An attorney and developer who pursued New Markets Tax Credits financing through the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority several years ago says he thinks charges of ethics violations filed Wednesday against the RDA’s former president and CEO, Walter Monsour, and his son, attorney Jordan Monsour, are unfounded.
The board charged Jordan Monsour with violating ethics laws because he represented clients in transactions with the agency under the supervision or jurisdiction of his father. The board also found that Walter Monsour had a conflict of interest, as he oversaw the deals involving his son.
“I’m a lawyer. I understand ethics, and I don’t think there was anything unethical involved,” says Danny McGlynn, who retained Jordan Monsour to represent him in his pursuit of financing for two Mid City redevelopment projects, Model Block and Circa 1857.
McGlynn says he hired Jordan Monsour, an attorney with the Butler Snow law firm, because he is one of just two or three attorneys in Baton Rouge who specializes in New Markets Tax Credits, a federal financing program that awards tax credits to redevelopment projects and is administered through the RDA and other community development entities.
“I wasn’t forced to hire Jordan, and I didn’t pay more because I hired Jordan,” McGlynn says. “I went to Jordan because I didn’t want to have to hire someone in New Orleans. I wanted to hire someone local and someone I know.”
According to the charges filed by the ethics board, Butler Snow billed Model Block more than $73,800. The project ultimately received $700,000 in gap financing from the RDA. The law firm billed Circa 1857 $60,832 in connection with the project’s application for $8.1 million in New Markets Tax Credits. Circa ultimately did not get the financing.
McGlynn says that throughout the process of working with Jordan Monsour and the RDA, he was told Walter Monsour could have no involvement in the transactions involving Jordan Monsour.
“The RDA was very careful to keep Walter out of anything we did,” McGlynn says. “It was understood Walter could have and would have no involvement in anything we did.”
Walter Monsour did not return a call today seeking comment, and RDA Board Chairman John Noland is out of town and could not be reached for comment. But Interim RDA President and CEO Gwen Hamilton, who replaced Walter Monsour at the helm of the organization one year ago, says the ethics charges will have little bearing on the agency.
“This has nothing to do with what we are doing and how we are moving forward,” she says. “This changes nothing about the direction we are going in since I’ve been there.”
—Stephanie Riegel
