Meetings provide the dying embers of the session

Beyond the usual budget and policy flashpoints, the 2024 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature ended with some controversy regarding gubernatorial nominations, or lack thereof.

The Senate traditionally reviews them on the last day of the regular session, given that nominations made after the end of the previous regular session remain valid without confirmation until the end of the next regular session. With Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on board, he essentially cleaned out the cabinet of about 80 executive agency nominees after last fall’s election, naming his own nominees.

With one exception. Landry has not named a new secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to replace Jimmy LeBlanc, but he expects he will remain in the job, citing a law that states public officials are to hold office until a successor is appointed. However, the Constitution provides that the governor “appoints” the head of any branch of the executive branch whose election or appointment is not provided for in the Constitution, leaving the question of whether the “governor” is the predecessor.

Corrections secretaries have historically worked long hours, in part because no job in state government has been more conducive to building fiefdoms due to the department’s large budget, significant self-financing capacity, and interactions often involving large sums of money because they are unique among states with so many State prisoners are bred for placement in local prisons, under the supervision of local law enforcement. LeBlanc has been in this profession for 16 years and during that time she has gained the support of many sheriffs.

But LeBlanc was also controversial. His business partner, friend and ally, former Louisiana State Penitentiary warden Burl Cain, was forced out of the job on charges of financial improprieties, but he never tried, and later became head of the Mississippi prisons. Cain’s son, Nate, the warden of another prison, and later ex-wife, were later convicted of similar charges.

Perhaps one reason LeBlanc survived was because he supported Democratic former Gov. John Bel Edwards’ criminal justice changes against most state criminal justice officials, including sheriffs, who lost needed dollars as a result of the reduction state prisoners sent to them. Landry, a vocal critic of the effort, led the charge that largely advanced it. LeBlanc also expressed skepticism about further prison privatization, which is an option Landry may want to alleviate future budget pressures. Thus, Landry could soon fire LeBlanc.

Perhaps he wanted to do it in such a way that when he made the replacement, he wouldn’t come under as much fire from left-wing political opponents as he did when he selected Kenny Loftin as deputy secretary of the Office of Juvenile Justice. Loftin has directed the state’s premier juvenile justice center, the Ware Youth Center, for much of the last three decades. He is also considered a leading practitioner in this field.

However, several years ago, allegations surfaced about the mistreatment of youth at Ware during much of his tenure, which he described as false and which have not been substantiated as factual. Landry continues to support him, even though several Senate Democrats oppose the move.

The moral authority of the Democrats’ accusations is diminished by the way they remained silent when Edwards, who was only informed officially and through the media after hours that black driver Ronald Greene had died in the custody of the State Police, then continued for more than two years to allow the State Police to publicly propagating the lie that Greene died in an accident, and repeated it himself. If Loftin, as head of the center, was responsible for staff’s illegal behavior, even if he didn’t know it, then Edwards was responsible for the same, and yet no Democrat called for his removal.

Ultimately, Landry reached a deal with Loftin, but there could be more political fireworks to come over LeBlanc’s fate.