to the  Louisiana Highway and Safety Commission earlier in 2024, and he serves as Chairman of that Commission.

In conformity with Kimbrough’s contention about University Presidents, “serving as cover” for appointments that are, in reality, dictated to them by the Governor, Guidry’s name was the only one submitted by Guillory.

Guillory also supplied a brief paragraph about Guidry that would serve the dual purpose of making an easy copy and paste whenever Gov. Landry’s Office formally announces Guidry’s appointment.

From President Guillory’s 12/23/24 letter (which was received by the LSPC on Thursday, December 26, 2024 @ 4:53 p.m.):

Mr. Guidry is an established business owner in the community, supporter of local charity organizations and dedicated public servant. He has served as a Commissioner for the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission since 2016, and in 2024 was named Chairman of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.

With Guidry’s appointment, Gov. Landry has essentially placed his own footprint on the LSPC by his near complete overhaul of its composition.

The only Edwards holdover on the LSPC is Commissioner Mark “Aubrey” Cole, whom then-WBRZ reporter Chris Nakamoto aired this feature entailing, “racism claimed by an employee of Cole.”

[Note:  Monty Montelongo serves as the elected active LSP Trooper representative and is thus not appointed by the Governor.]

Speaking of Nakamoto, his non-compete agreement with WBRZ is now up.  In fact, on Monday, January 6, 2025, his first feature on WAFB is being touted.

That feature entails former St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain and the fact that he has been receiving his $11,000/month pension while serving in prison for his conviction on molesting a number of young boys.

We’re anxious to see Nakamoto back on air in the Baton Rouge market, and he’ll also be anchoring WAFB’s 5 p.m. newscast.

We wish the very best to Gov. Landry’s new appointees to the LSPC because, God knows, they can’t possibly be much worse than those of Gov. Edwards.

Furthermore,  we know from all the emails, phone calls, and the social media shares of our series on Riecke’s vacancy that he had a massive level of opposition to any reappointment of him by Gov. Landry.

Accordingly, we strongly commend Landry on not making a Riecke reappointment despite many folk, including former Dillard President Kimbrough, assessing LSPC Executive Director Hannaman as having engaged in “lobbying” to Dillard University President Guillory for Landry to make such a reappointment.

Former Dillard University President Walter M. Kimbrough.

In 1991, Louisiana voters approved, in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, permitting the Louisiana State Police (LSP) to have its own civil service department, and that department is the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC).

An important sales pitch made to voters for the formation of the LSPC was that its Members would be “independent” of the Governor and would instead be comprised of individuals who were recommended by private university Presidents across Louisiana.

Many folk have quietly contended that the entire process for obtaining nominees for these appointments is essentially a sham and that the Governor merely tells the University Presidents who should be nominated, and that’s who makes the list.  Nevertheless, until this week, there has been no way to supply definitive proof that voters’ assurance that these selections are independent of the Governor is being violated and that Louisiana’s Constitution is being blatantly violated by Governors choosing to circumvent both the letter and the spirit of that Constitutional provision.

Sure, we saw it essentially play out when former LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne allegedly got told to,  “shut the f— up” by former Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Office.  She got that alleged directive from Gov. Edwards’ Office after she complained that the Constitution was not being adhered to.

Nevertheless, the alleged action by Edwards’ Office to Derbonne is just that:  an allegation.  Thus, even though the allegation got formalized in pleadings filed in court as Derbonne sued the LSPC asserting a “constructive discharge,” her allegation doesn’t constitute authoritative proof that this entire process is a complete and total sham.

All that changed this week, however, when former Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough responded to our most recent feature  by indicating that University Presidents are, “simply being used as cover” for the appointments and that, by appointing anyone other than the one the Governor tells them to appoint, they would be committing “political suicide.”

In the video for today’s feature, Sound Off Louisiana‘s founder, Robert Burns, expresses his heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Kimbrough for exposing the raw naked truth of this entire sham process for precisely what it is:  a sham!  Here’s the video:

 12/31/24:  Burns expresses his heartfelt gratitude to former Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough for exposing the, “raw and naked truth of the sham nature of these LSPC appointments.”  Regarding Kimbrough’s reference to Congressman Fields, beginning at the 6:45 mark, we replicate Fields’ ditching of his bill to abolish the LSPC and the fact that Fields actually had the bill, “withdrawn from the files of the Senate.”

Click here to see Dr. Walter Kimbrough’s email in its entirety, which we are also incorporating into this feature.  Here’s Dr. Kimbrough’s email:

Mr. Burns-

Thank you for including me after you published your blog without getting my insight. Since you found my email address, clearly you had a motive for the approach you took.

I found it interesting that you made me the subject of your hit piece (picture included) when over the past decade there have been scores of issues with this commission. I can’t find you attacking the school that nominated Sabrina Richardson (who was it anyway?) and she has been in the news the most.

Your post is misleading. We submit names for consideration- the Governor decides. And while you were able to access written communication, you did not have access to all communications.

You then conveniently left out the fact that over 70% of citizens voted in 2022 to give the Senate veto authority on any nominee. In essence, Senator Cleo Fields raised the same issues I had, created a constitutional amendment, and it passed. This now provides a great check and balance so that any Senator can prevent a problematic nominee from being confirmed. This now removes universities from the politics of this appointment, which is good.

Louisiana Amendment 3, Senate Confirmation for Appointees to State Police Commission Measure (December 2022) – Ballotpedia

The fair thing would be to include this fact. But again, you had a motive. And your attempt to pit me against the Black community and the Ronald Greene tragedy was insulting.

In the end, university presidents are simply being used as cover for these appointments. I stand by my letter that we don’t have the time to thoroughly vet positions that ultimately we don’t select, and as even you figured out in Hannaman’s December 5th letter to President Guillory, lobbying is and has been done to ensure preferred candidates are one of the 3 nominees. Asking people to send her nominees is great, but understand that if any Governor wants a particular candidate as one of the 3, they will be included. There is no incentive for any president to defy a Governor over a matter that does not directly impact their operations. That’s political suicide.

So again, tell me why anyone should waste time and energy to find nominees, especially if a Governor has a preferred candidate and they ultimately choose?

Don’t attack the presidents. The process is broken. The 2022 amendment is a good step forward.

Walter M. Kimbrough

Interim President

Talladega College

It probably comes as no surprise that we’ll remain on top of this whole process of filling the vacancy of LSPC Member Jared Riecke, whose term expired on December 5, 2024, in real time.

Happy New Year!

Former Dillard University President Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough.

Our December 22, 2024, feature on the filling of the expired term of Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Member Jared Riecke’s seat is surpassing even our wildest expectations of hits.

Obviously, because of extensive controversies surrounding Riecke, a ton of folk, particularly from St. Tammany Parish, have keen interest in just how the whole scenario plays out.

As we have previously pointed out, the first step is for Dillard University President, Dr. Monique Guillory, to submit up to three (3) names to fulfill Riecke’s term, which expired on December 5, 2024.  The deadline for her to do so is Saturday, January 4, 2025.

We decided it would be interesting to view the prior correspondence from Dillard entailing Riecke’s appointment to his first full term, which became effective on December 5, 2018.

That correspondence, which was  provided to us by the LSPC on Friday, December 27, 2024, is comprised of a January 2, 2019, letter to then-Gov. John Bel Edwards and extensive email correspondence between Kimbrough and LSPC Executive Director Jason Hannaman.

In the correspondence, then-Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough, who is now serving as Interim President of Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (and has served in that capacity since June 24, 2024),  expresses extreme frustration to both Edwards and Hannaman at the very notion that Dillard should even be responsible for submitting nominees.

From Kimbrough’s letter to Edwards and/or email correspondence to Hannaman:

2 January 2019

Dear Governor Edwards:

On behalf of Dillard University… I submit the following nominee to fill the expiring term on the State Police Commission representing the First Congressional District:

Mr. Jared J. “Jay” Caruso-Riecke
17940 Painters Row
Covington, LA 70435
(985) 892-1545

With Dillard being in the 2^nd District, the task was very difficult to get qualified nominees. In fact, it created an undue burden to try to locate and vet nominees for a position which is outside of our scope of expertise and normal operations. We enlisted the assistance of LAICU with no luck. In addition, Mr. Caruso-Riecke is currently completing an expiring term and based on the recommendations, he should be offered the opportunity to continue to serve.

From: Walter Kimbrough <wkimbrough@dillard.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2019 3:52 PM

To: Jason Hannaman <Jason.Hannaman@LA.GOV>

Subject: RE: State Police Commission – upcoming vacancy/appointment – request for nominees

Here is our nominee. We really would like to find a way to get out of this business. We spent a number of hours over the past month trying to find qualified nominees. It was an exercise in futility, with no way to find quality candidates. In addition, I don’t have the manpower to spend trying to find nominees for these kinds of entities. It creates a hardship for us. I know my colleagues have the same concerns as we have discussed. So what can we do to change this process?

Call us cynical, but we find it more than a stretch to concur with Kimbrough’s sentiments!

Furthermore, folk whom we contacted and read the contents of the letter and email correspondence prior to publishing this feature were nothing short of outraged that Dillard’s then-President, “took the attitude he took on such an important task.”

One individual even stated, “with this level of indifference, it begs the question of how so many in the black community can be stunned when a Ronald Greene type incident transpires.”  We would note that Ronald Greene’s LSP in-custody death transpired a mere 128 days after Kimbrough stated that Dillard needed to find a way to, “get out of this business!”  All we can say is, “Wow!”

At any rate, since Kimbrough stated that, even the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities yielded, “no luck,” we decided to see if any other university Presidents shared Kimbrough’s sentiments in  any correspondence they sent entailing their appointments.

Accordingly, mere minutes prior to publishing this feature, we sent Hannaman this public records request for correspondence received on all appointments or reappointments which have transpired since January 1, 2016 through today’s date of Sunday, December 30, 2024.

Sources tell us that many years ago, conformity of the LSPC with Louisiana’s Constitution regarding making appointments to the LSPC was essentially “completely lacking” and that no letters would even go out to university Presidents but, instead, the Governor would simply appoint whomever he wanted to fill vacancies.

That environment allegedly existed prior to former LSPC Executive Director Cathy Derbonne complaining to Gov. Edwards’ Office that, “the composition of the Commission is not in conformity with the Constitution.”

In Derbonne’s litigation, she indicated that Gov. Edwards’ then-Head of Gaming, Ronnie Jones, stated point-blank that, “the Governor’s Office had told her to shut the f@&@ up!”

It was Derbonne who prompted former LSPC Member Franklin Kyle’s resignation due to impermissible campaign contributions.  Kyle is close friends with Riecke, with both of them serving on American Bank in Covington’s Board of Directors.  Interestingly enough, former Gov. Edwards’ brother and former Sheriff of Tangipahoa Parish, Daniel Edwards, also served on that same Board of Directors.  When Riecke took over Kyle’s LSPC position, then-Colleague Lloyd Grafton alleged (as evidenced by the video in our last feature), that Riecke came on the LSPC with an, “agenda to get rid of Cathy Derbonne.”

Perhaps here’s another irony.  After all of that “undue burden” and “exercise in futility” Kimbrough complained of in recommending Riecke merely be reappointed, a mere eight (8) days after Kimbrough’s letter and barely even getting his seat warm from his reappointment, on January 10, 2019, Riecke found himself having to fend off retired LSP Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet’s calls for his “immediate resignation.”

As we indicated in our prior feature, a key benefit of videos is that they are forever, so let’s take a quick view of Millet calling for Riecke’s “immediate resignation.”:

Millet lodges his complaint and Riecke provides his initial verbal response at the 1/10/19 LSPC meeting, which was a mere eight (8) days after Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough recommended his reappointment.

Upon what did Millet base his calls for that resignation?  Why, as he stated on the above video, alleged impermissible political contributions (just like the allegation against Kyle), of course!

For the record, at the next LSPC meeting of February 14, 2019, Riecke dressed Millet down for calling for his “immediate resignation.”

The next 12 days should be very interesting because there’s one thing we can assure everyone:  this whole process was sought to be a very quiet and  unceremonious (likely) reappointment of Riecke, as we believe he has the strong backing of the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association (LSTA) as a result of his extensive past history of seeking pay raises for Troopers.

A fly is now officially in the ointment, however, on any such quiet and unceremonious filling of Riecke’s position.  We’ll see how it all plays out, but we know one thing:  There are an awful lot of folk who do not want to see a repeat of 2019 wherein Dillard uses a “cop out” (another characterization we’ve heard about Kimbrough’s correspondence) that there simply are no other qualified nominees!  Really?  In an entire Congressional District!

So, if anyone knows of anyone who resides in the First Congressional District and whom they believe would make a high-integrity LSPC Commissioner, we’d highly recommend having that individual send an email to Dillard’s new permanent President, Dr. Monique Guillory, at [email protected] or [email protected] and copying Gov. Landry’s Head of Boards and Commissions, Ryan Roberts, at [email protected] and letting them both know that, by golly, there are some qualified prospective Commissioners residing in the First Congressional District after all!  Just be quick about it because the deadline for submissions by Guillory is Saturday, January 4, 2025!