In a letter to Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni and District 1 City
Councilman Gregory Carroll, Kurt Wall, Director of the Attorney General’s
Criminal Division, has cleared Carroll of any wrongdoing in the matter of
Carroll’s use of a city vehicle to commute to his day job in Orleans Parish.
Carroll, who opted for the use of a city vehicle instead of
a $500 per month auto allowance that is afforded to all Kenner City Councilmen,
came under fire by Mayor Yenni for what Yenni considered excessive use of a
public vehicle and claimed that Carroll misappropriated public property.
In addition to the print media, Yenni took his case to the
electronic media in an interview with Fox 8 TV even having his
politically-appointed City Attorney weigh in:
“The Kenner City
Attorney says, according to Article 7, Section 14 of the State Constitution,
Carroll is violating a state law by using a public resource for personal use.
Mayor Yenni believes
it's unethical.
'I've asked my City Attorney what I can do,' Yenni said.”
I guess that’s not the first time that Kenner City Attorney
Keith Conley has been wrong.
As noted last week in ClickJefferson.com, Mayor Yenni spends
far more in automotive costs than anyone in Kenner City Government, despite his
continuing to perpetuate the myth that he doesn’t accept an auto allowance.
Yenni has several city vehicles at his disposal and spends
an average of $455 per month in fuel and maintenance at taxpayer’s expense. If
you factor in insurance, depreciation and vehicle costs, Yenni’s vehicle costs
dwarf the auto allowances afforded to the council.
Even including the maintenance costs involved with the
14-year-old vehicle that Yenni gave Carroll, the Councilman still averaged
almost $80 per month LESS than Yenni’s vehicle cost and almost $125 less per
month than the auto allowance received by other City Councilmen.
In addition, last year, Yenni extended the amount of
political appointees and city employees who received auto allowances and
increased the amount of the allowances for many.
Yenni contacted the State Attorney General, the State
Inspector General and the U.S. Justice Department regarding Carroll’s vehicle
use.
Throughout all of this, Carroll has maintained his innocence.
This week, in the letter to Yenni and Carroll, Wall wrote:
“After a comprehensive
and detailed review of the City of Kenner Administrative Management Policy, the
Legislative Auditor Report of 2004, as well as Kenner City Ordinance 9455, all
of which acknowledge the need for automobile usage by Kenner elected officials
for constituent services, we have not found any evidence of any intent to
violate any criminal statute by Councilman Gregory W. Carroll in the use of his
public vehicle.
While Councilman
Carroll uses his public vehicle to travel to his place of employment working
with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections division of
probation and parole, he also uses his vehicle to handle constituent affairs
during lunch meetings or directly after his full-time job ends. As written, our office cannot definitively
say that the non-Council use of his vehicle is substantial and violative of the
current policy of the Kenner City Council.
However, the Kenner City Council could amend their policy to restrict
any use of municipal vehicles outside of the city limits or require the use a
monthly vehicle stipend.”
Now that this distraction manufactured by Mayor Yenni is
over, when will the Attorney General start investigating the Yenni
Administration?
Perhaps, they already have…
