LETTER TO EDITOR: Vote ‘No’ to politics as usual

Dear Editor,

Since the Louisiana Constitution of 1921, our municipal fire and police departments have been staffed by classified civil servants. The civil service system mandates that positions are awarded based upon competitive testing and evaluation. This helps to ensure that these critical jobs are filled by the most qualified individuals and helps to eliminate political patronage.

The Houma Police Department has been mired in scandal, infighting and disarray for years now. When former Chief Pat Boudreaux took medical leave in May of 2008, Parish President Michel Claudet was authorized to appoint a substitute for a period not to exceed 30 days. After the expiration of 30 days, he was required by law to request the Civil Service Board certify a list of names of persons eligible for the position (by testing administered by the state civil service system, together with other factors) and make an appointment from that list.

Perhaps President Claudet thought that none of the most qualified and competent persons to be chief would be to his liking. Perhaps his political backers wanted to “pick” the chief without regard to knowledge or experience. Whatever the reason, Claudet never asked the Board for the list of eligible persons and kept Todd Duplantis in the position in violation of state law.

Claudet’s first thought to attempt to get around the law was to amend the parish charter to allow him to pick the chief without constraint. He requested a legal opinion from the attorney general, who quickly shot down the plan as being in violation of the Constitution.

But violating state law isn’t really a problem if you have the right friends. In 2009, after Duplantis had held the “temporary “ (30-day) appointment to the position of chief for over 13 months, Rep. Gordy Dove introduced House Bill 367 that sought to remove both Houma’s fire chief and police chief from the classified system and eliminate the requirement in the parish’s Home Rule Charter that the council ratify the parish president’s choice. (“Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the positions of fire chief and chief of police for the city of Houma are in the unclassified service, and the right of selection, appointment, supervision, and discharge for each such position is vested in the president of the parish of Terrebonne.”)

The bill drew opposition from police and firefighters throughout the state, as they feared being stripped of their civil service protections in a like manner. Concessions and amendments were made, one of which was to remove the position of fire chief from the bill, and curiously the second was a sunset provision, which made the statute null and void as of July 1, 2012. Apparently, the system only needed to be fixed for a short time? The bill, as amended passed and became effective on July 9, 2009.

It took until March of 2011 for Claudet to ask the parish council to confirm Duplantis; lawsuits, allegations of sexual harassment, in fighting and investigations having gotten in the way. As we approach the demise of the law that allowed Chief Duplantis to take the job without passing the test, Rep. Dove has proposed another fix – this time, permanent. House Bill 106 seeks to repeal only that provision of the law, which causes it to expire on July 12th.

The passage of HB 106 will set us apart from almost every other community of our size in the state. It will tell our officers and the public in no uncertain terms that getting to the top is not about hard work, dedication, competency and qualifications – it’s about politics.

Please contact your legislators immediately and advise them to vote against HB 106.

Jerri G. Smitko

622 Belanger Street

Houma, La. 70360

(985) 851-1313