NEW ORLEANS -- Another day, another construction site for Augustino Brothers owner Christopher Perdomo. Today's project? New gutters for a still shuttered public school in New Orleans, but the general contractor had hoped to be gearing up for more projects.
With 15 years of experience under the construction company's tool belt, Perdomo tried his luck in applying for his first ever Road Home contract with the state through the Louisiana Recovery Authority, where he would renovate and build new rental units for poor families. He said, regrettably, he didn't hand in all the right paperwork.
'They could have said, hey Chris, go back and fix this in your paper work and resubmit it, that would have been great and I think we would have been approved,' Perdomo said.
But they didn't, and he wasn't. Instead, 15 other contractors were approved. Through a public records request, we obtained the stack of paper work that shows who exactly was selected, and why.
Contractors were ranked based on a number of factors, including experience and financial statements. But a criminal past of stealing from the government was not one of those factors -- good thing for the number one ranked company, AME Services, Inc.
Its founder, Bernell Moliere, just two years ago pleaded guilty to helping New Orleans School Board member Ellenese Brooks-Simms cash in on $40,000 worth of kickbacks relating to a school board contract. Moliere was sentenced to three years of probation.
'How can you be in the top 10 period? How can you even be considered?' Perdomo said.
Don't tell that to Exceptional Temporaries Incorporated, or ETI. That company is ranked ninth on the LRA's list of approved contractors.
State records list Randall Moore as the company's director.In 2005, he pleaded guilty to taking part in an extortion scheme with Kerry DeCay, a top official in Mayor Marc Morial's administration. Moore cooperated with the federal government and was sentenced to four months home confinement and fined $3,000. Moore's company was contracted to work on city traffic lights back then, and now is an approved contractor for the state.
'Well it's not fair, because we're all vying for the work right now,' Perdomo said.
ETI and AME are now two of the 15 contractors slated to receive your tax dollars. The pot of potential money could range anywhere between $54.5 million and just over $218 million, depending on the scope of the work.
Projects have yet to be assigned to specific contractors, so it's unknown just how much money ETI and AME will eventually score. Regardless, the LRA will be paying them directly with federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Perdomo now wants to know why a paperwork error cut him out of the contract, while a proven history of stealing from contracts didn't seem to matter.
'Why wasn't that flagged?' Perdomo said.
We wanted to ask the head of LRA, Robin Keegan, just that. Through a spokesperson she initially agreed to an interview, but then later canceled.
The spokesperson now tells us they simply didn't know about the criminal past, and even knowing now, she says the LRA's hands are tied. They fear canceling contracts could subject the state to lawsuits.
'These aren't private dollars, these are tax payer dollars,' said Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
Goyeneche said if the state has legal reservations about dropping a contract, it should have requested a legal opinion from Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
According to Caldwell's office, a request has never been made by the LRA or any other state agency to see if contracts could legally be rejected because of a person's criminal history.
'These are public funds, and maybe the best predictor of the future is the past,' Goyeneche said.
But Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino said the legal concern is a legitimate one. Based on the way public bid laws are currently structured, the lowest responsible bidders are required to get the contract.
'And there is no qualification or exception that would allow the exclusion of convicted felons,' Ciolino said.
'There's something wrong with that,' said state Rep. Patrick Connick, (R) Marrero.
Connick is now looking to outlaw outlaws when it comes to all government contracts throughout Louisiana.
'For life. My whole purpose is once they have committed a crime we don't want them participating in the government bid process,' Connick said.
His motivation? Our reporting, he says.
It was last December when we first introduced you to AME and ETI, in light of their contract work with the city of New Orleans.
Records show since 2009, ETI, Moore's company, has earned at least $437,000 in city contracts, while AME, Molliere's business, scored just over $2.7 million from New Orleans.
Since our series of stories, the Jefferson Parish Council outlawed doing business with felons convicted of public corruption within five years of applying for a contract. Weeks earlier, the New Orleans City Council did the same with Stacy Head at the helm, but Mayor Ray Nagin vetoed the law, citing potential legal troubles.
In December, Nagintold us such a public corruption ban would be unnecessary.
'I think it depends upon the conviction,' Nagin said. 'I don't want child molesters and those kind of people, but if somebody has made a mistake and has a white collar crime and they've paid their time and they're back in the business, then I don't really see a problem with that.'
The council later overrode Nagin's veto, unanimously, making the ban on certain felonies law.
But with parish rules still allowing felons to score contracts five years after they were convicted, Connick is still on a mission to eliminate the exception statewide.
'If they're going to use the system improperly for their advantage and against all the other bidders out there who are doing it the right way, one shot is all they should get,' Connick said.
But some see the legislature's efforts as unfair, even discriminatory, saying despite one's criminal record, one shouldn't be barred for life from scoring public contracts.
'It's almost like your child misbehaves and you tell them to go their home, with never the intent of letting them back out, said Norris Henderson, founder and executive director of Voice of the Ex-Offender, or VOTE. 'That's ridiculous.'
Henderson, a convicted felon himself, supports a contract ban on public corruption felons so long as it comes with an expiration date. But even so, he questions current efforts to make the law retroactive, requiring government entities to go back and cancel all current contracts with convicted felons.
'I think the single most important thing is they're putting people to work,' Henderson said. 'They're hiring folks that other folks normally wouldn't hire.'
Who better to question on the issue than the contractors in question? We visited ETI's headquarters in Downtown New Orleans on the 24th story of Canal Place. But we were told itsdirector, Randall Moore, was unavailable. And despite leaving a message, we never heard back.
About 30 miles to the west in Norco, it was much of the same. AME founder Bernell Moliere was apparently not at Moliere Enterprises. We asked to speak with another head of the business, but we were told they were unavailable, too. We're still waiting for someone to get back to us.
And so is Christopher Perdomo. In the meantime, Perdomo says it's honest contractors like him who are paying the price, in lost wages and in lost faith in good government.
'It shouldn't be allowed,' Perdomo said. 'It's that simple.'
Efforts to stop it are still fluid, but in politics, expect no guarantees.
'Well it's going to continue to make our job harder, and it may even attract more people who can skirt around the rules,' Perdomo said.
For now all that's certain is just fear -- fear that firing, or even not hiring, those who break the law, could actually be breaking another law.
As for the latest now in Baton Rouge, Connick is expected toeventually drop his bill amid heavy criticism it goes too far.
New Orleans Rep. Walker Hines, (D)New Orleans, however, is pushing similar legislation that is getting traction.
According to his bill, companies would forever be barred from doing business with the government if an employee of that company, owning 10 percent or more of the business, is convicted of either public bribery, corrupt influencing, extortion or money laundering.
Company leaders found guilty of seven lesser crimes, such astheft or forgery, would be barred for five years afterbeingconvicted. Only those found guiltyafter the bill becomes law would be affected.
The House is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday.
