Sound Off Louisiana

Pelican Institute Executive Officer Daniel Erspamer

Daniel Erspamer, who is the Executive Officer of The Pelican Institute, which is a Louisiana-based think tank promoting free market solutions to meet Louisiana citizens’ wants and desires, was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday, March 4, 2019.  Let’s drill down and examine a few things he had to say.

Erspamer devoted a significant portion of his presentation to outlining Louisiana’s onerous occupational licensing requirements for many professions which are not licensed in other states across the U. S.  Here’s what he had to say in that regard:

Erspamer on Louisiana’s onerous occupational licensing requirements.

Erspamer was pressed by Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s President and CEO Beth Courtney to supply three occupations in Louisiana for which he asserts licensing should be eliminated.  Erspamer had no trouble whatsoever responding, and he even provided a little lagniappe by providing a fourth.  Here’s Courtney’s question and his response:

 
Erspamer provides Courney with four occupations in Louisiana for which he believes licensure should be eliminated, and he references these four as the “easy ones” to identify.

In his opening commentary, Erspamer emphasized the need for overall budgetary and tax reform in Louisiana.  To that end, he stated that as many exemptions, credits, etc., that exist in Louisiana’s present tax structure as possible need to be eliminated and the rates of taxation reduced to provide a much fairer taxation system in Louisiana.  That commentary fed the narrative for his response to a question on Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP), video for which follows:

Erspamer responds to reporter’s question on Louisiana’s ITEP.

Erspamer also provided the Institute’s rationale for opposing any increase in Louisiana’s state-level gasoline tax, and he provided the Institute’s assessment of a better approach for highway road and bridge construction and repair funding:

Erspamer on increased gas taxes and alternative means of financing highway road and bridge construction and repair.

Erspamer indicated that he sees very little potential for any initiative  of much consequence to pass during the Louisiana Legislature’s 2019 Session, after which he responded to a question by Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns entailing whether he shares the recent enthusiasm of LABI President Stephen Waguespack regarding the large number of new faces which will appear in the Legislature in 2020 as a result of term limits and whether obtaining those new faces which may be favorable to the Institute’s causes may also be offset by the re-election of Gov. John Bel Edwards:

Erspamer provides his thoughts on the Louisiana Legislature’s makeup for 2020 and beyond.

To view Ersmaper’s presentation in its entirety, CLICK HERE.

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St. Tammany Parish Council Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Rabalais.

Earlier this month, we provided subscribers with our take on the impending election to fill the Fifth District seat on the Louisiana State Bar Association.  In today’s segment, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns provides his take on the election’s results:

Burns provides assessment of the results of the 5th District seat on the Louisiana State Bar Association election between Kelly Rabalais and Jack Whitehead.  CLICK HERE for the election’s results as well as plethora of litigation pertaining to St. Tammany Parish controversies that have resulted in absolutely staggering legal costs for the Parish’s government.

In the video above, Burns explains why, by his own admission, he gets so worked up over the nature of the litigation entailing St. Tammany Parish Government (i.e. access to public records).  In doing so, Burns references his own extensive litigation history with the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB) which has always entailed access to public records and/or alleged violations of Louisiana’s open meetings laws.

Burns also explains why he feels the election of Rabalais will further erode the already-anemic confidence Louisiana folk have in the legal profession in the state.

In so doing, Burns references a complaint he filed with the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) against convicted felon Larry S. Bankston.  Burns had expressed his concerns to three (3) LALB members about the agency’s Executive Director, Sandy Edmonds, routinely engaging in payroll fraud.  Edmonds would routinely engage in acts such as 1) relaxing on a beach in Orange Beach, Alabama; 2) visiting Disneyworld with the family for a week; 3) visiting relatives in Oklahoma; 4) going sightseeing in New York, and for all such leisure activities for which Edmonds was not even in the state of Louisiana nor making any pretense of working, she would report being “on the clock” with the LALB.

Burns indicated to the ODC that Bankston acted unethically when, upon those three LALB members supplying Bankston with Burns’ email of concern, Bankston opted to convene an Administrative Hearing against Burns rather than insist the members of the LALB take corrective action regarding the payroll fraud!  The ODC’s response?  In a letter dated January 27, 2014 signed by Eric McClendon, Deputy Disciplinary Counsel at the ODC, McClendon indicated that the ODC would be taking no action!  McClendon’s letter prompted this VERY terse letter back to McClendon from Burns the very next day, January 28, 2014.

In the above video, Burns references the LALB, via Bankston, having filed a “Writ of Attachment” against Burns.  That whole episode is provided below:

LALB and its attorney, Larry S. Bankston, endure utterly embarrassing defeat in 19th JDC on July 22, 2013 entailing ill-advised pursuit of Writ of Attachment against LAPA Vice President Robert Burns.  Video above contains excerpts of LALB meetings of 3/26/13 & 5/20/13, both of which entailed Administrative Hearings on notoriously-problematic auctioneer Ken Buhler.  

Oral arguments were before Judge Todd Hernandez on July 22, 2013, and he issued this ruling DENYING the LALB’s Writ on August 28, 2013.  Judge Hernandez supplied a one-sentence explanation:  “the subpoena at issue has now been served.”  The Board and Mr. Bankston were well-aware the subpoena had been served and, in fact, they filed the Petition for Writ six (6) days AFTER it was served!!!!  You read correctly!  They filed the Writ SIX (6) days AFTER the subpoena was served (subpoena served 5/7/13 and Petition for Writ filed 5/13/13)!!

 So, at the end of the day, the LALB flushes YET ANOTHER approximate $2,100 on more legal fees in its ongoing relentless and fruitless pursuit of LAPA Vice President Robert Burns.

How easy was it for Burns to defeat the LALB’s Petition for Writ?  It took Burns a mere 25 minutes to draft this 3-Page Opposition Memorandum.   Meanwhile, as evidenced by the above “flush” link, Mr. Bankston and his associate, Jenna Linn, billed the LALB for an astounding 16.2 hours to pursue the Writ!!!. 

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There are at least some attorneys who strive to instill some level of ethics within the profession.  One such gentleman is Mr. Richard E. Gerard, Jr., who issued this STRONG dissent against Bankston being reinstated to the practice of law in Louisiana.

Unfortunately, the profession seems to be heavily dominated by attorneys demonstrating that their ethics are suspect as evidenced by Ms. Rabalais’ handling of public records requests entailing St. Tammany Parish Government.  Accordingly, her election to the Fifth District seat on the Louisiana State Bar Association provides yet more ammunition for the sentiments that Gerard expresses in his dissenting opinion just linked.  Specifically, just like Bankston being readmitted to the practice of law, we believe that, in electing Ms. Rabalais to the position she will now hold for three years, attorneys eligible to vote in that Fifth District seat have “sent the wrong message” to the citizens of Louisiana.

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.

Stephen Holliday, Gov. Edwards’ Director of Commercial Trucking within the Office of Multimodial Commerce.

Viewers will recall our first feature entailing Gov. Edwards’ controversial hiring of Stephen Holliday, who presently serves as the Commercial Trucking Director of the Office of Multimodal Commerce.  For this Sound Off Louisiana feature, we’re going to dispense with our usual obligatory video (though a brief, one-minute video exists on our prior feature if anyone would like to view it) and get straight into providing more detail (along with our support documents) on Holliday’s “domestic abuse.”

Let’s consider the following sequence of events which we’ve now been told transpired:

1.  Holliday is hired by Edwards in 2016 as an Executive Management Officer for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).

2.  The then-Secretary of LDWF, Charlie Melancon, uncovers the fact Holliday had a domestic abuse conviction the prior year and therefore seeks Holliday’s immediate resignation, which Holliday reluctantly provides.

3.  Edwards convinces Melancon to resign.

4.  Edwards insists LDWF re-hire Holliday, but the agency refuses.

5.  After staying in limbo for about a year, Holliday is quietly hired to his present position in January, 2018.

Why was Edwards so adamant that Holliday be hired?  Simple.  Because his attorney cabal of supporters, the same crew of characters who arranged for a New Orleans blogger to conduct a video interview with a prostitute who would state (falsely) that then-U. S. Sen. David Vitter, Edwards’ opponent, “got me pregnant and then insisted that I have an abortion” told him to.  That’s why!  They went to those lengths because they very much feared Vitter’s “Together Louisiana Strong” platform to institute tort reform (and most especially reducing the jury trial threshold to zero) in Louisiana.  In short, Vitter was going to annihilate their business model (the ones that keep the television station ads going non-stop during daytime TV shows and on evening newscasts).

Well, let’s just examine exactly what that attorney cabal managed to pull off by flexing their collective muscles with old “Honor Code” shall we?

 First, we have the Affidavit of Probably Cause on Holliday’s arrest.  Let’s take a look (here’s a link for the Domestic Battery Abuse Statute ):

Now, by our own admission, the arresting officer’s handwriting is not the best, so we’ve created a document with his written account typed, which follows:

So, we have “Honor Code” Gov. Edwards’ attorney cabal flexing their muscles to go to bat for Mr. Holliday who, as is easily ascertained above, struck his daughter with a closed fist in the face and left forearm, thus causing the school nurse to need to alert authorities.

Next, as part of the ongoing arrangement for Holliday and his former wife to provide for their daughter, a fairly routine judgment was entered into Court on January 20, 2016 calling for each parent’s financial responsibilities for the young lady.  However, as perhaps could be expected given Holliday’s actions (e.g. running from police) in our first feature, Holliday didn’t cooperate.  Accordingly, his ex-wife initiated Contempt of Court proceedings.

We are told that, while working at LDWF, Holiday would be “hold up” in an office unwilling to come out or answer the door.  That is quite plausible because, unable to serve Holliday with the Contempt of Court documents, his ex-wife had to resort to hiring a private process-server, who ultimately got him served at 8:40 a.m. on October 5, 2016:

The list of potential witnesses which his ex-wife supplied to the Court for the Contempt of Court hearing makes for interesting viewing as well.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

Holliday saw fit to honor the Court with his presence for the hearing on October 11, 2016, at which time a Consent Judgment was agreed to and formally entered into the Court record on November 16, 2016, and the Rule for Contempt of Court against Holliday was dismissed

We reached out to Gov. Edwards’ Office for comment, but they have not responded to our phone call seeking comment nor our email seeking comment.  Of course, that just may be because, when Gov. Edwards appeared at the Baton Rouge Press Club on January 7, 2019 and Robert Burns was engaging in an exchange with LaTonya Smith Scott, AARP’s State Communications Director, after the meeting and after Scott had grilled Gov. Edwards on home health care for Louisiana’s elderly population, Richard Carbo, Edwards’ newly appointed Campaign Chairman, came right up, interrupted the conversation between Scott and Burns and told Scott, “Don’t listen to him.  He doesn’t publish anything but junk.”

Perhaps we’ve pleased Mr. Carbo with this latest installment of “junk.”

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.