The state Senate voted 34-1 Tuesday for Rep. Rickey Hardy’s bill to make affiliates of housing authorities subject to the state’s public records law. The only dissenting vote came from Sen. Karen Carter Peterson of New Orleans.
Hardy says once Gov. Bobby Jindal signs HB 188, the law is retroactive, meaning affiliates of housing authorities that have developments under way will have to immediately open their books. For the purpose of the public records law, he says, these affiliates will be considered public bodies. Hardy anticipates full support from the governor: “It’s not a bill to open his office, so he won’t have any problems with it."
Affiliates of housing authorities are defined as any corporation, entity, partnership, venture, syndicate, or arrangement in which a local housing authority has an ownership or governance interest of less than a majority. The affiliates team up with housing authorities to secure low-income housing tax credits for development of single and multi-family projects, but until now the public had no access to their records — including who is involved and whether there are any conflicts of interest, who is profiting and if any federal funds are being misspent. For the only such venture complete and operational in Lafayette, St. Antoine Gardens, an independent auditor last year found that the Lafayette Housing Authority improperly used as much as $1 million of Section 8 and other funds for repairs, upkeep and an employee’s salary. “The public has a right to know who is spending their money and how it’s being spent,” says Hardy. “It’s just good government policy.”
It’s anticipated that the books of Villa Gardens Housing Corp., the developer of Villa Gardens, a federal tax-credit subdivision on Patterson Street near Alice Boucher Elementary, will be open for public review. Villa Gardens, like St. Antoine, consists of single family homes. Residents qualify to purchase the homes after renting them for 15 years. It’s unclear what impact the legislation will have on Cypress Trails Apartments, a $10 million development at Sophie and Moss streets, or Villas at Angel Point, another Patterson Street affordable housing project that’s only recently come to the public’s attention. The LHA was initially involved with both, but the developers kicked the LHA out of Cypress Trails once the feds starting investigating, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — which took over the LHA in the wake of its scandals — asked that the housing authority be removed from Villas at Angel Point. Richard Becker, a Lafayette attorney who does the legal work for all of these developments, has a pending request with state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell for an opinion on whether information on Cypress Trails Limited Partnership is a matter of public record.
Contacted Thursday afternoon, AG spokeswoman Sharon Kleinpeter said she was looking into whether an opinion on the matter has been finalized.
One sentence of the 1997 state law had exempted affiliates by virtue of their association with housing authorities, shielding these affiliates’ paper trails from public scrutiny: “Affiliates of housing agencies shall not, by virtue of their affiliation with such local housing agencies, become subject to the laws of this state applicable to public agencies and their governing bodies, including but not limited to laws pertaining to public disclosure of records, open meetings, minimum wage rates applicable to government contracts and employees, if any, procurement of goods and services, and laws relating to public employees.”
Along with his victory Tuesday to expand the state's sunshine law to these controversial low-income housing deals (the House unanimously backed the measure in May), Hardy played a key role in helping to expose potential corruption in the LHA, his efforts leading to multiple investigations including ongoing probes by the FBI and HUD inspector general.
Read more on the importance of Hardy’s bill here and here.
JUNE 20 Here's the transcript of the esteemed journalist Rush Limbaugh's recent spot on Sen. Elbert Guillory. Guillory's video explaining why all black folks need to go running right over to the GOP (and no, one of the reasons given is not that you can't get elected Lt. Gov. as a "D" in this state) is "amazing" and a "tear-jerker" to Mr. Limbaugh. Of course, he doesn't mention that Guillory thought enough of the D party to join it so he could get elected to the state senate. But Rush doesn't disappoint; he does manage to make the spot about him in the end.
JUNE 20 Here's a WBRZ investigative piece on a foundation in Baton Rouge that may have some problems. Like what, you ask? How about under-reporting income by $700K or having a member who gets contributions by telling folks about her mystical experiences? This lady says it all began 30 years ago when a bishop who died "spoke" to her from his coffin, letting her know that she was not "out of her head." Um, OK.
JUNE 20 Here's another analysis (or post-mortem, as the case may be) for Gov. Jindal's recent post in Politico. This time, it's from the editorial board of the LSU Reveille. The kids say there were some problems with the column; mostly, they were related to Jindal insulting his friends, his enemies, and everyone in between, including himself. The contradictions Jindal displayed weren't lost on these students -- or anybody else.
JUNE 20 This post by the editorial board of the Picayune congratulates former Saint Steve Gleason on the "inspiring" way the man has responded to a mean-spirited and just plain appalling skit on a radio station about him and ALS, the paralyzing and fatal disease he has. As usual, the editorial states, Gleason directed attention from himself and to the disease, which he says is misunderstood, underfunded and ignored. Maybe this will bring some attention to the disease, the board writes.
JUNE 20 The Advocate posts this story about the sudden death of James Gandolfini, the television, stage and film actor probably best known for his role as Tony Soprano on the HBO series. Gandolfini died while vacationing in Italy, the story reports. He won three Emmys for the Sopranos role, but also was honored with a Tony nomination for God of Carnage.
JUNE 20 Clancy DuBos writes here about the legal, financial and political quagmire that is NOLA law enforcement these days. Sheriff Gusman and Mayor Landrieu are facing off in federal court, and as DuBos says, the stakes are high. Gusman's prison is "a hellhole," DuBos writes, and Landrieu claims the books there are "deliberately unfathomable." Gusman says everything's hunky dory, but it would be better if he got more money from Landrieu. What a mess.
JUNE 20 Blogger Tom Aswell says Gov. Jindal needs to quit touring the country bragging about his "gold standard" of ethics reform -- because it just ain't true. Aswell gives us a lot of statistics on our dismal ethics record, including a long list of violations committed by our fearless leaders and political groups. Taken all at once, it's not a pretty picture, and certainly not a golden one.
JUNE 20 This post in the Picayune reports that a contractor pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme that involved fake bids and kickbacks. The contractor said he cut a deal with a guy working for Orleans Sheriff Gusman to submit fake bids so his real company could "win" work for the sheriff, the story says. The former sheriff's employee already has pleaded guilty, the story says. Meanwhile, Sheriff Gusman says he hasn't been contacted by any investigators.
JUNE 20 Here's a Huff Post blog by Jason Linkins, taking a few shots at Gov. Jindal for his recent Politico column. For instance, he takes issue with Jindal's advice that the GOP "stop the bedwetting," pointing out that there were certainly some Jindal-positive patches on those damp sheets. But the main gist of the column is that Jindal was singing one tune back in November, but he's using a different score now. Either way, it's hitting a sour note with Linkins.
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