Greg Aymond Is Lying About the Ethics Board

During the last few years, Alexandria attorney Greg Aymond has posted some fairly egregious and ridiculous stories on his blog Central La Politics, but this afternoon, he really outdid himself.

In an effort to discredit Mayor Jacques Roy and neutralize the questions I recently posed to Police Juror Steve Coco regarding his employment with Cenla Broadcasting, Mr. Aymond phoned the Ethics Administration and spoke with Roy Brees about the Mayor’s personal financial disclosure documents.

You can listen to part of the conversation here.

Based on this conversation, Mr. Aymond somehow inferred that the “Ethics Board” believes Jacques Roy “broke the law.” Quoting:

According to the State Ethics Board, yes I realize that is not the proper title Lamar but I think that is what most people call it, Jacques Roy broke the law requiring financial disclosure by May 15, 2009, or that Jacques file for an extension by that date. Also, according to State Ethics Administration, see there Lamar I used the correct name, even though they are really the same thing as the Board administers the administration, Jacques failed to file for an extension on time and is in violation for approximately 6 months.

At no point did Mr. Brees ever claim that Jacques Roy failed to file an extension.

Why?

Because on April 27, 2009, Jacques Roy DID file an extension, which, again, is clearly noted on the Ethics Administration website.

Greg Aymond is literally putting words into someone else’s mouth, accusing an employee of the Ethics Administration of a serious offense, and maliciously lying about a public official.

By only conducting the slightest bit of responsible homework (picking up the phone and calling Roy’s campaign offices), Greg Aymond would have all of the information he needed to prove, beyond any doubt, that an extension was properly received and filed.

Mr. Aymond, I am putting you on notice. You are lying about Mayor Roy, lying about the Ethics Board, and lying about what this employee told you. Unless you issue a full retraction and apology, I will personally be filing a complaint against you to the Louisiana Bar Association. (And by the way, you made this personal; you essentially challenged me to prove you wrong. Well, I have: You’re wrong. You’re accusing someone of breaking the law, and you are wrong).

Update: Mr. Aymond has responded to this post in the exact fashion I anticipated: By attempting to put the focus on me, and not on his erroneous “reporting.” Quoting:

I did not accuse Jacques of anything. I merely reported that the Ethics Administration said Jacques was later with his campaign finance report, not me. Lamar can kiss my ass because he believes that I should not write bad things about his boss, whereas I believe in reporting the facts.

As you can read above, Mr. Aymond did not “merely” report that the Ethics Administration claimed the Mayor was “later” on his report; he claimed the Ethics “Board” said that the Mayor did not file for an extension. This is a flat-out, bald-faced, and easily-disprovable lie. A single employee at the Ethics Administration said that no “report” was filed prior to May 15th and did not speak, at all, about any extension granted, which forms the entire basis of Mr. Aymond’s accusation that the Ethics “Board” claimed the Mayor had violated disclosure laws. And this has nothing to do with any “campaign finance reports;” it appears Mr. Aymond does not even understand what he is referencing. Quoting again:

I put no words in anybody’s mouth, and in fact the gentleman called me. I also posted the recording of the phone call so that everyone could listen and decide for themselves.

Mr. Aymond would have all of us believe that Roy Brees from the Ethics Administration felt compelled to look up Greg Aymond’s home telephone number in Alexandria, Louisiana in order to discuss Jacques Roy’s personal financial disclosure reports, without any provocation or reason and only a day after questions were raised about Mr. Coco’s reporting. Riiiight. To anyone who is at least moderately interested in who is telling the truth here, please, listen to the phone conversation Mr. Aymond recorded. It is clear that Mr. Brees is simply following up on an earlier call. And again:

In my post I wrote “if my Ethics telephone call was correct”, “if the Ethics Administration is correct”, and “According to the State Ethics Board” clearly shows that I was just reporting what the Ethics Administration said.

The problem is, Mr. Aymond: The person with whom you spoke never said what you alleged. He never accused anyone of breaking the law. You did. And then you attributed the accusation to the entire Ethics Board.

Finally:

The taxpayer funded City Hall blogger and mayoral mouthpiece, Lamar White, Jr., has threatened me with an Office of Disciplinary complaint for my recent post entitled “ETHICS BOARD CLAIMS JACQUES ROY BROKE THE LAW “.

Once again, Mr. Aymond, my salary does not fund this blog. I operate it on my own time, from my own computer, and have been doing so well before I even met Jacques Roy and well before you or Mr. Coco first debuted on BlogSpot. Incidentally, both of you also receive income from the government, right?