State Rep. repaying misused funds

A drug with powerful side-effects prescribed for treatment of a medical condition, a reform-minded state representative says, is at the root of compulsive behavior that resulted in his raiding campaign contributions for gambling purposes, which has led to a reckoning with Louisiana’s ethics board.

State Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard, who has represented Thibodaux and surrounding areas for nearly a decade, is bracing for the release Friday of a consent agreement with the Louisiana Board of Ethics that will require him to repay more than $37,000 in contribution and to correct campaign reports filed between 2011 and 2015.

Richard said he plans to complete his current term in the House.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” said Richard, who first publicly disclosed his dilemma last week to political blogger Jeremy Alford, and agreed to discuss the matter with The Times this past weekend.

“I have worked very hard for almost 30 years as an elected public official to do the right thing by my faith and my principles,” Richard said. “I have tried very hard to lead by example in serving the public and I have always believed that serving the public is a right and a privilege … Unfortunately for about three years, from 2012 to mid-2015 I did things that were very, very uncharacteristic of me. You see, I battled through a gambling addiction whereby I gambled away everything I owned and gambled away everything I had ever worked for.”

Acknowledging the expenditure of campaign finances for gambling, Richard said, was an abuse of the trust he had worked so hard to build.

“For that I sincerely apologize to all of you,” he said.

Richard traces his problems to a 2006 diagnosis of Parkinson’s, a neuro-degenerative brain disorder, following treatment for a tremor in his right hand. He did not seek aggressive treatment at first, opting for help in 2010, which led to prescription in 2011 of the drug Mirapex. The drug’s known side-effects include compulsive behaviors, gambling among them. Richard says he has never had an urge to gamble before, but that he began doing so.

“All of a sudden the healthy lifestyle I had a passion for almost my entire life was no longer important to me,” Richard said.

First came the misuse of personal money. The campaign funds fell victim later, when Richard’s personal assets were gone.

In 2015, Richard acknowledged, the Ethics Board began investigating his campaign finance issues, telegraphed by incomplete forms and other irregularities. Richard’s doctors supplied information to the Ethics Board, at Richard’s request, about the link between his medication and his behavior.

Asked if “heartbroken” was an adequate and not overly dramatic word to use when describing his plight, Richard answered in the affirmative, from several perspectives.

“Heartbreak came when I had to explain to my daughter that her father had an addiction and because of that addiction I took away precious time from being with her and my grandson,” Richard said. “I’ve never neglected them but goodness knows I’ve wasted much time and so much of what I saved to feed that horrible addiction. My wife certainly put up with much as I compromised our marriage by the things I did to get to a casino, a place I had no desire to be around my entire life until I started taking that medication.”

Having to sell his house to make good on his agreements and watching his wife “do nothing to enjoy herself other than pray for our lives to be restored,” Richard said, also fit into that category.

“Heartbreak and misery wondering if I’ll ever be able to support our lives again as we face debt that we never had to worry about until gambling took hold of my life,” Richard said. “But God has always told me to just trust in him and everything will be better.”

Boehringer Ingleheim, the drug’s manufacturer, has acknowledged the potential for Mirapex to create compulsivity problems.

“There have been reports of patients experiencing intense urges to gamble, increased sexual urges, and other intense urges and the inability to control these urges while taking one or more of the medications that increase central dopaminergic tone, that are generally used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, including Mirapex,” the company has said in a statement. “Although it is not proven that the medications caused these events, these urges were reported to have stopped in some cases when the dose was reduced or the medication was stopped. Prescribers should ask patients about the development of new or increased gambling urges, sexual urges or other urges while being treated with Mirapex. Patients should inform their physician if they experience new or increased gambling urges, increased sexual urges or other intense urges while taking Mirapex. Physicians should consider dose reduction or stopping the medication if a patient develops such urges while taking Mirapex.”

Richard said his constituents have been understanding and indicated that they appreciated his willingness to speak about his situation. Although his secret is now very much in the open, Richard said the final step in his process – announcement by the Ethics Board – will go a long way toward helping him cope with the pain, devastation and embarrassment.

“Well once they confirm it Friday I’ll feel better,” Richard said. “I have a long tough road to get out of my financial troubles but will see it all through.”

Dee Richard