Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Fifth Congressional District Representative Michael L. DuBos, at the LSPC meeting of Thursday, March 13, 2025, testily refutes the contention by attorney Jill Craft that he should recuse himself from any participation in any matter entailing her client, former Master Trooper Nicholas Gee.

It was only a month ago that we presented this feature in which attorney Jill Craft said LSP “freaked out” after a WBRZ news feature on Trooper Nicholas Gee.

Gee was the subject of a U. S. Attorney’s Office investigation of potential Veteran’s Administration fraud; however, he was never indicted nor arrested from the investigation.  Moreover, the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana announced toward the middle of 2024 that it was not going to prosecute Gee (nor anyone else) in the matter.

At that meeting a month ago (February 13, 2025), Craft was seeking for the LSPC to simply award Gee his job back without the need for a hearing after stating that LSP Col.  Robert Hodges fired him in July of 2024.  The LSPC denied Craft’s Motion to Summarily award Gee his job back, and that set the stage for a full-blown hearing today (Thursday, March 13, 2025).

We have been attending LSPC meetings for just over eight (8) years now and videotaping all of them.  We have seen some things go down in these meetings, but we don’t think we’ve seen anything quite as bizarre as what transpired today!

First, when we published the above-linked feature, we had this to say:

To the extent there are future appeals wherein Craft serves as the attorney for a trooper, what we’re guaranteed is a friendly (for the most part) bantering between Craft and DuBos.

We say that because, as DuBos served as Defense Attorney for multiple Troopers from Troop F entailing alleged use of excessive force (including obtaining a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the Troopers’ administrative investigations as well as Federal Court jury acquittal of former Trooper Jacob Brown on alleged Civil Rights violations), it became very obvious to us that he has extensive knowledge of LSPC Rules and procedures and has obviously extensively defended police officers during his career.

Meanwhile, Craft, who has dedicated her entire legal career to government employee litigation, is the unquestioned legal authority on labor law, grievances, and whistleblower legal actions in Louisiana.  Thus, dialogue between Craft and DuBos at future meetings should be akin to a heavyweight boxing match between two very well-qualified fighters.

Well, our words proved prophetic as DuBos and Craft went at each other like two heavyweight boxers today except with neither of them having gloves and, unlike a month ago, it was anything but “friendly!”  They went at it!  Here’s the entire video of the Gee matter, which was dominated by the terse exchanges between Craft and DuBos.

3/13/25:  DuBos and Craft engage in terse exchanges about whether LSPC Member Michael DuBos (or, at one point, the entire Membership of the LSPC) should recuse himself (themselves) from the matter of the appeal of Master Trooper Nicholas Gee.

The above video depicts Col. Hodges apparently “caving” (the word used by multiple parties whom we consulted on today’s feature) at quite literally the last second (3:47 p.m. yesterday) and with his “caving” thereby permitting former Master Trooper Nicholas Gee to resign under some highly favorable (some have even said “lucrative”) terms.  That contention was fortified by the huge smile on Craft’s face at the conclusion of the proceeding!

What seems obvious to us from the above video is that Hodges placed the LSPC in a very awkward position:  buck a sitting LSP Colonel or do something the body was not very comfortable doing (approving the lucrative separation terms).

It’s our firm belief that the impetus to settle this matter came from LA-1, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry!

Why?  Because four (4) of the five (5) appointments Landry has made to the LSPC (one of which may have denied U. S. Congressional District 6 of any representation on the LSPC) still need Senate confirmation, and he did not want to risk alienating the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus by sticking by Hodges’ decision to fire Gee.

Here are those four Commissioners whom the Senate must confirm at this upcoming Legislative Session which commences on April 14, 2025:

Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski, USAF (Retired), Member
Represents: 4th Congressional District
Nominations from: Centenary College
Appointed: 10/16/2024
Term Expires: 12/05/2026

Mr. Stephen L. Guidry, Jr., Member (who already has his own confirmation issues)
Represents: 6th Congressional District
Nominations from: Xavier University
Appointed: 01/27/2025
Term Expires:12/05/2028

Mr. Jared J. Caruso-Riecke, Member (who also already has his own confirmation issues)
Represents: 1st Congressional District
Nominations from: Dillard University
Appointed: 01/10/2025
Term Expires: 12/05/2030

Mr. Michael L. DuBos, Member
Represents: 5th Congressional District
Nominations from: Loyola University
Appointed: 08/02/2024
Term Expires:12/05/2025

It would be hard to argue that Senate confirmation of these gentlemen would be much more difficult to obtain if the Legislative Black Caucus opposed any or all of the appointments.

Common sense also dictates that, especially with Gee being from Troop F and in light of the recent problems in Troop F regarding the use of excessive force on black citizens, the Legislative Black Caucus would have been miffed if Gee’s termination by Hodges had been upheld by the LSPC.

Thus, perhaps Gee lucked up, as one observer put it, “in just happening to be in the right position at the exact right moment!”

Stephen L. Guidry, Jr., the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC)’s newest member, who purportedly represents U. S. Congressional District SIX (based on January 6, 2025 new voter registration in East Baton Rouge Parish – EBRP) but who continues to represent the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission’s District ONE for which EBRP registration would not qualify him.

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature is a “cliff notes” version of our most recent feature.  Here it is:

3/8/25:  Overview of our most-recent feature.

Here are the documents, in order, referenced in the above feature:

First, Dr. Guillory’s nomination of Stephen L. Guidry, Jr., to represent U. S. Congressional District ONE on the Louisiana State Police Commission.

Second, Gov. Landry’s letter to Secretary of State Nancy Landry indicating that, the above letter notwithstanding, “Dillard University failed to nominate.”

Third, Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission’s website which shows Guidry representing its FIRST District (parishes of Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Washington):

Fourth and finally, Louisiana State Police Commission’s website which shows Guidry representing the U. S. Sixth Congressional District (which certainly does NOT include St. Tammany Parish but which does include EBRP):

That’s it in a nutshell, and we look forward to seeing if the Louisiana Senate opts to confirm either or both of these gentlemen under these circumstances!

Newly-elected State Sen. Larry Selders, who will be responsible for advancing the Louisiana Senate confirmation of Stephen Lewis Guidry Jr., to the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) for U. S. Congressional District 6.  Selders has that responsibility because Guidry cancelled his St. Tammany Parish voter registration on January 6, 2025 and enrolled in Selders’ Senate District 14 (a Senate seat previously held by Congressman Cleo Fields) later that same day.

When we presented this feature on Gov. Landry’s appointment of, “millions of gallons of raw-sewage polluter,” Jared Caruso-Riecke to the LSPC representing U. S. Congressional District 1, we did not present all of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans which occurred making Landry’s appointment of Riecke even possible.

Quite frankly, it would have made that feature way too long.

Today’s feature will illustrate just what all transpired behind-the-scenes to make Riecke’s appointment possible, and we’ll once again utilize our favorite means of illustrating such facts, which is a table.  Here is that table:

So, with that, newly installed LSPC Chairman (and LSP Trooper-Elected Commissioner) Monty Montelongo proudly announced to the voters of the U. S. Sixth Congressional District who their new Commissioner is.  Let’s take just 10 seconds to watch him do so at the LSPC meeting of February 13, 2025:

2/13/25:  LSPC Commissioner (and LSP-Trooper-Elected LSPC Member and newly-installed LSPC Chairman), Monty Montelongo, introduces Stephen L. Guidry, Jr., as the brand new LSPC Commissioner representing the SIXTH Congressional District, previously held (from 2016 to 12/12/24) by long-time LSPC Chairman, Eulis Simien, Jr.

Here are some concluding answers to questions which have been posed to us as well as some of our own concluding observations:

===>  Why did Guidry go to all this trouble?

Our longest-tenured LSP source has told us (and to which we concur) that the answer is derived by uttering one four-letter acronym:  LSTA (Louisiana State Trooper Association).

We said at the outset of this whole sordid scandal that the LSTA sought a very quiet and unceremonious reappointment of Riecke.

When Guillory nominated Guidry (almost assuredly at Gov. Landry’s direct urging) instead of Rieke for the U. S. First Congressional District Commissioner (which Constitutionally locked Landry into Guidry, which is why we published the January 2, 2025 feature linked in the table above), Landry had no choice but to find some kind of way to make it up to the LSTA!

We would place a sizeable wager on the fact that the LSTA top brass was absolutely outraged at the prospect of Riecke no longer being on the LSPC, and we’d also make another significant wager that Riecke himself was equally, if not even more, furious over the development!

Thus, Landry appears to us to have either proposed this whole sordid scheme, or he at least fully acquiesced to it.  After all, it is Landry’s signature on those Commission letters!

We will point out that some observers with whom we’ve consulted prior to publication have described the entire scheme as, “outright fraud perpetrated on the voters of the U. S. Sixth Congressional District.”

To appease the LSTA, Landry had to ensure that Riecke remained on the LSPC as the U. S. First Congressional District Commissioner; furthermore, the scheme concocted also appeased Landry himself in that Landry got his own choice onto the LSPC just as he wanted.

Everybody would seemingly be happy with the possible exception of the voters, particularly the minority voters, in the U. S. Sixth Congressional District.  Perhaps Landry et. al. figured they’d never even know just who represents who on the LSPC.

===> Is Guidry representative of the typical voter in the U. S. Sixth Congressional District?

Probably not given that he lives (or at least he did live until his abrupt move and establishing a “theoretical residence” in his Baton Rouge apartment) at this $3.7 million, 16,750 Square Foot, 10-bathroom, 6-bedroom home complete with a two-lane bowling alley (see photo # 52).

[Sidenote:  Realtor.com estimates the home’s value at near $6 million; furthermore, Zillow.com (see “$3.7 million” link above) shows that, at least for a three-day period, the home was listed at nearly $15 million.]

Oh, heck, let’s supply a few photos (including that two-lane bowling alley photo), shall we (since, after all, a picture is worth a thousand words)?:

Somehow, we’re just a tad dubious that the above photos are illustrative of the typical average voter in the newly-formed Sixth Congressional District that Guidry now represents as per the video above, and we feel certain that it’s not typical of the average resident in Louisiana State Senate District 14 that Selders now represents.

After all, it is Selders who is responsible for advancing Guidry’s Senate confirmation now that Guidry has this new “home,” at least for voter registration purposes.

Confirming Guidry is a task that would have befallen U. S. Congressman Cleo Fields who, interestingly enough, is responsible for LSPC Members having to be confirmed by the Senate for all LSPC appointments transpiring on or after January 16, 2023.

===> Did Guidry’s “move” to 625 Convention Street, Unit # 603, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 affect his Membership on the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission (LMVC)?

Apparently not since the LMVC still touts him as the proud representative for its First District!

While the LMVC Districts do not match U. S. Congressional Districts, let’s focus in on how the LMVC, by Statute, defines its First District.  Here’s how they do so (from the preceding link):

(a) Commission District 1 shall consist of the following parishes: Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Washington.

Gee, we don’t see East Baton Rouge Parish on the list!  Imagine that!  That’s because East Baton Rouge Parish would be in District 3, to wit:

 (c) Commission District 3 shall consist of the following parishes: East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, Assumption, and Pointe Coupee.

Now, let’s take a moment to provide views of Guidry’s Membership on each Commission:

So, we guess the bottom line is that Guidry Landry needs Guidry’s voter registration to be the SIXTH U. S. Congressional District for LSPC purposes but not enough to relinquish his St. Tammany voter registration (notwithstanding the fact that Guidry has in fact cancelled that voter registration effective January 6, 2025) for LMVC purposes!  Wow!

===> Has this whole series of acts served to effectively deny any minority representation whatsoever on the LSPC?

Well, we’ll let people make that conclusion for themselves; however, one long-time (and very, very astute) individual who follows this blog religiously stated to us:  “Robert, the bottom line is that the Louisiana State Police Commission is now lily white and is in fact all white male.”

That is a correct observation.

We’ll also point out that former LSP Commissioner Bernell Nevel, Jr., a black male, who previously represented U. S. Congressional District Two (he replaced disgraced former Commissioner Sabrina Richardson) was not selected by Landry from among the three (3) names submitted by Louisiana Christian College’s President, Dr. Rick Brewer.

Those three names were:  Bernell Nevel, Jr., (the incumbent, and a black male), Ross Bourgeois (a white male), and George Bensel (ethnicity unnown).

Gov. Landry chose Bourgeois to represent Congressional District Two (Louisiana’s other minority district beyond the newly-created Sixth District).

Bourgeois is Treasurer of the Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police.  Interestingly enough, according to this BallotPedia feature, the Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police voiced its opposition to Congressman Fields’ Constitutional Amendment (which passed by a margin of 72-28) to require Louisiana Senate confirmation of LSPC appointments.  We can only wonder why!

With Nevell’s departure from the LSPC, that left Simien as the lone final minority Member of the LSPC and, with his convenient resignation and the series of events outlined above effectively replacing Simien with Guidry, the Commission is, as this individual made note, all “lily white” and male.

Furthermore, numerous people with whom we’ve spoken for this feature are emphatic that:  #1) The U. S. First Congressional District now effectively has two (2) Commissioners, and #2) the U. S Sixth Congressional District now has no representation.

===> Was it easy for you to obtain the records you obtained for this feature?

Not “no,” but “HELL, no!”

Furthermore, while we provide the addresses for our site visitors in the documents on the table above, they were all redacted from the documents we obtained through our public records requests.

Nevertheless, we used a little resourcefulness and some timely placed phone calls to overcome the obsession with redacting addresses that Gov. Landry seems fixated upon.

Further, Gov. Landry’s Deputy Legal Counsel, Brett Robinson, advised us that Gov. Landry opted to exercise two exemptions in order to withhold two emails sent to and/or received from Ryan Roberts’ (the Head of Gov. Landry’s Boards and Commissions Division)  email account.

Let us reproduce Robinson’s exact wording:

• • • • 1 record has been withheld pursuant to La. R.S. 44:5, the Deliberative Process Privilege pursuant to Louisiana Department of Insurance ex rel. Donelon v. Theriot, 2010-0069 (La. App. 1 Cir. 5/3/11), 64 So.3d 854, writ denied, 2011-1139 (La. 9/30/11), 71 So.3d 286, and Executive Privilege pursuant to La. Const. Art. IV, § 5.

• 1 record has been withheld pursuant to La. R.S. 44:5, Attorney-Client Privilege pursuant to La. C.E. 506, the Deliberative Process Privilege pursuant to Louisiana Department of Insurance ex rel. Donelon v. Theriot, 2010-0069 (La. App. 1 Cir. 5/3/11), 64 So.3d 854, writ denied, 2011-1139 (La. 9/30/11), 71 So.3d 286, and Executive Privilege pursuant to La. Const. Art. IV, § 5.

Obviously, Gov. Landry doesn’t want the public knowing a few things about this whole scandal, but we think we’ve gotten plenty of material (albeit taking a ton of legwork beyond just receiving the redacted records) that the average visitor to this feature can easily see just what all went down!

In other words, it’s bad enough in our eyes even with Gov. Landry shielding certain emails from us.  Having said that, we think the chances are sky high that what Landry doesn’t want us seeing is pretty damning!

So, with this whole sordid episode now laid bare, it is now in the hands of State Sen. Partrick McMath (Senate District 11) to decide whether to advance Gov. Landry’s nomination of raw sewage polluter Jared Caruso Rieke (who is also, by the way, former Gov. John Bel Edwards’ $70 Million Man  on the LSPC and who openly bragged on concealing radar detectors and being aligned with race team drivers changing out license plates and violating the nation’s speed limits in cross-country trips to break time records going from the East Coast to the West Coast) to the LSPC as the U. S. First Congressional District Commissioner.

It is also in the hands of newly-elected (as in 19 days ago) State Sen. Larry Selders regarding whether he will advance Gov. Landry’s nomination of Stephen Lewis Guidry, Jr., to represent the voters of the U. S. Sixth Congressional District.

We would provide a link for Selders’ Legislative webpage, but he’s too new to the Louisiana Senate for such a page to have been created yet (plus he needs to be sworn in as well).

We’ll see how it all plays out, folks!