EDITORIAL: Broussard, Whitmer, Council Continue Jefferson Parish Black Eye

Maybe.

The Council will meet with Whitmer in January to discuss his role in a secret deal to skim insurance commissions involving the West Jefferson Medical Center employee insurance contract that was solely let to B&A Insurance. Former Parish President and Whitmer Mentor Tim Coulon is also involved in the West Jeff contract.

After Whitmer's disciplinary hearing, if the Council takes action against Whitmer, he will have 30 days to appeal the action, which will put Whitmer past his announced retirement date of February 1st, 2010. He will no longer be a Jefferson Parish employee and not subject to any action from the Council.

Given the fact that Whitmer is Jefferson Parish Chief Administrative Officer and West Jefferson Medical Center is an arm of Jefferson Parish, at best Whitmer clearly violated ethics rules. At worst, Whitmer committed contract fraud. Either way, Tim Whitmer’s employment with Jefferson Parish should have ended when the secret commission-skimming deal was revealed. The fact that he is still employed can be summed up in two words: Aaron Broussard.

In October, news spread about a contract the Whitmer’s company, Lagniappe Industries, had with St. John Parish. The contract was approved by then St. John Parish President Bill Hubbard. Hubbard was indicted for accepting bribes from parish contractors. Hubbard’s company, Hubbard Enterprises, had several contracts with Jefferson Parish that were under the sphere of Whitmer’s influence. The contracts were approved by the Parish Council, but change orders were approved by Whitmer.

The St. John Parish Council cancelled all contracts with Whitmer’s company and, subsequently, the Jefferson Parish Council cancelled contracts with Hubbard Industries. No action was taken at that time by Parish President Broussard or the Parish Council to discipline or question Whitmer regarding his outside dealings with St. John Parish.

When the revelations about Whitmer and West Jefferson Medical Center were uncovered in November, the Council was working on 2010 Budget. Parish President Broussard said that his first priority was the budget and he didn’t comment on the Whitmer allegations until several days later.

Broussard also spent the rest of November and part of December ducking the news media. Broussard said that he was unable to comment because he did legal work for Whitmer’s insurance company, Lagniappe Industries. Broussard recused himself from participating in an internal investigation into Whitmer and West Jefferson Medical Center. Broussard appointed Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson to handle the investigation. The next day, Wilkinson recused himself because of business dealings with Whitmer. Assistant Parish Attorney Louis Gruntz was then put in charge of the investigation.

Gruntz completed his investigation but, rather then discuss it publicly and let the citizens of Jefferson Parish that pay his and Whitmer’s salary and re-elected Broussard hear what was in the investigation’s report, Gruntz stamped the report “Secret” and sent it off to the state ethics board.

After news of the scandal surfaced, Jefferson Parish Councilman-At-Large John Young asked his representative on the West Jefferson Medical Center Board to investigate the employee insurance contract. At the following board meeting on November 9th, the board cancelled the contract with B&A Insurance.

On November 16th, over two weeks after the scandal broke, Councilman Young sent a letter to Whitmer asking that he release all information regarding to Whitmer’s business dealings with all government entities. Whitmer ignored the Councilman’s request.

A contract with between Lagniappe Industries and the City of Kenner was uncovered next. Within 2 months of his inauguration in 2006, Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz gave the Kenner City Employee Insurance Contract to Lagniappe Industries and Tim Coulon. The contract was a no-bid professional services contract.

After the Kenner contract was revealed, Kenner Mayor Muniz, who met with Dawn Whitmer to discuss the contract, denied that he knew Tim Whitmer was involved in Lagniappe Industries.

The contract between the City of Kenner and Lagniappe Industries has now been cancelled.

On November 24th, Councilman Young again wrote Whitmer requesting information about Whitmer’s dealings with government entities. Whitmer again ignored Councilman Young’s request.

On the day he was served with a federal subpeona, Whitmer announced that he was retiring effective February 1st, 2010, at which time he would be immediately eligible to receive a $172,000 annual pension. The $172,000 pension was made possible due to huge raises that President Broussard gave to Whitmer over the past three years.

If Whitmer were to resign or be terminated prior to February 1st, he would need to wait 5 years to begin collecting his pension.

Councilman Young demanded Whitmer’s immediate resignation and said that if Whitmer didn’t resign, he was going to offer a resolution requesting Broussard fire Whitmer.

Which brings us to the Council meeting this past Wednesday.

During the entire two month period of one Whitmer/Lagniappe Industries revelation after another, the Jefferson Parish Council, except for Councilman Young, has sat on their hands.

Rather than voting on Young’s resolution and forcing the Parish President to terminate Whitmer, the Council went into a private executive session. When they returned to the council chamber, they “asked” Broussard to fire or suspend Whitmer.

And, instead of looking at the facts and seeing the pattern of Whitmer’s duplicity, Broussard stood by his deputy and cited “due process”. And, with that, Jefferson Parish Chief Administrative Officer and Broussard’s Right-Hand Man, Tim Whitmer is still employed.

We should all be so lucky to have a friend like Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. A friend who raises our salary from $56,000 a year in 1999 to over $200,000 in 2008. A friend who defends us to the end, even though all of Jefferson Parish (except Broussard, Tim Coulon, perhaps some members of the Jefferson Parish Council, and Dawn Whitmer) believe he is guilty.

In documents released on Friday, there are several emails from Tim Whitmer to Dawn Whitmer and Tim Coulon which refer to President Broussard referring insurance business to the Whitmer’s and Coulon. The same Parish President that said when he recused himself from the Whitmer investigation that he didn’t even know the line of work Whitmer’s company was involved in while he was doing thousands of dollars worth of legal work for Lagniappe Industries.

Documents also show that while Whitmer was being paid over $200,000 to work full-time as Jefferson Parish CAO, he repeatedly did work for Lagniappe Industries during hours that he should have been working for the parish and on parish equipment.

So, we have a Parish President receiving payment from his CAO’s company for “legal work” and he has now been shown to have also been providing sales referrals for Whitmer’s company while acting as Parish President and also significantly increasing Whitmer’s salary during his second term as Parish President. The $5,000 payment Broussard received from Lagniappe Industries smacks of a payoff or a quid pro quo. If it was in fact “legal work” and not a sales commission, Broussard would have needed to work over 33 hours on Lagniappe Industries legal work. That’s a lot of legal work to not know the line of work Lagniappe Industries was involved in, something that Broussard stated when the West Jeff commission skimming was alleged.

If Broussard in fact provided legal services for Lagniappe Industries, he should provide time records and documents related to that legal work.

We also have a CAO earning over $200,000 a year in taxpayer dollars that has been using his position as a Jefferson Parish employee to gain lucrative contracts for his personal side business and running that side business during time that should have been used exclusively for parish business.

A CAO that has been involved in unethical deals with other government entities while employed by Jefferson Parish.

If three unethical deals that we know of, one possibly criminal, conducting private business on public time and with public equipment and ignoring repeated requests from a Jefferson Parish Councilman aren’t enough, what exactly does somebody need to do to get fired if they are a Friend of Aaron’s?

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard was elected and re-elected as Parish President to govern Jefferson Parish and act in the best interests of Jefferson Parish citizens. His hiring of Tim Whitmer, the substantial salary increases, the lying regarding his knowledge of Whitmer’s insurance business dealings, and his refusal to fire, suspend or otherwise discipline Whitmer after all of the allegations surrounding Whitmer and Lagniappe Industries and Whitmer’s insubordination in refusing to cooperate with Jefferson Parish Councilman Young’s requests, have made us and many Jefferson Parish citizens question Broussard’s motives and his involvement in this continuing scandal.

Broussard’s responsibility should be restoring public confidence in Jefferson Parish Government, not standing by a friend and business partner.

While we applaud the Jefferson Parish Council for at least calling for a disciplinary hearing for Tim Whitmer, we think that the next step should be an inquiry into President Broussard and his role in Lagniappe Industries and any other business relationship that the Parish President has been involved in while Parish President.

The job of Jefferson Parish President pays $124,000 per year. Clearly this is more than enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle and enough that the Parish President doesn’t need to receive additional income through legal work for a parish employee and, possibly, sales or referral commissions from an outside business.

Parish President Broussard and his staff and the Jefferson Parish Council and their staff should disclose all business dealings, conflicts and relationships with any outside company that has any business with Jefferson Parish. They should also disclose all outside income they receive while they are employed by or elected to Jefferson Parish Government.

We need a full accounting of all interests before the public’s trust can be restored in Jefferson Parish Government. We cannot allow conflicts and relationships to be swept under the rug or allowed to continue.

The Jefferson Parish Council needs to take immediate and stern action against Tim Whitmer and Aaron Broussard for their roles in these scandals.

Tim Whitmer’s employment with Jefferson Parish should not be allowed to continue and if he is indicted he should not be allowed to collect his pension.

Aaron Broussard’s position as Parish President is also tenuous. He has lost any community support he may have had prior to these revelations and his refusal to discipline or terminate Whitmer calls his own motives into question.

The Citizens of Jefferson Parish are demanding accountability. Since Tim Whitmer was President Broussard’s right-hand man, President Broussard needs to be held accountable along with Whitmer for their roles in this scandal and Whitmer’s pattern of ethical abuses.

President Broussard has not, and will not, take any action against Whitmer. He also has not been truthful regarding his own personal role in this scandal and his relationship with Lagniappe Industries. Broussard has also shown a consistent pattern of rewarding his friends and benefactors with lucrative salaries and benefits. This pattern cannot continue for the remainder of his term. The Citizens of Jefferson Parish demand better from their Parish President.

It’s up to the Jefferson Parish Council to hold Whitmer and Broussard accountable for their actions. Time will tell if the Council has the strength to do what’s right and stand up for the Citizens of Jefferson Parish. And, given the Council’s actions at Wednesday’s Council Meeting and the demeanor of the citizens in attendance, time is not on the Council’s side.

That’s our opinion. If you agree or disagree, please email your comments to: admin@clickjefferson.com