[UPDATE, 5 p.m., Sept. 28: LHA attorney Daniel Stanford tells The Independent Weekly that after reading the court's order signed Friday, Sept. 24, he has informed the organization that the dismissed board members' status is unchanged; therefore, they cannot lawfully call a board meeting at the LHA's office. The order, a writ of mandamus addressed to the council and Durel, directs them to either meet the demands in the board members' petition or show cause as to why they should not on Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. The order was signed by District Judge Jules Edwards, whom Stanford says was the duty judge Friday. Stanford says the case is assigned to District Judge Ed Rubin.]
Joe Dennis, who served as board vice chairman of the Lafayette Housing Authority until he was dismissed by City-Parish President Joey Durel Aug. 16 in the wake of a critical audit of the LHA’s operations, has called a special meeting of the board.
Dennis, whose dismissal was upheld last week by the City-Parish Council in a 6-2 vote, says his attorney advised him that because he and former board members John Freeman and Leon Simmons filed suit last Friday to prevent Durel from naming a new board they are still board members. “Our attorney tells us that until this hearing we are still board members. We have a duty and a responsibility to continue our work,” Dennis says.
At the Thursday meeting, scheduled for 3 p.m. at the LHA’s office at 115 Katie Drive, the board will “officially receive the audit” and an explanation of its findings from the Monroe-based CPA firm that conducted the audit, according to Dennis. “We never did have an audit meeting,” Dennis says. “Apparently other people knew about the audit before we did.” Although the audit has been available since about mid-July on the state legislative auditor’s website, Dennis says the report is supposed to be presented to the board so it can review and respond to the findings. “That’s not where we are supposed to get the audit from,” he says. “The only thing I know is that we as board members didn’t get it.”
CPA Tim Green of Allen, Green and Williamson confirms via email that his firm plans to attend the meeting. “We are scheduled to be at the meeting, and are aware of the precarious board member status.”
The biggest problem with the meeting may very well be its lack of a quorum, which would make it illegal. It needs four members for a quorum, and two other board members removed by Durel, Gertrude Batiste and Gregory Day, did not appeal. The only remaining member, Donald Fuselier, says he will only attend if the court determines the board members are still on the board (board Chairman Buddy Webb resigned for health reasons). Nothing even close to that has yet occurred, as a hearing on the suit is set for Nov. 8 in District Judge Ed Rubin’s court.
In the lawsuit, Dennis, Freeman and Simmons say they were improperly removed because Durel gave no reason for their dismissal. They are seeking to block his appointment of new members and are asking the court to grant them a new hearing before the council so that they can prevent evidence that they were unfairly dismissed.
The audit raised serious questions about how the LHA conducts its business and led to a federal investigation of its operations.
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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Finally, Dennis decides to work.