According to the Times-Picayune and the Reduct Box, Governor Bobby Jindal’s transition team may have initially wanted Ethics Board Chairman Hank Perret to serve as Executive Counsel to the Governor. Despite the fact that Perret never expressed interest in the job, he consented to an interview.
“Yes, I did meet with them,” Perret said. “I did it so Cheney Joseph would quit calling me.”
(Photo: The Independent Weekly)
Joseph confirms:
Joseph, a professor at Louisiana State University law school, said it would be “erroneous” to say Perret was seeking the position.
“He was not pursuing the job. I was pursuing him to see if he had any interest in it,” Joseph said. “Hank just said thank-you and we parted company.”
Jindal decided to ask Pineville attorney Jimmy Faircloth to serve instead.
But the point (and the irony) is perhaps best explained by the Reduct Box:
As the Jindal administration fights to strip Ethics Board Chief Hank Perret and his board of the power to adjudicate ethics charges, Jindal transition leader, treasurer, fine pony-upper and secret 527 front group head Rolfe McCollister courted the very same Hank Perret for the job of executive counsel, a post now held by Jimmy Faircloth.
So it appears that the guy who the Jindal administration argues cannot be trusted to oversee the adjudication of ethics charges was actually the first guy the administration wanted to oversee the governor’s ethics reform package.
CenLamar 