Darlene Smith-Moore
September 14, 2016
Patrick Landry
September 14, 2016
There is no requirement that a bid process be used to decide who will provide insurance for Terrebonne Parish employees, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office says, thus allowing approval of a contract with Houma broker Tony Alford to move forward.
Parish Attorney Julius Hebert had requested the opinion on behalf of Parish President Gordon Dove on Aug.15, following criticism of the plan, due to prior business relationships between the broker and the politician.
A public hearing on the insurance choice is scheduled for tonight’s Parish Council meeting. A vote is then likely on an ordinance that would appoint the Anthony J. Alford Insurance Corporation as agent of record for Dearborn and Prudential Insurance Company to handle employee benefits for short and long term disability as well as basic and voluntary life insurance coverage for employees, through Aug. 1, 2017.
“This opinion shows that I did everything by the book,” said Dove, who plans to present the letter to the council.
Dove had already sought an opinion from the Louisiana Board of Ethics as to whether his business relationships with Alford should prohibit him from recommending the broker for a parish contract. A June 20 letter on behalf of the board stated that under the circumstances cited, no conflict with state ethics law would exist.
“We call the ethics lawyers on everything that we do,” Dove said. “There are 35 people I have made business investments with. Businessmen invest. We hope we get a return and sometimes we don’t.”
The criticisms, Dove maintains, are the result of maneuverings by supporters of political rivals.
“There were people who were not with me in the last election, and this was downright dirty low down politics. We were right and they were not. But I knew I was correct, I knew I was 100 percent right.”
The opinion is contained in an Aug 30 letter from Assistant Attorney General Chester R. Cedars. It states that he, along with Attorney General Jeff Landry and his chief deputy, Bill Styles, are in agreement that no bidding is required for the insurance contract.
“There is no mandate that TPCG utilize any sort of bid process or initiate a request for proposals,” Cedars wrote, adding that state laws as well as the parish charter dictate parish president submission of an insurance provider candidate to the council for approval.
The insurance package proposed by Alford, Dove maintains, is $45,000 cheaper than anything else the parish could shop, over a three-year period.
The Alford plan would remain locked in for three years, keeping rates static. Dove also said he favored Alford’s proposal because it was from a locally-owned company.
The broker’s relationships with Dove was evidence of collusion and corruption, an anonymous website and related Facebook page had alleged. That resulted in a criminal defamation complaint being filed by Alford with the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Laptops and cell phones alleged to have been evidence in that case, were seized by deputies with a search warrant. The warrant was vacated, however, by Louisiana’s 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, ruling that its application in this case was unconstitutional.
Alford – president of the Terrebonne Parish Levee and Conservation Board – is considered a public official. Other courts – including the U.S. Supreme Court – have held that the criminal statute cannot be enforced when the subject of speech is a public official. Dove attempted no action against the anonymous blogger.
Sheriff Jerry Larpenter – whose wife works for Alford, was criticized for having his deputies enforce Alford’s complaint at all. Alford’s partner and associate, Chris Lapeyre, handles the Sheriff’s Office insurance for its employees.
The Attorney General’s findings will be formalized, at Dove’s request, into a formal opinion that will be uploaded on Landry’s website, likely within the next week or two. The findings were sent in this form, Cedars said, to accommodate the looming business at hand before the council. Although some language may change, the formal opinion will include the specific prior opinions, statutes or court decisions that may have guided the decision overall.
Attorney General’s opinion letter received by Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove.
