As part of the 2008 state ethics overhaul, the Louisiana Office of the Inspector General was given new powers and more independence. As with other aspects of the state’s ethical “gold standard,” critics question how helpful those changes have been.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, the investigative tactics of the office are under the microscope these days. A state district judge has ruled that the OIG overstepped its authority in gathering evidence in one criminal case. If upheld on appeal and applied broadly, it could undermine not only that case, but another one pending against the former head of the Department of Health and Hospitals and—potentially—past convictions.
Attorney John McLindon has tangled with the OIG a few times. He represents former DHH Secretary Bruce Greenstein and Corey delaHoussaye, a contractor accused of overbilling Livingston Parish during Hurricane Gustav cleanup. In both cases, McLindon argues that the OIG illegally obtained evidence against his clients. The judge in the latter case has agreed with McLindon in a ruling that could deal a serious blow to the OIG’s authority.
“They apparently have been doing this for a while and getting away with it,” McLindon says.
Of course, McLindon wants to exonerate his clients, so he has an incentive to question any evidence against them. Inspector General Stephen Street says he can’t say much about pending cases, but he staunchly defends his office. Attacks, he insists, simply come with the territory.
“Our office is quite effective,” he says. “There are a lot of folks that want to de-fang us.”
Street says that, like any effective IG, he has no interest in politics. But sometimes politics takes an interest in him.
A 2012 OIG investigation into possible mismanagement by state Fire Marshal Butch Browning did not end Browning’s career—he resigned, but returned to his job weeks later with support from State Police and Jindal. But it did cause a House committee to yank the OIG’s funding.
Lawmakers were angry about what they considered an unfair smear on Browning’s reputation, and some argued that the OIG is redundant when the Attorney General, State Police, Legislative Auditor and others do similar work. The funding later was reinstated.
Investigators with the Internal Affairs Section of the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Fire Marshal’s Office, looked into the allegations and found “no factual evidence” to support them, State Police spokesman Maj. Doug Cain said at the time.
“If you do this job right, you will get blowback,” Street says. “That’s part of the deal.”
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