The Independent Weekly has confirmed, through various sources close to the investigation of the LHA, that the inspector general for HUD has been working with the FBI for some time.
The nature of the inspector general’s visit to the LHA this week, however, remains unclear. LHA Executive Director Walter Guillory did not respond to an email seeking comment, but an LHA official did confirm via email that OIG reps would be in the office today.
After this story was published online, LHA board member Donald Fuselier returned a call saying a meeting will be held early this afternoon between HUD's OIG and LHA staff. "They will make a determination about whether HUD is going to take over," Fuselier said in a voicemail message.
Meanwhile, Durel said the state Legislature has the most potential to address future issues of oversight and accountability at the agency to ensure the current situation is not repeated. “[Donovan] pointed out that a lot of the rules we are operating under, as it relates to HUD, are done at the state level,” Durel said, noting that state law currently only provides him with the authority to appoint and dismiss board members; neither he nor Lafayette Consolidated Government has any oversight of the housing authority whatsoever. “That’s the extent of the law as it relates to us," Durel said. "I think in this case, there’s not enough bureaucracy."
Durel believes there is momentum to change state law and add a new level of supervision to the federally funded agency. “I think this whole situation has gotten a lot of people’s attention, and so maybe we can go to the state level and change, tweak some of the laws. ... As I keep saying there is something missing here. You can’t have the kind of management you have there, from the standpoint of HUD being so far away and a volunteer board. ... There is too much Monopoly money [involved].”
Durel could not reached for comment Friday afternoon or Monday, after state District Judge Ed Rubin reinstated three LHA board members he dismissed in August.
Last week Durel said he believes the board members all had good intentions and blames himself for not understanding the impact of his role as the appointing authority. The week before Rubin’s decision came down, Durel appointed six new board members, including accountants, an attorney and those with extensive financial and management expertise. The status of those appointments remains in limbo, pending Durel’s response to Rubin’s ruling.
“Most people, to their credit, get on these boards because they have a passion for it,” Durel said. “They think they’re doing good work. They’re helping people, but they don’t necessarily have a particular skill set.” Durel noted that he will push for extensive training of board members and will personally go through the training process as well.
“The most significant thing out of this is they are going to send somebody from HUD here, as an employee, to help the board transition,” Durel added, noting he also is contemplating asking the Legislature to approve a liaison position between HUD and LCG, perhaps from its Department of Community Development. “Maybe it’s an employee of this government that’s funded by HUD, because we shouldn’t have to spend our money watching over HUD. This person would attend every meeting; if the board has questions, maybe this person would be their liaison, more directly connected to HUD. I told Shaun Donovan, as far as me appointing the board when I came into office, I never quite understood the relationship; it never made much sense to me.”
Durel continued: “I told him I’ll take these board appointments a whole lot more seriously in the future, but we still have to put things in place to prevent these king of things from happening. Over a period of time, that board’s going to change. A new mayor is going to come in here, he’s going to get swept away like I did, and that’s not going to be a big priority of his because we have so little to do with it. You appoint people who you think care about helping people, and you don’t realize how important a particular skill set is.”
LHA's top official, Guillory was hired in 1998 after HUD took over and reorganized what was then a troubled housing authority. By just about any measure, Guillory was instrumental in turning the embattled agency around — and may now be just as culpable in running it right back into the ground.
It would certainly make for strange irony if HUD decides today to take it back.
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.
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