Ethics questions rise from Terrebonne Parish Republicans' spat
The Terrebonne Parish President and Terrebonne Republican Party leaders are having a tiff.
The Terrebonne Parish Republican Party's Executive Committee raised concerns over a video posted by Terrebonne Parish President Jason Bergeron, himself a Republican. The committee says the video raises ethical concerns.
A social media back-and-forth started on Facebook after Bergeron uploaded a video to his page, titled "Terrebonne Parish President Jason Bergeron," announcing he is entering the race to become a Louisiana Republican State Central Committee member.
In the video, Bergeron complains about how the local Republican party treated him as a candidate. The Republican party responded with a series of posts, culminating in a post giving the fledgling parish president a "poor" rating for his first two months in office.
According to Bergeron, the video was recorded Feb. 17 in the office of the Parish President by Communications Director Robbie Lee on Bergeron's personal cell phone. The two were moving belongings into Government Tower, and Bergeron said they shot the video there because it just happened to be where they were. The video was posted two days later, Feb. 19.
"It was during the weekend, trying to get stuff done, checked that item off the list," he said. "Honestly, being here, doing stuff, that was while we were moving in and everything."
No formal complaints have been made to agencies that might investigate the matter. Those agencies are the Louisiana Board of Ethics, the Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.
Bergeron said he would like to join the state committee to use the position to raise awareness of how it works, so others could get involved. In the video, Bergeron claims that the Terrebonne Parish Republican Party never endorsed him, and that his application for an endorsement was never turned in.
The Republican Party responded Feb. 21 with a post stating that it treats every Republican candidate equally. In the comments section of the Republican Party's post, the author showed two screenshots of the email sent to all party members that included Bergeron's application.
The Legal Questions
Two aspects of the video raise questions. Members of the Terrebonne Parish Republican Party's Executive Committee contend that using the offices of the Parish President to add an air of authority to the video is ethically wrong. The office is paid for by taxpayers' dollars, and not every taxpayer would necessarily want their dollars spent supporting Bergeron.
Whether any violation occurred becomes tricky to resolve. If Lee was on the clock for the government, tax dollars paid for a campaign video, which could mean that it was illegal. But if he was working in his own time, there is no violation.
The communications director is an appointed position, and Lee receives a salary of $57.21 an hour, whether he works 40 hours or more or less. His timesheets show no overtime for the week the video was shot. However, there is no way to determine when, and what days, he filed his hours.
Although candidates for public office must file campaign expenses with the Louisiana Board of Ethics, those campaigning for the Republican Central Committee do not have to and are not governed by state finance laws. Because of this, there is no filed record of what Bergeron spent or will spend in running for the Louisiana Republican Central Committee.
According to Board of Ethics Administrator Cathleen Allen, the key would be whether Lee was compensated for his work in creating the video.
"Even though he's salaried, the question is, was that part of his pay to do that?," she said.
A public records request was made for the job description of the communications director, which produced a two-page explanation. Fulfilling records requests is part of the communications director's job. Lee fulfills those requests.
"The responsibilities of a chief communications officer are to oversee the lines of communication between an organization and the public. These channels can encompass everything from social media and advertising to press releases and public statements," the job description reads.
When an initial records request was filed March 1 for the video, Lee said it was Bergeron's personal page, and he had no knowledge of the video's recording beyond it being on a weekend. Bergeron was asked about it and said Lee was the person who recorded the video.
Later, on March 8, Lee gave a full account of the day's events and said he was confident no laws had been broken.
"I've been on this exact end of this story before," Lee said. "I can show you 10 different communications directors who've been a part of this exact same story, because it is one of those, 'Is it morally right, or is it legally right?' And until there's a law, or somebody can show me a law, that says, 'Robbie you can't do this,' I'm going to continue to do it, because it's what I do."
Party Endorsements
Terrebonne Parish Republican Party Member Monica Folse said Bergeron's claim that no one endorsed him was missing context. The group posted its minutes from the meeting on its Facebook page Feb. 21.
According to those minutes, the party chose to endorse Michael Larussa and Darrin Guidry. Beryl Amedee made a motion to endorse all three candidates, which Folse seconded, but their motion failed with only two votes for it and nine against it.
Guidry is the chairman of the Terrebonne Parish Republican Party. He lost to Bergeron in the runoff for the position of parish president. Guidry recused himself from the vote.
Folse said they put out the post rating Bergeron poorly to both set the record straight and to bring attention to what they considered to not be fiscally conservative spending.
"I think it's important for people to know some truths, because he's actually coming out and attacking all of us, and his information is completely wrong," Folse said. "We did send a letter to him asking him to correct his information. It's odd because, he's a Republican with a Republican executive committee. Why are we having this issue like this?"
The post attacks Bergeron's spending of the public's tax dollars on a vehicle, and on the staff of his administration.
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More: Parish President Jason Bergeron lays out goals for his term, and explains last two months
The Vehicle
Records requests show that Bergeron purchased a 2024 Chevy Tahoe Premier for $83,488, from Trapp Cadillac Chevrolet on Dec. 21, 2023. EMERG-EQUIP gave the Terrebonne Parish Government a quote, dated Dec. 12, 2023, for $5,401 to install police lights on the vehicle.
For comparison, former Parish President Gordon Dove purchased two vehicles during his time in office: a black 2016 Ford Expedition for $51,698, and a black 2021 Ford Expedition for $64,310. Both were modified with police lights: The 2021 for $3,727, and the 2016 for $27,162. The lights in 2016 were part of a bulk upgrade purchase that included multiple vehicles in that price.
Employees
Bergeron's new administration contains many of the department heads from Dove's administration, with a few noteworthy changes. Bergeron created a new department of the government titled "communications." Each member of his administration, as well as the new communications department, have been approved by the Parish Council.
Resumes were obtained from each of the new department heads. Two have previous government experience: Communications Director Lee, who previously worked the same job for the Lafourche Parish Government for four years; and Human Resources Manager Ryan Page, who served as Vice Chairman for Rec. District 2/3.
Chief Administrative Officer Noah Lirette has no prior government experience. He has a baster's degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University. He founded, owned, and operated the Bayou Terrebonne Distilleries in 2017 and also served as the president for the Hache Grant Association and was one of its founding members in 2021.
Bergeron defended his choices for his administration, and said Lirette's business knowledge is a good fit for government.
"Noah's got a master's in business and knows more about Terrebonne Parish than anyone else," Bergeron said.
Asked if government was different than business, Bergeron responded, "How would you define it differently? It's relationships, it's spending properly, at the end of the day… I have to make the best decisions and manage the money efficiently and effectively, it's about maintaining relationships, and taking care of the customer – which we consider to be the residents."
This article originally appeared on The Courier: Terrebonne Parish Republican Party, parish president dispute ethics concerns
