East bank levee authority president may have violated political campaigning ban

By Mark Schleifstein

Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com

November 10, 2023

Clay Cosse, the president of the east bank levee authority, has issued an endorsement statement and contributed money to the campaign of a candidate for St. Bernard Parish president, in an apparent violation of a state law that prohibits electioneering or donations by levee authority board members.

Cosse has also contributed to other campaigns in St. Bernard since joining the levee authority in 2016, records show.

Cosse is listed in Louisiana Ethics Administration records as having donated $1,000 to Louis Pomes on June 22 and another $50 on Sept. 7. The Pomes campaign’s Facebook page includes an endorsement by Cosse that features his photo. “Louis Pomes is a man whose word and handshake can be trusted,” Cosse is quoted as saying in the post.

He is also among six people standing with Pomes in the lead photo for the “Elect Louis Pomes Parish President” website. Pomes faces Wayne Landry in a runoff election on Nov. 18.

The 2006 state law setting up the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East and -West includes a provision that says:

“No member of a board and no officer or employee of a board shall participate or engage in an effort to support or oppose the election of a candidate for political office or to support a particular party or issue in an election; be a member of any national, state, or local committee of any political party or faction; make or solicit contributions for any political party, faction, candidate, or issue; or take active part in the management of the affairs of a political party, faction, candidate, or any political campaign, except to exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately and to cast his vote as he desires.”

The electioneering restrictions were part of the Legislature’s efforts to “reform” the local agencies overseeing the New Orleans area levees that failed during Hurricane Katrina because of improper designs or construction materials. The law also required the majority of board members to be engineers, scientists or other business professionals, set up independent boards to recommend board candidates to the governor and limited the governor’s authority to turn down those recommendations.

“My involvements and the contributions in question go back almost six years and no flags were ever raised,” Cosse said Thursday in response to questions about the donations and actions. “As an appointee of the governor, not an elected official, I was unaware of any provision or mention of political contributions in our by-laws. I stand ready to correct this matter.”

Cosse had earlier suggested that some of the campaign contributions to Pomes might have been made by his wife. But the ethics administration records – forms filled out by the Pomes campaign – do not list his wife as the donor.

The Pomes campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Cosse’s donations.

Only one other member of the board, Deborah “Debbie” Settoon, a retired oil industry engineer whose first meeting was in July, has given a donation since being seated on the board. She gave a $100 donation to the election campaign for state Sen. Patrick Connick on Aug. 25, records show.

In an interview Friday, Settoon said she was unaware of the contribution prohibition. She said the authority provides a training session for new board members that goes over the regulations, but it will not be held until next May.

A spokesperson for the ethics administration said it is not responsible for enforcing that provision of the levee authorities law. The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office did not respond to several queries asking who is responsible for its enforcement.

Stephen Procopio, president of the Public Affairs Research Council good government group, expressed concern about the donations.

“One of the most significant reforms after Hurricane Katrina was the move to make Louisiana’s flood protection boards nonpolitical,” Procopio said. “They should be focused on sound science and public safety. The current provisions in law aim to avoid political interference. A lack of compliance with those provisions threatens to undermine the work of the flood protection board by risking the public’s trust in the members overseeing its vital work.”

The New Orleans-based Bureau of Governmental Research also expressed concern.

“In general, BGR supported voters’ creation of the regional flood protection authorities in 2006 as a way to provide nonpolitical, professional management of this vital public function. We stand by the value of that approach today,” said Stephen Stuart, vice president and research director of the organization.

Sandy Rosenthal, executive director of Levees.org, an organization created after Katrina as a watchdog over levee issues, said the campaigning prohibition stemmed from allegations immediately after the 2005 storm that political actions taken by Orleans Levee District members had contributed to the levee and floodwall failures.

“In the weeks right after the flooding during Hurricane Katrina, there was a belief, albeit wrong, that the board’s political actions were relevant to the levee breach events,” she said. “That idea has been debunked, but the law is the law.”

Cosse also is listed in ethics administration records as having donated to other campaigns since joining the levee authority:

• Howard Luna, running for a St. Bernard council at large seat this year, $100 on Sept. 12.
• Wanda Alcon, running for a St. Bernard council at large seat this year, $200 on March 22.
• William McGoey, elected as a judge in 34th Judicial District Court in St. Bernard in 2020, $250, Aug. 21, 2020.
• JayLynn Bergeron Turner, St. Bernard Parish Assessor, $120, April 22, 2019. This donation was listed as from Clay or Marie Cosse.
• Darren Roy, elected as a judge in the 34th Judicial District Court in St. Bernard in 2020, $150, June 17, 2018.

Cosse, a resident of Arabi in St. Bernard Parish, has served on the authority board since April 2016 and was elected its president in July. In June 2022, he successfully fought an effort to remove him from the board because of his opposition to the selection of authority Regional Director Kelli Chandler.

Cosse served as a member of the St. Bernard Parish Council from 1992 to 2004, and also served 12 years on the Regional Planning Commission.

This story was updated on Friday, Nov. 10, with comments from authority board member Deborah Settoon.

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