Sound Off Louisiana

Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Member Jared Caruso-Riecke, in a pose which could serve as symbolism from Gov. Jeff Landry to St. Tammany Parish residents given that, on January 10, 2025, Landry chose Riecke to represent the First Congressional District over former popular Parish President and GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis.

On January 10, 2025, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry instructed Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry to issue a Membership to the LSPC representing the First Congressional District to Jared Caruso-Riecke.

Gov. Landry did so even with the full knowledge that popular former St. Tammany Parish President and GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis expressed his desire to serve the people in the First Congressional District on the LSPC.

Why did Gov. Landry’s decision upset so many people in St. Tammany Parish (trust us, his action infuriated many of them!)?

We have previously drawn extensive attention to the myriads of controversies surrounding Riecke, but what makes Landry’s decision all the more galling to the people in St. Tammany Parish are these three (3) facts:

1. As we’ve illustrated before in Episode 9 of this thorough Counter Clock podcast, Riecke signed a felony plea on behalf of his company which entailed a $2.1 million fine (along with agreement to extend $12 million in already-spent remedies by making another $800,000 in remedies) to atone for, “millions of gallons of raw sewage” dumped into St. Tammany Parish waterways, with said millions of gallons of raw sewage eventually making their way into Lake Pontchartrain.
2. It was former St. Tammany Parish President and GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis who was tasked with dealing with the fallout from Riecke’s company’s actions.
3. On December 30, 2024, Kevin Davis made it known to Gov. Landry that he would like to serve the residents of the First Congressional District on the LSPC, yet Landry chose Riecke anyway!

Let’s present 10 minutes of audio excerpts from the above-referenced podcast focusing on the Riecke/Davis raw sewage matter:

Audio excepts from this podcast feature outlining the raw sewage problems associated with Riecke which former Parish President Kevin Davis had to resolve.

Pretty intriguing set of audio excerpts, no?

When Davis applied for the LSPC, he provided an extensive resume and bio.  Let’s reproduce his email to Gov. Landry’s Office seeking appointment to the LSPC:

From:Kevin Davis

To:[email protected]

Cc:Ryan Roberts (Governor’s Office)

Subject:Louisiana State Police Commission

Date:Monday, December 30, 2024 12:50:55 PM

Attachments:Kevin Davis Resume with Bio 2024.pdf

Dr. Guillory,

I am writing to you to express my interest in being appointed to the Louisiana State Police Commission. I believe my experience and qualifications make me a strong candidate.

For your review, I have attached my detailed resume and bio. Should you have any questions or need further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for considering me to serve on the LSP commission. I greatly appreciate your time and look forward to the possibility of contributing to the commission’s work.

Thank you, Kevin Davis

Now, as we gave thanks to former Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough for exposing the sham nature of LSPC appointments, he made this important observation that he wanted made known:

……..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.

Kimbrough is right in that any single State Senator, provided the appointee resides in that Senator’s District, can essentially block the confirmation of an appointee.

Close followers of Louisiana politics may recall that scenario playing out with regard to then-Senator Karen Carter Peterson who, though refusing to comment on the matter publicly, has been credited with single-handedly blocking then-Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointee to head the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Ronnie Jones.

So, if the voters of St. Tammany Parish feel incensed enough about Gov. Landry’s appointment of Riecke to the LSPC (particularly given his other option of Kevin Davis), perhaps they may wish to contact Riecke’s State Senator, Patrick McMath, and ask him to block Riecke’s nomination just as Karen Carter-Peterson is widely believed to have done with Ronnie Jones’ nomination.

To facilitate St. Tammany Parish residents who may wish to contact McMath, here’s a copy and paste from his Legislative webpage to assist them in their efforts:

Senator Patrick McMath

409 East Boston Street
Suite 200
Covington, LA 70433

 (985) 900-6278

    [email protected]

 Legislative Assistant:  Noble-Bates Young

Even if someone does not reside in St. Tammany Parish but does reside in the First Congressional District, that person would still be represented by Riecke and therefore may also wish to reach out to Sen. McMath.  Furthermore, that First Congressional District resident is certainly free to reach out to his or her own State Senator indicating a desire for the Senate to reject Riecke’s appointment.

After all, if McMath turns out to be unwilling to adhere to the will of St. Tammany Parish voters entailing Riecke (assuming enough of them feel strongly enough on the matter to reach out to him), those same voters just may wish to reevaluate whether he is the State Senator they want to continue serving them once his reelection efforts get underway in 2027.

In closing, we know what many people are asking:  How did Gov. Landry appoint Riecke to serve on the LSPC when Dillard University President Dr. Monique Guillory did not even nominate Riecke?  Wouldn’t that be a blatant violation of Louisiana’s Constitution?

We will provide the answer to those two questions, along with revealing many of the other behind-the-scenes shenanigans we’ve been able to uncover in this sordid episode, in the second installment of this feature.  We just KNOW you’ll want to see that next feature and find out just what all transpired!

Former Louisiana State Police (LSP) Trooper Nicholas Gee sits at the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) meeting of February 8, 2024 as Louisiana State Trooper Association (LSTA) attorney Floyd Falcon pleads with the LSPC to rehire Gee because his administrative leave and annual leave was running low in the aftermath of an announced Federal Investigation by the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana entailing possible Veteran’s Administration (VA) fraud.

On May 2, 2023, former WBRZ news reporter Chris Nakamoto (now with WAFB, Channel 9 in Baton Rouge) aired this feature entailing then-LSP Trooper Nicholas Gee receiving over a year of “stay away pay.”

In his feature, Nakamoto included several other problematic matters entailing LSP Troop F (Trooper Michael Reichardt’s plea deal on “doctor shopping” for pain pills along with the then-ongoing Ronald Greene matter), so for purposes of this feature, let’s just focus in on that segment of his report that dealt with Gee.  Here’s that approximate one-minute excerpt from Nakamoto’s linked feature above:

Segment of 5/2/23 WBRZ feature focusing on then-LSP Trooper Nicholas Gee.

On February 8, 2024, Gee appeared before the LSPC, and LSTA attorney Floyd Falcon, who readily admitted he’d only gotten Gee’s case the day before, attempted to plead Gee’s case to be returned to work because his collective leave was running low.

At the conclusion of Falcon’s arguments and LSP’s rebuttals, brand new LSPC Commissioner Ross Bourgeois, as reflected on the linked-video above, made a Motion to, “approve the suspension and permit Trooper Gee to use his leave until it is exhausted.  Should he exhaust his leave prior to the next Commission meeting, Trooper Gee would be placed on administrative leave with pay.”

The measure passed with no dissents; moreover, then-LSPC Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., stressed to LSP that there was “no information” to justify LSP’s request to suspend Gee without pay, which is what LSP was seeking.  Simien then stressed that, if LSP was so inclined, the agency could, “appear at the next meeting with more information.”

LSP did not follow up at the next LSPC meeting as Simien had admonished the agency to do if it wished to continue its efforts seeking a suspension without pay.

At the LSPC meeting of Thursday, February 13, 2025, attorney Jill Craft, whom Gee has retained to represent him, presented Gee’s case for why LSP should Summarily (i.e. without the need for a hearing) Grant Gee his job back.  Let us provide a 12-minute highlight video of the arguments Craft made, LSP’s opposition arguments, and a segment of dialogue between Craft and LSPC Member Michael DuBos.  Here is that video:

2/13/25 LSPC Meeting during which Craft asserts that LSP “freaked out” in response to the above Nakamoto news feature.

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.

As such, there was a very extensive dialogue between Craft and DuBos which was professional but certainly argumentative between them entailing  extreme minutia of LSPC Rules.  We provided only a small segment in the video above, but for anyone who may want to watch their drawn-out discussions, feel free to do so by viewing the Gee matter in its entirety at this link.

Since the LSPC declined to Grant Craft’s Motion to Summarily give Gee his job back, there should be a full-blown appeal hearing on Thursday, March 13, 2025 (unless delayed).  If so, we’ll be there to cover that appeal hearing.

At the December 12, 2024 meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), former Chairman Eulis Simien, Jr., seeks a point of clarification entailing the closeout of whistleblower Carl Cavalier’s appeal of former LSP Col. Lamar Davis’ action of terminating Cavalier for speaking out to media outlets regarding the in-custody death of Ronald Greene, which occurred on or around May 9, 2019.

On July 24, 2024, as we transitioned into our extensive coverage of the Allen Stanford / OFI Baton Rouge trial, we provided our site visitors with this update on the status of former LSP Lt. John Stelly.

Followers of our blog know that we also covered whistleblower Carl Cavalier’s matter from start to finish, and we concluded our coverage (at least as it pertained to Ronald Greene) with this September 22, 2024 feature on Cavalier.

In that feature, Cavalier indicated that he’d moved on with his life with a bright outlook on his future.  He indicated that the next most significant chapter in his life is graduating from law school, a milestone which is rapidly approaching!

The purpose of this feature is to provide coverage of the LSPC’s formal closure of Cavalier’s appeal and also to update everyone on the litigation of former LSP Lt. John Stelly, who sued LSP alleging that he was discriminated against during the tenure of former Col. Lamar Davis because of the fact that he is Caucasian.

First, let’s go with Cavalier.

At its December 12, 2024 meeting, the LSPC formally closed out Cavalier’s appeal.  Here’s video of that formal closeout:

12/12/24:  LSPC formally closes whistleblower Carl Cavalier’s appeal.

So, that’s it for the appeal of Carl Cavalier.

To be perfectly honest, we thought that, when we published this feature on August 2, 2024 entailing former LSP Lt. John Stelly, that was going to be the end of his matter as well.

As site visitors may recall, Stelly sued LSP over his contention that former LSP Col. Lamar Davis engaged in racial discrimination in failing to promote him over what Stelly contends were lesser-qualified applicants but who had minority standing vs. his own race of Caucasian.

The reason we stated our belief that the matter was concluded is that, when Federal Judge Greg Gerard Guidry signed this July 31, 2024 judgment granting LSP’s Motion for Summary Judgment, we considered his Order and Reasons for Judgment to be very strongly worded.

We provided the segment of Judge Guidry’s Reasons for Judgment which we felt constituted his most strong wording on the August 2 linked-feature above; however, in a nutshell, Judge Guidry indicated that it is not the place of the Federal Courts to be, “transformed into personnel managers.”

Our own thoughts that Stelly would face a major uphill battle if he opted to appeal (which we continue to believe is the case), did not deter him one iota from filing this August 20, 2024 Notice of Appeal of the Granting of LSP’s Motion of Summary Judgment.

LSP responded by filing this Motion to Tax Its $10,000+ in Court Costs to Stelly even as his appeal is pending.

On September 11, 2024, Stelly filed  this Opposition to LSP’s taxing of such costs indicating that a couple of the costs were excessive but also asking the Court to delay such taxation until after Stelly’s appeal concluded.

On September 16, 2024, LSP filed this Reply to Stelly’s Opposition to Tax Costs indicating that Stelly had provided no rationale for why his assertion of the two items deemed “excessive” should prevail over the actual invoiced costs that LSP paid.  LSP further asserted that it is “well settled” that a Federal District Court, “retains jurisdiction to tax costs, even while an appeal is pending.”  LSP cited the case of, “Feria v. Winn-Dixie Montgomery, L.L.C., 753 Fed. Appx. 323, 324 (5th Cir. 2019) (citing Coward v. AC & S, Inc., 91 Fed. Appx. 919, 922 (5th Cir. 2004)),” to fortify its contention that, “There are no grounds to delay taxing costs here.”

On November 8, 2024, the Court ruled that Stelly would be taxed with costs but reduced the amount from $10,181.70 to $8,512.90.

So, that’s the update on Cavalier and Stelly.  In the coming days, we’ll outline another case in which LSP has been sued in the aftermath of an unfortunate incident with the Plaintiff appearing to have essentially rolled snake eyes in that litigation.

We wish Stelly well, but we’ll reiterate our belief that he faces a major uphill battle with this one!