Jacob Johnson had been a rising young professional in Louisiana government.
Hired in late 2011 to be the executive director of the Health Education Authority of Louisiana, commonly known as HEAL, Johnson was tasked with reviving the obscure and long-dormant agency.
But over time, the outspoken and often polarizing Johnson clashed with powerful people in state government.
When WWL-TV caught up with him in December 2017, Johnson was still collecting his $100,000 annual salary, but HEAL’s board of trustees had been disbanded, his email had been cut-off, and efforts to get rid of him and abolish his agency had reached a fever pitch.
“I just didn't understand why this arrow was being shot my way,” Johnson said.
As much as Johnson said he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what made him such a fervent target for elimination, he was provided troubling information by an unlikely source. While being questioned during a legislative audit of his operation, one of the state investigator’s conducting the audit confided in him.
Justin James, a CPA and employee of the legislative auditor’s office at the time, was recorded talking to Johnson as they went over massive files of paperwork at HEAL’s office in downtown New Orleans.
“They felt like, look, we can divide and conquer here,” James can be heard telling Johnson on one of the tapes. “Let's find out everything we can. Let's divide him. Let's leave him on an island alone so we can crush this agency.”
“Crush…this…agency.”
Johnson said those words reverberated ominously in his ears.
Later in the conversation with James, Johnson said, “It is utterly ridiculous how much scrutiny they're putting on this agency.”
“I've been here 12 years,” James responded. “I've never seen anything like this.”
Johnson said that at earlier meetings with James during the weeks-long audit, the auditor began openly questioning some of the issues he was asked to delve into and some of the documents he was ordered to obtain.
Johnson said he began taping the conversations “basically because I felt fearful for what was going to happen...I was in disbelief. I thought, this cannot be happening.”
Some background: HEAL was created in 1968. The 50-year-old agency was designed to helps finance medical construction projects by paying the debt service on multimillion dollar loans. Tulane Medical Center, Ochsner Hospital and Lambeth House retirement village are among the showcase projects it helped fund.
HEAL’s revenue comes from a parking garage across from New Orleans City Hall. The multi-story parking complex generates about $350,000 a year. But when Johnson took over the agency in 2011, it hadn’t launched any brick-and-mortar projects since 1998.
“I came into an agency that had no policies, that had no strategic plan, that had no projects on the horizon,” Johnson said.
Under Johnson, the spotty track record continued. The blistering January 2017 legislative audit involving Justin James shows that HEAL still hadn't funded any new projects. Yet during that time, the agency's expenses increased by 153 percent, and the audit slams Johnson for spending freely without following state rules.
Johnson claims that much of the audit is misleading, and some of it is flat wrong.
“They made those allegations. However, those allegations were found to be not true,” he said.
For example, regarding the 153 percent increase in HEAL’s expenses, Johnson explained that the increase was necessary to hire staff, board attorneys and consultants, all needed to get the agency back up and running.
“Of course, your expenses will increase when you hire staff. So, automatically, we hired staff,” he said.
The audit also slams Johnson for getting himself reimbursed for business travel within the New Orleans area, but the audit further details that the total amount being questioned over a six-year period was $215 spread out over 58 dates.
Justin James appeared to refer to findings such as the local travel expenses when he confided in Johnson, saying on tape, “Obviously this is petty. And that's where they are right now.”
Shortly after the audit was released, the findings reverberated throughout state government, from Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office to the Legislature.
During the spring legislative session, state Senator Karen Carter Peterson, with the Governor’s blessings, passed a bill through the Senate to abolish HEAL.
But when the measure got to the House, tacked on as an amendment to a completely unrelated bill, a group of HEAL supporters stormed the Capitol in protest and helped scuttle the measure in the final minutes of the session.
“It was very clear to us that this was an attack,” said New Orleans civil rights activist Tracy Riley.
“Why did they have to criminalize Jacob Johnson?” asked Pat Bryant, who helped organize the protest on behalf of the non-profit group Justice and Beyond, “Why did they have to abolish HEAL?”
Sen. Peterson, in an interview, said she filed the bill not only because of HEAL’s failure to fund projects, but because she discovered that another far more active state agency – Louisiana Facility Planning and Control – which has the same bond financing mission.
“Nothing was happening,” said Peterson, whose district includes the HEAL garage and office. “It (HEAL) was going nowhere. This was about efficiency.”
But even after the bill to dismantle HEAL was shot down, the battle continued on other fronts.
In June, HEAL's entire board was dismissed by the Governor’s office, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Then, in August, Johnson filed a lawsuit against the legislative auditor, claiming report was meant to “harass, intimidate, blackball and defame" him. Justin James is quoted throughout the suit.
One of the lines spoken by James quoted in the lawsuit: “The ultimate goal is to shut down HEAL.”
Justin James was fired four months after the audit was released.
Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera said he could not comment because of the ongoing litigation. A portion of the suit was dismissed when the Auditor’s office successfully argued that his office has immunity. But a Baton Rouge judge ruled that immunity only extends to the audit itself, not any press releases or statements made about the audit.
The auditor filed another motion Monday to have the suit thrown out, this time arguing that despite any comments made by James, its findings regarding Johnson and HEAL are all true.
Even after audit, the failed legislation, the dismissal of the previous board, the lawsuit, and even after Johnson’s email was shut down and his contract expired on Dec. 31, Johnson continued to work.
The final showdown came Feb. 1 when a newly appointed board met Johnson for the first time. Pro-HEAL activists from all over the state packed the room.
Board Chairman Charles Cravins, of Opelousas, refused to recognize Johnson, even though he sat in the customary position of the director’s chair.
That didn’t go over well with Johnson or his supporters.
Raising his voice, Johnson said, “I ask you nicely, but I am the authority. So I want to talk and I do not expect to be interrupted.”
“Mr. Johnson, you are out of order,” Cravins said.
“I am not out of order,” Johnson replied.
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The activists, each given up to three minutes to speak, questioned the board’s failure to listen to Johnson and place their concerns on the agenda.
“I will not sit by and watch another black man lose his job,” said activist Kim Ford, who was holding a four-foot sign that read, “Freedom.”
Eventually, Cravins and the board allotted Johnson two minutes to speak, but when the time was up, the meeting descended into chaos, with Johnson, Cravins and others trying to talk over one another.
Cravins recessed the meeting and ducked into another room. When the meeting resumed, extra security guards lined the back wall. The board ultimately got through its agenda, but not before a combative Johnson got in a few last words.
“Don't tell me that my allegations are not real,” he said pounding his fist on the table. “Don't tell me what I heard from my ears from the legislative auditor's office, in my office.”
Johnson said he was dropping any involvement with HEAL for good after last week's meeting, but he left behind two items even though the board refused to put them on the agenda: two medical projects worth $26 million dollars that he put together during last year's swirling controversy.
Johnson's final two projects with HEAL by Sam Winstrom on Scribd