Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the East Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce voted to urge East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore to investigate the Council on Aging.
Local community and business leaders today decided to voice complaints against the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging, alleging misuse of public funds, violation of its nonprofit status and campaign finance infractions ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Chamber of Commerce at its monthly meeting today voted to urge the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office to investigate the council, which operates as a nonprofit organization using state, federal and local dollars.
State Sen. Dan Claitor, a Baton Rouge Republican, said he and other members of the chamber would ask District Attorney Hillar Moore III for a formal investigation. Moore did not return a request for comment.
Christopher Alexander, a lawyer who presented his findings to the Chamber from a two-month investigation into the Council on Aging, alleged that he found “egregious” violations of both state and federal law through a co-mingling of resources between the council and a political action committee, Support Our Seniors, dedicated to the passage of a tax that roughly doubled the council’s budget. That tax passed Nov. 8 by 2,135 votes, 51% to 49%.
Alexander alleged that Council on Aging staff designed and printed ballots that the Support Our Seniors PAC mailed out to voters. Federal rules for tax exempt 501(c)(3) organizations like the Council on Aging state they “may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.”
An email provided to attendees at the meeting indicates that Williams, the council’s director of resource development, solicited a donation from at least one Metro Council candidate, Republican Bonnie Budyach of District 11, in exchange for placing her name on a ballot mailed by the Support Our Seniors PAC. A copy of the ballot shows presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, U.S. Senate candidate Foster Campbell and several other Democrats for local offices, as well as a “yes” vote on the tax measure.
Budyach’s name did not appear on a ballot obtained by Alexander, who says this is another violation of federal laws for tax exempt organizations. Budyach lost her race to Matt Watson.
Several Council on Aging employees, including Executive Director Tasha Clark-Amar, Director of Resource Development Corey Williams and an assistant to Clark-Amar, declined to comment for this story.
The council’s board chairman, Brandon Dumas, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Donna Collins-Lewis, a Democratic Metro Councilwoman on the board of the Council on Aging, also declined to comment.
Attorney Murphy J. Foster III, retained earlier this week by the council to represent it in the matter, says he has no knowledge of the allegations and no comment on them.
“But I’ll investigate them to the best of my abilities if asked to do so,” he says.
Campaign finance records show the Council on Aging donated around $700 to the Support Our Seniors PAC, run by Rick Caballero, a local lawyer. A secretary at Caballero’s law office said he is unable to take messages this week.
Alexander claimed that Clark-Amar said the donations came from individual employees who let the money be taken out of their paychecks. But Alexander said the donations should have been filed separately on campaign finance documents. If the donations came from the council itself, it would be a violation of state law prohibiting public funds from being used for political purposes.
—Sam Karlin
