St. Tammany District Attorney Collin Sims’ campaign responds to State Police Commission’s letter by declaring no violation and boomerangs it right back citing apparent involvement of Commissioner Riecke in Vincent Wynne’s campaign appearing to violate LSPC Rule and Louisiana Constitution.

Billboards of District Attorney Collin Sims’ campaign.

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Editor’s Note:

On the video below, the “smart people” Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns references have no involvement whatsoever in the campaign of Collin Sims, nor do they reside in St. Tammany Parish.  Further, Burns has engaged in no interaction whatsoever with the Sims campaign.

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On February 1, 2014, we published this feature covering the fact that the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) sent the Collin Sims campaign a letter indicating that it needed to “cease and desist” from utilizing LSP troopers’ photos on billboards (see feature photo for this post).  The LSPC indicated essentially that the billboards constituted a tacit endorsement of Sims by the troopers.

Literally within an hour of publishing the feature, we received feedback from what Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns states publicly came from people, “who are more intelligent than me.”  Those individuals follow the blog religiously, and they indicated that there, “is no expectation of privacy,” on the part of the LSP troopers and, further, that since it was not the troopers who initiated the placement of the billboards nor paid for them, there was no campaign violation whatsoever.

Accordingly, Burns decided to address the LSPC at its February 8, 2024 meeting to inform the LSPC of that feedback he’d gotten.  Here’s his presentation before the LSPC:

 2/8/24:  Burns provides the LSPC with the assessment of a few followers of his blog whom Burns says, “I have enough humility to say are more intelligent than me,” regarding the LSPC’s January 20, 2024 letter to the Sims campaign.

Interestingly enough, approximately six (6) hours after Burns made his commentary above, the Sims campaign sent this email of February 8, 2024 clearly indicating that there was no violation of any rule and strongly chastising both the LSPC and one of its members, Jared Riecke, for an apparent violation of both the Louisiana Constitution and LSPC Rules in sending out the letter to the Sims campaign.  Let’s take a look at some highlights from that email at this time:

The image in question is of Collin Sims, executing his duties as Chief of the Criminal Division for the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, at a public press conference in Covington, Louisiana on October 13, 2023, with the family of Captain Vincent Liberto, a Mandeville police officer murdered in the line of duty.

In addition to family members of Captain Liberto, individuals in attendance included prosecutors and law enforcement officers from various agencies involved with the case. The video feed of the press conference was broadcast live on television and the internet and numerous still images were published in multiple online and print media sources.

The usage of the picture is not in violation of any law or rule for Mr. Sims or those pictured alongside him. The image on the billboard does not indicate or insinuate any endorsement from any individual in the photograph. It is a public picture of Collin Sims doing his job in a public space.

What should be concerning to the commission, those who govern it, and the general public, is the apparent involvement herein by Louisiana State Police Commission member Jared Caruso-Riecke and any direct or indirect involvement he may have with the upcoming election for the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Direct or indirect involvement by Mr. Rieke in support of candidate Vincent Wynne, or any other candidate, appears to be in violation of the Louisiana Constitution (Article 10, Section 47) and Louisiana State Police Commission Rules (LSPC Rule 14.2).

The purpose of any appointment to the Louisiana State Police Commission is to be in service to the citizens of Louisiana. It is disappointing to see this commission potentially used in a political manner in contrast to its mission, state law, and its own rules.

Based on the above scathing smack down of the LSPC, we don’t look for any Cease and Desist anytime soon, and we want to thank one dedicated Sound Off Louisiana follower who alerted us to the fact that there is no campaign violation of any sort (together with the rationale for why) within an hour of us publishing our feature.

Our only question at this point is whether or not the LSPC bothered with contacting its own attorney, Lenore Feeney, and if so, if she gave a green light to sending out this letter.  We think it speaks volumes if the LSPC members did not consult her and speaks even more volumes if they did and that January 20, 2024 letter went out anyway!