But that changed the afternoon of the June meeting, when much to their surprise, Commissioner Don Higginbotham ' who like Robichaux and Burley wanted the director to retire, resign or face termination ' instead motioned that a contract be drafted to keep him on for at least six months. Several weeks later, in a letter dated June 28, Higginbotham dumbfounded those commissioners again, resigning from the embattled board, citing the effect recent controversies have begun to have on his insurance business.
For the past year, the commission has been under fire for allegedly tainting a process to award a fixed base operator contract to an out-of-state company, questionable spending practices and violations of open meetings laws, and more recently Roberts' future at the airport after 14 years.
Shortly after throwing Roberts a lifeline, the State Farm insurance agent ' in his capacity as head of the commission's internal affairs committee ' began working on a draft of Roberts' employment contract along with Lafayette City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger (at this time Roberts is an at-will employee). The contract, which is not yet finalized, spells out Roberts' duties, responsibilities and compensation and provides a mechanism for addressing and evaluating his job performance.
Ottinger's been filling in as a result of the first casualty of the frazzled commission ' the May 30 resignation of longtime airport commission attorney Glenn Edwards, who bowed out amid allegations he gave bad advice about the legality of some commission expenditures. Last Friday, Ottinger said he had just presented the working employment contract to Roberts' lawyer, Joel Babineaux, but was not sure whether it would be ready for the Wednesday, July 11, meeting. (Ottinger has since appointed the Lafayette law firm of Simien & Miniex, headed by Clyde Simien and Rickey Miniex, to take over as the commission's legal adviser.)
Last week Chairman Robichaux asked that the issue of Roberts' contract be put on the agenda. "If the contract is ready, it'll probably be voted on," he says. Even if the commission approves the contract, Robichaux says the $92,000 position will be advertised this fall to ensure the airport has the best director in place. "[Roberts] can apply for the job," he says. At the June meeting, the commission supported another resolution by Higginbotham, voting to conduct a national search for a new director 90 days before Roberts' contract expires.
Burley was the only commissioner to vote against the six-month contract but supported Higginbotham's second resolution; as chairman, Robichaux votes only in the case of a tie. His tenure as chair ends in November, though his current commission appointment does not expire till October 2008.
Should Roberts apply, lining up the votes against him may be a challenge in light of the change of heart some commissioners experienced; in part, Roberts' future could be in the hands of his staunch supporter, City-Parish President Joey Durel.
"We are immediately searching for an individual that reflects Don's character and business acumen to serve the remainder of his term," Durel said last week in a tersely worded statement that commended Higginbotham for his service and expressed "much regret" over his departure. "There will be no further comment," he added.
Durel did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.
Both Robichaux, a Lafayette City-Parish Council appointee who has served since 2004, and 11-year commission veteran Burley say they want Roberts replaced for a number of reasons, citing his abrasive personality and the way he treats individuals who do business with the airport as their primary motivation. "Years ago, I said, 'Greg, don't ignore our customers.' And when I say customers, I mean tenants," Burley says. "But he would do it anyway."
While it's unclear what factors caused Higginbotham's about-face (he's since been unavailable for comment) on Roberts' future, both Robichaux and Burley say they endured undue political pressure over their opposition to Roberts.
In one instance of particularly egregious behavior, such influence initially appeared to be coming from those with the power to control how funding is funneled to the airport. A June 11 letter penned by Louisiana DOTD Secretary Johnny Bradberry to Durel explained just how out-of-line that kind of pressure was. Bradberry's subordinate, State Director of Aviation Phil Jones, wrote a May 23 letter on department letterhead to Durel and also appeared at the airport commission meeting June 7, in both instances pleading ' and using language some commissioners deemed threatening ' with local officials to retain Roberts. In his letter, Jones even asked Durel to "use your influence" to prevent Roberts' termination.
Though clearly perturbed by his employees' decision to create the appearance of departmental support for Roberts, Bradberry apparently learned about their inappropriate behavior too late to offset the impact of it. Pressure from Jones and other officials like Broussard Mayor Charles Langlinais, who placed phone calls to commissioners on Roberts' behalf and also spoke up at the June meeting, appears to have swayed commissioners.
The Independent Weekly obtained a copy of Bradberry's letter from Durel's office last week. "These actions, in my opinion, border on a violation of Civil Service rules and contradict the organizational culture being created in this department," he wrote. "Understanding the outcome as reported in the media, I sincerely hope your decision and the decision of the committee were not overly influenced. In addition, I would like to explain that in no way would federal funds be withheld from your airport by DOTD because of leadership changes that may or may not occur."
Burley says Jones, who oversees 70 public airports in the state, used language she and other commissioners considered threatening. Both in his letter and at the meeting, Jones implied that Roberts' termination could impede the progress of the airport, saying it would be difficult for the FAA to put money into an airport with such management problems. "It was like if we got rid of [Roberts] we weren't going to get any funding," Burley says. "I said, 'Now that was a threat.'"
In addition to Durel's backing, commissioners Allen Dugas and immediate past Chairman Jim Nunn, perhaps Roberts' most loyal advocate, have not wavered in their support of the director. Such proponents note that the airport is doing well under Roberts' leadership, citing increases in passenger and air freight business, airport rental income and its 2005 recognition as the FAA's Louisiana Airport of the Year.
"If anyone thinks the success of an airport is because of one person, that's an insult to our intelligence," Burley says. "They're forgetting our great economical boom, convenience of location and all the other people involved in the operations of our airport. It's everyone working together ' in spite of Greg."
Robichaux, however, says the recent uncertainty over Roberts' job security seems to be having a positive effect on the director. "His demeanor has changed a lot. He's not as boisterous," Robichaux says. "But I want to see how long it's going to last. I want to see how his actions and demeanor progress after the contract is signed, sealed and delivered."
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed