State Police Commission attorney Feeney brings her “A Game” in trial against State Trooper’s Association, but was she taken aback by her witness Jesse Scott Perry’s highly Trooper Association-sympathetic testimony? 

Retired Louisiana State Police Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet was the special guest of Sound Off Louisiana to provide his take on the testimony of retired LSP Capt. Jesse Scott Perry at the trial of LSTA v. LSPC of Thursday, November 3, 2022.  In early 2016, both Millet and Perry filed complaints with the LSPC over political campaign contributions which the LSTA made in the 2015 election cycle.

As we have indicated in numerous prior features, the Louisiana State Trooper’s Association (LSTA) sued the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) over what it asserts is its “constitutional right” to engage in political activity and contribute to political campaigns and make political endorsements.

In early 2016, two retired LSP troopers, Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet and Captain Jesse Scott Perry, filed complaints about the LSTA’s contributions in the 2015 election cycle.  Perry, who is now a Program Director at the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and who, in 2019, pulled in a cool $75,000 in salary, which is reportedly 82% higher than the median salary at the agency, filed this January 15, 2016 complaint with the LSPC.

The trial took place on Thursday, November 3, 2022, and Perry was called as a witness by LSPC; however, any casual courtroom observer who walked in could not help but openly ponder if Perry was not a de facto witness for the LSTA.  Furthermore, we can only openly wonder if his completely LSTA-sympathetic testimony, which included him admitting from the witness stand that he has been actively attempting to rejoin the LSTA, didn’t cause LSPC Attorney Lenore Feeney, who most certainly brought her “A Game” for this trial, to be taken aback.

Perry, Millet and two other retired LSTA members saw their memberships revoked for either filing complaints (in the case of Millet and Perry) or being supportive of the two complaints filed against the LSTA.  Perry not only admitted on the witness stand that he has been actively pursuing being reinstated to the LSTA, but as he exited the courtroom, he could be heard stating very loudly (Perry indicated to Judge Don Johnson and all attorneys that he is, “severely hearing impaired,” and it’s been our experience that those who are hearing impaired tend to elevate their voices) to LSTA attorneys Mary White and Floyd Falcon, “Good luck to you guys!”  As he made his way to the exit of the courtroom, two LSTA officials stood up and shook his hand in what certainly appeared to us to be in appreciation for his highly-LSTA-sympathetic testimony.

In the following video, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns provides an overview of the trial including, very early on in the video, a very special guest appearance (via phone) of the other complainant, Ret. LSP Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet.  We believe everyone will find this video intriguing, so feel free to take a look:

 11/6/22:  Burns provides overview of the trial and is joined early on by special guest Retired LSP Lt. Leon “Bucky” Millet who provided his thoughts on the testimony of retired Captain Jesse Scott Perry.

Now, regarding LSTA attorney Mary White cross examining the final LSPC witness on the stand, Eulis Simien, as stated in the video, White posed this question of Simien:  “Has your law firm ever made political contributions during your tenure as an LSPC Member?”

As we indicated in the video, Simien was very emphatic in his response:  “My law firm most certainly has not made any political contributions since I became an LSPC member.”

We can only state that Simien’s testimony does not appear to correlate with the facts, to wit:

1.  On January 10, 2019, Millet called for the heads of three (3) LSPC members over alleged prohibited political campaign contributions.  He supplied as support documentation Campaign Finance Reports submitted by Gov. John Bel Edwards and Erica Green (candidate for EBRP Metro Council District 5), which clearly show a “fundraiser food and beverage” contribution of $4,917.78 on March 10, 2017 to Gov. Edwards’ campaign and a $250 contribution to Erika Green’s campaign on February 9, 2017.  Both contributions are purported to be made from “Simien and Simien,” which, to us, sure sounds like a law firm.

2.  One of the LSPC Commissioners, Jared Riecke, vigorously denied any wrongdoing and called on all media outlets to publish his side of the story.  While The Advocate never did publish Riecke’s side of the story, on January 22, 2019, we published every single page of every document Riecke submitted to the LSPC challenging Millet’s assertions.

3.  In addition to # 2 above, we also, on February 14, 2019, published this feature in which Riecke dressed Millet down for “grandstanding and calling for my immediate resignation.”

Regarding Simien’s matter, the only thing we were ever told was that the contributions had been made by Simien’s brother and not him.  That fact notwithstanding, it would appear to us that Simien was, “less than candid” in his response to White’s question given that she clearly articulated, “your law firm” in her question.

We will certainly update our subscribers and casual site visitors as decisions (we use plural because we believe whatever decision Judge Johnson makes is going to be appealed by the losing side) are handed down regarding this litigation.

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