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Gov. rejects report, backs La. Guard leader

BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration is defending its decision to reappoint the head of the Louisiana National Guard, saying an advisory panel’s accusations of nepotism and poor leadership under Adjutant Gen. Bennett Landreneau are unfounded.

The governor’s office on Monday released the report by the five retired generals who made up the advisory panel — along with rebuttal to the generals’ criticism of Landreneau. Jindal reappointed Landreneau to the post earlier this month.

“It is the unanimous opinion of your advisory committee that a change should be made immediately in the leadership of the Louisiana National Guard,” the five generals, appointed by Jindal in January, said in their report.

Landreneau, who was first appointed to the post in 1997 by then-Gov. Mike Foster, said the accusations were an inflammatory, personal attack.

“I’ve got 38 years of honorable service with the military. I’ve commanded soldiers in combat. This is just very disturbing to me to have this kind of personal attack that is unfounded and not substantiated with facts and not accurate,” Landreneau said.

On Monday, Landreneau asked that his Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday morning, be open to the public, rather than held in closed-door executive session as often occurs for confirmation hearings. A Jindal spokeswoman said the governor’s office also is encouraging that the hearing be open.

The hearing is expected to continue the debate over Landreneau’s leadership skills.

A memorandum dated April 10 by Jindal’s executive counsel said the generals’ report was “at best misinformed and at worst misrepresented.”

“Given the seriousness of the subject and the paucity of evidence to support the inflammatory allegations, the report should not be considered as a credible evaluation of Gen. Landreneau,” the counsel’s memo says.

The generals on the advisory panel interviewed candidates for the adjutant general post, gathered information and opinions on the state of the guard from military brass and prepared the report along with a specific recommendation for a new adjutant general.

Among the four candidates interviewed were Maj. Gen. John Basilica Jr., who led Louisiana’s 256th Infantry Brigade in Iraq; Assistant Adjutant Gen. Hunt Downer, a former House Speaker; and Col. Mark Terry, who was backed by a letter of recommendation from Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. The panel recommended Basilica.

The committee’s report said the “ethical climate” at the National Guard has dissuaded Guard members from filing complaints for fear of reprisals. It describes a “dysfunctional Command Climate” in which morale suffers, midlevel officers and enlisted members become disillusioned and leave the Guard, and incompetent members increase in number.

On Katrina, the report said Landreneau failed to use the warning time between Aug. 23-28 to plan for and organize the guard’s response.

“He failed as a leader,” the report says.

The governor’s office released letters to Jindal from Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led federal forces in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and retired Maj. Gen. O’Neil Daigle Jr., who was state adjutant general from 1972 to 1980, that strongly endorsed retaining Landreneau.

The committee’s report says that Landreneau’s four children and two sons-in-law have benefited from actions either directed by the adjutant general or taken on his behalf by National Guard senior leadership.

For example, the generals’ report says one of Landreneau’s sons qualified for a position at Camp Beauregard, La., even though there was “no history of job announcement” as required. However, the governor’s office provided a copy of a job vacancy announcement for the position.

According to correspondence from Stroud, Foster — who appointed Jindal to head the state health department in 1996 and is a strong supporter of the new governor — became a roadblock to the committee’s process in January and pressed the new governor to keep Landreneau on board.

Foster said last week that soon after last fall’s election he told Teepell that Jindal should keep Landreneau. Foster said he reiterated that suggestion more recently.

Foster said that while the committee was meeting in January, he received calls from military people who supported Landreneau and expressed concern about the committee’s direction. When asked whether he had told Jindal of his concerns about the generals’ committee, Foster said, “Not really. They knew how I felt about it.”