In a letter dated March 28, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made official its plans to take over the troubled Lafayette Housing Authority, via a "Declaration of Substantial Default." The letter, penned by Sandra Henriquez, assistant secretary for Public and Indian Housing, was addressed to City-Parish President Joey Durel, ex-board member Joe Dennis and current board Chairman Shirley Vige.
The action eliminates the LHA board, including the trio of members fighting in court to be reinstated and newly appointed members, says Dan Rodriguez, the HUD official who is acting executive director for the LHA. In its letter, HUD cites numerous problems at the agency, which has been under federal investigation since last summer, including weak accounting controls, misuse of funds, a non-compliant cash management system, lack of effective leadership, and improper implementation of the Disaster Housing Assistance Program. Read the letter here.
HUD is now updating many policies and procedures, Rodriguez says, including the procurement and personnel policies and the LHA’s bylaws.
Why it took HUD so long to step in after the blistering 2008 and 2009 audits, which led to the resignation of Executive Director Walter Guillory and his deputy, Jonathan Carmouche, and a costly legal battle over seats on the LHA board, is anybody’s guess. “That was a decision made at headquarters,” Rodriguez says. “It’s something that’s been a possibility for a long time.” He says the uncertainty of the board situation and the possibility that decisions made today could be overridden if the dismissed trio of board members, which also includes John Freeman and Leon Simmons, is reinstated by the courts, likely weighed heavily.
Rodriguez and a HUD employee out of the Atlanta office, Ada Halloway, will be in charge of the agency until a new executive director is hired and trained. “I would say at least six months,” Rodriguez says. “It’ll go on until the housing authority is back online.”
Five candidates have been identified as most qualified for th ED post, and a panel of community leaders has ranked them. Rodriguez says he and Halloway will soon determine the next steps, but he thinks a new leader will be chosen soon. Once HUD is comfortable that the right person is in place and he or she has a stable senior staff and is properly trained, HUD will ask Durel to appoint a new board, Rodriguez says. “At that time, HUD will pull back.”
And just in case anyone wants to challenge the takeover, Henriquez made it clear that's not an option. "Please be advised that this letter constitutes final agency action and there is no further right to administrative review by HUD."
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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