Louisiana Inspector General Stephen Street’s dander easily rises when confronted with delaHoussaye, Painter criminal case debacles.

Stephen_Street
Louisiana Inspector General Stephen Street

 

Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns easily got a big rise in Louisiana Inspector General Stephen Street’s dander during a recent Baton Rouge Press Club appearance when Burns questioned him on two of his office’s highest-profile debacles:  the criminal cases Street pursued against Corey delaHoussaye and Murphy Painter.  In the following video, Burns questions Street on these high-profile criminal case debacles and makes other observations entailing Street’s office based upon his own experience in dealing with the IG’s Office under Street:


Burns questions Street on delaHoussaye, Painter  criminal cases
and provides commentary on his own assessment of the IG’s office’s investigative
practices based upon Burns’ own dealings with the IG’s Office under
Street’s leadership.


CLICK HERE for the “Under Fire” Business Report article
entailing Inspector Street.

In the article linked above, another case referenced is the criminal trial of Bruce Greenstein, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s former Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals.

On August 19, 2015, Sound Off Louisiana published this post outlining that Bruce Greenstein was used as a mere chess pawn in a desperate attempt by former Attorney General James D. “Buddy” Caldwell to find some credible defense to Caldwell’s having improperly cancelled the CNSI contract (while Gov. Jindal actually cancelled it, he did so upon Caldwell’s urging and guidance).

Current Attorney General Jeff Landry contracted with independent sources to conduct an assessment of the Greenstein criminal trial, and that assessment recommended dismissing all charges, and that’s what was done several months ago.  Further, in a demonstration of just how weak the State of Louisiana’s defense to Caldwell’s actions would have been in the CNSI civil trial, Attorney General Jeff Landry and Gov. John Bel Edwards recently wisely opted to settle that civil litigation.

One of the key points in that settlement was to change the wording of the reason for cancelling the contract from “for cause” to “for convenience,” which is a subtle admission on the State of Louisiana’s part that it would have likely been unable to substantiate during the civil trial that it had just cause for the cancellation.  The mere fact that Gov. Edwards and AG Landry (not exactly political allies) jointly agreed to settle the matter speaks volumes about how weak Louisiana’s defenses to the improper termination of the contract by Caldwell was.

Hence, beyond the two cases outlined in the video above (delaHoussaye and Painter), the Bruce
Greenstein criminal case can be chalked up as yet another debacle involving the OIG (though the AG’s role was considerably larger) which cost Louisiana taxpayers a small fortune to pursue only to have the whole matter evaporate before taxpayers’ eyes!


CLICK HERE for the First Circuit’s writ ruling
 wherein the State of Louisiana sought to overturn 21st JDC Judge Brenda Ricks’ ruling to suppress ALL of the evidence obtained against delaHoussaye by the OIG.  

 

Note: 

CLICK HERE for other deficiencies
noted in the OIG’s initial application for supervisory writ.


CLICK HERE for Assistant AG Rodney Ramsey’s filing
indicating that Auctioneer Licensing Board Executive Director Sandy Edmonds covertly copied a work paper carelessly left behind by OIG staff investigators.

 

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and 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.  

 

 

JBE on Sterling killing: “disturbing.” So, what’s his take on Louisiana’s only black auctioneer being asked four times, as a sitting member of the LALB during a meeting, “Are you carrying a weapon?”

JBEdwards

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards

 

In the following video, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns openly contrasts Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ characterization of Alton Sterling’s video as “disturbing” with repetitive video clips from past meetings readily depicting racial profiling and interrogation of Louisiana’s only black auctioneer, Rev. Freddie Lee Phillips, by Edwards’ appointees to the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB) and Interior Design Board (IDB):

 

 


Composition of video clips clearly depicting historical instances of racial profiling and interrogation of Louisiana’s
only black auctioneer being conducted by appointees of Gov. John Bel Edwards (and their hired employees/contractors) to the LALB & IDB.


CLICK HERE for Sandy Edmonds’ email of 6/4/10

 CLICK HERE for Robert Burns cell phone itemization for 6/8/10


CLICK HERE for LALB Attorney Anna Dow’s 7/25/10 letter to
 then-LALB-Chairman Ken Comer.

CLICK HERE for 8/15/11 request by Phillips / Burns to add agenda item for discussion of why IDB hired EBRP Deputy Ronald Landry after Edmonds said it was due to their attendance at meetings.


CLICK HERE for IDB Chairman Deborah Steinmetz official
 response to the Burns / Phillips letter of 8/15/11.



CLICK HERE
 for 12/22/12 Advocate Article on racist roll cal depicted above.


CLICK HERE
 for IG Report of 2/20/13 pertaining to racist roll call.

 ;
CLICK HERE for 3/9/13 Advocate follow-up article after IG investigation.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and 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.

JBE’s auction corruption train gains speed, overtakes Jindal’s, as Henderson is served with Federal fraud lawsuit, Executive Director Edmonds admits past long-time Chairman Steinkamp’s voter registration and residence don’t match.

JBEdwards
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards

The following video, complete with brief historical video highlights of past Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board (LALB) meetings, combined with the document support links below the video, depict the full-court commitment that Louisiana Gov. John Bel “Honor Code” Edwards has to not only match Jindal’s auction corruption train, but for his own auction corruption train to pass Jindal’s with lightening-fast speed, which it has already managed to do!


Video of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ intense commitment to
maintaining and intensifying auction regulatory corruption in Louisiana.


CLICK HERE for Henderson being served with Federal fraud suit on 6/25/16 @ 9:32 a.m.

[Note:  CLICK HERE for full-blown feature on the alleged Henderson fraud]


CLICK HERE for ED  Edmonds’ email admitting Steinkamp’s residency and voter registration don’t
match.


CLICK HERE for Danny Pun’s lawsuit filed with the bankruptcy court wherein he outlines having been fleeced out of around $130,000 at the VERY LAST auction of New Orleans Auction Galleries prior to its 4/1/11 bankruptcy.  He was fleeced by misrepresentations on the authenticity of a chicken blood stone and a jade table, both of which were advertised as authentic when, in reality, they were total fakes.


CLICK HERE for Danny Pun’s ACTUAL complaint with the LALB in which he 
names LALB Chairman Tessa Steinkamp in the complaint!!

[Note:  NOBODY, that’s right, NOBODY was EVER ordered to appear before the LALB for a disciplinary hearing entailing all the illegalities that transpired at NOAG].

CLICK HERE for the Massound Pouratian lawsuit filed into NOAG’s bankruptcy wherein, in 2008, Pouratian bid $114,000 on paintings that were total fakes and which arrived at NOAG with Christie’s rejection stickers on the backs of the paintings (see exhibits in lawsuit)!


CLICK HERE for Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s report
on LALB payroll practices.  Purpera turned his findings over to EBRP District Attorney Hillar Moore for potential criminal prosecution of Edmonds.  Moore, in turn, turned the matter over to Inspector General Stephen Street, who ultimately conducted a months-long monitoring of Edmonds’ cell phone records and ultimately issued this report.

The preceding video and support links above make it abundantly clear that Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is even more committed to auction regulatory corruption that his predecessor, Bobby Jindal.  It was a very tall order to fill, but Mr. “Honor Code” has made it readily apparent he intends to not only keep Jindal’s auction corruption train in place, but indeed to push its throttle forward to the maximum speed!

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and 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.